Next week's Senior Bowl is the last step before the NFL Combine, and one more chance for players to garner a little attention for themselves as the 2011 NFL Draft frenzy kicks into high gear.
The Senior Bowl features some of the year's biggest prospects. It will not, however, feature one prospect with plenty of first round hype, Iowa DE Adrian Clayborn. He opted out of the Senior Bowl today.
I bring up Clayborn because he's been mentioned more than once around these parts as a potential option for the St Louis Rams first round pick, giving them a nice bookend to Chris Long. In fact, 3k mocked Clayborn to the Rams waaaaay back in his first 2011 mock draft.
Will Clayborn's decision to skip the Senior Bowl hurt his draft stock? Maybe. He can always answer questions teams have at the Combine, so it's not the end of his hype.