Quick Slants

1. While Ryan sits on his standing (can that be done?) as the top quarterback in the draft, Diamond Joe Flacco is dropping jaws with regularity. Earlier this week he worked out for a contingent for the Ravens. Asked to throw the ball flat-footed on a line without taking a step, Flacco’s throw traveled 64 yards. Sixteen teams showed up for his Pro Day at Delaware last week and five more teams, including the Ravens, worked him out. Interestingly, two teams who haven’t yet scheduled appointments with Flacco – Miami and Chicago.

It’s the measurables that are driving Flacco up mock draft boards. It’s funny, people get excited about what a guy runs in the 40 but how often do you see a quarterback sprint 40 yards. More relevant to that position in terms of mobility are the three-cone and 20-yard shuttle. Those tests show short-space quickness more necessary to the position than something like the vertical jump or a sprint.

In the three-cone, Flacco ran a ridiculous 6.82. Not only was that nearly two-tenths of a second faster than the next quickest QB, that’s faster than all but three running backs, faster than all but one tight end and seventh among wideouts. In the 20-yard shuttle, Flacco was second among quarterbacks in 4.27. Remember, Flacco’s 6-6, 232 pounds. Meanwhile, Ryan ran just the 40 at the Combine and did that in 5.08.

2. While teams try to project what they’ll one day get from guys like Ryan and Flacco, there are still a few quarterback dominoes left to fall in this offseason. The removal from the free agent market of David Carr (signed with the Giants) and Joey Harrington (back with the Falcons) crosses out a couple of would-be reclamation projects but teams like Minnesota, Chicago and Buffalo still have sticky situations.

By the end of last season, it was pretty clear Bills coach Dick Jauron preferred Trent Edwards to J.P. Losman because Edwards is a very good game manager while Losman’s strength is throwing downfield. So where does that leave Losman heading into 2008? He’s a former first-round pick (22nd in 2004) and while he’s never been "good" he could still be serviceable.

In addition, he bears a vague resemblance to Keanu Reeves. Not sure if that’s a positive or not but it’s too early to give up on him. Does a team like Chicago add Losman or do they already have enough confusion at that spot with Rex Grossman and Kyle Orton without adding another guy whose career is on the ropes. Or does a guy like Losman go to Minnesota? At the Combine, Vikings head coach Brad Childress said he likes competition at the quarterback position. Right now, Tarvaris Jackson and Brooks Bollinger are the depth at that spot but, given Jackson’s struggles last year and the addition of a downfield threat like Bernard Berrian, wouldn’t Minny be a good spot for Losman?

3. Former Cardinals and Bears player Obafemi Ayanbadejo is suing a supplement company, claiming he came up bad on a steroids/performance-enhancer test in 2007 because the supplement he took must have contained outlawed ingredients not listed on the label.

Reminds me of a conversation I had with former Giants and current Dolphins kicker Jay Feely after I wrote about Shawne Merriman's "dirty batch" defense in 2006.

"Guys who test positive can say that but it's an empty excuse," said Feely. "The program exists and if there's a supplement that's not on the program that you want to take, you can send product the product into the NFL and have them verify it for you. This offseason I wanted to take a multivitamin and I sent it in and five days later I got the answer, 'It's fine, take it,'" said Feely. "There's no excuse for it. So when someone comes back positive they're either, one, doing something they shouldn’t be doing or, two, too lazy to get it checked out."

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