Kiper gives thoughts on Canes Before Pro Day

CORAL GABLES — Hurricanes CB Ryan Hill, who wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine, will need to really show something special at Thursday’s Pro Day if he wants to garner any interest from NFL teams.

“Pro Day is a chance for everybody, it’s an opportunity for everyone to at least get some last looks, but unless there’s a collective bargaining agreement, the NFL won’t have undrafted free agency, which is the category he’d [Hill] fall into,” ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. said on a conference call Wednesday. “I’d be shocked if he was drafted.”

During his training, Hill has focused on running the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds.  

Kiper Jr. said CB Brandon Harris raised his draft value at the NFL Combine, but he still considers Harris, who decided to skip his senior season, a second-round pick.

“He tested better than he played last year, I’m sure he would have liked to have had a better season,” Kiper Jr. said.   

Another Hurricanes CB, DeMarcus Van Dyke, posted on Twitter Wednesday he will not run the 40 at Pro Day, but he plans to do every other drill. Van Dyke ran the fastest 40 at the Combine – 4.28 seconds. Like Harris, he tested better than he played last season, Kiper Jr. said.

Even with Van Dyke’s time in the 40, Kiper Jr. predicts he will be drafted in the fifth or sixth round.

Here’s what Kiper Jr. said of some other Hurricanes:

— On DE Allen Bailey: “He gives some scheme versatility. He’s probably a second or third-rounder right now.”
Omar Kelly, the Sun-Sentinel’s Miami Dolphins writer, predicted in a mock draft the Jets might take Bailey with the 30th overall pick.  

— On LB Colin McCarthy: With this year’s draft considered weak for inside LBs, Kiper Jr. says McCarthy helped himself during the Combine and could be drafted in the third round.

— On WR Leonard Hankerson: “He had to prove he was more than a possession guy and he helped himself with the way he did [at the Combine],” Kiper Jr. said. “He may be the third receiver taken, even in the late first round by Atlanta or New England, possibly.”  

— On RB Graig Cooper: “I liked Graig Cooper before he got hurt. He just wasn’t the same after the injury, but he’s an interesting guy,” Kiper Jr. said. “They’ve also got a couple of guys who probably go undrafted like [RB Damien] Berry and [Matt] Bosher, their kicker.”



(sun-sentinel.com)