Darrius Heyward-Bey: February 2009 Archives

Darrius Heyward-Bey virtually sprinted himself out of consideration for the Bears today.

The Maryland wide receiver blazed through the 40-yard dash at the combine in 4.30 seconds, the fastest time of any receiver on the day and tied for the second fastest by a receiver at the combine since 2000. Any hope the Bears had of being able to consider him with the 18th pick in the first round looks to be gone in 4.3 seconds.

In fact, it was pretty good times all around on the day for the position group that the Bears has to be keeping a close eye on. A couple other receivers had strong performances and might be worth considering a little later on in the draft.

*** Ohio State's Brian Robiskie answered questions about his speed when the 6-3, 210-pounder ran the 40 in 4.51 seconds. His vertical jump of 37.5 inches was ninth among wideouts. He was fifth in the three cone drill in 6.72 seconds and eighth in the 20-yard shuttle.

INDIANAPOLIS--The Bears figure to be in the market for a wide receiver in this draft and the picture for wideouts just got jumbled.

Michael Crabtree, the consensus best receiver in the draft and the top player according to some scouts, will be out 10 weeks after it was discovered Friday that he has a stress fracture in his left foot. He will require surgery to have a pin inserted.

How this changes the board for teams picking near the top of the draft remains to be seen. Ten weeks will take him up until about the draft, which begins April 25. It could affect Missouri's Jeremy Maclin most. He's considered the next best receiver by many.

There is nothing quite like a 25th anniversary and the 2009 draft marks the 25th year Mel Kiper Jr. will be associated with ESPN's coverage of the NFL Draft.

Kiper has the Bears selecting LSU defensive end Tyson Jackson in his latest mock draft, which has been up for a few weeks, and he took time out this morning in a conference call to talk about a realm of different possibilities.

"Wide receiver, offensive line and obviously the quarterback situation has to be cleared up there moving forward," Kiper said when asked what the Bears could potentially target at No. 18 in the first round. "But certainly wide receiver would be the one you have to look at, maybe Percy Harvin if he was there would be someone they have to consider. I just think their defense, which did not get it done in a lot of games, has to be looked at. Tyson Jackson from LSU, a defensive end, would seem to fit kind of the mold of the versatile defensive end they like. I would say Tyson Jackson if not maybe Percy Harvin.''

We outlined a few reasons why Harvin might not be a good match for the Bears in that slot last week. Harvin's cut from the Devin Hester mold and like Hester he played other positions in school. He also comes with some injury baggage, not the kind of thing general manager Jerry Angelo will likely be willing to consider at this pick.