Highlights from today's NFL Network coverage of on-field workouts for quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends at the NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis:
QB OR NOT QB: An interesting discussion took place regarding where and how quarterbacks are valued after NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock identified Notre Dame's DeShone Kizer, Clemson's Deshaun Watson, North Carolina's Mitchell Trubisky, Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes II and Cal's Davis Webb as the best of this year's class.
Mayock: "I have second-round grades on all of them, but the reality is two to three of them will probably go in the top 10 (picks)."
NFL Network host Rich Eisen: "I understand need here, Mike. But if you have second-round grades on all of these quarterbacks and some of them go in the top 10, isn't that dangerous?"
Mayock: "Here's the qualification, when I say second-round grades, I think all four of them have first-round talent. I felt like Kizer should have gone back (to school). I felt like Trubisky should have gone back, they're not ready. I feel like Deshaun Watson has the same transition issues from the offense he played in college to the NFL where he's not going to be ready to play right away. And Pat Mahomes is a wild card, he's like Jay Cutler. Pat Mahomes, his tape is my favorite tape of anybody. Every snap something really good or really bad is about to happen.
"More and more of these kids are coming out earlier and earlier not ready to play. Yet if you take them in the top 10 there's an awful lot of energy to push you to play them. The flip side to the whole thing is if you really believe in a quarterback and he turns into the right guy it doesn't matter if you take him at No. 1, No. 12 or in the second round."
RECORD-BREAKING 40: Washington wide receiver John Ross (5-foot-103/4, 188 pounds) ran an unofficial time of 4.22 in his first 40-yard dash and came up limping afterward.
"He just ran into an injury," NFL Network analyst Steve Smith said of Ross.
The fastest Combine 40 on record had been Chris Johnson's 4.24 in 2008.
The official time on Ross came in at 4.22.
NFL Network analyst Michael Irvin said Ross was dealing with cramps.
"He said he felt the cramps at the start and he ran anyway," Irvin said.
"I feel like I could have ran faster, just because I cramped up toward the end," Ross told Irvin afterward.
Former Redskins General Manager Charlie Casserly hand-timed Ross for the NFL Network at 4.19.
Ross did not run a second 40 or participate in position drills.
NOT A FINISHED PRODUCT: More Mayock on Kizer: "He has the biggest upside, which is why I put him at No. 1. My biggest issue with Kizer's tape is, most of it was really good but in the fourth quarter of several games when they really needed him, I felt like his pocket mechanics deteriorated. I thought his decision-making and accuracy deteriorated. And I thought it was because he was trying to do too much."
ANOTHER CAPTAIN KIRK: Pitt quarterback Nate Peterman has the attention of NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah.
Peterman "had a solid season this year and I thought at the Senior Bowl he really helped his stock," Jeremiah assessed.
Added Mayock: "The Kirk Cousins comparison is interesting. Pat Narduzzi, his coach at Pitt, was at Michigan State with Kirk Cousins and (Narduzzi) swears that's who (Peterman) is, love of the game, passion, understanding, intelligence, ball skills, all of it."
DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Smith discussed LSU wide receivers Malachi Dupre and Travin Dural in the context of playing in an offense that wasn't advantageous for wide receivers.
"They didn't really get an opportunity to display their talent because of some of the lack of creativity that was not there for the wide receivers," Smith said. "It was used for all the run plays."
Mayock agreed.
"Let's be honest, the quarterback play at LSU over the last couple years has been highly inconsistent," Mayock said.
MEMORY LANE: Mayock, a Philadelphia native, recalled his experiences as a 10th-round pick of the Steelers out of Boston College in 1981.
"For a Pennsylvania kid, that was pretty cool, walking into that locker room with Joe Greene and (Terry) Bradshaw and (Lynn) Swann and (John) Stallworth," Mayock said. "I walked in the defensive back room and Mel Blount looked chiseled out of granite. He was 6-4, 225, they changed the rules in the NFL because of the physicality of his play at corner. Donnie Shell, I was beside myself.
"I wanted to be that rookie that was always at the front of the line and here are two veterans with four Super Bowl rings in their 30s. I'd sprint to the next drill and as soon as I got there Mel Blount and Donnie Shell were laughing at me."
EARLY EXIT: The broadcast opened with a report that Alabama linebacker Rueben Foster had been sent home after a confrontation during a medical examination.
"I've already texted with some guys around the league," Mayock said. "Even though he was asked to leave I don't think, unless it becomes more than what we've heard so far, I don't think it's really going to impact him."
NFL.com media analyst Bucky Brooks projects Foster to Kansas City on the 27th overall pick.
