Carmen Messina to Detroit

[Mark]

per his Twitter as a UDFA.

[txlobo95]

Hope he can stick onto the team or any team for that matter, even if it's on the practice squad.

Reminds me of the LB from Tech, Zach, that was undersized, but had a high motor and a huge heart.

[Mark]

Hope he can stick onto the team or any team for that matter, even if it's on the practice squad.

Reminds me of the LB from Tech, Zach, that was undersized, but had a high motor and a huge heart.

Zack Thomas. I think Carmen is bigger than Zack but Thomas was maybe my favorite player on Miami for many years.
Pretty good comparison.

[GiJoeRay]

Carmen way bigger, Zach way faster. I'm happy Messina is at least getting a shot. Hope he makes the most of it.

[Mark]

ZT-- Ht: 5-11 Wt: 235 ran 4.78- 40

CM-- Ht: 6-1 Wt: 241 ran 4.85- 40

[txlobo95]

Carmen way bigger, Zach way faster.

ZT-- Ht: 5-11 Wt: 235 ran 4.78- 40

CM-- Ht: 6-1 Wt: 241 ran 4.85- 40

call me crazy, but looks pretty similar to me...

[FlyingLobo]

Zack Thomas is a great comparison to Carmen Messina. Thomas had a huge motor, played smart, and loved to hit. Sounds a lot like Carmen Messina to me. I think Carmen will turn some heads in the Lions camp.

[loboray]

Being only 5'11" I bet a lot of teams didn't even look at Zack. Their loss. They probably even consider Carmen on the smallish side. They like em more the size of Url. Oh, and as fast as Url too.

[hefman]

Carmen will turn heads the first time he wraps up a tackle in camp. He may not have the track speed, but I've seen few players who pursue as well and are as punishing with their tackles as Carmen is. It's not so much how hard he hits (although he does hit hard), it's the absolutely grueling way that he wraps up, brings ball carriers down, and "follows through" on his tackles.

I can't say he'll be the next Zach Thomas, but there's no reason he couldn't be. Players who have a nose for the ball and are hard tacklers get noticed.

[BoRealist]

BAM, Lions rule no two ways about it. Get on the band wagon boys and girls.

[MacLobo]

BAM, Lions rule no two ways about it. Get on the band wagon boys and girls.

Poor Carmen....goes from UNM (no shot at a title) to Detroit (definitely no shot at a title)! Sometimes life just isn't fair.

[GiJoeRay]

call me crazy, but looks pretty similar to me...

Line backer isn't about straight away speed, its about lateral movement. Messina's big problem is that he plays tight, and robotic, Thomas carried most of his weight in his lower body allowing him to be more explosive. Messina is a gym rat, dude is stacked, but that has taken away from his potential.

[LetTheFurFly]

ZT-- Ht: 5-11 Wt: 235 ran 4.78- 40

CM-- Ht: 6-1 Wt: 241 ran 4.85- 40

At this point I don't think it matters but I'm curious...Where is that 40 time from? The information about Carmen's 40 is sparce, but I thought his measured average was 4.74 after running one in the 4.6 range and the 4.85?

I saw a few in the draft that posted times slower than 4.7 and it made me cringe everytime to think they had an extra advantage over a player that deserves a shot. Carmen being one of the best examples.

[BoRealist]

Poor Carmen....goes from UNM (no shot at a title) to Detroit (definitely no shot at a title)! Sometimes life just isn't fair.

Take it easy Donko fan, don't want you to get overly excited and stain your new blue and orange Manning neck brace and jersey.

[Lobo4444]

The 4.85 time was his 40 at a combine he attended. It dropped his draft stock significantly. (He had a previous time of 4.68 at another event.)

[GiJoeRay]

What combine was that? Most Def not the NFL combine. Can anyone find anything from the Northwestern University Pro Day?

[GiJoeRay]

Heres really all i can find. Dont know how reliable it is though.

http://www.abqjournal.com/sports/201...d-by-time.html

http://cache.profootballweekly.com/p...en-messina-58/

Just for compairitive purposes here is Tank Carders combine results

http://www.nfldraftscout.com/ratings...012&genpos=ILB