With a week and a half prior to the 2012 NFL draft the pre-draft visits continue at One Bills Drive. After no visits were scheduled last week, Buffalo played host to three defensive prospects Monday.
The Bills welcomed Alabama safety Mark Barron, Boise State defensive end Shea McClellin and Central Florida cornerback Josh Robinson.
Barron is widely projected as the best safety in the draft class despite the fact that he wasn't able to participate at the NFL Combine due to double hernia surgery. He did perform a partial workout at Alabama's pro day on March 29th where he clocked a 40 time in the mid to high 4.5s, and avoided doing any lateral agility drills because of his surgery.
"It was on and off for about two years. It came around and stayed around this year, so I just played with it the whole season," said Barron. "I got it fixed right after."
The Bills likely want to see how Barron has progressed in his recovery. Barron had 12 interceptions in his college career that spanned 51 games and a pair of National Championships. He saw time at both strong and free safety his last two seasons for the Crimson Tide. He also was the quarterback of Alabama's complex defensive scheme.
"We played in a very difficult defense," he said. "We ran a lot of different schemes. As far as communicating, I had a lot to do with that on the back end. I feel like sometimes I brought some energy with the hits that I made and things of that nature. So, I did a lot of different things."
Barron was the team's second-leading tackler in 2011 en route to consensus 1st Team All-American honors. He's been forecast as a first round draft choice and has already made a pre-draft visit to Dallas.
McClellin has been getting more and more publicity from the national draft analysts as the draft has drawn closer. Seen as a hybrid defensive end/outside linebacker, McClellin played both roles at times for Boise State.
Known as a high energy player with a non-stop motor, McClellin does have some athletic ability to match posting a 4.63 40-time and a 7.07 time in the three-cone drill. With almost a quarter of his career tackles going for loss for the Broncos, the 1st Team All-Mountain West Conference player is forecast as a late first or early second-round pick.
Central Florida CB Josh Robinson's workout at the Combine sent a lot of NFL scouts scurrying back to the film room to watch more of his game tape. He posted a 4.33 40-time along with a 38 ½" vertical, 11'1" broad jump and an impressive 17 reps on the bench at 5'10" and 199 pounds.
Robinson, who had 10 interceptions in three seasons, believes his game is still on the way up.
"I would describe it as consistent and actually improving even though I didn't have the interceptions that I had my first couple of years," said Robinson. "I did make the plays more and gave up less and less touchdowns and completions. I believe my career was kind of sound at UCF."
With the ability to play boundary corner and subpackage roles as well as return ability, Robinson should hear his name called no later than round two.
