Maybe no prospect has seen his stock rise and fall the past few months quite like Montez Sweat. It could be trending upward again following a potentially significant development on the first day of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Sweat recently met with Houston Texans team doctor Dr. James Muntz and was told he had been misdiagnosed with a heart condition in February while at the scouting combine, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported Thursday, via sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
Tests taken at the combine revealed Sweat might have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which results in thickening of the heart walls, as doctors in Indianapolis measured nearly two centimeters of thickness, according to Rapoport. Sweat has since met with several experts, who concluded that doctors at the combine accidentally included capillary muscle in their testing and that Sweat's actual measurement is about 1.5 centimeters, Rapoport added.
"Which would mean there is no risk for Montez Sweat under this diagnosis," Rapoport said. "This discrepancy would explain why some teams are absolutely fine with it."
The Mississippi State pass rusher vaulted into the top half of the first round for many after a dominant display at the Senior Bowl followed by an electric 4.41 40-yard dash at the combine. But according to Rapoport, his heart tests at the latter event led some teams to remove Sweat from their draft board entirely.
The situation could have some teams reviewing what they actually know about Sweat's heart just hours before Round 1. Sweat is listed No. 12 in NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah's final prospect rankings.
