The wild and weird Senior Bowl weigh-in

MOBILE, Ala. — Before a week of practices can begin at the Senior Bowl, players got measured and weighed in.

It’s a very weird thing.

The process involves players walking across the stage in nothing but underwear. They stop in the middle of the stage, stand straight against a wall, hands at their hips while they get measured.
“6067, 6-0-6-7,” the person measuring the player will say on a microphone. Scouts and media in attendance quickly jot down the numbers while the player then walks to the opposite end of the stage and steps on a scale. That number, 6044 equals out to 6’6 and 7/8 inches.

“348, 3-4-8,” the weight taker says over a wireless Madonna-esque microphone.

This particular player was Tennessee defensive tackle Daniel McCullers. At that official size, McCullers came in slightly shorter and even lighter than what he was listed at Tennessee. At his size, McCullers obviously had girth. Of course that leads those in attendance to critique him, good and bad.

Suddenly, what players did in college no longer matters. It’s all about how misshapen his chest looks. Or how he has skinny ankles or short arms. It’s all strange, and not just a product of the media covering the event. Scouts in attendance remarked about several players, for good and bad.

Still, the measurements are part of the process. Minnesota defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman had the look of an ideal five-technique, and his wingspan of 81 3/4 inches will help. On the bad end of the scale for defensive linemen was Arizona State’s Will Sutton, who came in at 315 pounds. That’s pretty staggering considering he weighed 288 after his junior season.

Six of the cornerbacks in attendance came in at taller than 6 feet. None was more imposing physically than Utah’s Keith McGill who is 6-foot-3 and 214 arms with a 33-inch reach.

No player had longer arms than Virginia’s Morgan Moses with a reach for 34 3/4 inches. That’s another instance where NFL evaluators can’t get enamored with a player’s measurements. Moses is impressive from the waist up, but his footwork is the issue. Another player who impressed physically was North Carolina defensive end Kareem Martin. At 6-foot-5 and 7/8 inches and 272 pounds, Martin looked the part of a prototype defensive end. He was tied with Clemson’s Brandon Thomas for the second-longest reach at 34 3/8 inches.

Virginia Tech’s Logan Thomas is by far the biggest quarterback down here. He came in at 6-foot-5 and 3/4 and 250 pounds and looked like a defensive end. His hand size of 10 3/4 inches is notable, especially compared to Clemson’s Tajh Boyd (9 3/8), Fresno State’s Derek Carr (9 1/8) and Eastern Illinois’ Jimmy Garroppolo (9).

You have to give some credit to Georgia’s Aaron Murray. Recovering from a torn ACL, Murray isn’t able to take part in practices. He’s still in Mobile, though and will work with the South roster. Murray even measured in today — 6-foot and 3/8 inches and 201 pounds. He will also be able to interview with teams during the week. That’s probably more important than anything that could be ascertained from a scale.

Here are the full measurements from the Senior Bowl:

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