Mocking the Draft

Tank Carradine secures 1st round spot at workout

By Dan Kadar Apr 20, 2013, 3:46pm EDT

Former Florida State defensive end Cornelius "Tank" Carradine secured himself a spot in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft on Saturday.

Just 135 days after surgery to reconstruct his knee, Carradine worked out in front of NFL personnel members in hometown Cincinnati. There, Carradine clocked a 40-yard dash time between 4.75 and 4.85 seconds. Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun reports Carradine had a a 10-yard split of 1.63 seconds.

While his times weren't extraordinary, but it's impressive because of how quickly he did it following surgery. Carradine has been seeing the same physical therapist as Adrian Peterson.

According to Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer, 11 teams were in attendance.

The 11 teams at Carradine's workout -- Chiefs, Lions, Browns, Saints, Bengals, Vikings, Colts, Broncos, Patriots, Falcons, Niners
— Joe Reedy (@joereedy) April 20, 2013

At the NFL Combine in February, Carradine said he expected to be 100 percent by the time he worked out.

Exactly how NFL teams view Carradine's injury history will ultimately determine his fate. But conceivably he could go as high as the Tennessee Titans with the 10th overall pick. Perhaps a more likely landing spot for Carradine is the Atlanta Falcons, who have worked him out.

Because he can play rush linebacker, Carradine might also be attractive to a team like the New England Patriots. They also had him in for a visit.

In 11 games last season, Carradine had 11 sacks and 80 tackles. He did so playing right defensive end over the left tackle. He is rated as our second-best defensive end in the draft this year, following Ezekiel Ansah of BYU.