Former Missouri Tigers QB Blaine Gabbert went from having a good, but not great, senior season where he might make an argument as a first round pick to see ing Stanford QB Andrew Luck return to school, playing well in the Insight Bowl and seeing his stock soar to possibly as high as the top quarterback taken in the 2011 NFL draft.
And now things are coming back down a little bit, according to ESPN's Mel Kiper, who says Gabbert's stock is slipping as we sit here just several weeks before the NFL Combine.
Apparently, teams have done more film work on Gabbert now that the season is over. His senior season was, as we said, good but not great, throwing for 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He didn't dominate the the competition like another Missouri quarterback did in Chase Daniel.
What Gabbert does have going for him is size. Not to go all cliche on you, but you can't teach size. He's 6'4", big and has a strong arm. Those are positives that will keep him in the first round.
His main competition is former Auburn QB Cam Newton, who reportedly had a "phenomenal" workout for assembled media this week. Fortunately for Gabbert, Newton's workout means next to nothing as far as the draft is concerned. Teams will flip on 14 games of tape on Newton -- not 45 minutes of workouts only broadcast by ESPN and local media.
What you should remember is that we are a long, long time from developing any sort of respectable big board. We still have the NFL Combine and various visits to NFL teams ahead of us.