Oklahoma left tackle Orlando Brown has not covered himself in glory during the Combine. Aside from a disappointing showing on his 225-lb. bench press test, the highly-touted offensive line prospect also had a shockingly slow 40-yard dash, which he received a lot of flak for. However, the Sooners quarterback Brown protected so well in college – Baker Mayfield – has come to his teammate’s defense.
According to Andrew Mason of DenverBroncos.com, Mayfield thinks Brown should be judged by what he did while playing and not by his underwhelming time doing something in a workout that he's not going to do in an actual game.
Baker Mayfield, on Orlando Brown’s 40 time today: “When are you going to watch Orlando Brown run 40 yards down the field? Never.” Says to go watch last year’s tape, when the “allowed zero sacks.”
NFL teams don’t need Mayfield to tell them to do their due diligence on Brown and watch how he performed during college. The big offensive lineman had a glittering career in Norman as he was a constant starter for the Sooners. He was named an All-American last season, in large part because of how well he protected Mayfield's blindside.
But still, it’s hard to blame teams if they have become even a little concerned about Brown’s significantly subpar performance during the Combine. If it doesn’t raise serious questions about his overall athletic ability, it should at least raises some concerns about Brown’s level of preparation for what was a very important event in his professional career.
Teams will obviously take both Brown’s film and his Combine into account in their overall evaluation of the player. However, it will still depend on each team whether they weigh Brown’s disappointing Combine more heavily than others and instead focus more on his on-field performance as Mayfield suggests.
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