re: Pickens gone per Mike Griffith.Not a big surprise but woulda been nice if he was back.

I think some people have some real misconceptions about what George is and isn't. He's got elite body control and catch radius/hands. He's *not* a blow by you off the line guaranteed #1 receiver on any team that drafts him. I don't believe another season at UGA changes that. If he goes middle 3rd or has a great combine and goes late 2nd to a team that has actual QB/OC combination that is good and a need at the position, I'd argue that's much better for him long term than getting a early 2nd round contract for more but ending up in Detroit, Jacksonville, or wherever else drafted players go to drown in irrelevance. No guarantees of anything, but there's just as much risk of another injury as there is for him going lower than he'd like, and that's discounting that his draft ceiling is not as high as some people think.

For reference, his HS 40 time was 4.73. Lot of draft projections have him at a ~4.6.

Some good analytics here on average draft position relative to 40 time for WRs:

But close to where he was doesn't magically move him to some elite draft position. Honestly, if I'm George, unless my 40 time is actually sub 4.6 going into the combine/pro-day, I might not run it (or at least not at both, and then only do pro-day further out to buy time for prep)... do shuttle, vert, everything else and just skip the 40. Claim tightness if necessary and don't let it distract, especially if the *assumption* is that he can run a 4.59-ish time.

Pickens declared for the draft per his IG