Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
The Vikings will be hosting their annual “Top 30” event very soon, where they gather a bunch of prospects they’re interested in and conduct meetings and private workouts with the players.
It’s possible one big name won’t be showing up at Winter Park at the event, as he is saving all his football until after the draft.
According to Peter King at the MMQB, Jadeveon Clowney has decided to stop conducting private workouts with NFL teams. Clowney will still visit teams, coaches and general managers, but all meetings will not consist of an on-field workout.
This news from Clowney’s camp comes in the wake of a gruesome injury to Clemson guard Brandon Thomas, who tore his ACL while conducting a private workout with the New Orleans Saints. Thomas had been a late riser and seemed to be working his way towards a Day Two selection, but now because he will likely have to start his NFL career on the PUP list he could drop out of the draft entirely.
It’s hard to blame Clowney for protecting the body that is set to make him millions less than a month from today. There has never been any questions about Clowney’s physical skill set, just questions about how committed he is to maximizing said skill set.
Of course, refusing to work out for any more NFL teams won’t help Clowney assuage concerns about his work ethic, but with his tremendous talent he seems a sure-fire lock for a top five selection. It’s hard to view Clowney as anything but the favorite for the No. 1 overall selection at this point as well.
Will this latest potential flag send Clowney’s stock spiraling all the way down to the Vikings at pick No. 8? That’s still highly unlikely, because as mentioned above he’s simply too talented for seven teams to pass on him at this point. If just a few pass though, don’t rule out Rick Spielman surprising us on Draft night once again.