LAS VEGAS — Watching University of Texas tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders work out with New York Giants star Darren Waller and Ohio State’s Cade Stover, it’s easy to see why he is considered one of the top NFL Draft prospects at his position and a potential second-round pick. Sanders has decent size at 6-foot-3, 245 pounds, and the speed numbers he posted at the NFL Combine and his pro day (4.69 seconds in the 40-yard dash, 1.6 in the 10-yard split) show up when he runs through his routes on air.
And watching him on tape, where his elusiveness and after-catch creation abilities stand out as some of his best traits, it’s hard to figure why the rest of Sanders’ athletic testing at the pro day didn’t go quite as well. He posted below-average numbers in the vertical (30 inches) and bench press (eight reps), and his broad jump (9 feet, 6 inches) and shuttle time (4.32 seconds) were merely average.
To hear Sanders tell it, those results were the product of amping himself up too much getting ready for the tests.
“I just overestimated my warmup at my pro day testing,” said Sanders, who spoke to CBS Sports as part of a promotional event for Icy Hot. “I had a lot of adrenaline rushing, you know what I’m saying? It was coaches everywhere. So I just kind of overestimated it, thinking that adrenaline was going to help me. So that was on me. That’s why my numbers was bad, but I definitely, definitely play faster on the field. I feel like my film is showing that.”
Sanders knows that his skill as a pass-catcher — his ability to win both on his routes and after the catch — is what makes him attractive to NFL teams, but he also knows that he’s not going to get on the field all that often, or all that early, if he can’t block.
“I know it’s one of my weaknesses for sure,” Sanders said. “And I’ve been working on that since I’ve declared for the combine, I know whatever team I [go to], they’re gonna help…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2024-nfl-draft-texas-jatavion-sanders-explains-poor-pro-day-testing-lists-which-star-tight-ends-he-studies/
Author : Jared Dubin
Publish date : 2024-04-08 14:56:06
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