The Nick & Brick Show — unbeknownst at the time to Nick Mangold and D'Brickashaw Ferguson, who had yet to be drafted by the Jets — began to develop at the 2006 NFL Combine. Ferguson, the Virginia tackle, made the decision with his agent to attend the event, undergo his medical exam and do his team interviews but not to participate in any drills until his pro day.
Mangold, the Ohio State center, did work in Indianapolis and hung up some good numbers — 5.05 seconds in the 40, sixth among offensive linemen that year, and 7.49 in the three-cone drill, eighth.
But Nick the Quick's specialty was the 20-yard shuttle, a.k.a. the short shuttle and the "5-10-5," which tests lateral quickness and short-area explosion. Nick fired out of his three-point stance on the RCA Dome turf and turned in a 4.36, the fastest among offensive linemen that day and still the seventh-fastest among all O-linemen in the last 10 Combines.
Ferguson's Pro Day times (5.08 in the 40, 7.62 in the three-cone, 4.85 in the shuttle) weren't far behind, and a little over a month later at the '06 draft, the Jets tabbed Ferguson fourth overall and Mangold 29th with the pick they got from Denver in the three-team John Abraham trade. Nick and Brick have been the anchors of the Green & White line ever since.
