With ex-'Cat B.J. Finney, it's the stuff a stopwatch doesn't show that's off the charts
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Ya know, the Chiefs are kind of looking for a center ...
"Yeah," B.J. Finney replies with a chuckle. "I keep hearing that from people."
The dude gets it, same as always. A week from now, Finney will officially go from one of the best linemen ever to put on a Kansas State uniform to rookie fodder in an NFL locker room. The only questions are where and when.
But when you're a 6-foot-4, 318-pound center from Andover, Kansas, the "when" part projects to be kind of all over the map. So when the Finneys get together to watch the NFL Draft at the home of B.J.'s uncle later this week, it will be more about family and catching up and Finney's wedding next year and less about staring at the freaking telephone.
"I've been (projected) anywhere from a fourth-rounder to a priority free agent," Finney, who made the most consecutive starts (52) in K-State football history, tells FOXSportsKansasCity.com. "So the draft is just a reason to get the family together. (It's) not really the main focus of it. Just to get everybody together and enjoy the time and accomplishments we've had as a family. So if we get the phone call, cool. If not, it's not going to (ruin the weekend)."
See? Gets it.
"I'm very excited to at last know where I'm headed," Finney says. "Because it's kind of a hurry-up-and-wait thing, and do the best you can. And how this long waiting period is excruciating."
When they're not poking and prodding a knee, they're poking and prodding your soul. On the plus side, feedback on the former Wildcat center out of January's Shrine Game was generally strong, where scouts came away noting Finney's consistency, technique and motor. And while the NFL Scouting Combine a month later raised some tiny red flags about his raw athletic tools and play in space -- 20 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press, a 5.25 40-yard-dash time and a 24-inch vertical -- those flags didn't affect his stock all that negatively, either: NFLDraftScout.com still taps the big lug as the third-best center prospect available in the pool (after Florida State's Cameron Erving and Oregon's Hroniss Grasu) and a possible third- or fourth-round selection.
"I feel like I put my best foot forward, a consistent best foot," Finney says of his winter tour. "(It's) not like I did outrageously well in anything.
"My aim is consistency, and that's where we're at. The times are right there at the range where I've been at, just to prove that I can move and be an athlete, as well as being intelligent. That's what they kind of accredited me with, so I'm at peace with the whole process."
Because when it comes to the intangibles -- character, smarts, instinct, the stuff a stopwatch won't tell you -- it's no secret that Finney is generally off the charts. NFL locker rooms can be funny, provincial places and an odd mix of backgrounds and personalities. But Finney is the kind of guy who general managers like because he fits in anywhere; the kind of guy coaches like because he listens, comprehends and can teach; the kind of guy teammates like because he will stand up for his peers and weather the media hordes in bad times or good.
"They like B.J. because he (has) shown he's always been a team guy, he's going to step up and provide some leadership, and it's right for him to do that," K-State coach Bill Snyder says of his former center. "He's a big guy that doesn't make a lot of mistakes. It'll be a physical ballgame for him, the whole deal, and yet, he's acclimated to that, he's accustomed to it. (Our players) are accustomed to work.
"You've heard me say it so many times, one of the characteristics the people in our program take to the NFL is they don't give in, they compete and they do it day in and day out, minute after minute, and that catches people's eye."
And when it comes to an NFL front office, you only have to catch the right two of 'em.
Of course, as with any post-first-day pick, a little flexibility helps, too. Finney can play anywhere along the line, having opened his long Wildcat tenure (briefly) at guard and closing it by pinch-hitting at right tackle during his final collegiate game. He's even been trying to perfect his snapping on kicks and punts. Anything to stick.
"Obviously, it's an art that takes a while to master," he says, chuckling again. "I don't really think that I'm the person they'd put in for punts. It'd be more (for) field goals."
Hey: The Chiefs need a long snapper, too.
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter at @SeanKeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.
