ASHBURN, Va. — It was a bit striking to catch up with Montez Sweat while he was hooked up to a medical device, of all things, after he finished practicing on a scorcher — 90 degrees and humid — of a Wednesday.
A month ago, Sweat’s case became an intriguing NFL draft subplot as reports emerged that he had an apparent heart condition first detected during his combine medical exam. Subsequent reports, however, indicated an error had been made.
Now the 6-6, 260-pound Washington rookie linebacker, selected No. 26 overall in the first round after previously being pegged as a top 10 pick, sat folded up in a chair at a station near the locker room with wires connected to his fingertips and an elastic band wrapped around his forearm.
What in the world?
No panic. This was not an emergency medical episode.
“It’s a sweat test,” Sweat told USA TODAY, smirking as if he knew someone could get the wrong idea.
It was a slice of sports science in full effect. Washington uses a company, Precision Hydration, that matches electrolyte-infused drinks for specific athletes, depending on their individual sodium composition. The first step is collecting the sweat to capture a genetic profile of the perspiration.
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Wednesday just happened to be Sweat’s day for the one-time test — conducted in an air-conditioned lobby — as he dripped well enough.
“It was hot out there, for sure,” he said. “But it was cool, man.”
Hot and cool. That might also explain the state of Sweat over the past few weeks. Although another play-making rookie, seventh-round cornerback Jimmy Moreland, won the day with three interceptions on Wednesday, Sweat has drawn rave reviews since arriving.
During the combine, Sweat posted the best 40-yard dash time ever for a defensive lineman at 4.41 seconds. That speed has surely translated during the non-contact work on the field, where Sweat will be the bookend to ninth-year pro Ryan Kerrigan.
“It’s exciting to have a big, long guy that can actually run well,” is how defensive coordinator Greg Manusky put it.
Sweat, who had 22½ sacks the past two seasons for Mississippi State, is rather cool about the flood of compliments coming from the coaches.
“You can’t listen to all that type of stuff,” he said.
By his description, Sweat is low-keyed. You know he’s probably fed up with questions about the pre-draft medical scare, but when asked again Wednesday, he explained how he was able to keep it all in perspective while acknowledging the NFL spotlight.
“You’ve got to put the noise to the side,” he said. “All athletes deal with that. In this day we live in, in the NFL, it can be even worse.”
Initial reports stated that he was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart wall. A subsequent report from NFL Media, however, stated that he was misdiagnosed. It’s unclear if or how teams adjusted Sweat on their boards, but something happened. Washington, which drafted quarterback Dwayne Haskins in the No. 15 slot, traded back into the first round to snag Sweat.
He may be cool, but he’s human, too. He admits he was nervous during the draft.
“Everybody has their own type of nerves,” Sweat said. “But God has a plan. I’m where I’m supposed to be. It’s really a relief after all that stuff, just getting on a team and focusing on football.”
A team that was a surprise. Sweat said Washington was nowhere on his lift of projected landing spots, in part because he didn’t make the trip here during the top 30 visits that teams conduct before the draft. But now he knows the twists and turns of the process better than many — on top of sliding stock and medical flare-ups, there’s the matter where teams don’t always show their hand regarding their interest in some prospects.
“I was hearing that, but I didn’t believe it until it actually happened,” he said.
Maybe Washington wound up with one of the steals of the draft. For the next few years, it will be interesting to gauge how all of the edge rushers fare in a class that was so top-heavy with defensive talent. It’s early now. Better tests loom when the pads come on, then when the games begin.
Sweat surely knows what comes next, regardless of his sodium level numbers.
“I’ve got to live up to the expectations,” he said.
And the tests to measure his effectiveness as an impact player will come over and over again.
Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.
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