Fantasy Football Whiz

NEWS & NOTES FOLLOWING THE COMPLETION OF THE NFL COMBINE:

RUNNING BACKS:

California's Javid Best... could be considered in the early second round if teams have no concerns about his late-season concussion... many feel that he will, at least initially, work best if teamed with a north-south runner, the way the Giants have with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw.

Clemson's C.J. Spiller... someone could jump on Spiller in the same manner that the Tennessee Titans did with Chris Johnson in the first-round... his big-play potential and versatility would make him a solid addition to teams like Atlanta, Seattle or San Diego.

Tennessee's Montario Hardesty... has created enough buzz around his workout, which included leading all running backs in the vertical jump, broad jump and than posting very impressive 40-times, that many area scouts were saying they planned to go back and review additional game film from his career... one scout also noted that Hardesty looked very good during the weigh-in after adding ten pounds and showing that he worked hard since the end of his season.

Read more: Combine Confidential: Combine Recap & Impressions

-- The largest single group, by position, were defensive linemen as a total of 66 were invited to this year's NFL Combine... Jay Hayes ran the on-field drills portion of the defensive line... he is the DL coach for the Cincinnati Bengals.

-- South Florida junior defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul impressed a number of his fellow defensive linemen as the pass rushing sensation did an unbelievable 13 consecutive back-flips following the end of their on-field workouts on Monday... remember this is a 265-pound defensive lineman... he was raw during parts of the on-field drills but he is such an exciting pass rusher that some of his technique and limited experience issues will get over-shadowed by his raw athleticism and potential... others that impressed included Ohio State junior defensive end/outside linebacker Thaddeus Gibson had a very solid all-around performance... he ran 4.7 range in the 40-yard dash... during the linebacker drills he was better in coverage than expected... so he might be Top-3 rated DE/OLB guy... TCU defensive end/outside linebacker Jerry Hughes showed better straight-line speed than expected, but a little stiff in some of linebacker drills... he looks the part of a hybrid and could likely play either RDE in 4-3 as a situational pass rusher or OLB in a 3-4 set.

Read more: Combine Confidential: DL/LB Observations

Be sure to check back all week long for exclusive coverage of the 2010 NFL Scouting Combine on location from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis:

-- The 2009 NFL Draft featured 42 players who were selected (256 players total were picked) that were not chosen to participate in last year's NFL Scouting Combine... last year's draft had the most non-combine players selected since 2003 when a total of 43 players were taken who failed to receive invites to Indianapolis.

-- NFL evaluators have been told that Notre Dame junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen and Tennessee junior defensive back Eric Berry, a pair of possible Top-10 selections, may come up "Short" when it comes to the weigh-in portion of the NFL Combine... Clausen may be under 6030 while Berry could be below 5110.

-- With many of the top signal callers opting not to workout because of injury or opting to wait for their Pro Days the quarterbacks who could benefit the most this weekend are Cincinnati senior quarterback Tony Pike, West Virginia senior quarterback Jarrett Brown, Mississippi junior quarterback Jevan Snead and Troy senior quarterback Levi Brown.

-- Teams will be paying close attention to the weight of Georgia Tech junior running back Jonathan Dwyer... those who are highly interested in his abilities hope to see a leaner 225-230 pound range back show up to Indianapolis... if he were to be too much north of 235 pounds it will create some questions about his work ethic and ability to be an every-down guy at the next level.

Read more: Combine: Day 1 News & Notes

2009 Wrap-Up: The Jets had a roller coaster season in 2009, much as you would expect when you have a rookie head coach and a rookie starting QB. They got off to a 3-0 start including an upset over New England in week 2 and the Super Bowl talk was all the rage. Then the other shoe dropped with 3 straight losses and cries for Sanchez to be sent to the gallows. The rest of the season went back and forth but they ended up winning the last 2 games over the Colts and Bengals, even if they were somewhat handed to them, to get into the playoffs.

Once in the playoffs though the defense showed everyone just why they were the top ranked defense in the league. They really slowed down both the Cincinnati and San Diego offense and almost did the same to the Colts before they got their act together and Peyton put the game on his shoulders and picked apart the Jets’ defense.

Ultimately you have to call the Jets’ season a success, but they have a bunch of holes they will have to fill if they want to get back to the playoffs in 2010.

Positions of need:

1. Defensive End – Both starting DEs, Shaun Ellis and Marques Douglas, will both be 33 in 2010 and there is no real depth on the roster. Ellis was decent in 2009 with 6.5 sacks, but they mostly came in 3 bunches of 2. Mike Devito is the top backup and made some nice plays in the rotation, but looked lost at other times. They need to add a young explosive player and some depth.

Read more: NY Jets - Team Needs 2010