With the Scouting Combine four weeks in the rear-view mirror and the official “Welcome to Primetime” still nearly seven weeks away, pre-draft process remains mired in the tedium of Pro Day workouts.
After bringing the perceived best recruits to Indy for medical exams, interviews, and (for those who chose to participate) workouts, scouts and coaches and General Managers are now crisscrossing the country to watch guys do some of the same stuff they did (or could have done) at the Scouting Combine.
The quarterbacks get the bulk of the focus, since they put on the most elaborate and detailed workouts -- and because it’s a quarterback-driven league. For Derek Carr, the younger brother of 2002 No. 1 overall pick David Carr, the Fresno State Pro Day had an extra degree of difficulty, thanks to a case of the flu.
Per the Associated Press, Derek Carr received IV fluids and medication after waking up vomiting.
“There were a couple of times my stomach was very tight, knotted up, but I had to take the game-day mindset and stay totally focused on the task at hand,” Derek Carr said, adding that he nearly threw up only once.
He completed 56 of 63 passes, but Carr said only one pass was off target, which implies that the other six were dropped.
“Every ball except one hit exactly where we wanted to,” Carr said. “The fact that one of them was a foot off, that’s a pretty good day. Any Sunday, I’ll take that, absolutely.”
Any Sunday, he’d probably also take being able to throw without a defense to worry about. Still, the non-football football exercise won Carr praise.
“Obviously, he was very impressive today,” Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner said, via the AP. “He came out and showed he has a strong arm, very accurate, he made all the throws. He had a heck of a workout.”
Turner’s G.M., Rick Spielman, attended the workout, as did Raiders G.M. Reggie McKenzie. Carr’s goal is to disrupt the presumed trio of Blake Bortles, Teddy Bridgewater, and Johnny Manziel being the first quarterbacks off the board.