Big Bodies Are in Big Demand

Ryan Sims is days away from a multimillion-dollar contract. He’s hanging out with rapper P. Diddy, has graced the pages of Sports Illustrated and Ebony, and is working on his TV persona as host of a children’s show on Nickelodeon. On the football field, he’s 310 pounds of fury, a three-year starter for North Carolina who had six sacks last season, tough to do as a defensive tackle.

One more thing: Sims is better known as the Tar Heels’ other defensive lineman.

“It’s always been the Julius Peppers defense,” Sims told reporters at the NFL combine, referring to his fellow North Carolina defensive lineman likely to be selected No. 2 overall, by Carolina, in this weekend’s draft. “He’s a great player. You can’t blame them. I always just knew that if I kept playing hard, I’d get noticed, that my time would come.”

Don’t fret for Sims. In a draft rich with talented defensive linemen, he’s near the top of the class. His stock has been soaring in recent weeks and no one would be surprised if he were among the top 10 players chosen.

The surprising thing about this cluster of top-notch defensive linemen is how three pairs of them were college teammates. In addition to Peppers and Sims, there are Albert Haynesworth and John Henderson of Tennessee; and Eddie Freeman and Bryan Thomas of Alabama Birmingham. All could hear their names called Saturday in the first round.

“How many 6-foot-5, 300-pound human beings are out there who can run the 40 in 4.9 seconds?” Arizona Cardinal Coach Dave McGinnis asked. “There just aren’t many. It’s still a big-man’s game, so when a crop of them comes along, like this year and last [when seven of the first 13 picks were defensive linemen], everybody wants one. It’s simple supply and demand.”

Of the top 12 picks, half could be defensive linemen.

“It all starts up front,” New Orleans defensive coordinator Rick Venturi said. “You’ve got to be able to stop the run in this league or you don’t have a chance.”

It’s not unheard of to have two defensive linemen from the same school drafted in the opening round. A year ago, it happened to Georgia’s Richard Seymour (picked sixth by New England) and Marcus Stroud (eighth by Jacksonville). In 1998, the tandem was North Carolina’s Greg Ellis (eighth by Dallas) and Vonnie Holliday (19th by Green Bay).

Haynesworth, a 320-pound defensive tackle, told reporters he reaped the benefits of playing shoulder to shoulder with 305-pound Henderson, who won the Outland Trophy as a junior in 2000. Scouts who came to catch a glimpse of Henderson wound up checking out both players.

“It also helped me that when I did flourish, [blockers] still had to worry about John,” said Haynesworth, who decided to forgo his senior year even though he started only one full season. “They really couldn’t double-team both of us at the same time.

“As far as the game goes, it was fun because they didn’t really know who to block. The quarterback kind of had his head on a swivel. Also, if I had a question on the field, I could go right to him and he would know the answer.”

A third Tennessee defensive lineman, Will Overstreet, is expected to go in the second or third round. He’s light at 258 pounds--some teams see him as an outside linebacker--but scouts say he plays bigger.

Tennessee had an embarrassment of riches on the defensive line last season, and the Tar Heels would have been that way had they done more to recruit defensive end Kalimba Edwards, who wound up playing for South Carolina. His father is a North Carolina professor.

Thomas, a defensive end at Alabama Birmingham, had 10 sacks last season and, at 250 pounds, could easily be converted into an NFL linebacker. His teammate, Freeman, played nose guard in college and had good speed when he wasn’t hampered by foot problems.

Other defensive linemen to watch are Wisconsin’s Wendell Bryant, Notre Dame’s Anthony Weaver, Syracuse’s Dwight Freeney, Georgia’s Charles Grant, Kentucky’s Dennis Johnson and UCLA’s Kenyon Coleman.

The hottest prospect is Peppers, although even he has some detractors. Scouts say he had a tendency to take some plays off.

“He should be the second pick,” said an AFC scouting director who asked not to be identified. “With the second pick, you expect to see somebody who’s great every single play. He’s not great every single play. He’s not a dog, but he flashes.”

Peppers, who also played basketball at North Carolina, winces at those assessments.

“I didn’t take any plays off this year,” he said. “I had games where I had better stats than others, but it wasn’t because I wasn’t playing hard. It was just different situations. Different teams put me in different situations.”