The top of the first round might look a little different, with a positive medical report for Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei.
According to Lya Wodraska of the Salt Lake Tribune, Lotulelei received good news from recent heart tests.
Dave Petron, Utah’s team physician said those tests showed “no evidence of dysfunction,” and that his heart function was “consistently with that of highly trained athletes.”
That’s good news for a player who was sidelined at the Combine because of concerns about his heart, though he was cleared to participate at Utah’s pro day.
A combine test showed his left ventricle operating at 44 percent efficiency (which sounds scary, but normal is apparently 55 to 70 percent), but more recent tests showed an improved result, which may signal he had a virus.
“There was no evidence of a dysfunction so we think it was transient in nature,” Petron said. “There was no reason why he couldn’t continue on in an athletic career.”
The blanket report is good news, but teams will still want to put Lotulelei through their own tests in addition to the Combine re-check, for players who don’t complete physicals in February.
While it might not be enough to vault him beyond Florida’s Sharrif Floyd to be the top player at his position, the lack of a medical red flag could easily put Lotulelei into the top 10-15 picks.