Virginia CB Ras-I Dowling needed a big pro day performance Monday to prove that an injury-riddled senior season hasn’t diminished what he can bring to an NFL team, and the kid excelled.

Maurice Jones-Drew is ahead of schedule in his return from knee surgery. That’s good news for his fantasy value moving forward.

Alabama QB Greg McElroy demonstrated that he has recovered well from a fracture in his throwing hand, tossing 50 passes to teammate Earl Alexander and South Alabama WR Courtney Smith on Tuesday at a makeup for the Crimson Tide’s March 9 pro day.

While touchbacks on kickoffs have increased dramatically since 1994, there has been an increase in kickoff return touchdowns during the same time period as returners make the most of limited opportunities.

It’s 22 days until go-time for clubs looking to fill holes in their roster… 22 days as we count down the Path to Primetime. So what does the number 22 signify in our NFL draft conscious?

Tailgating season has officially started with baseball’s Opening Day already passed, so we decided to grill Falcons TE Tony Gonzalez for some healthy tailgating tips following his appearance on “Total Access” on Tuesday.

Falcons TE Tony Gonzalez stopped by the “Total Access” set on Tuesday.

Gil Brandt still believes in Tim Tebow as a viable NFL quarterback, but he does buy into the notion that John Elway and John Fox might not share his opinion — and that they very well could take a quarterback with the second overall pick in the draft.

Joe Flacco wants a longterm extension soon; the Baltimore Ravens prefer to wait. Opinions have been somewhat divided on Flacco as to whether he’s a franchise-caliber quarterback or not.

It’s Tuesday, and it’s also just 23 days until the best amateur football players in the world start getting plucked one by one. But before we watch all of the draft unfold at Radio City Music Hall, what does the number 23 remind us of?

Philidelphia Eagles WR DeSean Jackson poses during a portrait session in the NFL Network Studio on April 4th.

DeSean Jackson of the Eagles was in the house Monday at NFL Network, and he’s always got something good to say. So, naturally, we let him talk.

With DeSean Jackson in house, we put him on the spot, who is the best returner in the game right now?

A year ago, WR Emmanuel Sanders went from a third-round pick out of SMU to playing in the Super Bowl with the Steelers. While Al Robinson isn’t expected to go quite as high in the draft, the receiver should be a late-round choice and helped solidify his standing with a solid positional workout at SMU’s pro day on Monday.

I just got out of a production meeting with Eagles WR DeSean Jackson, who will be on “NFL Total Access” Monday night. With this being the middle of draft season I asked the 5-foot-10, 175-pound game-breaker what it’s like to be a player that so many smaller draft prospects at the position — like Boise State’s Titus Young and Troy’s Jerrel Jernigan — are compared to.