During the Senior Bowl practices, I put a little item on the Web about Alabama-Birmingham quarterback Joe Webb, who was trying to practice at wide receiver in Mobile, Ala., to show scouts he might be able to make the transition to the position for the NFL.
I said teams would be wise to give him a look, given what he had showed in his games and his willingness to dive into a new position in such a high-profile, pressure-packed environment.
And now, two months later, a lot of people are going to have to give him plenty of consideration after what Webb did in his pro day workout this week.Some of his routes in Mobile weren’t as crisp as they needed to be and he looked tentative running them.
That’s because Webb, who was a two-year starter at quarterback for UAB, absolutely was a star during his pro day. At 6-feet-2¾, 223 pounds, Webb was hand-timed by some scouts in attendance at 4.44 in the 40-yard dash, had an astounding vertical jump of 42½ inches and an 11-foot-5-inch standing broad jump.
Just for reference Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson had one of the best combine workouts in recent memory for a big-framed wide receiver and his vertical was 42½ at the 2007 combine to go with an 11-7 broad jump.
Webb’s vertical would have been the best among the wide receivers who were at the combine (Webb was not there), and his 40 time would have put him among the fastest and his size would have made him among the biggest.
So, in short, with that kind of explosiveness somebody will try to find a position for this guy to play.
It’s not like he doesn’t understand the game. He threw for at least 2,200 yards and rushed for at least 1,000 yards in each of his two seasons as the Blazers’ starting quarterback.
He also played wide receiver when the team needed him during his sophomore season.
And with former Broncos No. 3 quarterback Darrell Hackney throwing him passes, Webb looked smooth enough catching the ball in the workout that some teams see him as a bigger version of a “slash” player on offense — someone who could line up wide as a receiver, line up in the Wildcat in the backfield on occasion or even as an H-back in some systems.
But his athleticism can’t be shoved aside, especially from a player with enough savvy to have handled a playbook from behind center and enough mental toughness to go to the best college all-star game and try a position he hadn’t played in more than two years.
