Spoon shines for NFL scouts
By DAVE MATTER
Posted March 5, 2010
Having just worked out for NFL teams on Monday at the Scouting Combine, Sean Weatherspoon could have sat out Thursday’s pro day inside Missouri’s Devine Pavilion. Instead, he had a score to settle with the stopwatch.
"All the reviews I got at the combine was that I did what I needed to do," the former MU linebacker said. "But, me personally, I wasn’t satisfied with my 40 time. So I wanted to come out here today and run it on my home turf and maybe do a little better."
He did just that. After clocking 40-yard dash times in the 4.5 and 4.6-second range in Indianapolis, Weatherspoon was timed in the 4.4s on Thursday, specifically 4.43 by a scout from Green Bay and 4.48 by a representative from Atlanta. Weatherspoon also set a personal-record in the bench press, lifting 225 pounds 35 times, one more rep than he managed in Indy where he had the second-best total among linebackers.
If anything, Weatherspoon might have scored points with scouts by working out at MU when he could have been a spectator.
"I had originally planned not to do the bench press, but when I saw other guys competing and all my teammates in there, I said, 'I got to get under there.' That was my motivation to do that. … You definitely get points for that."
Weatherspoon said he has had formal interviews with 21 teams and expects to line up some private workouts with clubs in the coming weeks. He’s hoping to fall somewhere between the draft’s No. 15 overall pick (owned by the New York Giants) and No. 34, the second pick of the second round, held by Detroit. Anything lower, he said, will be disappointing.
Weatherspoon said he feels best about his meetings with Atlanta, Denver, New England and New Orleans, among others. He also interviewed with Cleveland’s brass, including linebackers coach Matt Eberflus, MU’s former defensive coordinator and the coach who recruited Weatherspoon out of Jasper, Texas. Teams that run a 3-4 defense told Weatherspoon they like him as an inside linebacker, while 4-3 teams like him at either the middle or weakside position, the place he played most of his college career.
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