Former Marshall tight end Lee Smith participated in the NFL Combine last weekend. Tight Ends and Offensive lineman were run through the various combine test on Saturday. How did Smith do?
Smith did his best work at the bench press finishing with 25 reps, third among tight ends. He struggled with the other events, running a 5.07 forty yard dash, recording a vertical jump of 29 inches, and finished 10th of 14 participating tight ends in the three cone drill.
ESPN’s NFL Combine Report had this to say about Smith: http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft2011/notebook?page=combinereport226&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnfl%2fdraft2011%2fnotebook%3fpage%3dcombinereport226
• After a strong showing at the Senior Bowl, Marshall TE Lee Smith displayed a lack of top-end speed and athleticism at the combine. Smith showed off good inline blocking skills, savvy as an underneath route runner and strong hands in traffic during the Senior Bowl, but it's apparent on film that Smith's upside is limited by below-average top-end speed and athleticism. He helped confirm those assumptions during his underwhelming showing at the combine. His unofficial 40 time of 5.07 seconds is actually worse than anticipated and three-tenths slower than the three-year average for tight ends, and it will undoubtedly hurt his value come draft weekend.
On a personal note, I don’t think you can be surprised by Smith’s combine results. He is best evaluated on the field, just look at his Senior Bowl practices. Despite the slow running numbers and low vertical leap this blogger still thinks Smith can have a long NFL career as a blocking tight end. Only time will tell.
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