Written by Jeff Legwold at ESPN.com
His shirt at the NFL’s scouting combine says “LB,” as in linebacker, but the versatile Jabrill Peppers is confident about where he should play as a professional.
“What do I look like? I’m a safety. I’m a safety. Yes, I’m a safety,” Michigan’s do-it-all standout said. “… I control the controllables. I’m pretty much effective wherever I’m gonna be put. I don’t have a lot of tape at safety, but I’m a pretty damn good safety. I think a lot of teams notice that. They have the tape. They asked me for tapes of me playing corner, me playing some safety, but ultimately I hope a lot of questions are answered after this weekend.”
No one in the league questions the multidimensional Peppers as a first-round prospect, but opinions do vary on where to put him. Weak-side linebacker, strong safety, free safety, slot receiver and maybe even some running back are all on the list of options tossed out by personnel evaluators in recent days.
And, oh, he can be a full-time returner as well.
Peppers certainly did his part to add to the conversation Sunday when the linebackers went through their on-field workout at Lucas Oil Stadium. At 5-foot-10 7/8, 213 pounds, he blistered through his 40-yard dash attempts in 4.46 and 4.47 seconds to go with 35 ½-inch vertical leap and a 10-8 broad jump.
All of those were at, or near, the top performances in the position group. Peppers was put in the linebackers group Sunday because that was his listed position when the combine official sent out invitations, but he said Saturday he plans to take part in the defensive backs drills on Monday — the final day of workouts at the combine.
To continue reading this article, click here.
