Eagles' linebacker draft possibilities

INDIANAPOLIS - Turns out, Vontaze Burfict's assessment of himself jibes perfectly with how a lot of Eagles fans see him.

Birds fans - some of them, anyhow - are so tired of undersized, colorless linebacking, that they have latched onto the wild man from Arizona State as exactly what their team needs, a big-hitting, flamboyant, Jeremiah Trotteresque force in the middle.

Never mind that draft analysts have pushed Burfict (6-1, 248) well out of the first round, based on a disappointing senior season that included a locker-room fight with a teammate, numerous personal fouls, accusations that he was out of shape, and less difference-making play than his blow-'em-up style might promise.

How seriously has controversy damaged the draft stock of a guy who was being touted as a possible national defensive player of the year before the season?

"I'm not concerned about that. I just know I'm the best linebacker in this draft. I know I can get the job done," Burfict said yesterday during a media session at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Draft analysts disagree with that "best linebacker" assessment. They see Boston College's much-less controversial Luke Kuechly as that guy. Kuechly, the popular mock draft pick for the Eagles at 15th overall, might not be Burfict's match as an athlete - though clocking in at 6-3, 242 here certainly was reassuring - but Kuechly has been a much more consistent, reliable performer.

" 'Instinctual player' is something that pops up for a lot of people," Kuechly (pronounced KEEK-ly) said, when asked how he thinks he is viewed. "That, coupled with I think I'm a smart player. I think I do a pretty good job preparing myself. That's something I take pride in. Being prepared, and knowing what each individual guy is responsible for. I can point at different guys, and let them know what they're doing if they have questions. I take pride in having the ability to do that. And doing that, and knowing what everyone is doing, you can play faster. It allows you to be more successful."

Size and athleticism are the only questions Kuechly has to answer here, nothing about fighting teammates. He answered the size question, today he hopes to show his quickness in running and agility drills.

"I think that's one thing about the combine, it gives you an opportunity to show how you can move in different scenarios, there's different time drills as well as position drills led by coaches," Kuechly said. "I think it's an opportunity for me to show I can move well."

Kuechly sees the mock drafts, tries not to get caught up in them. He hangs out a lot with former Conestoga High linebacker Mark Herzlich, whose cancer diagnosis in 2009 led to Kuechly starting at BC as a true freshman. Herzlich, now with the New York Giants, might have been schooling Kuechly on how to deal with Philly fans, but Kuechly wasn't really going to acknowledge that yesterday.

"Yeah, I got some friends who live in Philadelphia. Mark loves it there. That's his home, obviously. I've talked to Mark about plenty of things," Kuechly said.

Of course, free agency starts March 13, and by the April 26 draft, linebacking might not be as pressing a concern for the Birds as it seems at the moment. The Eagles haven't taken a linebacker in the first round since Jerry Robinson in 1979, and they are fully capable of keeping that streak alive.

Kuechly said he gained 5 pounds from his playing weight last season while training for the combine, hoping to add power and strength. Burfict has lost 12 pounds; he acknowledged he bulked up to 260 last year, which he said was a mistake.

Burfict, rarely interviewed at Arizona State, told reporters yesterday that his image as "trouble" is all a big mistake.

"I'm a soft-spoken guy, shy sometimes . . . I just hate to lose," Burfict said. "I thought I played average [last season]. I could have played better . . . coaches kind of messed me up, I didn't know if I was going to start a game, I didn't know if I was going to be benched. That hurt me at times, but I tried to fight through it."

A questioner asked if Burfict thought he was a marked man with referees.

"Yes. It was that, and I was aggressive at times," he said. "I just love to hit. I hate to lose."

The locker-room fight happened during preseason workouts last August. Burfict got into it with sophomore wideout Kevin Ozier.

"It started in seven-on-seven. He ran a route and hit me, and we're not supposed to hit each other in seven-on-seven. We had an argument, and we brought it into the locker room," Burfict said. "We started chattering about it, he started roughhousing me, he pushed me, and my first instinct was to swing, and everyone thinks I'm the bad guy because my first instinct was to swing on the guy."

Asked if he regrets anything, Burfict said: "The locker-room fight, but I learned from it. I've been working with a guy named Nick Barnett [Bills linebacker], he's part of my agency. I have been working on what I can do in the locker room and off the field because I know this is a business now. There are things you can't do in business."

Burfict, who addressed his questioners as "sir," insisted the NFL team that drafted him would not be taking on a problem.

"I heard that I'm not coachable at times, but I think that's not true. I love being coached, want to get better, and hopefully can be in the Hall of Fame one day," he said.

NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock talked about players with "red flags" yesterday, after North Alabama corner Janoris Jenkins (kicked off the Florida team) created a combine buzz by talking in detail about how he came to be arrested several times while still finding time to father four children. Mayock's words also applied to Burfict, Notre Dame wideout Michael Floyd, and many other prospects.

"There's all kinds of different red flags - medical, off-the-field. What's interesting to me is how different teams treat those red flags," Mayock said. "There's no one uniform way . . . for the next 2 months [such players] are going to get asked 90 gazillion questions. It's all public, it's all out there, teams know more than we do. You've gotta look these guys in the eye and have all the right answers. Most importantly, convince them it's not gonna happen again.

"So they're all going to say the same thing. 'I've grown up, I'm sorry.' Do you buy into that? And at what level? Here's the key, just like medical, at what level do you buy in? At a first-round price? Second-round price? Fourth-round price? Every team's different that way. I already know some teams that have certain players off the board . . . 'I'm not dealing with that player, for this reason,' whether it's medical or off-the-field. Some teams say, 'That's a first-round pick, I don't care.' Other teams say, 'He's off the board.' And then there are a bunch of teams in the middle somewhere."

With Burfict, even if no one's buying at the first-round price, there surely will be a point where potential will convince a team to take a shot.