Limas Sweed, 2008 NFL Draft Prospect

Wide Receiver 6’ 4” 217 lbs. Speed: 4.50 Texas Senior

What is it with Texas and these king sized receivers? The big Sweed is a Texas native and he is clone of the Detroit Lions’ Roy Williams, who also played at Texas; he just isn’t as bow legged and has proven to be more durable, in college anyway. Sweed is a talented 5^th year receiver that is a solid contender for the 2007 Biletnikoff Award. Did I mention Sweed is durable? He has 33 consecutive starts going into the 2007 season. Sweed made a good choice to return to Texas for his senior year, where with another strong performance, Sweed could emerge as a top 15 pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Last year in 2006 he started all 13 games and was a first-team All-Big 12 award winner. He recorded a team leading 43 catches for 801 yards and 12 TDs and scored on a touchdown pass in 10 out of his 13 games. Speaking of Roy Williams, he (Sweed) broke Williams' school record by catching a touchdown pass in seven consecutive games. Sweed steps up in big games; he made three huge receptions for 70 yards and a touchdown in the Alamo Bowl win against Iowa.

As a sophomore in 2005 he started all 13 games and was named honorable mention All-Big 12 by The Associated Press. Sweed finished second on the team with 36 pass receptions for 545 yards and five touchdowns that year. He filled in nicely for Roy Williams after he left for the NFL and Texas didn’t miss a beat. Further proof that Sweed is a big time gamer, he recorded eight receptions (career high) for 65 yards in Texas' 41-38 victory over Southern California on their way to winning a National Championship. With Vince Young in the spotlight people forgot all about Sweed, but his sophomore year Sweed let the NFL Draft Scouting community know that he would be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Sweed took a redshirt in 2003, but as a red shirt freshman in 2004 he got valuable playing time starting about mid way through the season, he played in 11 games and actually started the last seven.

Sweed was a heck of an athlete in high school; obviously he played football as a receiver and a safety and even played in the 2003 U.S. Army All-American game. But he was also a supreme basketball player earning all-district honors as a junior after averaging 12 points and eight rebounds per game. He was also a four-year letter winner in track & field and his best event was the hurdles where he placed fourth in the 110m hurdles (14.10) at the 2003 Texas 4A track & field meet.

It’s hard to avoid the Roy Williams comparisons, but with two king sized Texas receivers entering the NFL Draft within a few years of each other the comparisons are inevitable. It is hard to say if Sweed will be as good of a pro as Roy Williams is, but I currently have him rated slightly higher than I had Williams when he entered the NFL Draft. I had concerns about Williams' durability. Williams is a little bit better of an athlete and looks a little faster on tape, but Sweed is very experienced and has shown to be very durable and has a knack for stepping up in the big games. Like WR Dwayne Jarrett from the 2007 NFL Draft, Sweed’s 40 yard dash time will play a huge part in his eventual draft placement.

Sweed had a disastrous senior season. He battled injuries for the first part of the season playing in only 6 games and catching 19 passes for 306 yards and 3 TDs. Then in early October he suffered major ligament damage to his wrist requiring season ending surgery. The good news is his injury happened fairly early in the season, he tried to work out at the Senior Bowl, but his wrist was still bothering him. He was, however, able to run at the combine, he still didn't do any positional drills, but ran a very nice 4.46 forty. He is a lock to be a first round NFL Draft pick at this point if his wrist checks out medically.

Texas Pro day (March 19th): WR Limas Sweed (6-4 ¼, 210): Ran the 40 in 4.50 and 4.51, had a 37 ½-inch vertical jump, 10-foot, 8-inch long jump, 4.33 short shuttle, 7.14 cone drill, ran position drills and looked good catching the ball.