If you can’t be king, sometimes it’s good to be the guy next to the king.
So it goes on pro days on campuses throughout the country during the NFL draft workout season.
And if a player can’t be a top prospect in a draft, it can be highly beneficial to be at the same school as one. Just like high-school recruiting, when college coaches often discover one player while looking at another one, the same is true for NFL scouts.
There are few legitimate surprises any more on the draft trail; teams are so much more adept at finding players, and players are so much more adept at finding coaches as well — hello, YouTube — there are simply few true “sleepers” any more.
But there are many cases of players getting a little boost in their draft stock because so many people came to see one of their teammates that day.
Colorado wide receiver Scotty McKnight and Auburn defensive lineman Zach Clayton are certainly two of those guys already this month.
There were 125 NFL personnel — scouts, coaches and general managers — at Auburn earlier this week to see, for the most part, Tigers quarterback Cam Newton and defensive tackle Nick Fairley.
But those guys didn’t stop paying attention for the bulk of the workout day when Newton and Fairley were simply standing around waiting for their turns.
So a player like Clayton gets a bigger stage than he would have in other years. An under-appreciated player in the Auburn defense, as almost any player would be next to Fairley in the lineup, Clayton may have had the best full workout of any Auburn player Tuesday.
Clayton ran well, showed strength and had a nice day in agility drills. He’ll probably be selected slightly higher than he would have had the throng not descended on the Auburn campus.
It’s why, when the University of Miami’s roster was loaded with first- and second-round picks, their pro days were renowned for having a long list of players who had already used up their eligibility many years before back on the field for another swing at latching on with an NFL team.
At CU on Wednesday, McKnight likely cashed in on the best attended pro day in Boulder in almost a decade. Nineteen teams were represented, with Carolina general manager Marty Hurney on hand.
Most were there to see offensive tackle Nate Solder and cornerback Jimmy Smith. But McKnight, who was not invited to any postseason all-star games or the scouting combine, enlisted New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez for a little help in position drills and ran better than scouts expected.
Whatever happens to McKnight during draft weekend, many of the scouts on hand Wednesday believe he got a significant bump with the athleticism he showed in the workout.
Jalil Brown, who had been to both the Senior Bowl and the combine, also took the opportunity to run another two 40-yard dashes, turning in a better clocking on both than he did at the combine.
“I knew I could run faster,” Brown said. “And you have so many teams there, it’s a good time to do something good. That’s how I looked at it.”
Jeff Legwold: 303-954-2359 or jlegwold@denverpost.com
