BY: Tony LiebertD.K. Metcalf is one of the most talked about prospects in the upcoming NFL Draft. He has been one of the most polarizing prospects of all time, and has been through a lot already in his short football career. High School Career DeKaylin Metcalf was 242nd ranked prospect by ESPN in the class of 2016. D.K. was one of the top wide receivers in his class from Oxford, Mississippi. In his time at high school he finished with 224 receptions 3,302 yards, and 49 touchdowns. D.K. eventually decided to stay home and attend Ole Miss, instead of other top schools like Auburn, Nebraska, and UCLA. College Career When D.K. arrived at Ole Miss, they clearly found out they got an incredibly talented receiver. As a freshman, Metcalf only appeared in two games after suffering a season ending foot injury. In his two games he only had two catches but, they both went for touchdowns, and 15 yards total. In his sophomore season D.K. appeared in all twelve games while collecting 39 catches, to go along with 646 yards and 7 touchdowns. He put himself in position for a great junior year. In the first seven games of the 2018 season D.K. collected 26 catches and 569 yards for 5 touchdowns. In week 8 of the season against Auburn, Metcalf left the game with a neck injury... In his short time at Ole Miss, D.K. clearly showed he has terrific NFL potential, and he is a special talent. Neck Injury It is unknown what the exact neck injury D.K. suffered in his junior season was, but the average neck surgery takes anywhere from 3 to 6 months to recover to 100 percent, and his injury required surgery. D.K. is obviously a super human athlete so that recovery time was most likely much quicker than the average. Anytime that a doctor has to cut into your neck, is just something that I would not want to experience. Even other football players like Peyton Manning or Arian Foster clearly were not the same players after their surgery. In a game of football, where contact is guaranteed, you definitely don't want to deal with neck injuries. D.K. suffered his neck injury in mid October, and was said to have went through a successful surgery on October 19th. And on January 25th, Adam Schefter tweeted that D.K. was cleared for football activity. That is 69 days after a doctor cut into his neck, he was able to participate in full contact drills. Even if the surgery wasn't THAT serious, a 69 day recovery time is just ridiculous. I think this picture should tell you enough about the severity of D.K's injury. NFL Combine After D.K's junior season, he was viewed by many as a potential first round pick, so he decided to forgo his senior season and enter the NFL Draft. D.K. was then invited to the NFL combine, which is an event where the top NFL Draft prospects are tested physically, with many position specific drills and athletic tests. They also are tested mentally with multiple rigorous almost "job like" interviews with almost all of the NFL teams. At the combine D.K. was the main talking point of the entire event as he impressed in almost all aspects possible. Body fat percentage: At the combine each player is also measured and weighed in front of many NFL scouts. Metcalf measured in at 6'3" 228 pounds, which is almost the ideal size for an NFL wide receiver. The most jaw dropping physical statistic was his body fat percentage... 1.6%... yes 1.6, some said that the machine would almost have to be broken, but I have read that they used the most accurate machine possible. In all seriousness D.K's personal trainer Joe DeFranco said the 1.6 percent body fat was a mistaken measurement, and a person with body fat that low would be in danger of dying of malnutrition. DeFranco also stated, “You need at least 3 percent body fat for your organs to function,” he said. “If somebody’s body fat percentage legitimately dips under 2 percent, that’s not an impressive physique. That’s a medical emergency. Get that person to the hospital ASAP before they die. It’s not something we’re looking at and going, ‘Wow, how impressive.’ That person needs their life to be saved.” So in conclusion this number was ridiculous while it lasted, but it was clearly a mistake. Above is a photo of D.K (on the right) and his former Ole Miss teammate wide receiver A.J. Brown (on the left) following a workout. Bench Press: In the NFL combine each participant tries to see how many reps of 225 pounds they can do on the bench press. D.K. did 27. Which ranked tied for 30th out of all participants in the competition, and tied for 1st out of all wide receivers with N'Keal Harry from Arizona State. 27 reps is also ties the record for most reps of all time Bobby Foster. With this ridiculous bench press on the first night of the combine, D.K. showed the NFL to be prepared for a show. Vertical Jump: In the vertical jump test Mr. Metcalf jumped 40.5 inches in the air. That would rank him tied for 8th in the out of all players and tied for 3rd out of all wide receivers, and not too far behind the combine record of 45 inches set by Chris Conley. With an absurd vertical, at his size, D.K. showed the NFL that he win jump balls against any cornerback in the league. 40 Yard Dash: In the 40 yard dash D.K. ran a 4.33 yes... 4.33 at his size. That ranked him tied for third in the whole combine and with wide receivers. With both these absurd athletic tests, D.K. showed every scout he has all the athleticism you want from a number one receiver in the NFL. **D.K. was also 5th in entire combine in the broad jump at 11'2" D.K. was very emotional following his 40 yard dash after he realized how grateful he was to even competing in the combine following his neck surgery. The bad of D.K's combine You may think, "Bad? how can someone's combine be considered bad after those numbers." Three Cone Drill/Shuttle Drill: The three cone drill and shuttle drill are both tests of change of direction speed I would have the video of the great Tom Brady running both these drills but, NFL (no fun league) has extremely strict copyright rules so I'll give you the link and you can watch it on your own. Here is an example of what the three cone and shuttle drill entails, the great Tom Brady ran a 4.38 shuttle drill (which is the first drill in the video) and 7.2 cone drill (the second drill). You can click on the link below... https://youtu.be/sJsq5uP7IjI?t=52 Now you may watch that video and think, "Wow the so called greatest NFL player of all time doesn't look real athletic." Which I agree. Now D.K. Metcalf on the other hand ran slower in both drills. He ran a 4.5 shuttle drill and a 7.38 three cone drill. That is just one of the most confusing things ever how a behemoth superhuman such as D.K. Metcalf can, be the slowest receiver in the three cone drill, and the second slowest in the shuttle drill. Why is this significant? In the game of football as a player who carries the ball, I would argue that change of direction speed is much more important than straight line speed. So D.K. showed he can run really fast in a straight line, but he is unbelievably slow when he has to change direction. Especially as a wide receiver who has one single route where he runs in a straight line. And every other one requires top of the line change of direction speed. I still believe that D.K. will be a great NFL wide receiver (in the right situation) and I wish him the best in the rest of his career, but nobody could argue that he is quite the interesting prospect.
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May 2020
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