CU's Montez Plays Waiting Game As NFL Draft Nears

BOULDER — Waiting for the NFL Draft is never easy for potential draftees, especially in the final few weeks before the teams begin making their selections.

It's a time when nervous anticipation is the rule of the day.

But the waiting has become even more nerve wracking this year, as the NFL has closed all team facilities and canceled all pre-draft workouts of individual players because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Now those players, such as Colorado quarterback Steven Montez, are stuck in their homes, waiting for the April 23-25 draft and hoping their performances at all-star games, the NFL Combine and on-campus pro days provided NFL teams with the information they needed.

"The only thing you can do is wait and see what happens," said Montez, who is still at his Boulder apartment but will may join his family in El Paso, Texas, for the draft. "At this point, it's out of our control. You trust you did everything you could when you had the opportunity to show your stuff and then you wait."

Teams can still contact potential draftees and conduct online interviews, and Montez has taken part in some of those recently. Meanwhile, as the state of Colorado operates under a "stay-at-home" order, Montez does his best to stay in shape by getting in regular workouts in his apartment's gym facility and throwing when he can — even to his girlfriend on occasion.

"It hasn't been any real true training sessions because you can't get a bunch of guys together," Montez said. "It's more just trying to improvise and do what you can."

Montez left CU with his name on 51 Buffaloes records, including career passing yards (9,629), touchdown passes (63) and total offensive yards (10,609). He had three straight seasons with over 2,500 passing yards and he made 36 consecutive starts, a CU record for quarterbacks.

Then, beginning in January, he hit the draft "circuit," playing in the Senior Bowl and before taking part in the late February NFL Combine in Indianapolis. Those events, he believes, boosted his draft stock.

"In my mind, I think I was already in the top 10, top five quarterbacks that are coming out this year," Montez said. "I really believe I'm in the upper tier of quarterbacks and I think I proved it with every event that I showed up and participated in. At the Senior Bowl I had great practices and I had a great combine as well."

Montez did indeed have a solid combine, running a 4.68-second 40-yard dash (third-fastest time among quarterbacks), along with throwing the ball well by all accounts.

"I really think at the combine, I was one of the top three guys there, throwing-wise and athleticism-wise," Montez said. "(Oregon's) Justin Herbert did really well. (Utah State's) Jordan Love, our numbers were exactly the same but I thought I actually threw the ball a little better. It's just really difficult to judge where you stand and where you might go."

Montez has been rated among the top 10 available quarterbacks by several different analysts. Draft guru Mel Kiper currently has him at No. 8 among available quarterbacks, noting in a recent conference call "if you want to roll the dice on talent, he has the talent … if you want to roll the dice on the upside, you look at Steven Montez."

But now, especially under the current circumstances, Montez is in a holding pattern. While he's talked with a variety of teams, he has no inkling of who might call his name.

Thus, he'll wait until late April. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell last week sent a memo last week to every team confirming that the draft will still be held on the scheduled dates, with the first round set Thursday, April 23; rounds 2-3 on April 24; and rounds 4-7 on April 25.

"When you get to this point, you have to be happy with the results you've had," he said. "I really think I gave everything I had in the tank at the combine and everything I've done to this point. I've always believed if you put the work in and give maximum effort, good should happen for you. Now I'll just wait to see what happens."

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu

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Steven Montez

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