INDIANAPOLIS -- Pass-rush skills are some of the rarest and most sought-after attributes in the National Football League Draft, and Michigan's Brandon Graham is teeming with them.
A defensive end for the Wolverines last season, Graham led the nation with 26 tackles behind the line of scrimmage and recorded 101/2 sacks. He was this season's Senior Bowl MVP with two sacks and a forced fumble.
Graham is the perfect draft pick in every area save one. Saturday, he measured 6-foot-1, four inches taller than the average American man, but several inches shorter than the ideal height for NFL pass rushers. And when it comes to the NFL draft, size often trumps on-field accomplishments.
Rob Rang, an analyst at NFL Draft Scout, thinks Graham is a top-10 talent. But Rang said he wouldn't be surprised if Graham drops out of the first round in April.
"There's a ridiculous willingness to ignore talent and rely too much on the fact that he's too short," Rang said. "He's the exact same guy LaMarr Woodley was two years ago, and he dropped to the second round."
Woodley, a linebacker for the Steelers, finished with 13-1/2 sacks in 2009, the same number as the Colts' Dwight Freeney and 3-1/2 behind the Broncos' Elvis Dumervil, who led the league. All three of those players are 6-2 or below, and Dumervil, a fourth-round pick in 2006, is 5-11.
Fittingly, Graham said Saturday he is modeling his game after Dumervil's.
"I look at myself as the next (Dumervil)," Graham said. "He's small. A lot of people didn't think he could do it. But I believe whoever gets me is going to love me."
The 49ers are one of the teams that adhere to the bigger-is-better philosophy. In the last five years, the 49ers haven't drafted a player under 6 feet before the third round. Their shortest pass rusher, linebacker Parys Haralson, stands at 6 feet and was a fifth-round pick in 2006.
"I'll never lose sight of this, and maybe I'm a dinosaur in this, but it's a big man's game," said general manager Scot McCloughan. "That's from the standpoint of holding up through a season durability-wise, but also in the playoffs. You have to have some size and some power and strength, I think, to be a contender year in and year out."
Asked if after five years of drafting big-bodied players the 49ers could afford to go small, McCloughan shook his head.
"What I learned early from (former Packers general manager) Ron Wolf is if you draft an exception then you have a team of exceptions," he said. " ... You can't go against your philosophy."
The question is whether that stance causes the team to overlook talent. Over the past three days, the combine has been full of small players who put up big numbers in college.
Mississippi's Dexter McCluster, for example, last season became the first Southeastern Conference player with more than 1,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards. But at 5-8, 172 pounds, teams wonder whether he'd be anything more than a speed bump against oncoming linebackers in pass protection.
"Right now I don't think it's such a big issue," McCluster said. "It never was an issue for me because it's been that way all my life, always a smaller guy. I had to work that much harder to get better and to prove that there is something different about me."
Clemson running back C.J. Spiller and Cal running back Jahvid Best face similar questions. Teams typically have used first-round draft picks on running backs that can withstand 20-25 carries a game. Spiller and Best both weighed under 200 pounds, raising concerns about their durability.
"The only thing I can do is go out there and perform," Spiller said. "I can't worry about that. I know I play the game with a lot of passion. I'm going to go out there and compete at the highest level."
Meanwhile, the combine is taking place in the hometown of the team known for taking chances on smaller players. Colts safety Bob Sanders, a two-time Pro Bowl player, stands only 5-8. Indianapolis defensive ends Freeney and Robert Mathis are 6-1 and 6-2, respectively.
Like Graham, Freeney recalled he had to fight the pre-draft perception that he was too small.
"That is absolutely ridiculous," Freeney said during the season about concerns about his height. "If I had to grab a rebound, OK, I can see that.
"But that's not what I'm doing. I just have to go from Point A to Point B. Being my size, I just have more leverage."
The Colts agreed. They made Freeney the 11th overall pick in 2002.
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