DPJ 44.5” Vertical at Combine
February 27th, 2020 at 7:00 PM ^
Holy jumps!
February 28th, 2020 at 6:35 AM ^
Glad we had a staff in place that knew this and called for jump balls in the endzone for him.
February 27th, 2020 at 7:03 PM ^
Well we all knew he had freakish athleticism. 4.4 40, quick 3 come drill, and leta see what he does in his pro day with the bench.
February 27th, 2020 at 7:17 PM ^
Expecting him to light up the combine as he had to know himself that he would or likely wouldn't have left with his down season
February 27th, 2020 at 7:22 PM ^
what the?
February 27th, 2020 at 9:06 PM ^
He just ran a 4.56 :(
February 27th, 2020 at 9:11 PM ^
Didn’t he run a 4.4 laser in high school. How the hell did he get nearly .2 slower
February 27th, 2020 at 9:22 PM ^
HS times, laser or not, always get a few fakes.
February 27th, 2020 at 9:52 PM ^
He then ran a 4.48 on his second run. He's got a decently long stride and was relatively slow off the line in both of his runs, which was a thing a lot of scouts noted.
February 27th, 2020 at 10:03 PM ^
That's the catch. He has darn good top end speed but it takes him a little while to get there. His acceleration is just decent.
February 27th, 2020 at 11:11 PM ^
Yeah, that always seemed to be an issue for him; if you could jam him at the line he had trouble getting by it and getting up to speed in time. He's plenty fast when he gets going, but he wasn't one of those slot bugs who can get going super-quickly.
February 27th, 2020 at 10:40 PM ^
4.48 is plenty fast for an outside WR. Deebo Samuel ran a 4.48" last year., got drafted in the 2nd round and then went for 57 catches for 802 for the Niners.
February 27th, 2020 at 11:15 PM ^
Samuel was also 3 inches shorter and about the same weight. He was also more productive in college, though DPJ wasn't "bad" by any means.
I agree 4.48 is perfectly fine, but if DPJ has trouble getting to that speed quickly (apparently his first run was bad because he started poorly out of the blocks), that's an issue. I'm pulling for him to make a mark in the NFL, just noting that "sorta slow to get going, solid top-end speed" was his rep coming into the combine.
February 28th, 2020 at 12:42 AM ^
Starting from blocks is completely different than starting like he will at the LOS. He can certainly learn and improve his first step and how to get out of those jams. I’m not sure how good his coaching was here and/or how receptive he was to it, but I see nothing here that makes him any less attractive to NFL teams.
February 28th, 2020 at 1:30 PM ^
Deebo is a stud already
February 27th, 2020 at 9:54 PM ^
44.5" vertical with only a 4.56 40 means he needs a lot of sprinting technique work. The fast-twitch explosiveness is clearly there.
February 27th, 2020 at 10:24 PM ^
Scouts on twitter were saying he started off too upright which killed his time. Needs to get lower
February 28th, 2020 at 2:47 PM ^
Of course, getting lower is 100% irrelevant when playing WR, as he will always be starting standing up.
February 28th, 2020 at 11:08 AM ^
His second run was a 4.48. 20th overall and he’s not a small guy. If he can refine his technique he can do some damage in the NFL
February 27th, 2020 at 7:05 PM ^
Is DPJ any good at high pointing the ball? I feel like we never saw him use height or jumping ability to make plays.
February 27th, 2020 at 7:20 PM ^
How many chances did he get? DPJ gets added to the list of dudes who massively underperformed their potential at Michigan - it’s a total bummer to see how little of his talents got used here.
February 27th, 2020 at 7:27 PM ^
I feel like they just don't utilize their talent on offense. There have just been no offensive skill position players of real note under Harbaugh. Plenty of good players (Darboh, Chesson, Higdon, Smith, DPJ, Collins) but only good within the context of the team. None of those guys were anywhere close to being the best in the conference.
February 27th, 2020 at 7:28 PM ^
I totally agree. Alabama’s third wr looked better than DPJ.
February 27th, 2020 at 11:21 PM ^
I mean...DeVonta Smith, Jeudy, and Ruggs are all much better than DPJ. That's kinda obvious. But even Bama's fourth WR, Waddle, looked better than DPJ. Similar stat line too, but gets a lot more out of his catches.
DPJ: 34 rec, 438 yds, 12.9 ypc, 6 TD
Waddle: 33 rec, 560 yds, 17.0 ypc, 6 TD
February 27th, 2020 at 8:00 PM ^
....and whose fault is this? Sad.
February 27th, 2020 at 8:24 PM ^
I think Nico will break that streak as long as he has an accurate QB.
February 28th, 2020 at 12:50 AM ^
Nico Collins can be 1st team All-Big ten if they get him the ball. Throwing to him deep once a game or not at all last season was a joke.
February 28th, 2020 at 5:24 AM ^
And this is the reason we haven't won the big game yet. Bigtime players make bigtime plays, in the biggest games. Same OC for 2 yrs in a row, with a more aggressive approach and getting the speed demons he wants. Let's go. The one thing everyone complained about was the inability to create separation by our WR's. That should change soon.
February 27th, 2020 at 8:53 PM ^
Michigan is the master at miss using talent with WRs IMO.
February 27th, 2020 at 10:23 PM ^
As of late, yes. And a master of turning 3/4 star WRs into very good college receivers; Gallon, Darboh, Chesson, Bell...
It makes perfect sense.
February 27th, 2020 at 10:39 PM ^
Tons of schools turn 3-star receivers into good players. I don't think Michigan is some great standout in that regard.
February 27th, 2020 at 10:46 PM ^
Misusing WR talent implies it is some kind of issue with how the WRs are coached. That doesn’t really explain Rashan Gary or any of the others. For some reason, when we get those very top guys, we don’t seem to get the most from them. Hopefully we right the ship before elite prospects aren’t as interested in the program.
February 27th, 2020 at 11:34 PM ^
Part of that is for a school like Michigan that rarely lands high-end recruits, when they get on campus, they are immediately "the guy". We saw that with both Gary and DPJ. But there's no equivalent talent behind them pushing for their playing time forcing them to become truly elite.
Meanwhile places like Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama, etc are rolling in high-end recruits year after year who are constantly pushing for PT. And if someone like a DPJ or Gary doesn't pan out there, its not a big deal because they've been passed by someone even better, so no one really cares.
February 28th, 2020 at 7:52 AM ^
I agree with this point. And this is why Michigan coaches hold great responsibility for the underperformance that takes place. It seems as though Michigan players are allowed to believe that achieving starter status is the ultimate goal-and it ends there. It certainly appears as though it takes an act of God to lose your starting position once it has been assigned to you. Michigan demonstrated, against both OSU and Alabama that the actual physical talent difference was not that significant. For my eyes it appears as though the great difference between Michigan and the elite teams is in scheme and adjustment and the mindset of the players. Elite teams and players make plays at critical junctures-here, Michigan struggles mightily...on both sides of the ball. (Everyone wants to talk about the infamous 4th down play at OSU-the play of the game was actually the one preceding it...and also on the kickoff return where Michigan should have made a play at about the 15. You have to make your own "breaks" to win these games and Michigan sucks in this regard.) Where does the buck stop???
February 28th, 2020 at 10:37 AM ^
Totally agree. And that's where I'm kind of out on this staff. They seem to have what it takes to be good, but not great. And that's also where you see a lot of the criticism against Michigan compared to Ohio State and how they "just get it." People can do the tired bagman, blah, blah, blah argument, but the programs that are continually in the CFP are the ones that really do all it takes to make sure their players are getting better every day.
Like, do you really think Shea spending a bunch of time in the offseason playing golf would fly at Bama or Clemson? LSU's WR group was lauded for spending the summer catching 10,000 passes to fix their drop issues. None of that kind of stuff happens at Michigan.
February 28th, 2020 at 12:27 AM ^
The Lions would like a word.
February 27th, 2020 at 7:46 PM ^
Never got a chance. Couple goal line fades in 18 and 19 but overall, another player with incredible abilities who wasn't put in a position to use those incredible abilities on the football field.
February 27th, 2020 at 8:14 PM ^
Not really.
Some people are saying this is a referendum on the coaches for not trying. That is probably not the best way to apply blame, since the coaches were perfectly willing to make sure that Nico and Bell got passes that used their height. If DPJ didn’t get as many opportunities, it’s probably because he hadn’t demonstrated an ability to make use of them.
Now, player development? That is absolutely a fair question. Why, with this immense physical talent, wasn’t DPJ ever the dominant multi-tool receiver that we thought he would be? Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t mediocre. He was quite good. But we saw a dominant receiver on New Year’s Day and DPJ was never on that level. And I think player development was per is the problem.
February 27th, 2020 at 8:48 PM ^
When you prioritize killing the clock over scoring points there's only going to be so many balls to go around.
February 28th, 2020 at 12:45 AM ^
Gotta work on passive voice.
February 27th, 2020 at 8:23 PM ^
Well when we're throwing jump balls up to Ronnie Bell...
February 27th, 2020 at 7:08 PM ^
3rd most in combine history for Wide Receivers.
2001 Chris Chambers 45“
2015 Chris Conley 45”
2020 DPJ 44 1/2”
February 27th, 2020 at 7:15 PM ^
Those are actually the best pro comps for him too IMO. Good pro WRs that were always on the verge of a breakout, I could see DPJ’s career going as such. I do hope he ends up a perennial all pro though.
February 27th, 2020 at 7:21 PM ^
Good pro WRs that were always on the verge of a breakout
Easy to see it going that way because it'd basically be a repeat of what his college career was.
February 28th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
The quarterback situation of the team he gets drafted to will also play a huge role in his NFL future. If he ends up on one of those revolving door QB situation franchises he could have a rough go of it.
February 27th, 2020 at 7:12 PM ^
Put him in the HOF.
February 28th, 2020 at 12:39 AM ^
Go away
February 27th, 2020 at 7:20 PM ^
He could be the biggest "what if" of the Harbaugh in my mind
February 27th, 2020 at 7:20 PM ^
Uche is a contender.