Perhaps as an appetizer to the big buffet at Alabama on Tuesday, Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst was in attendance at Florida State’s pro day on Monday.
Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy, who reported Gutekunst’s presence, posted the results on Twitter.
FSU’s top prospect is cornerback Asante Samuel, who just happens to play perhaps the Packers’ top position of need. Critically, Samuel measured 5-foot-10 1/8. The Packers do not draft short cornerbacks. It was an edict started after Ron Wolf missed on Florida State’s Terrell Buckley, the No. 5 pick of the 1992 draft who measured 5-foot-9 1/8. Wolf vowed he would never select another short cornerback. That rule was broken by Mike Sherman, who used his first-round pick in 2004 on Ahmad Carroll, who measured 5-foot-9 3/4.
The shortest cornerback selected over the past 16 drafts was Pro Bowler Jaire Alexander. The team’s first-round pick in 2018 measured 5-foot-10 1/4.
That Samuel measured at least 5-foot-10 could make him a consideration for Green Bay with the 29th pick of this year’s draft.
“I feel that I'm an outside guy,” Samuel said after his workout, which included a 4.45 in the 40 and a 35-inch vertical. “I've been playing outside all my life. I've played nickel sometimes, in my freshman year but, at the end of the day, I make my plays on the outside. I feel that I'm a dominant corner on the outside. They try to look at my height and things of that nature, but I'm the same size as Jaire Alexander, and he's a dominant NFL cornerback right now – one of the best in the league. I feel like size doesn't matter; it's about the heart, and the dog mentality you have on that field.”
His father, Asante Samuel Sr.. intercepted 51 passes in 11 NFL seasons. The elder Samuel was a fourth-round pick in 2003; there’s no chance his son lasts into Day 3 of the draft.
According to Pro Football Focus, Samuel Jr. allowed 6-of-19 passing on throws 10-plus yards downfield.
“My greatest strength, I feel like, is my instincts and my ball skills. I feel that I can track the ball very well and make plays wherever the ball is at,” he said.
Safety Hamsah Nasirildeen, receiver Tamorrion Terry, defensive tackle Marvin Wilson and edge Janarius Robinson are FSU’s other top prospects. Click on their names for the numbers from Nagy. Nasirildeen (6-3 1/3, 215 pounds) is a potential safety-linebacker hybrid. In two games as a senior, he had 13 tackles, one interception and 1.5 tackles for losses. A top NFL scout mocked Robinson to Green Bay in an all-Senior Bowl mock draft.
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