COLUMBIA, Mo. -- It's Sheldon Richardson's world, and we're all just living in it.
Missouri pro day 2013: Sheldon Richardson, Zaviar Gooden steal the show
In all, 12 players worked out for scouts, but a few in particular garnered most of the attention.
Pat Lovell-USA TODAY Sports
At least, it felt that way on Thursday at Missouri’s pro day. While Richardson wasn’t necessarily the top performer at the event, the athletic defensive tackle’s personality was on full display in the Dan Devine Pavilion.
The smile spread wide across his face as he met the media after improving his 40-time to 4.81 seconds. He ran through all of the positional drills and was beaming with confidence throughout the afternoon. When posed with questions about his NFL future, Richardson wasn’t short on things to say.
He said he has noticed a lot of interest from the Chiefs, Jaguars, Raiders, Dolphins and Seahawks. He also has a private meeting scheduled with the Browns. Richardson summarized it nicely.
“The whole NFL wants Sheldon Richardson,” Richardson said.
Awesome. Here are some other notes from Thursday.
- Linebacker Zaviar Gooden once again shined. He dominated the NFL Combine, running faster than any linebacker in attendance. His three-cone time and shuttle times were tops at well. He didn't have a ton to prove, but he worked out anyways. Gooden improved his vertical jump to 38.5 inches from 34 inches. He then flashed in positional drills and generated a buzz amongst the crowd in attendance. He has workouts scheduled with the Panthers, Patriots and Bears.
- The 40-yard dash was strange. The media was separated from the scouts and no official numbers were called out or released at anytime. So everyone was huddled around watching these guys run 40 yards and left wondering what they ran.
Finally, an official from Mizzou came over and was whispering some "unofficial" times, and T.J. Moe came over and revealed his time to his family, but it was all pretty hush-hush. Plus, every scout has his own time, so it's tough to get a true gauge on how someone ran.
- Speaking of the 40-yard dash, in addition to Richardson, Moe and running back Kendial Lawrence benefited the most. Moe ran in the 4.5-second range, while Lawrence ran somewhere in the 4.3 range. Both times were unofficial, but the two players opened some eyes. Moe, of course, was tops at his position in all of the short-area running drills at the combine but posted the worst time in the 40-yard dash. His improvement was much needed.
- More than 20 scouts from 17 different NFL teams were in attendance. The Patriots worked closely with the defensive backs and linebackers, notably Gooden and Kip Edwards, who had a strong day. Lawrence spoke with the Jaguars and Jets. Richardson got particularly close attention from the Seahawks and Jets, but like he said, everybody wants him.
- Pro days can be valuable. This may seem obvious, but a lot of people tend to brush these events off as useless. While the times aren’t always crucial, a pro day is another chance for NFL scouts to get a close look at prospects, talk to them and put them through drills.
Every school is different, but at Missouri the scouts were given all the freedom they needed to make sure they saw what they needed to see. It’s a valuable piece of the puzzle. If it was not important, why would those 17 teams have bothered?
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