CBS Mocks OLB Kamalei Correa To The New York Jets

The combine is in the books and for some people, that means a rise in their draft stock. For others, it may mean a fall. I'm always wary of combine heroes or combine duds, sometimes people run slow, sometimes they run fast, sometimes their strength fails them and sometimes they have the power of Thor in their hands.

However it's always interesting to watch the mock drafts come in immediately following the combine. Today I'm focusing in on CBS's Pete Prisco's offering:

Kamalei Correa, OLB-DE, Boise State: He's a player who caught my eye on tape last week, and backed it up with an impressive combine. The Jets need edge rushers in their 3-4 scheme, something that has been lacking the past few years.

I haven't look at Correa in depth, but I have seen enough tape to form an opinion, and seeing him mocked to the Jets in the first round is very surprising. Having checked my personal notes, I had "middle round" next to his name. So I headed back to watch a little more last night, and my opinion hasn't changed.

He's definitely a quick-twitch athlete, he has acceleration and his closing speed is impressive. A good initial burst and plenty of playing strength, and with coaching he could be a very good rusher. However he played at defensive end in college and will need to move to a 3-4 linebacker. I didn't see much fluidity to his game and he looked a bit stiff when trying to turn the corner. He flashes the willingness to use several pass rushing moves, but his speed off the edge was really the only one that was consistently successful. Despite his speed, he never looked comfortable when dropping back into coverage.

He has enough talent to interest you in the 2nd round, that's the kind of upside he has. However does he have enough right now to get me interested at #20 overall? Not for my money.