An-knee-way you slice it, Dorsey is a top three pick

NEW YORK -- If there's a knock on star LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, it's a history of leg injuries. Except Dorsey insists that no NFL team that interviewed him the past two months expressed concern about his durability.

"Nothing other than the normal testing," he said.

Glenn Dorsey aced the agility drills during LSU's Pro Day last month. (Getty Images)

OK, so that's not exactly true. One club that hosted Dorsey said it subjected him to a pair of MRIs, with Dorsey gone over six hours. Another said it ran him through a battery of tests, just to make sure it wasn't missing anything.

"It's an issue," said one general manager. "Anytime you're going to take a guy that high it's an issue."

Except it really isn't. The verdict at both places was that Dorsey is not an injury waiting to happen and is not a risk. And the consensus with virtually every club I contacted is that Dorsey is one of the top two choices in this year's draft -- with most having him atop their boards.

Why else do you think New Orleans wants to move from the 10th position to the second? Why else do you think the Falcons are talking to the Rams about exchanging places?

They see what everyone else sees -- a potential All-Pro who can solidify their defenses.

The most logical scenario would be for St. Louis to change positions with Atlanta, let the Falcons have Dorsey with the second choice, then take defensive end Chris Long with the third. The Rams want one of those two defensive linemen, and they could have him -- with a second or third draft pick thrown in as a bonus.

"I think that's a real possibility," said an NFC general manager.

But let's get back to Dorsey. If injuries aren't backing off teams like St. Louis, what is? I mean, if he's a slam dunk as one of the top two players in this draft, shouldn't this be a no-brainer for the club drafting second -- especially if there are no concerns about his durability?

"I have no idea," Dorsey said at a Thursday luncheon here. "I'm not a GM. There are a lot of great players and great athletes around the country. It depends on what the team needs or what it's looking for or the characteristics that you have. It's a tricky business."

It was a whole lot trickier two months ago when Dorsey didn't work out at the NFL scouting combine, and rumors about his health began to circulate. Dorsey tried to defuse them when he spoke to the media, but until he participated at LSU's Pro Day a month later, the skeptics were in charge.

All that changed, of course, when Dorsey ran a 5.14 40, benched 225 pounds 27 times and aced the agility drills.

"The media was coming out and talking about injuries, but I knew I wasn't hurt," said Dorsey. "Then I came out at my Pro Day and did real well, so I hope that solved some of that.

"But nothing amazes me anymore. I feel like I'm fine, and I'm healthy. And I don't know where that came from. Even if I did get hurt (he had a sprained knee last season) I played through it. So that shows some heart.

"But no team actually came up and asked about my knee. The media just took that and ran with it. I even heard I had knee surgery over the past year, you know what I'm saying? Of course, (teams) can see that I got nicked up and bruised. But no one made a big deal out of it like the media at the combine."

And no one is now. Glenn Dorsey is hot, hot, hot again and won't last longer than the third choice Saturday -- which is how it should be.