Pro days are over, but some prospects are still working out for scouts

There hasn’t been a pro day since the beginning of April, but some prospects are still going through private workouts for clubs. Some will be working out through Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. Why is this happening?

Generally a club has some unanswered questions about a player or they want to confirm what they feel they already know. One thing is certain, if a player is doing workouts at this late date there is genuine interest in the player. The prospects working out aren’t just top-round guys but also players who weren’t at the combine and clubs need to find out about these guys.

There are so many pro days in the month of March that many times clubs don’t have the opportunity to send a scout to every pro day. There can be some days when as many as 8 or 9 pro days are going on at once. When someone has a great workout even if a club doesn’t have a scout there they seem to find out about it. It’s tough to keep a secret.

Over the last few days, I have talked to a few agents who I know and they told me about some of their players who are still working out. Here are some.

Donovan Robinson – DE/OLB – Jackson St.
Robinson was not at the combine but the undersized defensive end who some see as a 3-4 outside linebacker had a big year with 58 total tackles to go along with 16 sacks. A number of clubs had him in for visits and he was doing workouts up until last week.

Juron Criner – WR – Arizona
Criner had a good season to go along with a strong Senior Bowl week then struggled at the Combine. He redeemed himself at his pro day when he ran in the 4.55 range. He has some private workouts scheduled for this week.

A.J. Jenkins – WR – Illinois
Jenkins followed up a strong season with a very good Combine. He made a number of team visits and like Criner has private workouts scheduled this week.

Jeremy Lane – DC – Northwestern St.
Like Robinson, Lane was not a Combine invitee. He played well in one of the minor All-Star games and reportedly ran well this spring when timed. Like Jenkins he made a number of team visits and has at least two private workouts scheduled this week.

Andre Branch – DE/OLB – Clemson
Branch isn’t having late workouts but he made a few last-second visits. The last day prospects could visit clubs was last Wednesday and Branch made visits last week. Branch is interesting because he can be a 3-4 OLB or a 4-3 DE in schemes like Philadelphia, Minnesota, Chicago and New York Giants.

Brandon Thompson – DT – Clemson
Like his teammate Andre Branch, Thompson made some late visits last week. He also has fielded numerous phone calls from clubs over the weekend. One club called Thompson multiple times Saturday and Sunday.