Eric Hansen

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Maybe the fact that there were more media present at the NFL Scouting Combine (a record 385) in Indianapolis this past week than players (326) probably lent itself to more innuendo than fact, more copycat bombshells, more wild declarations like this one, courtesy of SI.com’s Tony Pauline:

"Scouts were astonished Brady Quinn decided the leave the combine without throwing in the RCA Dome. This comes on the heals(sic) of the phantom injury that forced Quinn to withdraw from the Senior Bowl three days before the event began.

"Quinn's draft stock has taken a major hit at the combine. There are questions about his decision making on and off the field as well as his leadership skills."

Well, for starters scouts knew in advance that the quarterback, who recently completed his Notre Dame football career with 36 school records, wouldn’t be throwing until the first of two Notre Dame pro days (March 4 in South Bend).

And for the record LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell, the darling of the pre-draft drivel, also didn’t throw at the combine.

And of the phantom knee injury?
I suppose Quinn should ask for a refund then from noted orthopedic surgeon James Andrews, who informed the Irish quarterback to skip the Senior Bowl in January due to a knee injury suffered during the first half of Notre Dame’s loss to USC in late November, and aggravated in the Sugar Bowl loss to Russell and LSU on Jan. 3.

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It is true that Quinn, the player who figured to be a foregone conclusion to be the No. 1 pick in April’s draft when the 2006 season started, is now most popularly projected at No. 9 in the first round to the Miami Dolphins.

And it is true there are more lights shone on his warts these days than his dimples. Just as with Peyton Manning when Ryan Leaf was offered as a sexier alternative with supposedly better upside. Just as with Matt Leinart in last year's draft.

"When you're a senior and you've had a long career, sometimes the newness of what you've accomplished has worn off a little bit and people look to nitpick," NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said.

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"They've had a full year to go through his tapes and to start saying, 'Well maybe he's not a franchise quarterback because ...'

"Now, JaMarcus Russell is going to start to get picked on also. As we get closer to the draft, people are going to start to go up and down from a perception standpoint.

"I mean, to me, Brady Quinn is still the same quarterback I watched as a junior, and he's still a franchise-type quarterback. All those perceptions don't really get to me, because I can sit down with the game tape."

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