Shawn Oakman: Tremendous physique, major questions for NFL scouts

MOBILE, Ala. — The Shawn Oakman conundrum is a perplexing one for NFL scouts.

“I honestly don’t know what to do with him,” one league talent evaluator texted Shutdown Corner on Wednesday night after watching this physical marvel of a talent have yet another up-and-down practice at the Senior Bowl. After, no less, an up-and-down college career at Penn State and later Baylor.

The 6-foot-7 ½, 269-pound freak of a defensive end looks like an inverted triangle — wide at the top with his broad shoulders and seemingly endless vines for arms (an 84-inch wingspan) and narrow at the bottom with what the scout unkindly described in the text as “chicken legs.”

You can imagine what that looks like. But Oakman also looks like he could kill a man, some way and some how, with the power of his bulging abs. So what’s the deal — did he skip every leg day at the gym?

“The look doesn’t mean anything!” Oakman said with wide, excited eyes and excitement on his face. “It’s all in the [butt]. It’s the pop that you have in the [butt]. And if you watch a few of the plays, you can see that I can get off and I can separate. But the legs are the legs: They’re as big as they’re going to get.”

All in the butt. Hashtag-worthy.

But seriously, what do you do with a player who crushes the eye test but consistently underperforms despite rare ability and a frame to die for? Oakman dipped from 11 sacks as a junior to 4.5 as a senior. In his final game, Baylor’s bowl win over North Carolina, Oakman didn’t make a single tackle but did pick up a 15-yard penalty for continuing to play with his helmet off, a no-no in college football.

That play might actually suggest he showed good effort at times, but Oakman was asked on Wednesday about his play and whether he has the “dog” in him to make a name for himself in the NFL.

“Do I?! I thought I showed it,” Oakman said. “I think I showed it every time I was out on the field. No one’s going to take advantage of me.”

Take advantage? No, maybe not. But beat? It happened more than once. First Texas Tech’s Le’Raven Clark bested him, then Georgia’s John Theus. Not every play, certainly, but Oakman gets beat or stalemated enough to make you wonder. And then there they are — the flash plays, the brief glimmers of that incredible potential. If you watch Oakman enough, they’re there and they’re tantalizing.

But is it enough?

Then there’s the “hoagie” incident. It’s what got Oakman kicked out of Penn State by then-head coach Bill O’Brien, now with the Houston Texans.

“I get asked about it every day,” he said.

Oakman was broke and wanted a sandwich in 2012 as a freshman with the Nittany Lions. He stuffed a $7 hoagie into his coat pocket and went up to pay for a 75-cent drink. When the store employee asked about the sandwich and whether Oakman intended to pay, Oakman panicked and grabbed the wrist of the woman who held his ID before leaving.

After getting back to the dormitory for what he thought was water under the bridge, Oakman later found out O’Brien was looking for him. And not with good news: He’d been kicked out of school for the incident.

And now it’s possible Oakman and O’Brien will be in a room together, possibly at the scouting combine in Indianapolis, during an intense job interview. Would Oakman be scared of facing that?

“No, sir,” Oakman said. “He’s a man just like I’m a man. Everyone makes mistakes. It’s how you grow from mistakes. And I think everyone can see my mistakes.”

Has he talked to O’Brien? Kept in touch with him at all after the incident?

“He’s a head coach,” he said, smiling. “I am pretty sure he’s not worried about me.”

But they ended up a few hours down the road from each other, with O’Brien leaving Penn State for the Texans job and Oakman ending up at Baylor. Despite having a strong junior season, Oakman decided to stay in school for his final season even though he’ll be 24 when he’s an NFL rookie.

“I’m the first person in my family to get a college degree, and that’s what’s important,” Oakman said.

No doubt. But NFL folks — crass as it is to say — don’t care much about that. They want to know: Can the dude play?

It’s probably a good thing he’s not the 6-foot-9 he claims to be and Baylor listed him at. Rushers that tall are rare, and even at 6-7 Oakman must show he can dip and rip around the edge. He admits it’s a problem at times.

“When I dip I’m still 6-3,” Oakman said, “so [tackles are] still able to get their hands on you. I have to work on my leverage.”

And work to continue changing the narrative that he’s not a tease with his insane physical skill and limited production.

“That’s what I want to do — show them I belong,” Oakman said.

Considering he’s one of the more conflicting prospects in the entire 2016 class, that won’t be easy.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm