A number of NFL prospects were able to boost their draft stock over the weekend with impressive performances at the Scouting Combine, but Florida defensive end Jachai Polite was not one of them. In fact, it sounds like it could not have gone much worse for him.
Polite, who was at one point considered a first-round talent, underwhelmed with his workouts and apparently did even more poorly in his interviews with teams. Already an undersized edge rusher, Polite ran the 40-yard dash in a sluggish 4.84 seconds. Matt Miller of Bleacher Report was then told by multiple scouts that Polite interviewed horribly and was believed to be faking an injury.
“Just landed back home, opened my phone and had 5 texts from scouts about how bad Jachai Polite interviewed. On top of bad workouts (one called his injury “bullshit”), his stock is taking a massive tumble,” Miller wrote in a tweet.
NFL.com’s Lance Lierlein, another draft analyst, predicted that Polite will now fall out of the first round. Polite even admitted his interviews went poorly and said teams criticized his game.
Jachai Polite said Rams were his best meeting “bc they didn’t bash me. Everybody else picking at my game”
— Jon Ledyard (@LedyardNFLDraft) March 2, 2019
We pretty much knew that the Combine had not gone well for Polite when he complained to reporters about the interview process, but that was only a piece of the story. The defensive end was expected to be a first-round pick because of his supposed freak athleticism, but he was not successful in showcasing any of that. Perhaps he will turn out to be a value pick in the later rounds.
