Michael Crabtree is reconsidering running the 40-yard dash for NFL scouts, the Texas Tech WR told NFL Network during a phone interview.

Crabtree told NFL Network that running the 40 is “a 50-50 deal,” and will re-evaluate whether or not he will work out for scouts at a time earlier than his personal pro day in Dallas on March 26.

It was revealed on Saturday at the NFL Scouting Combine that Crabtree — considered the top receiver by many in this year’s draft class — had a stress fracture in his left foot that will require surgery. Crabtree then indicated that he would run a 40 for scouts, and then have surgery to repair the stress fracture.

Rather than solidify his status as the top wide receiver in this year’s draft class, Crabtree came to the combine and measured in almost two inches shorter than his listed height of 6-foot-3, and then medical examinations revealed the stress fracture.

(Ben Liebenberg/NFL.com)

Anyone who has watched the combine on NFL Network or followed along on NFL.com can attest to the incredible degree of organization and planning that goes into the process. With more than 300 prospects being flown into town and then whisked from room to room, test to test, workout to workout, it’s clear this is a major operation.

Who foots the bill? The 32 clubs, of course. The organization that runs everything is the National Invitational Camp Inc. Their fee to host the combine: $75,000 per club.

In addition to being here to watch the workouts first-hand, that $75,000 buys each club all the complete medical reports, copies of all the test results and tapes of all the workouts and drills. But the ability to meet with so many of the prospects in one place makes it easier to whittle down the number of players who will then be invited to follow-up visits to a team’s headquarters.

That’s a lot of money, sure. But we’ve already established that scouting prospective NFL talent is a big business, and clearly, all 32 clubs view the combine as a worthy investment.

– Gil Brandt

Northeastern TE Brian Mandeville left the NFL Scouting Combine last week after doctors conducting a routine physical exam discovered that he has a non-life-threatening heart abnormality, the Boston Globe reported.

The doctors advised Mandeville that he shouldn’t play football because of an abnormal heart valve, according to the player’s agent, Ryan Tollner.

(Ben Liebenberg/NFL.com)

The up-close view from the sidelines at the combine always brings out certain truths. Watching Wake Forest LB Aaron Curry for one afternoon, it appears that everything that everyone has said about him is true. He went out and backed it up.

In terms of measurables, several other performances caught the attention of NFL team officials at the combine. USC LB Brian Cushing already had proved to be one of the strongest players at his position with 30 repetitions in the bench press, but he also ran well in the 40-yard dash today with a time of 4.74 seconds.

Several variations of linebackers were on display, and two players who fall into the “hybrid” category — as defensive ends in a 4-3 alignment or outside linebackers in a 3-4 scheme — also created buzz. Lawrence Sidbury Jr. of Richmond registered the best 40 time among the defensive linemen group (4.64 seconds). Cincinnati’s Connor Barwin posted the best marks in four categories — the vertical jump (40.5 inches), broad jump (10 feet, 8 inches), 3-cone drill (6.87 seconds) and 20-yard shuttle (4.18 seconds) — among the defensive linemen, and he also had the second-best 40 time at 4.66 seconds.

I’m told by NFL.com senior analyst Pat Kirwan that both players also performed well in drills to help their draft stock today. More than once, I’ve heard Barwin compared to Patriots LB Mike Vrabel.

It was a tougher day for USC’s Rey Maualuga and Texas’ Brian Orakpo, both of whom left workouts early because of injuries.

Check out NFL.com’s combine section for the top 10 official marks in all the combine drills for all positions, as well as Mike Mayock’s top-rated linebackers.

Wake Forest LB Aaron Curry finished his final scouting-combine drill — the 60-yard shuttle — and launched into a somersault, landing on his back near the 35-yard line on the Lucas Oil Stadium field turf and throwing his arms out wide as he looked up at the ceiling.

Exhale. It’s over.

“It’s always been a childhood dream to come out here to the NFL combine and perform,” Curry said, still breathing heavy from the final drill. “For so long, I watched all of the other athletes perform, and I always said, ‘I want to be like him. I want to be better than him.’ I’m just amazed by the talent that has been out here and to know that I was out here now and somebody out in the world is saying, ‘Wow.’

“To be able to go through all the drills, and then at the end of the agility, I finished strong. It’s been a great, great five days. Then a somersault to top it off.”

The linebacker likely strengthened his resume — and his ascending draft status — with an impressive performance Monday at the combine. He finished first among linebackers in four of the six drills tested — 40-yard dash (4.56 seconds), vertical jump (37 inches), broad jump (10 feet, 4 inches) and 60-yard shuttle (11.35 seconds). He also displayed his blend of size and speed during linebacker drills.

The buzz at the combine is that Curry is the “safest” pick in the draft.

While that sounds like a media term, the affable Curry said his favorite part of the combine experience was having lunch with members of the Detroit Lions, who could make him the No. 1 overall pick in April’s draft. Curry said that experience — and the thought of being the top pick — motivated him as he competed in drills.

“Just to know that they’re considering taking a linebacker No. 1 overall … just that whole thought process is amazing,” Curry said. “I came out here today with that in the back of my head.

“It did motivate me to know that if I put on a good enough show, maybe they may feel like they could build a team around a linebacker. Add me with Ernie Sims, and maybe we could make some big plays.”

Next up for Curry is a week off, followed by some more time in Phoenix to train for his March 23 Pro Day.

USC LB Rey Maualuga’s scouting combine workouts were cut short by a leg injury near the end of Monday’s 40-yard dash.

Maualuga came up limping on his right leg at the end of his first attempt at the 40 when he took an awkward step after the finish line. He suffered the injury after his run — as he was deaccelerating — and immediately took weight off the leg before kneeling down on the turf. Maualuga was able to gingerly walk off the field with a trainer.

“I could feel it for the past two weeks,” Mauluga told the NFL Network’s Scott Hanson in an on-field interview during NFL.com/Live. “I just wanted to come out here and compete with the very best. I wanted to show the coaches and scouts I could do everything. Now I’m just going to go to the trainer and get right and hopefully be able to do the Pro Day (April 1).

“I didn’t want to come out here and use my hamstring as an excuse. Unfortunately, it’s been bothering me, but I felt I could go. I wasn’t pressured to do it. I thought I could go out and do the 40 and do it in a good time.”

This from a report by NFL Network’s Paul Burmeister:

Texas DE Brian Orakpo limped off the field a few minutes ago and went under the bleachers with one of the trainers. Orakpo is done for the day, and he just has a tweaked hamstring. He said he was worried after he thought he heard it “pop,” but the trainer said Orakpo was OK.

Before his workout session ended early, Orakpo was among the top 10 defensive linemen in the 40-yard dash and the vertical jump. He also posted a top-10 performance in the bench press on Sunday.

NFL Network’s Mike Mayock has Orakpo listed as his second-best outside linebacker and one of the five best overall prospects in the draft.

Orakpo’s Pro Day workout is scheduled for March 25.

Colts president Bill Polian has been around long enough that he actually drafted Lions general manager Martin Mayhew, once upon a time.

Polian was with the Bills at the time and took Mayhew in the 10th round of the 1988 draft. Mayhew, though, never played a down for Buffalo.

“I was too dumb to keep him in Plan B (free agency). I let him go,” Polian said. “People ask me what mistakes have you made in your long and less-than-illustrious career, and that’s one of the big ones. We should have kept him, and we didn’t.”

Polian went on to say that he could see Mayhew was special from the beginning and that he would go on to be successful in his post-football career.

Asked by a reporter what advice he would give to Mayhew as he prepares to make the first overall pick in the draft as a rookie GM, a grinning Polian cracked: “Pray a lot. And recognize you can’t (always) be right. You’re going to be wrong 50 percent of the time.”

One of the more interesting prospects at the combine is Sammie Lee Hill, a defensive tackle from Stillman College. Hill is big (6-foot-3 plus, 329 pounds) and athletic (his vertical jump is 30 inches), and he has the versatility to play in the middle of a 3-4 or 4-3 scheme.

Keep an eye on this kid. He could end up as a surprise middle-round pick.

Hill’s background is interesting. His mother is a minister and caterer, his father a retired coal miner. Hill readily admits that he sees the NFL as an opportunity to avoid working in a coal mine and to provide for his family.

The answer to your first obvious question about Hill is that Stillman College is a Division II school in Tuscaloosa, Ala., about a mile from the University of Alabama (the Jaguars signed former Stillman College DB Brian Witherspoon as an undrafted free agent last year).

The answer to your second obvious question about Hill is, no, the Crimson Tide never showed any interest in him. No college besides Stillman pursued him for football, and the only reason Hill ended up there was because his high school defensive coordinator repeatedly called the school on Hill’s behalf. He did draw a little interest as a potential collegiate baseball prospect after batting .506 as a junior catcher and first baseman “about a good 45 pounds ago.”

Hill told me he lost his desire to play baseball after slumping badly as a hitter in his senior year.

“I couldn’t see a beach ball if they threw it down there 2 miles an hour,” he said with a laugh.

– Vic Carucci

Many defensive backs are being forced to answer questions about their diminutive stature this weekend. Perhaps none moreso than Wake Forest’s Alphonso Smith, who Mike Mayock has ranked as his fourth-best cornerback.

Smith, who’s 5-foot-9, seemed somewhat uncomfortable discussing his height.

“I’ve never been this tall a day in my life,” Smith said, reaching into the air. “And I’ve gotten this far. So I can’t do anything about it. I’m going to continue to get the question four or five years later down the road. Only thing I can say is, I make plays and I’m a pretty decent player.”

Offseason workouts with Cardinals WR Anquan Boldin and Steelers WR Santonio Holmes over the past few years also have given Smith a measure of confidence that he can cover NFL receivers with size.

“Every summer, I get a chance to face Anquan Boldin and Santonio Holmes when they come home. So (the height issue) really is not much to me,” Smith said. “It’s not much of a big deal for myself, because I’m a ballplayer, and I do what I do and I do it very well.”

Another short cornerback, D.J. Moore out of Vanderbilt, echoed Smith’s sentiments while also giving him a shout-out.

Asked about the player he respects the most, Moore said: “Alphonso Smith. He’s got that ‘I’m going to pick everything off’ type of attitude.”

According to Colts president Bill Polian, height does play a role in evaulating defensive backs, but the key to overcoming that disadvantage is the vertical jump.

Check in Tuesday to see which cornerbacks have the best vertical jump, and if Smith or Moore is able to help his stock by nailing that all-important drill.

Here are the 10 shortest players at the combine:

Meanwhile, here are the 10 tallest players at the combine in Indianapolis:

Georgia QB Matthew Stafford held true to his word at the NFL Scouting Combine and didn’t participate in throwing drills Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Stafford was on the field throughout the day with his position group, warming up before drills with the other quarterbacks but electing not to participate in the actual drills. Stafford, who told the NFL Network that he was tempted to throw today, stayed on the field long after his quarterback group had left, casually throwing with various other players who were available.

Stafford, regarded as a possible No. 1 overall pick by the Lions, also told NFL Network’s Scott Hanson today that he is ready to begin negotiating with Detroit at any time.

While he didn’t throw, Stafford did elect to run. He took both turns in the 40-yard dash earlier and also ran in other drills.

It was an interesting sight earlier in the morning when Stafford warmed up with USC’s Mark Sanchez on the sidelines when their QB group hit the field. Stafford then watched intently as Sanchez went through a passing drill throwing to stationary targets on each sideline under the supervision of Seahawks offensive coordinator Greg Knapp.

Two defensive back prospects at the combine have quite the first names: South Carolina’s Captain Munnerlyn and Virginia Tech’s Macho Harris.

Not only do both players have eye-catching names, they have the charisma to match.

Munnerlyn explained his name by saying his mother gave his grandmother the option to name her last child. His grandmother chose Captain in honor of his great-grandfather.

While rolling his eyes, Munnerlyn said, “I don’t know what they were thinking.”

He said he was routinely teased as a little kid, being called “Captain Crunch.” Eventually, though, he said he grew to like the name, because it represents who he is as a person.

“It actually fits my personality,” he said. “I feel like I’m a leader.”

To his credit, Munnerlyn later admitted he was once caught by a kicker on an 85-yard kickoff return prior to hitting the end zone, eliciting laughter from the cadre of reporters.

“No excuse, he caught me. He was already back there, and he made the tackle. I really want to know that kicker’s name, too. He was from Kentucky, and he could run,” a smiling Munnerlyn gushed.

Munnerlyn did point out that he outraced that same kicker to the end zone for a touchdown on a blocked field goal later in the game.

Unlike Munnerlyn, whose birth name is Captain, Macho Harris’ given name is actually Victor. He picked up the nickname as a child when his father decided he was too rambunctious and needed a more appropriate name.

“My father, he said when I was 2 years old, I was very, very challenging,” Harris said. “Riding my tricycle over people and stuff like that around the house, so he didn’t want to just give me a regular name like Victor. So he came up with Macho.”

Coincidentally, Harris has a very un-macho neck tattoo that reads “mama’s boy.” He said he got it in honor of his mother, who passed away on Christmas Day during his senior year of high school.

As was blogged earlier Sunday, wide receivers put up some blazing times in the 40-yard dash.

Now the official results are in.

Maryland WR Darrius Heyward-Bey posted the fastest official time Sunday at 4.30 seconds. His time is tied for the second-fastest mark among receivers since 2000, trailing only the 4.28 posted by Hampton’s Jerome Mathis in 2005. Kansas State’s Yamon Figurs also had a 4.30 run in 2007.

Five receivers posted sub-4.40 marks Sunday. Impressive.

Mississippi’s Mike Wallace had the second-fastest time at 4.33, followed closely by Abilene Christian’s Johnny Knox (4.34). Penn State’s Deon Butler (4.38) and Arizona’s Mike Thomas (4.40) rounded out the top five.

The top 10 40-yard dash times for all positions will be posted among the combine’s top performers.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick spoke Sunday in the media room and spent the first several minutes of his press conference sending well-wishes to many of his former associates now scattered throughout the league.

Sustained excellence, like the Patriots have exhibited this decade, tends to garner attention, and New England has been hit hard in the past few years as other clubs have looked to pluck its assistant coaches and front-office members. Belichick made a point of lauding all of his past colleagues and showing his appreciation for their work in New England.

Later, Belichick spoke about how strange it is to be at the combine with several familiar coaching competitors being out of the league.

“It just doesn’t seem right, really, to not have people like Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Brian Billick, Steve Mariucci, guys who I coached against, and in some cases not very well, not be head coaches in the National Football League,” Belichick said.

Belichick then flashed his dry wit while profusely praising Shanahan, one of his biggest coaching rivals.

“Mike Shanahan is certainly a Hall of Fame coach,” Belichick said. “I know I’ve got to be on the list of people that he’ll thank (at the induction ceremony) because of the games that have been scheduled against us. He’s done pretty well.”

Clearly shocked by the recent firings of Shanahan and Gruden, Belichick repeated his sentiments.

“I’m not disappointed that they’re not on the schedule, believe me,” he said. “But it’s just hard to believe that coaches like Mike Shanahan and Jon Gruden aren’t coaching in the National Football League. But that’s not my decision.”

At this point, Belichick’s lengthy introductory statement concluded, and he took questions, to which he responded with his trademark general answers.

Missouri WR Jeremy Maclin tripped and fell during a late-morning passing drill and was slow to get up before being helped off the field by two trainers, who immediately brought him to a training table.

After he was checked over, Maclin tested his left leg briefly on the sideline before returning to the rest of his receiver group for the next passing drill.

Maclin didn’t appear to be running at 100 percent after the fall, but he appeared to be confident enough to continue participating.

Maclin is the second-rated receiver among Mike Mayock’s top-rated prospects and is universally regarded as a first-round pick. For the record, Missouri’s pro day is March 5.