Football: Mustangs' Martin awaits for NFL draft day

A round-up of media reports on Western d-lineman Vaughn Martin is called for, since he is eligible for this weekend's NFL draft.

Martin was on Prime Time Sports on The FAN 590 in Toronto tonight. He came across very well and got a laugh out of hosts Bob McCown and Stephen Brunt when he joked that scouts liked him because he's "barbaric."

Martin's representation (his agent is Matt Baxter, banned for CIS for doping, and human nature is that where there's smoke, there's fire), or how he's had time to write his winter semester exams while working out and interviewing with close to half the teams in the NFL, did not come up. Paul Kuharsky of ESPN.com also noted, that he liked the idea of a team such as Indianapolis, which already has two CIS players on their rosters, taking him.

"They might be thrilled to get a guy half as big," Kuharsky said during a chat on Thursday.

"But NFLDraftScout has him unrated -- so there's got to be some concern."

Stampede Blue, a Colts blog, was also high on Martin. Its suggestion was that signing Martin would be worth it, just to keep him away from AFC rivals such as San Diego or New England.

SI.com talked up Martin as a small-school sleeper.
"Only on rare occasions does a college player from Canada catch the fancy of NFL decision makers, and that's exactly what Vaughn Martin has done. Five teams went to London, Ontario, to watch Martin work out on the second Saturday in March. The 327-pound defender put on a show, running as fast as 5.07 in the 40 after completing 31 reps on the bench. (Ed.'s note: 25 reps at 225 lbs. is considered the standard for linemen, correct me if I'm wrong.)

"Martin has the size and strength to be used at nose tackle or middle guard. The Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers and Carolina Panthers not only attended Martin's workout, but also brought him to the states for an official visit."
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel also provided a capsule:
"Born in Jamaica and raised in Toronto and London, Martin tried to play football in the U.S. but had trouble getting his transcripts accepted and played at Western Ontario. Last season, he played mostly at defensive tackle, but also filled in at end. Probably is better suited for nose tackle in a 3-4. He had 36 tackles, 3½ sacks and 7½ tackles for loss last season. Also served as a blocker in short yardage plays. Visited Packers and had private workout at school. Late-round pick or free agent."
Last and certainly least, Gregg Easterbrook at Tuesday Morning Quarterback, which used to be really funny back around 2001, joked the Buffalo Bills should draft Martin with their second first-round pick, 28th overall:
"With the Bills becoming the NFL's first globalized franchise, a Canadian is a box-office must. Canadian law requires disclosure of the salaries of highly paid public employees, including at public universities. Here, the University of Western Ontario discloses 16 pages of staff paid more than $100,000 per year Canadian, including hundreds of professors. Eat your hearts out, temp faculty at American public colleges!
It's been a hot topic of discussion at the dot-org whether Martin will get drafted on Sunday, when rounds 3-7 of the draft are held.

The bottom line is there aren't many players who are 325 lbs. and can run the 40-yard dash in 5-flat. A scout is really going to have to do a selling job to convince a team to draft Martin, so this will be interesting. A gut feeling is Martin gets a free-agent shot.
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4 comments:

  1. Hey, Easterbrook was funny well into 2004...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Come on, can't it be said in haiku?

    Really funny in oh-one /
    still solid in oh-four /
    kind of stale now

    ReplyDelete
  3. I still find Easterbrook's stuff quite good. To be fair, that was a mockery of mock drafts, so the Martin bit wasn't really an insult; other draftees included Rod Blagojevich and Caprica Six.

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  4. "Good is not good when better is expected." — Vin Scully

    ReplyDelete