The last in this series for the NFC West, it's time to take a look at the St. Louis Rams draft class.
Now the Rams came into this draft in pretty good shape after last year. They narrowly missed out on the playoffs in 2010, thanks to a much improved offense under the leadership of rookie QB Sam Bradford. The addition last time around of OT Roger Saffold was also a handy little pick that helped set the Rams up for a more open draft this year. With their offense looking a lot more healthy, they could devote a bit more time to defense.
They went straight for the jugular with the first pick, taking Defensive End Robert Quinn from North Carolina, in order to find a foil to work opposite Chris Long and exploit opposing teams over attention to the left side.
But I have a funny feeling they whiffed this one. Stick with me on this. Quinn played pretty well in College. On tape he looked pretty good. He was quick. He was strong. He at times made some opposing offensive tackles look foolish. So what can we take from that?
Not a lot is my opinion. See, good luck finding any game tape of Quinn that has a date on it past say March 2010. That's not because the Tar Heels are jealously hoarding any film of their team from last season. Instead it results from the fact that Quinn didn't play a down during the 2010 season.
He was suspended after being found guilty of taking over $5000 in gifts from an agent, then lying to NCAA investigators about the matter. That means that Quinn has done nothing more demanding in the last 12 months than basic drills for a defensive end and has no recent experience on the field. That for me is a problem.
The NFL is the top level of football in the world. It demands the absolute best from every player. 12 months out of the game, even for a good player with natural physical talents like Quinn, may just be too much. But there is another concern as well that I just can't shake.
In 2009 Quinn had 11 sacks. 10 of those sacks came in games played at home, just 1 away. 8 of his sacks were picked up in three games. Six of them (over half) came in just two games, three in each. While that's still not to be sniffed at, my problem is the consistency. Will Quinn consistently pitch in with sacks over the course of the season?
I'm not convinced and that's probably the biggest complaint I have. Notching up sacks is great, but to be a great player and to contribute to creating a winning team, you have to be able to bring that heat game after game, putting consistent pressure on the quarterback almost every down. I just don't think Quinn brings that to the table.
In addition, his play against the run is very limited. Quinn appears on tape to be the kind of end who is more pre-occupied with getting after the QB and has a tendency to get man handled a little too easily in the running game. He often struggles to set the edge properly and keep containment.
Now remember again that all of this was during the 2009 season. He hasn't played since, so I can't see any of those factors improving. When you keep in mind that Ryan Kerrigan was still on the board (he went two picks later to Washington), then I don't see the case for taking Quinn. Kerrigan is probably a better outright football player and, all things considered, a much safer pick in the first round.
But let's move on, for we have another seven guys to cover. Next up is Tight End Lance Kendricks from Wisconsin and I like this pick a lot. While the Rams haven't exactly been short of tight ends, finding a really good one has been problematic. I think Kendricks may solve that problem.
The key feature is that he brings a lot of versatility to the table. He's very strong and this shows up consistently in game. His run blocking is very good and when he gets hit you can see him absorb the shock and continue on to plough over people.
His route running is good, which is handy given that new offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is likely going to want to air it out on a regular basis. He has good hands and combined with that strength and run blocking I mentioned you can see Kendricks being a useful tool in and around the goal line, and also in short yardage. He gives the Rams offensive a bit of punch I feel.
To go with punch though, you also need a bit of finesse. The fine wine to match the stout bitter. Enter third round pick wide receiver Austin Pettis, Boise State. Not that the Rams needed a new receiver, given that they have about a thousand already on their books (that number may have been slightly exaggerated).
So, what's Pettis like? Honestly? There's good and there's bad. The good is his ball handling and concentration. If I wanted to get the ball to a safe pair of hands on third down or in the red zone, Pettis is the guy I would be looking at. He really does have a great eye for the ball.
The trouble is a) getting him open and b) getting him anywhere after he's caught the ball. Because Pettis lacks what I would describe as polished route running and his run after the catch skills are highly dubious. He just doesn't seem all that quick in pads.
That presents something of a problem. It's one thing to be able to make great catches, but if you can't get any separation from College defenders then it's not likely to get any easier at the next level. In addition, the ability to catch the ball and then immediately get tackled on short routes is of dubious utility.
Maybe their fourth rounder will fair better, wide receiver Greg Salas, Hawai'i.
I love Salas; this is my kind of football player. He's very fluid in all his movements, his route running has some high points and he has very good hands. But all that stuff pales into the background compared to his toughness and run after the catch ability.
At the risk of over egging the pudding so to speak, think of Wes Welkers run after the catch but combined with the toughness of a Hines Ward or Anquan Boldin. I just have so much fun watching Salas play, watching him absorb hits and bounce off tacklers.
He's just the kind of remedy that the Rams needed; a guy that can play underneath on some of the shorter depth crossing routes, while the rest of that corps stretches the field vertically and creates even more space for him to run.
When you factor in as well his middle round status, I think the Rams hit a winner here. Great pick. Damn them.
On to round five and safety Jermale Hines, Ohio State. Hines is someone I hadn't seen (re; bothered to look at) prior to the draft but have since. So what do I think of Jermale Hines? I think I resent him for the fact that I wasted a half hour of my life watching him run around not doing a lot.
I'm not saying he's bad. He's not the Mike Person of the safety world. But he doesn't make you jump out of your seat and shout "that's our guy!" either. His tackling, from a technical perspective, is pretty good. His pass coverage is a little random however.
It's like he's trying to look busy, but without knowing what to do. Against the run he often takes bad angles in pursuit and just generally he's kind of a run of the mill, practice squad type of guy. A wasted pick if I'm honest.
The Rams had no pick in round six due to a trade from last September, so it's on to round seven where the Rams ended up with three picks. The first of these went on Baylor cornerback Mikail Baker, who I can honestly say, hand on heart, I hadn't the faintest bloody clue who he was prior to the draft. I do now.
And I now know four things about Baker. He can run pretty fast in a straight line as a return man on special teams. He can run pretty fast in a straight line as a coverage man on special teams. He can tackle better than average for a corner. And his pass coverage is so, so.
You just get that impression that if he ran around with a sign round his neck saying "practice squad", then he wouldn't look out of place in the slightest. There is nothing caught on camera that suggests to me he will defy his seventh round selection and go on to be a pro bowler, or even just a dime package corner.
Maybe the Rams would have better luck with Jabara Williams, LB, from Stephen F. Austin University. I'll throw my hands up right now and say it; where and what the fuck is Stephen F. Austin University? More to the point, do they ever record their games? If so, can you send me one from 2010 to keepingthechainsmoving@live.co.uk If not, don't sweat it.
That just leaves us with one pick left and that is Jonathan Nelson, safety, Oklahoma. Now apart from having just the most ridiculously wide forehead you've ever seen, I don't get the interest in Nelson. What I saw was pure average. Again it bugs me because I think of all the players who went undrafted, some of whom are really pretty good, and instead they went with Nelson?
Even if a team could argue "well we have a need at safety" ok, you might have. But given the choice between taking another decent young receiver, or a promising young quarterback who could have been developed as a back up/insurance plan to Bradford, or a decent interior offensive linemen, or a crappy safety, surely you have to acknowledge that the crappy safety serves no use?
Maybe I'm being hard on Nelson. He's not a terrible football player. He's just, not a particularly good one either. Boring, non-impact player who barely got a sniff in despite being a pure first teamer. It just... I dunno, it just bugs me when teams take a player like this, who seems to have no discernable contribution to make, when guys like Chase Beeler are sitting out there in the uncertainty of free agency (whenever that starts).
Also, why is the spell checker highlighting "Discernable"? That's how it's spelt! I hate Blogger.
So that's your 2011 Rams draft class. Overall a few good players in there who might help out, but not really the draft I was expecting from the Rams. Having resolved many of their offensive problems last year I could live with them taking one or two offensive players this year, but using three of their first four picks seems dumb to me.
Also, while I do like Greg Salas, I do still have to question why the Rams felt the need to take two more wide receivers on top of their current crop. Maybe a guard or another tackle would have been useful? More to the point, why not invest some of those top picks trying to fix that defense and bring it up to par?
That's really what I was expecting from St. Louis, for them to put together a good defensive draft and make a run for the division title this year. I still think they are in with just as good a shot as anyone, largely thanks to being the only one of the four teams in the NFC West to have a decent QB.
But this was a missed opportunity to make a statement and perhaps put some bums in seats. I think they could have made the job a lot easier with more of a defensive focus. Rams fans will now be crossing their fingers I feel and hoping that their team can make a splash in free agency.
Next up is the NFC North, who all had pretty good drafts, and we start in the windy city with the Chicago Bears.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Why I don't like Blaine Gabbert
Before you wonder, no, I haven't skipped the Rams, the NFC North and East and gone straight to the Jaguars. I just want to clarify a point about why I don't like Blaine Gabbert despite his impressive college numbers and the fact that every NFL analyst on the planet has been creaming their pants over Gabbert.
There are two main reasons I don't like him, one of which will help lead into the other;
1) I sat down with a pencil and paper (remember those lead things from 20th Century?) and took notes while watching a Missouri game. I counted about 59 passes (I think one might have been called back for a penalty, didn't pay enough attention). Of the 59 passes I have, three were screen plays, two were chuck aways, and critically for this segment, forty-one were passes that travelled equal to or less than 10 yards past the line scrimmage. Thirteen went 10+ yards.
That means that despite his impressive passing numbers on paper for that game, Gabbert only threw about 20% of his passes anything more than a handful of "air" yards. Of those 13 passes only seven were completed. That for me is an issue. I accept it was only one game, but it is a reasonably fair representation of the offense Gabbert played in.
Small ball, is the word I would use. Of the 41 passes that travelled less than ten yards, 29 were completed and they took the form of a collection of quick outs and sometimes drag routes across the field. All in all a very limited range of passes and nothing that was particularly taxing. Compare with the types of throws asked of guys like Mallet, Enderle and Stanzi in college, which offer a much better approximation of what they'll see in the NFL.
I just don't trust Gabbert to convert very well. The range of passes he has been asked to throw in college compares poorly with what the Jaguars will ask of him. I haven't seen any of the dig routes for example that teams in the NFL like to make plenty of use of. No post-corner routes. And very little in the way of fades.
I just don't see how Gabbert can be considered a franchise QB at the NFL level? It'll take all the franchises resources just to teach him the bloody offense. His accuracy down the field is highly questionable. and the plethora of short routes that he was asked to throw in college lead me to the next point.
2) Gabbert will probably collapse in the face of pressure in the NFL. Very rarely did I see him stand in the pocket and let routes develop down field. Everything was coming out of his hands as quick as a flash. On the few occasions that he did try and hold the ball, he almost immediately bailed out of the pocket and ran for his life, even if it was just a three man rush.
He just seems to have zero experience of standing up to a proper rush. The fact that Missouri spent so much time in 5 wide sets doesn't help. He's used to having the defense clearly laid out for him where he can make easy reads and easy choices.
Do I blame Gabbert for this? No. His coaches maybe? No, their job (what the colleges pay them big bucks for) is to win college games, not serve as a player factory for the Pro's.
The people then that I blame are the people putting Gabbert up there on the pedestal as the number one QB in the 2011 draft class, because I don't think he's anything near that. With time he can improve and get used to the way the big leagues work. He might even carve out a career for himself, in whatever shape or form that may be.
But to tout him as a franchise QB at all, let alone a day one franchise kid, is a big mistake in my opinion.
P.S. Rams draft post will probably touchdown (see what I did there?) on Saturday.
P.P.S. See the labels at the bottom. Just above that is a little "f" icon. Click it. Trust me it'll make your day.
There are two main reasons I don't like him, one of which will help lead into the other;
1) I sat down with a pencil and paper (remember those lead things from 20th Century?) and took notes while watching a Missouri game. I counted about 59 passes (I think one might have been called back for a penalty, didn't pay enough attention). Of the 59 passes I have, three were screen plays, two were chuck aways, and critically for this segment, forty-one were passes that travelled equal to or less than 10 yards past the line scrimmage. Thirteen went 10+ yards.
That means that despite his impressive passing numbers on paper for that game, Gabbert only threw about 20% of his passes anything more than a handful of "air" yards. Of those 13 passes only seven were completed. That for me is an issue. I accept it was only one game, but it is a reasonably fair representation of the offense Gabbert played in.
Small ball, is the word I would use. Of the 41 passes that travelled less than ten yards, 29 were completed and they took the form of a collection of quick outs and sometimes drag routes across the field. All in all a very limited range of passes and nothing that was particularly taxing. Compare with the types of throws asked of guys like Mallet, Enderle and Stanzi in college, which offer a much better approximation of what they'll see in the NFL.
I just don't trust Gabbert to convert very well. The range of passes he has been asked to throw in college compares poorly with what the Jaguars will ask of him. I haven't seen any of the dig routes for example that teams in the NFL like to make plenty of use of. No post-corner routes. And very little in the way of fades.
I just don't see how Gabbert can be considered a franchise QB at the NFL level? It'll take all the franchises resources just to teach him the bloody offense. His accuracy down the field is highly questionable. and the plethora of short routes that he was asked to throw in college lead me to the next point.
2) Gabbert will probably collapse in the face of pressure in the NFL. Very rarely did I see him stand in the pocket and let routes develop down field. Everything was coming out of his hands as quick as a flash. On the few occasions that he did try and hold the ball, he almost immediately bailed out of the pocket and ran for his life, even if it was just a three man rush.
He just seems to have zero experience of standing up to a proper rush. The fact that Missouri spent so much time in 5 wide sets doesn't help. He's used to having the defense clearly laid out for him where he can make easy reads and easy choices.
Do I blame Gabbert for this? No. His coaches maybe? No, their job (what the colleges pay them big bucks for) is to win college games, not serve as a player factory for the Pro's.
The people then that I blame are the people putting Gabbert up there on the pedestal as the number one QB in the 2011 draft class, because I don't think he's anything near that. With time he can improve and get used to the way the big leagues work. He might even carve out a career for himself, in whatever shape or form that may be.
But to tout him as a franchise QB at all, let alone a day one franchise kid, is a big mistake in my opinion.
P.S. Rams draft post will probably touchdown (see what I did there?) on Saturday.
P.P.S. See the labels at the bottom. Just above that is a little "f" icon. Click it. Trust me it'll make your day.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
2011 NFL Draft: San Francisco 49ers
But first....
The league owners have got together for a meeting in Indianapolis and have voted to pass three new rules. For those that are already wondering; no, none of them is a fix to the tuck rule.
Instead we have:
1) 15 yard penalty for "launching", where a defender leaves both feet and makes contact with a defenseless receiver either helmet to helmet, or shoulder to helmet. As I understand it, if the defender "launches" but makes contact in the stomach of a receiver then there is no penalty.
2) The definition of a defenseless receiver has expanded to include any receiver who hasn't had time to protect himself or hasn't clearly become a runner, regardless of whether his feet are on the ground or not. In addition, the following players will receive special protection as defenseless players, and thus cannot be struck in the head or neck with either the helmet, facemask, shoulder or forearm (but presumably the hand is ok?);
- Players throwing a pass,
- Players attempting to make a catch but without time to avoid contact,
- A runner whose forward progress has been stopped,
- Kick off or punt returners while the ball is in the air (weren't they already covered?).
- Actual kickers and punters during the course of a return,
- A quarterback during a change of possession (but everyone else is not important enough and fair game? WTF?),
- Any player who is blindsided by a blocker who is moving towards his own endzone. It doesn't specify which of those two is moving toward their own endzone, but there you go.
3) Finally, one decent change, contact to the helmet of a QB with the hand or arm will now be judged on a case by case basis by referees, instead of the previous automatic penalty. So contact that appears incidental and without malice can be ignored at the officials discretion. Which means you can expect Brady and Manning to be protected like the President and everyone else to be told to shove it.
And don't give me all that "it's not like that..." bullshit. I live in a country where the richest and best soccer teams are renowned for getting favourable decisions from referees, while the small teams get crapped on consistently. I've also noticed that teams like the Colts and Patriots can get away with bloody murder as far as things like "offensive pass interference" and so called "pick plays" go.
Mark my words, this will work in the favour of teams like the Patriots and Colts.
Anyway on to happier and more innocent things, like me ripping the 49ers a new one over their draft class. Well, I would but I'm actually warming to various aspects of it. We start with Aldon Smith, the DE from Missouri. Now I'm just going to come right out and say it from day one. I love Aldon Smith.
The kid is great. He's quick as a flash off the line, he works really hard every play and never gives up. From a technical standpoint he uses his hands really well to defeat blocks and his footwork is very good. Tracks beautifully from sideline to sideline and just generally has a lot of utility against both the run and the pass.
That last aspect makes me wonder about just how the 49ers will use him. The expectation in the media world is that he will play as a stand up outside linebacker in the 49ers 3-4 scheme. But given his skill set I wouldn't be surprised to see them try him out as a 3-4 end opposite Justin Smith, who lead the team in sacks last year. Together I think they would make a great combination, but it's all speculation right now.
Regardless, I think he's gonna be a great player, a worthy top ten pick and a firm part of the 49ers franchise in the coming years. He also addresses a big issue with the 49ers which has been consistent pass rush. While that defense isn't exactly slacking in that area, it has been a bit of a struggle to make it happen with creative scheming being the word of the day. Hopefully the combination of Smith and Smith, in whatever form that takes, will bring some foundation to the pass rush.
On to round two and QB Colin Kaepernick from Nevada. Now I've always been sceptical of "running quarterbacks". Needless to say that I called the 49ers draft team, and I quote myself - "dicks" - for drafting Kaepernick.
But I've mellowed out a little. Or more specifically, I've been back and watched a broader spectrum of Kaepernick's games. He's growing on me now. His footwork is ok. It lacks a little polish but it's very close to where it needs to be. His throwing motion is hideous, but then so was Brett Favre's and so is Mike Vick's, and I don't complain about them. It is what it is.
It does however throw up (pun not intended) (wait, what am I talking about? Err, pun absolutely intended) a good question mark that I have on him. His arm strength is great, he can sling that ball with the best of them. But at short ranges he doesn't demonstrate the touch needed. He seems to have one power setting and that's "stupid quick". At long ranges it's not a problem as the combination of gravity and air resistance bleed off some of the speed.
But at ranges under say, 12 yards from the Line of Scrimmage, there isn't enough time for those factors to take some of the zip off the ball, so frequently you see receivers cursing Kaepernick under their breath for taking their fingertips off. The good news about this is that it's coachable. It's something that can be fixed with a little bit of practice, as long as it's recognised and addressed.
The other big question I have is over the range of passing. By this I mean the types of throws made, not the distance of them. What I saw was a heck of a lot of short throws and not a lot else. I saw dump offs, I saw out routes, I saw hooking patterns, I saw some 15 yard ins and outs, even a post route or two. But I didn't see what I would call a full gamut of passes.
Contrast that with someone like Ricky Stanzi or Nathan Enderele, who threw everything from quick slants to deep bombs and all the passes in between. Particularly worrying for me was a lack of deep fade passes which are a fairly regular component of most pro offenses. One of the things people are always banging on about is the ability to exploit one on one matches on the outside, and to be honest, they're right.
But to do that you have to have a high degree of confidence in your Quarterback to throw those king of deep passes to the outside, dropping the ball in over the head of the corner and into the hands of the receiver. It was something I saw Stanzi do to perfection several times. And something I never saw Kaepernick do once. That could be a problem.
A lot depends on how coach Jim Harbaugh runs the offense. He's promised to reintroduce the 'West Coast Offense' and the spirit of Bill Walsh to its birth place, which I find amusing given that a) it was developed mostly in Cincinnati, b) Bill Walsh hated the name 'West Coast Offense', and c) the true 'West Coast offense' hasn't really existed for years now.
But I'm digressing now and indulging in my own blatant 49er passion, so back on point, if Harbaugh goes with a short passing game that includes a fair amount of play action and rollouts, then that might suit Kaepernick quite well, providing he can dial back that arm a bit. He actually throws pretty accurately on the run and the space created horizontally on the field might give Kaepernick the chance he needs to get his legs going and run for a few first downs.
But that's an "if" and a big "if" at that. I'll recant for now on my "dicks" comment, but I'm not happy enough to put it away in a draw somewhere and forget about it forever.
I've also just realised that I've had a good old waffle about Kaepernick and it's probably time to move on to the next pick, which was third rounder Chris Culliver, cornerback/safety, from South Carolina. This helps to explain why this particular post has taken so long, as previously I hadn't seen a scrap of Culliver.
And I still haven't. Beg, borrow, steal, I cannot. So for all I know Culliver is a pro bowler in the making. Though to be honest I've snooped about and it seems most people had him rated as a 6-7th rounder prior to the draft, which is usually but not always a bad sign.
On then to round four and running back Kendall Hunter, from Oklahoma State. I'm a Hunter fan, I'll come right out and say it. He's just a plain fun back to watch. Short guy, but strong and fights hard on every play, which is my kind of running back. His agility is really good and his acceleration is excellent. He goes from dead stop to full speed in a flash.
That's the thing then that I'm most looking forward to with Hunter. His speed should be a good compliment and change of pace to the more bruising style of Frank Gore and Anthony "The Golden Mule" Dixon. He also makes a great receiver out of the backfield, with his physical skills taking over when he gets the ball in his hands. All things considered, as a fourth round pick I count him as a bargain.
In the fifth round the 49ers went with another guy I hadn't seen, Daniel Kilgore, offensive guard, from Appalachian State. Well, I say guard because that's what he's technically listed as now, but really he's a right tackle. Apparently the 49ers are planning to use him as a backup center or guard, but I'm not really sure how successful that will prove to be.
The trouble is that a guy with Kilgore's body type (re: a fat bastard like Kilgore) is really more cut out for working the end of the line as opposed to the inside. Guards are supposed to be nimble guys with nifty footwork who can step back from the line and pull on power plays etc, make double reads of linebackers versus 34 fronts, and just generally be a little more finesse orientated.
Kilgore is the opposite of finesse. He's a mound of fat and gristle, as tough as a pair of Vietnam jungle boots. He's the sort of person I can imagine wrestling a grizzly bear in the mountains of Canada or pulling a truck along with his teeth. He's a powerhouse. He may not have the fastest or most technical footwork with his kick slide, but if he gets his hands on you then there's only one place you're going, and that's wherever Kilgore decides he wants you to go.
Overall I say give him a chance at right tackle. God knows that O-line needs some help and Anthony Davis isn' t providing it. If it doesn't work then he can just spend the off season in Texas with Chad Ochocinco as a travelling double act touring the rodeos. Chad will ride the bulls for as long as he can, then Kilgore will come in and strangle them with his bare hands.
In the meantime it's on to round 6 and finally a player I've had a decent look at before, Ronald Jackson, wide receiver, USC. Jackson is another guy I like. Excellent route running I thought, including the adjustments he made to his routes. He's pretty tough and has good hands as well, so overall a nice package. I think he makes a good contrast to a guy like Crabtree and I always find that useful, to have two receivers who attack defense's in different ways. One to watch.
The 49ers picked again in the sixth round courtesy of an old trade with Seattle for Kentwan Balmer, and with this pick they took Colin Jones, safety, from TCU. Another one who I hadn't seen any tape of prior to the draft, so off I went once more.
And all I can say about Jones is this; somewhere, maybe on his iPod, maybe on his laptop I dunno, but somewhere Jones must have indecent pictures of his old Head Coach and possibly some of either Trent Baalke or Jim Harbaugh. Because that's the only way I can possibly see how he managed to get onto the field.
Now I accept that not everyone sees players the same way. I accept that attributes that one guy finds desirable are not so for someone else. People have certain types of quarterbacks, corners, defensive tackles etc that they're looking for. But seriously, Jones sucks. He just plain, outright stinks and I have no idea how anyone in their right mind can't see that.
He's timid, like a cat afraid of water. He's fine when it comes to chasing a running play from behind or sprinting after a defenseless quarterback, but he doesn't seem to have much appetite for any other contact. Add to that his general look during most pass plays of "What the hell is going on? Am I in a football game? What am I supposed to be doing?" and it really doesn't make good viewing.
I just can't understand how a guy like Jones makes it into the league when you look at the list of names of guys that went undrafted. You're seriously telling me that the 49ers didn't feel any of them was on the same level as Jones? Get the fuck outta here!
Anyway, onwards and upwards (I have to stop saying that) to round 7, where the 49ers had originally four picks, one of which was traded to Green Bay. The first of the seventh rounders was defensive end Bruce Miller, from Central Florida.
For some reason I covered Miller in my linebackers section when he should have gone in with the defensive linemen, but hey ho and away we go. To put it bluntly, not that I ever actually seem to sugar coat things, Miller is no more than average for his position. Primary among his problems is the fact that he's so slow off the snap. That's just asking to get yourself blocked. Which is what normally happens to Miller as it happens.
On then to the first of the compensatory selections and it's Mike Person, offensive guard, Montana State. Again, Person is another one of those players listed now as a guard but who was actually a tackle. And again, I hadn't seen a thing of Person prior to the draft. I'm beginning to wish I still hadn't.
Mike Person must be in cahoots with Colin Jones, because I shit you not ladies and gentlemen (Who am I kidding? Ladies?) Person is undoubtedly the single worst offensive tackle I have ever seen. He was just... just... I wish I could show you what I've seen.
If you wanted to make a lowlight reel to show people "This is how never to play offensive tackle. Ever," then it would just be a complete game tape of Mike Person. This guy is just indescribably bad. Balance is shocking. Footwork is terrible. Use of the hands is practically non existent. His mental awareness of the blocking schemes is terrible. Frankly I'm astounded that Montana State ever managed to score a single point with this guy on their O-line.
What's worse is this thought; if a team starts its best linemen at left tackle, what the hell must the backups on that team have looked like? It just doesn't bare thinking about. Honestly I'm still in shock. How in the hell does someone like Person end up in the NFL? There is someone on the 49ers scouting staff who needs to be out of a job.
For me personally the name Mike Person will forever more be associated with, and synonymous for - terrible. Puke inducing terrible.
Please God let 49ers final selection, cornerback Curtis Holcomb from Florida A&M, be good. Let him even just be ok. Or even poor. Just don't let him be Mike Person! Now as you've probably guessed, I hadn't seen Holcomb before the draft, which means that of all the teams in the NFL I'd safely say the 49ers, my own team, drafted the most number of players who I had never seen before.
Wait, what the fuck? Sorry, but I just noticed Mike Person received All-Big Sky Conference honors in 2011. How?
Anyway, back on schedule and Curtis Holcomb. Who I can confidently say... I still know nothing about, because I couldn't find a thing on the kid. Apparently Trent Baalke is quite high on him, largely because he was unknown and they think they dug out a diamond in the rough so to speak. As long as he's not Mike Person bad, I don't care.
So that then is you're 2011 San Francisco 49ers draft class. A mixed bag really. Some good, some bad. Some unknown. If you look at Kaepernick, he has potential. The 49ers have already said they'd like to bring in a veteran QB to start this year so Kaepernick can develop, which is probably for the best. Maybe in a year or two he'll be the guy. Patience is a virtue after all.
I love the pick of Aldon Smith and I also think the team made some good moves to bring in tools that eventually Kaepernick will get to play with such as Hunter and Johnson. That offense is slowly starting to shape together as one that can do the defense justice. All it needs is for Kaepernicks development to go relatively smoothly and then there is hope.
Maybe, just maybe, with an experienced veteran to guide the team they might make the playoffs this year, but sadly I'm not holding my breath. Seattle and St. Louis are both in stronger positions right now and have a better mix of options on both sides of the ball going into the 2011 season (if it ever gets going). The 49ers D is probably still the strongest individual unit, but the offense isn't in the right position to support it.
And we have Mike Person. Lord help us.
St. Louis is up next, then that's the NFC West done and it'll be off to the NFC North, who I think on paper might just have had the best draft as a division.
The league owners have got together for a meeting in Indianapolis and have voted to pass three new rules. For those that are already wondering; no, none of them is a fix to the tuck rule.
Instead we have:
1) 15 yard penalty for "launching", where a defender leaves both feet and makes contact with a defenseless receiver either helmet to helmet, or shoulder to helmet. As I understand it, if the defender "launches" but makes contact in the stomach of a receiver then there is no penalty.
2) The definition of a defenseless receiver has expanded to include any receiver who hasn't had time to protect himself or hasn't clearly become a runner, regardless of whether his feet are on the ground or not. In addition, the following players will receive special protection as defenseless players, and thus cannot be struck in the head or neck with either the helmet, facemask, shoulder or forearm (but presumably the hand is ok?);
- Players throwing a pass,
- Players attempting to make a catch but without time to avoid contact,
- A runner whose forward progress has been stopped,
- Kick off or punt returners while the ball is in the air (weren't they already covered?).
- Actual kickers and punters during the course of a return,
- A quarterback during a change of possession (but everyone else is not important enough and fair game? WTF?),
- Any player who is blindsided by a blocker who is moving towards his own endzone. It doesn't specify which of those two is moving toward their own endzone, but there you go.
3) Finally, one decent change, contact to the helmet of a QB with the hand or arm will now be judged on a case by case basis by referees, instead of the previous automatic penalty. So contact that appears incidental and without malice can be ignored at the officials discretion. Which means you can expect Brady and Manning to be protected like the President and everyone else to be told to shove it.
And don't give me all that "it's not like that..." bullshit. I live in a country where the richest and best soccer teams are renowned for getting favourable decisions from referees, while the small teams get crapped on consistently. I've also noticed that teams like the Colts and Patriots can get away with bloody murder as far as things like "offensive pass interference" and so called "pick plays" go.
Mark my words, this will work in the favour of teams like the Patriots and Colts.
Anyway on to happier and more innocent things, like me ripping the 49ers a new one over their draft class. Well, I would but I'm actually warming to various aspects of it. We start with Aldon Smith, the DE from Missouri. Now I'm just going to come right out and say it from day one. I love Aldon Smith.
The kid is great. He's quick as a flash off the line, he works really hard every play and never gives up. From a technical standpoint he uses his hands really well to defeat blocks and his footwork is very good. Tracks beautifully from sideline to sideline and just generally has a lot of utility against both the run and the pass.
That last aspect makes me wonder about just how the 49ers will use him. The expectation in the media world is that he will play as a stand up outside linebacker in the 49ers 3-4 scheme. But given his skill set I wouldn't be surprised to see them try him out as a 3-4 end opposite Justin Smith, who lead the team in sacks last year. Together I think they would make a great combination, but it's all speculation right now.
Regardless, I think he's gonna be a great player, a worthy top ten pick and a firm part of the 49ers franchise in the coming years. He also addresses a big issue with the 49ers which has been consistent pass rush. While that defense isn't exactly slacking in that area, it has been a bit of a struggle to make it happen with creative scheming being the word of the day. Hopefully the combination of Smith and Smith, in whatever form that takes, will bring some foundation to the pass rush.
On to round two and QB Colin Kaepernick from Nevada. Now I've always been sceptical of "running quarterbacks". Needless to say that I called the 49ers draft team, and I quote myself - "dicks" - for drafting Kaepernick.
But I've mellowed out a little. Or more specifically, I've been back and watched a broader spectrum of Kaepernick's games. He's growing on me now. His footwork is ok. It lacks a little polish but it's very close to where it needs to be. His throwing motion is hideous, but then so was Brett Favre's and so is Mike Vick's, and I don't complain about them. It is what it is.
It does however throw up (pun not intended) (wait, what am I talking about? Err, pun absolutely intended) a good question mark that I have on him. His arm strength is great, he can sling that ball with the best of them. But at short ranges he doesn't demonstrate the touch needed. He seems to have one power setting and that's "stupid quick". At long ranges it's not a problem as the combination of gravity and air resistance bleed off some of the speed.
But at ranges under say, 12 yards from the Line of Scrimmage, there isn't enough time for those factors to take some of the zip off the ball, so frequently you see receivers cursing Kaepernick under their breath for taking their fingertips off. The good news about this is that it's coachable. It's something that can be fixed with a little bit of practice, as long as it's recognised and addressed.
The other big question I have is over the range of passing. By this I mean the types of throws made, not the distance of them. What I saw was a heck of a lot of short throws and not a lot else. I saw dump offs, I saw out routes, I saw hooking patterns, I saw some 15 yard ins and outs, even a post route or two. But I didn't see what I would call a full gamut of passes.
Contrast that with someone like Ricky Stanzi or Nathan Enderele, who threw everything from quick slants to deep bombs and all the passes in between. Particularly worrying for me was a lack of deep fade passes which are a fairly regular component of most pro offenses. One of the things people are always banging on about is the ability to exploit one on one matches on the outside, and to be honest, they're right.
But to do that you have to have a high degree of confidence in your Quarterback to throw those king of deep passes to the outside, dropping the ball in over the head of the corner and into the hands of the receiver. It was something I saw Stanzi do to perfection several times. And something I never saw Kaepernick do once. That could be a problem.
A lot depends on how coach Jim Harbaugh runs the offense. He's promised to reintroduce the 'West Coast Offense' and the spirit of Bill Walsh to its birth place, which I find amusing given that a) it was developed mostly in Cincinnati, b) Bill Walsh hated the name 'West Coast Offense', and c) the true 'West Coast offense' hasn't really existed for years now.
But I'm digressing now and indulging in my own blatant 49er passion, so back on point, if Harbaugh goes with a short passing game that includes a fair amount of play action and rollouts, then that might suit Kaepernick quite well, providing he can dial back that arm a bit. He actually throws pretty accurately on the run and the space created horizontally on the field might give Kaepernick the chance he needs to get his legs going and run for a few first downs.
But that's an "if" and a big "if" at that. I'll recant for now on my "dicks" comment, but I'm not happy enough to put it away in a draw somewhere and forget about it forever.
I've also just realised that I've had a good old waffle about Kaepernick and it's probably time to move on to the next pick, which was third rounder Chris Culliver, cornerback/safety, from South Carolina. This helps to explain why this particular post has taken so long, as previously I hadn't seen a scrap of Culliver.
And I still haven't. Beg, borrow, steal, I cannot. So for all I know Culliver is a pro bowler in the making. Though to be honest I've snooped about and it seems most people had him rated as a 6-7th rounder prior to the draft, which is usually but not always a bad sign.
On then to round four and running back Kendall Hunter, from Oklahoma State. I'm a Hunter fan, I'll come right out and say it. He's just a plain fun back to watch. Short guy, but strong and fights hard on every play, which is my kind of running back. His agility is really good and his acceleration is excellent. He goes from dead stop to full speed in a flash.
That's the thing then that I'm most looking forward to with Hunter. His speed should be a good compliment and change of pace to the more bruising style of Frank Gore and Anthony "The Golden Mule" Dixon. He also makes a great receiver out of the backfield, with his physical skills taking over when he gets the ball in his hands. All things considered, as a fourth round pick I count him as a bargain.
In the fifth round the 49ers went with another guy I hadn't seen, Daniel Kilgore, offensive guard, from Appalachian State. Well, I say guard because that's what he's technically listed as now, but really he's a right tackle. Apparently the 49ers are planning to use him as a backup center or guard, but I'm not really sure how successful that will prove to be.
The trouble is that a guy with Kilgore's body type (re: a fat bastard like Kilgore) is really more cut out for working the end of the line as opposed to the inside. Guards are supposed to be nimble guys with nifty footwork who can step back from the line and pull on power plays etc, make double reads of linebackers versus 34 fronts, and just generally be a little more finesse orientated.
Kilgore is the opposite of finesse. He's a mound of fat and gristle, as tough as a pair of Vietnam jungle boots. He's the sort of person I can imagine wrestling a grizzly bear in the mountains of Canada or pulling a truck along with his teeth. He's a powerhouse. He may not have the fastest or most technical footwork with his kick slide, but if he gets his hands on you then there's only one place you're going, and that's wherever Kilgore decides he wants you to go.
Overall I say give him a chance at right tackle. God knows that O-line needs some help and Anthony Davis isn' t providing it. If it doesn't work then he can just spend the off season in Texas with Chad Ochocinco as a travelling double act touring the rodeos. Chad will ride the bulls for as long as he can, then Kilgore will come in and strangle them with his bare hands.
In the meantime it's on to round 6 and finally a player I've had a decent look at before, Ronald Jackson, wide receiver, USC. Jackson is another guy I like. Excellent route running I thought, including the adjustments he made to his routes. He's pretty tough and has good hands as well, so overall a nice package. I think he makes a good contrast to a guy like Crabtree and I always find that useful, to have two receivers who attack defense's in different ways. One to watch.
The 49ers picked again in the sixth round courtesy of an old trade with Seattle for Kentwan Balmer, and with this pick they took Colin Jones, safety, from TCU. Another one who I hadn't seen any tape of prior to the draft, so off I went once more.
And all I can say about Jones is this; somewhere, maybe on his iPod, maybe on his laptop I dunno, but somewhere Jones must have indecent pictures of his old Head Coach and possibly some of either Trent Baalke or Jim Harbaugh. Because that's the only way I can possibly see how he managed to get onto the field.
Now I accept that not everyone sees players the same way. I accept that attributes that one guy finds desirable are not so for someone else. People have certain types of quarterbacks, corners, defensive tackles etc that they're looking for. But seriously, Jones sucks. He just plain, outright stinks and I have no idea how anyone in their right mind can't see that.
He's timid, like a cat afraid of water. He's fine when it comes to chasing a running play from behind or sprinting after a defenseless quarterback, but he doesn't seem to have much appetite for any other contact. Add to that his general look during most pass plays of "What the hell is going on? Am I in a football game? What am I supposed to be doing?" and it really doesn't make good viewing.
I just can't understand how a guy like Jones makes it into the league when you look at the list of names of guys that went undrafted. You're seriously telling me that the 49ers didn't feel any of them was on the same level as Jones? Get the fuck outta here!
Anyway, onwards and upwards (I have to stop saying that) to round 7, where the 49ers had originally four picks, one of which was traded to Green Bay. The first of the seventh rounders was defensive end Bruce Miller, from Central Florida.
For some reason I covered Miller in my linebackers section when he should have gone in with the defensive linemen, but hey ho and away we go. To put it bluntly, not that I ever actually seem to sugar coat things, Miller is no more than average for his position. Primary among his problems is the fact that he's so slow off the snap. That's just asking to get yourself blocked. Which is what normally happens to Miller as it happens.
On then to the first of the compensatory selections and it's Mike Person, offensive guard, Montana State. Again, Person is another one of those players listed now as a guard but who was actually a tackle. And again, I hadn't seen a thing of Person prior to the draft. I'm beginning to wish I still hadn't.
Mike Person must be in cahoots with Colin Jones, because I shit you not ladies and gentlemen (Who am I kidding? Ladies?) Person is undoubtedly the single worst offensive tackle I have ever seen. He was just... just... I wish I could show you what I've seen.
If you wanted to make a lowlight reel to show people "This is how never to play offensive tackle. Ever," then it would just be a complete game tape of Mike Person. This guy is just indescribably bad. Balance is shocking. Footwork is terrible. Use of the hands is practically non existent. His mental awareness of the blocking schemes is terrible. Frankly I'm astounded that Montana State ever managed to score a single point with this guy on their O-line.
What's worse is this thought; if a team starts its best linemen at left tackle, what the hell must the backups on that team have looked like? It just doesn't bare thinking about. Honestly I'm still in shock. How in the hell does someone like Person end up in the NFL? There is someone on the 49ers scouting staff who needs to be out of a job.
For me personally the name Mike Person will forever more be associated with, and synonymous for - terrible. Puke inducing terrible.
Please God let 49ers final selection, cornerback Curtis Holcomb from Florida A&M, be good. Let him even just be ok. Or even poor. Just don't let him be Mike Person! Now as you've probably guessed, I hadn't seen Holcomb before the draft, which means that of all the teams in the NFL I'd safely say the 49ers, my own team, drafted the most number of players who I had never seen before.
Wait, what the fuck? Sorry, but I just noticed Mike Person received All-Big Sky Conference honors in 2011. How?
Anyway, back on schedule and Curtis Holcomb. Who I can confidently say... I still know nothing about, because I couldn't find a thing on the kid. Apparently Trent Baalke is quite high on him, largely because he was unknown and they think they dug out a diamond in the rough so to speak. As long as he's not Mike Person bad, I don't care.
So that then is you're 2011 San Francisco 49ers draft class. A mixed bag really. Some good, some bad. Some unknown. If you look at Kaepernick, he has potential. The 49ers have already said they'd like to bring in a veteran QB to start this year so Kaepernick can develop, which is probably for the best. Maybe in a year or two he'll be the guy. Patience is a virtue after all.
I love the pick of Aldon Smith and I also think the team made some good moves to bring in tools that eventually Kaepernick will get to play with such as Hunter and Johnson. That offense is slowly starting to shape together as one that can do the defense justice. All it needs is for Kaepernicks development to go relatively smoothly and then there is hope.
Maybe, just maybe, with an experienced veteran to guide the team they might make the playoffs this year, but sadly I'm not holding my breath. Seattle and St. Louis are both in stronger positions right now and have a better mix of options on both sides of the ball going into the 2011 season (if it ever gets going). The 49ers D is probably still the strongest individual unit, but the offense isn't in the right position to support it.
And we have Mike Person. Lord help us.
St. Louis is up next, then that's the NFC West done and it'll be off to the NFC North, who I think on paper might just have had the best draft as a division.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Keeping you Posted 05/24/11
The 49ers draft recap is on its way, but a significant number of the players I hadn't either seen before or seen enough of, so I've been very busy trying to get a good look at everyone before passing judgement. I've also tried to get another look at Colin Kaepernick. It'll be up in the next 25 hours though.
Why 25 and not 24?
1) Because that's how I roll,
2) Because I pressed the wrong key and was too lazy to delete it. Though in retrospect, if I had deleted it I wouldn't have had to type out this explanation.
Why 25 and not 24?
1) Because that's how I roll,
2) Because I pressed the wrong key and was too lazy to delete it. Though in retrospect, if I had deleted it I wouldn't have had to type out this explanation.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
2011 NFL Draft; Arizona Cardinals
I feel sorry for Cardinals fans.
Ok I'm lying, I don't. But if I wasn't a 49ers fan then I would feel sorry for Cardinals fans. From the big game in 2009 to the big slump in 2011. Last year the Cardinals sucked and to this day the only person who has the slightest idea how the Cardinals managed to win any games - let alone five of them - is God. And he ain't telling anyone.
The biggest issue was of course, Quarterback. After the giddy heights of Kurt Warner the Cardinals sank to the low ebb of Derek Anderson, a quarterback so bad even the Browns didn't want him. What they needed then was a half decent draft. It didn't even have to be the greatest in the world, just a pretty good draft to put them back on the road to success.
Picking up a new young QB was a desirable option. Arizona already had Max Hall, John Skelton and Richard Bartel, but none of those names really blows you away as an amazing young prospect. I saw more than a few comments around the interwebs from Cardinals fans hoping that their team would draft Ryan Mallett or Christian Ponder or etc. One nutjob even wanted them to get Cam Newton if he was still available.
As it turned out they were all to be sorely disappointed but at the same time elated, as their team used its number one pick (fifth overall) to select Patrick Peterson, cornerback, LSU.
I say they were elated because Peterson was hailed as the number one corner overall in the draft, so naturally that's a good thing. Except that personally I don't think Peterson is anything to write home about. He's ok, might even find a use as a nickel corner. Maybe make that a dime corner.
But as a first rounder? And the first corner taken off the board at that? No freaking way. I spent about five minutes watching the LSU Defense and thinking to myself "kid is ok, not bad", before I realised I was watching the wrong corner. Then I went back & watched through it again, and by the same point I was thinking "what the hell is so special about this kid?"
I just can't see anything that to me makes him a standout. He really isn't all that great. As a punt/kick returner, then yeah, I can definitely see the appeal. But as a pure corner I thought he was barely average. He often played too far off the man, close to what I would call "Sherman Loose". Sometimes that worked in his favour, as he was so far over the top of his man that an overthrown ball would provide the opportunity for an interception.
But really, is that how we're rating corners now? Because they occasionally have a pick thrown into their lap? I certainly saw nothing approaching what I would call NFL starting level play from a corner. I don't know where the Peterson hype came from, maybe the combine (where he did well), but surely not off the game tape? Or if it is then, shit, I got really unlucky multiple times with the games I saw.
But who knows? Everyone else seems to be creaming their pants over Peterson and hailing him as this pro bowl ready prospect who's going to excel at the next level, so I accept that I'm absolutely in the minority over this one. I just don't see it myself. I think he's going to be a flag drawing bust.
Onto round two and with the 38th pick overall the Cardinals took Ryan Williams, running back, Virginia Tech.
I like Williams. His vision is a bit so-so, but his power is really good and he plays with his pads down, running behind them not under them. In that sense he's quite like his fellow Arizona RB Chris "Beanie" Wells. Maybe Ken Whisenhunt is looking to build a power running game for the season ahead? Williams would fit that mold certainly. But don't be all consumed by the power side. When he hits the open field and has the room to get his legs going, Williams can really fire up the jets and move.
As indeed we will move - to round three - and with the 69th pick overall the Cardinals selected tight end Rob Housler, from Florida Atlantic.
Now the Cardinals could be in a tight spot regarding tight ends this year, as most of theirs are heading out the door into the occasionally lucrative world of free agency. So they needed someone like Housler. I just think they could have done better than Housler.
But it is what it is, and what it is, is (confused yet) an overall ok tight end. Hands are not bad. Route running is ok, if lacking a little in polish, especially at the "top" of the route. Housler's run blocking is a strong point and when taken in the light of the Williams pick, the lack of a decent QB and Coach Whisenhunts background with the Steelers, this might be part of a run-first grand master plan that is brewing in Arizona.
I know, I'm not convinced either.
In round four the Cardinals went with defensive end Sam Acho from Texas (Longhorns). In the NFL he'll likely play as a pass rushing outside linebacker and honestly I'm of two minds about Acho. What I've seen of him suggests to me that he will be nothing special. In fact, I suspect he'll be nothing more than a blip. But... one thing that has crossed my mind is that Acho seemed to be building himself up over time, getting better and better statistically as the seasons went by. Maybe Acho is just getting ready to break onto the big scene?
C'mon Cardinals fans, I'm trying to find the positives, I really am! Acho's gonna suck though. I'm sorry. I don't see it.
Round five saw the Cardinals dip into the running back pool again (more on this later) as they took Anthony Sherman, fullback from Connecticut. Sherman did well at the combine and certainly impressed me in the on field drills. On tape though? Ehhhh.... ok I'm just gonna come out and say it. A Fullbacks main job is, you know, lead blocking. Sherman's blocking sucks. He commonly comes charging in with his pads too high and just gets stood by the defender and driven back out of the hole. That's not good.
What the Sherman pick does help us with is to pretty much nod sagely and predict that the Cardinals are going to run the ball a lot more in 2011. Like, A LOT more. Still though, I'm not finished on this point which we'll pick up at the end.
Onto round six where the Cardinals had two picks. The first was Quan Sturdivant, inside linebacker from North Carolina.
Sturdivant is pretty strong which is obviously a useful trait for a linebacker. He sees stuff happening early and reacts quickly, showing good instincts against both the run and the pass. His coverage skills are good which is handy for a linebacker who will probably find himself dropping off to cover tight ends etc if he gets onto the field. His run defense needs a bit of work still, as he occasionally seems to come down quickly into a blob of players and then disappears beneath the ensuing pile. For where he was taken, not a bad pick.
The second of Arizona's sixth rounders was defensive end David Carter. I didn't get to see Carter prior to the draft but have since had a sit down with a nice big mug of coffee to watch him play, mainly as a defensive tackle. There are three things that I learnt during this moving picture adventure;
1) That Carter is incapable of tucking his shirt(s) in,
2) That he gets blocked very easily and lacks anything that might be discernable as technique or strength,
3) That Tesco value coffee is fucking horrible,
Though to be fair, I should have realised number 3 when I bought the stuff. They don't call it "value" coffee just for laughs. I was surprised about Carter though. My normal assumption about a player who I haven't yet seen is that if that some team picked him then he must have something of value to bring to the party, and must at least have something that made him appear better than the hundred or so legitimate prospects who were drafted after him or went undrafted.
I really, really - not in a million years - cant understand what in the hell anybody in the Cardinals organisation saw in Carter. All I saw was a guy who got stood up and turned sideways every time the ball was snapped. I mean he looked truly awful and how a team with legitimate needs, at quarterback and offensive line among other things, could blow a valuable pick on such a player is just beyond comprehension. It makes no sense.
Finally the Cardinals used their seventh round compensatory selection to take wide receiver DeMarco Sampson, from San Diego State. And perhaps mercifully after seeing their other picks, I cannot get a damn scrap on this kid, so maybe he's another Larry Fitzgerald in the making and he'll team up with the actual Larry Fitzgerald and thus save the Cardinals season.
Of course, that's being optimistic. Just slightly.
So what did I think of the Cardinals draft overall? I thought it sucked. I thought it sucked hard. And I'm left asking myself one simple question; how in the hell did people not rate that as a worse draft than the Seahawks?
Even if, unlike me, you didn't like the Seahawks draft, you still have to admit that this Cardinals draft was a pile of ass. It just.... sucks!
My main complaint is two fold. Number one, they didn't draft a quarterback. They had the opportunity to have the pick of the litter (excluding Newton) in the first round. Now even if they say they don't like any of those guys, what about Ryan Mallett who slid all the way to the Patriots in the third? Surely the Cardinals didn't hate him that much that they looked at him in the second and said "nope, not for us". Man alive.
My second complaint centers around the O-line. Or specifically the fact that the Cardinals wont have one in 2011 at this rate. They only have five O-linemen signed, none of whom is a legit center. Either the Cardinals are banking on bringing back a lot of guys, or they just feel really good about the free agent market. That's a hell of a risky hand to be playing.
I also don't get it in light of the investment in another running back and a fullback. Why, why in the name of God would you invest two picks in yet another running back when you already have three legitimate backs on your roster and have no O-line? Hell, you can go out and pick up a cheap back or two in free agency who can give you some service in a way that cheap O-line free agents generally can't. You even have one running back and two fullbacks as restricted free agents who aren't unlikely to go anywhere.
It makes no sense. None. Of all the players they could have picked, another running back and another fullback were just about their two least pressing needs. What about defensive tackle? I mean seriously, is David Carter the answer? You've got to be kidding me. What about the secondary? What about finding a decent young pass rusher?
This draft class sucks. It is absolutely hideous. From what I can recall just about the only draft that I hated worse than this was the Titans 2011 class. I remember the Raiders being pretty bad too. All I know is this, if I was handing out lettered grades this 2011 Cardinals class would get an "F" for "Fuck you Arizona for making our division look bad again, just as we were recovering a bit of Kudos".
I hate the Cardinals.
Ok I'm lying, I don't. But if I wasn't a 49ers fan then I would feel sorry for Cardinals fans. From the big game in 2009 to the big slump in 2011. Last year the Cardinals sucked and to this day the only person who has the slightest idea how the Cardinals managed to win any games - let alone five of them - is God. And he ain't telling anyone.
The biggest issue was of course, Quarterback. After the giddy heights of Kurt Warner the Cardinals sank to the low ebb of Derek Anderson, a quarterback so bad even the Browns didn't want him. What they needed then was a half decent draft. It didn't even have to be the greatest in the world, just a pretty good draft to put them back on the road to success.
Picking up a new young QB was a desirable option. Arizona already had Max Hall, John Skelton and Richard Bartel, but none of those names really blows you away as an amazing young prospect. I saw more than a few comments around the interwebs from Cardinals fans hoping that their team would draft Ryan Mallett or Christian Ponder or etc. One nutjob even wanted them to get Cam Newton if he was still available.
As it turned out they were all to be sorely disappointed but at the same time elated, as their team used its number one pick (fifth overall) to select Patrick Peterson, cornerback, LSU.
I say they were elated because Peterson was hailed as the number one corner overall in the draft, so naturally that's a good thing. Except that personally I don't think Peterson is anything to write home about. He's ok, might even find a use as a nickel corner. Maybe make that a dime corner.
But as a first rounder? And the first corner taken off the board at that? No freaking way. I spent about five minutes watching the LSU Defense and thinking to myself "kid is ok, not bad", before I realised I was watching the wrong corner. Then I went back & watched through it again, and by the same point I was thinking "what the hell is so special about this kid?"
I just can't see anything that to me makes him a standout. He really isn't all that great. As a punt/kick returner, then yeah, I can definitely see the appeal. But as a pure corner I thought he was barely average. He often played too far off the man, close to what I would call "Sherman Loose". Sometimes that worked in his favour, as he was so far over the top of his man that an overthrown ball would provide the opportunity for an interception.
But really, is that how we're rating corners now? Because they occasionally have a pick thrown into their lap? I certainly saw nothing approaching what I would call NFL starting level play from a corner. I don't know where the Peterson hype came from, maybe the combine (where he did well), but surely not off the game tape? Or if it is then, shit, I got really unlucky multiple times with the games I saw.
But who knows? Everyone else seems to be creaming their pants over Peterson and hailing him as this pro bowl ready prospect who's going to excel at the next level, so I accept that I'm absolutely in the minority over this one. I just don't see it myself. I think he's going to be a flag drawing bust.
Onto round two and with the 38th pick overall the Cardinals took Ryan Williams, running back, Virginia Tech.
I like Williams. His vision is a bit so-so, but his power is really good and he plays with his pads down, running behind them not under them. In that sense he's quite like his fellow Arizona RB Chris "Beanie" Wells. Maybe Ken Whisenhunt is looking to build a power running game for the season ahead? Williams would fit that mold certainly. But don't be all consumed by the power side. When he hits the open field and has the room to get his legs going, Williams can really fire up the jets and move.
As indeed we will move - to round three - and with the 69th pick overall the Cardinals selected tight end Rob Housler, from Florida Atlantic.
Now the Cardinals could be in a tight spot regarding tight ends this year, as most of theirs are heading out the door into the occasionally lucrative world of free agency. So they needed someone like Housler. I just think they could have done better than Housler.
But it is what it is, and what it is, is (confused yet) an overall ok tight end. Hands are not bad. Route running is ok, if lacking a little in polish, especially at the "top" of the route. Housler's run blocking is a strong point and when taken in the light of the Williams pick, the lack of a decent QB and Coach Whisenhunts background with the Steelers, this might be part of a run-first grand master plan that is brewing in Arizona.
I know, I'm not convinced either.
In round four the Cardinals went with defensive end Sam Acho from Texas (Longhorns). In the NFL he'll likely play as a pass rushing outside linebacker and honestly I'm of two minds about Acho. What I've seen of him suggests to me that he will be nothing special. In fact, I suspect he'll be nothing more than a blip. But... one thing that has crossed my mind is that Acho seemed to be building himself up over time, getting better and better statistically as the seasons went by. Maybe Acho is just getting ready to break onto the big scene?
C'mon Cardinals fans, I'm trying to find the positives, I really am! Acho's gonna suck though. I'm sorry. I don't see it.
Round five saw the Cardinals dip into the running back pool again (more on this later) as they took Anthony Sherman, fullback from Connecticut. Sherman did well at the combine and certainly impressed me in the on field drills. On tape though? Ehhhh.... ok I'm just gonna come out and say it. A Fullbacks main job is, you know, lead blocking. Sherman's blocking sucks. He commonly comes charging in with his pads too high and just gets stood by the defender and driven back out of the hole. That's not good.
What the Sherman pick does help us with is to pretty much nod sagely and predict that the Cardinals are going to run the ball a lot more in 2011. Like, A LOT more. Still though, I'm not finished on this point which we'll pick up at the end.
Onto round six where the Cardinals had two picks. The first was Quan Sturdivant, inside linebacker from North Carolina.
Sturdivant is pretty strong which is obviously a useful trait for a linebacker. He sees stuff happening early and reacts quickly, showing good instincts against both the run and the pass. His coverage skills are good which is handy for a linebacker who will probably find himself dropping off to cover tight ends etc if he gets onto the field. His run defense needs a bit of work still, as he occasionally seems to come down quickly into a blob of players and then disappears beneath the ensuing pile. For where he was taken, not a bad pick.
The second of Arizona's sixth rounders was defensive end David Carter. I didn't get to see Carter prior to the draft but have since had a sit down with a nice big mug of coffee to watch him play, mainly as a defensive tackle. There are three things that I learnt during this moving picture adventure;
1) That Carter is incapable of tucking his shirt(s) in,
2) That he gets blocked very easily and lacks anything that might be discernable as technique or strength,
3) That Tesco value coffee is fucking horrible,
Though to be fair, I should have realised number 3 when I bought the stuff. They don't call it "value" coffee just for laughs. I was surprised about Carter though. My normal assumption about a player who I haven't yet seen is that if that some team picked him then he must have something of value to bring to the party, and must at least have something that made him appear better than the hundred or so legitimate prospects who were drafted after him or went undrafted.
I really, really - not in a million years - cant understand what in the hell anybody in the Cardinals organisation saw in Carter. All I saw was a guy who got stood up and turned sideways every time the ball was snapped. I mean he looked truly awful and how a team with legitimate needs, at quarterback and offensive line among other things, could blow a valuable pick on such a player is just beyond comprehension. It makes no sense.
Finally the Cardinals used their seventh round compensatory selection to take wide receiver DeMarco Sampson, from San Diego State. And perhaps mercifully after seeing their other picks, I cannot get a damn scrap on this kid, so maybe he's another Larry Fitzgerald in the making and he'll team up with the actual Larry Fitzgerald and thus save the Cardinals season.
Of course, that's being optimistic. Just slightly.
So what did I think of the Cardinals draft overall? I thought it sucked. I thought it sucked hard. And I'm left asking myself one simple question; how in the hell did people not rate that as a worse draft than the Seahawks?
Even if, unlike me, you didn't like the Seahawks draft, you still have to admit that this Cardinals draft was a pile of ass. It just.... sucks!
My main complaint is two fold. Number one, they didn't draft a quarterback. They had the opportunity to have the pick of the litter (excluding Newton) in the first round. Now even if they say they don't like any of those guys, what about Ryan Mallett who slid all the way to the Patriots in the third? Surely the Cardinals didn't hate him that much that they looked at him in the second and said "nope, not for us". Man alive.
My second complaint centers around the O-line. Or specifically the fact that the Cardinals wont have one in 2011 at this rate. They only have five O-linemen signed, none of whom is a legit center. Either the Cardinals are banking on bringing back a lot of guys, or they just feel really good about the free agent market. That's a hell of a risky hand to be playing.
I also don't get it in light of the investment in another running back and a fullback. Why, why in the name of God would you invest two picks in yet another running back when you already have three legitimate backs on your roster and have no O-line? Hell, you can go out and pick up a cheap back or two in free agency who can give you some service in a way that cheap O-line free agents generally can't. You even have one running back and two fullbacks as restricted free agents who aren't unlikely to go anywhere.
It makes no sense. None. Of all the players they could have picked, another running back and another fullback were just about their two least pressing needs. What about defensive tackle? I mean seriously, is David Carter the answer? You've got to be kidding me. What about the secondary? What about finding a decent young pass rusher?
This draft class sucks. It is absolutely hideous. From what I can recall just about the only draft that I hated worse than this was the Titans 2011 class. I remember the Raiders being pretty bad too. All I know is this, if I was handing out lettered grades this 2011 Cardinals class would get an "F" for "Fuck you Arizona for making our division look bad again, just as we were recovering a bit of Kudos".
I hate the Cardinals.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
2011 NFL Draft: Seattle Seahawks
We've now reached the NFC West, home of my beloved 49ers. Whereas normally I try and do these things alphabetically, except of course when I did the first division, the NFC South, and accidentally ended up doing the Saints before I did the Panthers (I hate the Panthers), this time I'm going to deliberately skip Arizona and San Francisco, instead jumping straight in with the Seattle Seahawks.
The reason for this is because the Seahawks have taken a ton of flak for their draft, which overall I personally thought wasn't that bad. Some of the players I hadn't seen prior to the draft being made, but the ones I had I was impressed with. There are some good players in there, though I suspect much of the scorn was directed at their first round choice of James Carpenter from Alabama, who of the ones I hadn't had a good look at prior to the draft.
So I went back and finally did get a good look at him, their first round pick and 25th overall. So was he any good?
Hell yes he was! I honestly don't get why everyone is crying about Carpenter. Does he occasionally make mistakes? Yes he does. But guess what? So does Tom Brady. So does Peyton Manning. So did Joe Montana back in his day. So did Ronnie Lott, probably one of the greatest football players in the history of the NFL.
Nobody is perfect, so instead what we're looking for is a relatively consistent level of performance across a broad spectrum of plays. And that's exactly what you get with James Carpenter. You get a left tackle who barely put a foot wrong in pass protection and was very strong in the running game as well.
He gets great knee bend, has great leverage when he's blocking, uses his hands well and can cope with a variety of rush moves, including bull rushes and speed off the edge. He moves his feet well and sticks with his block for as long as legally possible. In the run game he cuts well, but really shines when he takes an angle and uses power on a D-linemen.
If I had one knock on him then it would be that sometimes he can get confused by overload blitzes, where he ends up picking up the wrong guy. But that isn't always true of those situations and in general his vision is really good.
So why is everyone getting all pent up over Carpenter? He may not have been the highest rated player on some peoples boards, but that's their boards and not the Seahawks. I didn't have this guy on my radar really going into the draft, but now that I've had a chance to kick back and watch a decent amount of his game tape I'm impressed.
I can easily see how a linemen like Carpenter would creep up someones board. And don't give me all that "but so and so analyst had him rated as a late second rounder". Well good for them, but two things; 1) Seattle didn't have a late second rounder, 2) if Seattle feels he's a first rounder, which I can agree with, then there's no reason why they shouldn't take him just because other people don't like him.
I go back to the whole Cam Newton thing again. I hate Newton as a quarterback. I think he's gonna suck. But that's my opinion, my board. If the Panthers thought he was the number one guy then I can understand why they would take him. I just can't understand what they see in him. But hey ho.
So yeah, I think the Seahawks actually did pretty well with their first rounder and God knows this team needs O-line help. They now have two young first round tackles to build their future O-line around & to protect their QB, so in the long run that's a really good starting point.
But without a second round pick in 2011 it became all the more important for the Seahawks to find the right guy in the third round. In keeping (the chains moving. Sorry) with their theme of working on O-line, they went with Guard John Moffitt from Wisconsin. I really like this pick, not just because I like Moffitt, but also because of the joined up way they're going about rebuilding their O-line. Having taken two tackles in two years, it made sense to go looking for a good interior linemen as well.
And believe me, Moffitt has the skills for that. Moffitt is strong and consistently demonstrated good technique throughout, especially the use of his hands. Footwork was good, in particular when run blocking. He has a real talent for getting inside the playside shoulder of the D-linemen and then flipping his hips into the hole and turning the defender out. Vision and awareness was also good, picking up blitzes and line stunts. I really like Moffitt and think that he'll be a great asset to that O-line.
Next, in round four, was linebacker K.J. Wright from Mississippi State, another player who I didn't get a look at prior to the draft. I've since had a look and I'm of a mixed opinion. Wright is quick and he seems to be pretty alert mentally to what's going on around him. He tackles really well and tracks well across the field, always taking good angles.
But.
The but is that he isn't very strong. You could clearly see that he didn't have the strength to fight his was through blocks at the college level. That's fine, providing you don't want him to do anything more strenuous than consume a block in order to allow a second rusher to come free. But if you're looking for a legitimate pass rush then Wright is not your man.
He also doesn't stand up to run blocks very well. He's just doesn't seem to have the size and strength to take people on. Even wide receivers look like they might be a handful for him. It's a shame really, because he looks like a very committed player, flying around the field and desperately trying to get stuck in wherever he can. He might have a future as a pass defending, weak side type of kid, but I just can't see him lasting as a legitimate linebacker in the NFL. Sorry.
The Seahawks picked again in round four, courtesy of the earlier trade with Detroit that saw them give up their second rounder for a third and a fourth (the third was used on Moffitt, with their original 3rd rounder given up in the Charlie Whitehurst trade last year). This fourth round pick was used on Kris Durham, the wide receiver from Georgia. Conveniently this was another player I hadn't seen, so it was off to do a bit more watchy, watchy. I think I'm watching more football now in a lockout than I did during the bloody season.
Anyway, what's Durham like? Well it doesn't help when you're on the same team as A.J. Green, let's put it that way. The trouble I have is that Durham really didn't get enough throws his way for me to be able to talk reliably about his hands. The passes that I did see come his way were caught, providing the pass was "catchable". You can't really blame the receiver when the ball is so high and behind them that they can barely get their finger tips to it.
The upside is that I got to see Durham running a lot of routes and also got a healthy look at him blocking, both of which he does really well. He doesn't appear to be bursting with speed, but his route running is pretty crisp and he has the technique to overcome tight coverage. His blocking on screen passes and run plays is also good. He's one of those kids who doesn't really have the raw strength to be muscling people around, but does so anyway because of how committed he is to the block and because he dives right in there.
I came away with a really good impression of him, which is good news for the Seahawks because they need more quality receivers.
Onto the fifth round and again the Seahawks are picking twice thanks to their trade with Detroit. Their first pick, 154th overall was actually the original Lions pick, and with it Seattle took cornerback Richard Sherman. Who I hadn't seen. So off I go again. Where's that Standford tape?
Oh my god that was hideous!! Ok, I'll give the critics this one. Sherman sucks. He plays the run almost as bad as Antonio Cromartie. But normally you can get away with that as a corner by providing quality pass coverage (it worked for Deion Sanders at least). Unfortunately Sherman doesn't do that. There is such a thing as loose coverage, but then there appears to be "Sherman Loose". In fact it's so loose it's likes he's not even on the field.
Come the end of training camp and time to make cuts, that might just be a literal statement.
Seattle's second pick in round five is one of my absolute favourites of the whole draft; Mark LeGree, safety, from Appalachian State. I love this kid, absolutely love him. Everything you see on game day is impressive, and importantly for me he brought that same high standard game after game.
Quick as lightning on the field, has amazing vision of what's going on around him (routes etc) and has great instincts for sniffing out plays. A truly great all round defensive player, I think he's going to be a solid hit in the NFL. Sitting back there alongside Earl Thomas, I can see those two causing people all kinds of nightmares. Really impressive.
On to round six and the Seahawks landed corner Byron Maxwell from Clemson. another good player to help boost that secondary, Maxwell is a tough, physical corner, which is right up my street. He closes quickly on the ball when it goes airborne and he has pretty good instincts to boot. Round six was a good place for him to land and maybe given a year or two he'll develop into an excellent corner.
Seventh round now and the Seahawks used their standard pick (they also had a compensatory selection) to bring in Lazarius Levingston, defensive tackle, LSU. And guess what? That's right. Back to the tape...
.... Annnnd he spent half the time on the bench and the other half doing nothing worthy of note. For such a big guy he has a worrying knack of becoming invisible.
Final pick for the Seahawks, their compensatory selection which they used to take Malcolm Smith, Linebacker from USC. As a seventh round pick I don't see how you can really argue with taking Malcolm Smith. He's a tough kid and despite his size he showed some nice speed in the open field, especially running back interceptions and fumbles.
The thing I like most about Smith though is his patience against the run. What I mean by that is that he sits back, sort of lingering on the five yard line while moving laterally across the field, tracking the running back as he comes up to the line. What this allows him to do is to avoid getting blocked up easily in the initial stages of a run play and instead he can follow the ball carrier to the hole and then meet him to make the stop.
This isn't such a desirable trait for 4-3 linebackers, who usually have one gap that they have to protect and so really just need to steam in and fill it, but for a 3-4 inside linebacker this is a really useful skill to have. In such a scheme, the defensive line are expected to occupy blocks and play a two gap scheme, leaving the linebackers largely free to move around and make plays. That's where someone like Smith comes in. With the freedom to track along the line and then stuff the running back for just a 2 or 3 yard gain, I can see Smith becoming a great asset to the Seahawks.
That then is your 2011 Seattle Seahawks draft class. And like I said, I really don't think it's that bad. a couple of misses in my opinion, but even then no team is expected to hit with all its picks. About a 60% success ratio is usually a pretty good rating and I personally think the Seahawks have achieved that with this class.
It'll be interesting to see where they go in free agency and to see if they try and hold on to Matt Hasselbeck or whether they just roll with Charlie Whitehurst. Either way I think the Seahawks have made some good moves here in the draft, especially helping to boost that O-line. If they can get the running backs that they picked up last year into the season healthy, then I think they have the makings of strong running game.
The defensive side has also taken a lift. Hopefully now with guys like LeGree, Maxwell and Smith they'll start to bring together the collection of good players that they have on defense and start building a regular winning unit. They have definitely made themselves even more competitive in the NFC West and I think now they might start to bring some surprises to teams on the road.
2011 could well be another great season for Seattle and its Bill-Walsh-A-Like Head Coach Pete Carroll.
Next up, the Arizona Cardinals. But just before I disappear I want to draw your attention to the new Videos section at NFL.com. I'm not sure how long it's been like this now because I haven't been over there in ages, but I dropped in because I wanted to see the clip of Chad Ochocinco "riding" a bull.
Now I thought NFL.com's video section was bad before. Now it's just plain ridiculous. It's an absolute, unintuitive joke. Even with some of the recent shitty updates YouTube looks like a model of efficient and well thought out design by comparison. It is just freaking awful.
I'd love to know who's in charge of all the video stuff on NFL.com, because if Roger Goodell ever bothers to check it out one day then he's going to be after that guys butt with a firey poker quicker than you can say "YOUR VIDEO SECTION SUCKS!!!"
Ahem. Now it's that time of the month/season/cycle/whatever where I shamelessly beg for people to share my website with as many people as they humanly can. C'mon! How hard is it to drop a link on your facebook page? There could be literally 200 of your friends just dying to read a witty, in depth, well thought out and illuminating blog about football.
And in the mean time they could be filling the void by reading mine.
The reason for this is because the Seahawks have taken a ton of flak for their draft, which overall I personally thought wasn't that bad. Some of the players I hadn't seen prior to the draft being made, but the ones I had I was impressed with. There are some good players in there, though I suspect much of the scorn was directed at their first round choice of James Carpenter from Alabama, who of the ones I hadn't had a good look at prior to the draft.
So I went back and finally did get a good look at him, their first round pick and 25th overall. So was he any good?
Hell yes he was! I honestly don't get why everyone is crying about Carpenter. Does he occasionally make mistakes? Yes he does. But guess what? So does Tom Brady. So does Peyton Manning. So did Joe Montana back in his day. So did Ronnie Lott, probably one of the greatest football players in the history of the NFL.
Nobody is perfect, so instead what we're looking for is a relatively consistent level of performance across a broad spectrum of plays. And that's exactly what you get with James Carpenter. You get a left tackle who barely put a foot wrong in pass protection and was very strong in the running game as well.
He gets great knee bend, has great leverage when he's blocking, uses his hands well and can cope with a variety of rush moves, including bull rushes and speed off the edge. He moves his feet well and sticks with his block for as long as legally possible. In the run game he cuts well, but really shines when he takes an angle and uses power on a D-linemen.
If I had one knock on him then it would be that sometimes he can get confused by overload blitzes, where he ends up picking up the wrong guy. But that isn't always true of those situations and in general his vision is really good.
So why is everyone getting all pent up over Carpenter? He may not have been the highest rated player on some peoples boards, but that's their boards and not the Seahawks. I didn't have this guy on my radar really going into the draft, but now that I've had a chance to kick back and watch a decent amount of his game tape I'm impressed.
I can easily see how a linemen like Carpenter would creep up someones board. And don't give me all that "but so and so analyst had him rated as a late second rounder". Well good for them, but two things; 1) Seattle didn't have a late second rounder, 2) if Seattle feels he's a first rounder, which I can agree with, then there's no reason why they shouldn't take him just because other people don't like him.
I go back to the whole Cam Newton thing again. I hate Newton as a quarterback. I think he's gonna suck. But that's my opinion, my board. If the Panthers thought he was the number one guy then I can understand why they would take him. I just can't understand what they see in him. But hey ho.
So yeah, I think the Seahawks actually did pretty well with their first rounder and God knows this team needs O-line help. They now have two young first round tackles to build their future O-line around & to protect their QB, so in the long run that's a really good starting point.
But without a second round pick in 2011 it became all the more important for the Seahawks to find the right guy in the third round. In keeping (the chains moving. Sorry) with their theme of working on O-line, they went with Guard John Moffitt from Wisconsin. I really like this pick, not just because I like Moffitt, but also because of the joined up way they're going about rebuilding their O-line. Having taken two tackles in two years, it made sense to go looking for a good interior linemen as well.
And believe me, Moffitt has the skills for that. Moffitt is strong and consistently demonstrated good technique throughout, especially the use of his hands. Footwork was good, in particular when run blocking. He has a real talent for getting inside the playside shoulder of the D-linemen and then flipping his hips into the hole and turning the defender out. Vision and awareness was also good, picking up blitzes and line stunts. I really like Moffitt and think that he'll be a great asset to that O-line.
Next, in round four, was linebacker K.J. Wright from Mississippi State, another player who I didn't get a look at prior to the draft. I've since had a look and I'm of a mixed opinion. Wright is quick and he seems to be pretty alert mentally to what's going on around him. He tackles really well and tracks well across the field, always taking good angles.
But.
The but is that he isn't very strong. You could clearly see that he didn't have the strength to fight his was through blocks at the college level. That's fine, providing you don't want him to do anything more strenuous than consume a block in order to allow a second rusher to come free. But if you're looking for a legitimate pass rush then Wright is not your man.
He also doesn't stand up to run blocks very well. He's just doesn't seem to have the size and strength to take people on. Even wide receivers look like they might be a handful for him. It's a shame really, because he looks like a very committed player, flying around the field and desperately trying to get stuck in wherever he can. He might have a future as a pass defending, weak side type of kid, but I just can't see him lasting as a legitimate linebacker in the NFL. Sorry.
The Seahawks picked again in round four, courtesy of the earlier trade with Detroit that saw them give up their second rounder for a third and a fourth (the third was used on Moffitt, with their original 3rd rounder given up in the Charlie Whitehurst trade last year). This fourth round pick was used on Kris Durham, the wide receiver from Georgia. Conveniently this was another player I hadn't seen, so it was off to do a bit more watchy, watchy. I think I'm watching more football now in a lockout than I did during the bloody season.
Anyway, what's Durham like? Well it doesn't help when you're on the same team as A.J. Green, let's put it that way. The trouble I have is that Durham really didn't get enough throws his way for me to be able to talk reliably about his hands. The passes that I did see come his way were caught, providing the pass was "catchable". You can't really blame the receiver when the ball is so high and behind them that they can barely get their finger tips to it.
The upside is that I got to see Durham running a lot of routes and also got a healthy look at him blocking, both of which he does really well. He doesn't appear to be bursting with speed, but his route running is pretty crisp and he has the technique to overcome tight coverage. His blocking on screen passes and run plays is also good. He's one of those kids who doesn't really have the raw strength to be muscling people around, but does so anyway because of how committed he is to the block and because he dives right in there.
I came away with a really good impression of him, which is good news for the Seahawks because they need more quality receivers.
Onto the fifth round and again the Seahawks are picking twice thanks to their trade with Detroit. Their first pick, 154th overall was actually the original Lions pick, and with it Seattle took cornerback Richard Sherman. Who I hadn't seen. So off I go again. Where's that Standford tape?
Oh my god that was hideous!! Ok, I'll give the critics this one. Sherman sucks. He plays the run almost as bad as Antonio Cromartie. But normally you can get away with that as a corner by providing quality pass coverage (it worked for Deion Sanders at least). Unfortunately Sherman doesn't do that. There is such a thing as loose coverage, but then there appears to be "Sherman Loose". In fact it's so loose it's likes he's not even on the field.
Come the end of training camp and time to make cuts, that might just be a literal statement.
Seattle's second pick in round five is one of my absolute favourites of the whole draft; Mark LeGree, safety, from Appalachian State. I love this kid, absolutely love him. Everything you see on game day is impressive, and importantly for me he brought that same high standard game after game.
Quick as lightning on the field, has amazing vision of what's going on around him (routes etc) and has great instincts for sniffing out plays. A truly great all round defensive player, I think he's going to be a solid hit in the NFL. Sitting back there alongside Earl Thomas, I can see those two causing people all kinds of nightmares. Really impressive.
On to round six and the Seahawks landed corner Byron Maxwell from Clemson. another good player to help boost that secondary, Maxwell is a tough, physical corner, which is right up my street. He closes quickly on the ball when it goes airborne and he has pretty good instincts to boot. Round six was a good place for him to land and maybe given a year or two he'll develop into an excellent corner.
Seventh round now and the Seahawks used their standard pick (they also had a compensatory selection) to bring in Lazarius Levingston, defensive tackle, LSU. And guess what? That's right. Back to the tape...
.... Annnnd he spent half the time on the bench and the other half doing nothing worthy of note. For such a big guy he has a worrying knack of becoming invisible.
Final pick for the Seahawks, their compensatory selection which they used to take Malcolm Smith, Linebacker from USC. As a seventh round pick I don't see how you can really argue with taking Malcolm Smith. He's a tough kid and despite his size he showed some nice speed in the open field, especially running back interceptions and fumbles.
The thing I like most about Smith though is his patience against the run. What I mean by that is that he sits back, sort of lingering on the five yard line while moving laterally across the field, tracking the running back as he comes up to the line. What this allows him to do is to avoid getting blocked up easily in the initial stages of a run play and instead he can follow the ball carrier to the hole and then meet him to make the stop.
This isn't such a desirable trait for 4-3 linebackers, who usually have one gap that they have to protect and so really just need to steam in and fill it, but for a 3-4 inside linebacker this is a really useful skill to have. In such a scheme, the defensive line are expected to occupy blocks and play a two gap scheme, leaving the linebackers largely free to move around and make plays. That's where someone like Smith comes in. With the freedom to track along the line and then stuff the running back for just a 2 or 3 yard gain, I can see Smith becoming a great asset to the Seahawks.
That then is your 2011 Seattle Seahawks draft class. And like I said, I really don't think it's that bad. a couple of misses in my opinion, but even then no team is expected to hit with all its picks. About a 60% success ratio is usually a pretty good rating and I personally think the Seahawks have achieved that with this class.
It'll be interesting to see where they go in free agency and to see if they try and hold on to Matt Hasselbeck or whether they just roll with Charlie Whitehurst. Either way I think the Seahawks have made some good moves here in the draft, especially helping to boost that O-line. If they can get the running backs that they picked up last year into the season healthy, then I think they have the makings of strong running game.
The defensive side has also taken a lift. Hopefully now with guys like LeGree, Maxwell and Smith they'll start to bring together the collection of good players that they have on defense and start building a regular winning unit. They have definitely made themselves even more competitive in the NFC West and I think now they might start to bring some surprises to teams on the road.
2011 could well be another great season for Seattle and its Bill-Walsh-A-Like Head Coach Pete Carroll.
Next up, the Arizona Cardinals. But just before I disappear I want to draw your attention to the new Videos section at NFL.com. I'm not sure how long it's been like this now because I haven't been over there in ages, but I dropped in because I wanted to see the clip of Chad Ochocinco "riding" a bull.
Now I thought NFL.com's video section was bad before. Now it's just plain ridiculous. It's an absolute, unintuitive joke. Even with some of the recent shitty updates YouTube looks like a model of efficient and well thought out design by comparison. It is just freaking awful.
I'd love to know who's in charge of all the video stuff on NFL.com, because if Roger Goodell ever bothers to check it out one day then he's going to be after that guys butt with a firey poker quicker than you can say "YOUR VIDEO SECTION SUCKS!!!"
Ahem. Now it's that time of the month/season/cycle/whatever where I shamelessly beg for people to share my website with as many people as they humanly can. C'mon! How hard is it to drop a link on your facebook page? There could be literally 200 of your friends just dying to read a witty, in depth, well thought out and illuminating blog about football.
And in the mean time they could be filling the void by reading mine.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Deal or No Deal?
The answer could be right around the corner.
The court of Appeals for the Eight circuit has granted the NFL a temporary stay on the lockout. A final, definitive ruling will come on June 3rd when the full appeal is heard. But judging (haha) by the ruling today and the wording of it, it looks likely that the Lockout will be kept in force and the Judge Susan Nelsons "enjoining of the lockout" (ending of it to you and me) will be over turned.
That's bad news for the players. That means the league can sit out the season while the main case takes its course and the players will start losing game checks. Those at the bottom end of the pay scale will start cracking and soon those at the top end will be forced to give in. Of course, it could end even sooner.
The players and the league are back in mediation under the supervision of a magistrate who has asked the league to come up with a deal to be offered to the players tomorrow (Tuesday, May 17th). There is a lot of speculation as to what that deal might look like.
It might be the same deal they offered back in March, just before the Union decertified. If you remember, that deal was described by DeMaurice Smith as "the worst deal in sports history". Well, it might just start looking pretty special to the players all of a sudden. The league could of course pitch a new deal, either better or worse than the one offered in March.
If they don't take that whatever is offered and instead chose to wait and see what happens on June 3rd, they could find themselves in a bad spot. If the Court of Appeals rules in the leagues favour, then expect the NFL to start offering increasingly worse deals. They would have all the momentum in their favour and the players would be staring at a lot of missing game checks.
This might only be a small thing for now and there is every chance that the Court of Appeals could find in the players favour, but don't count on it. I personally think this whole issue just swung dramatically in the owners favour.
Maybe I'm being optimistic, but by this time tomorrow we could have a new CBA. That would mean a beginning of Free agency. And it would mean my carefully laid plans for my draft series would be flushed down the crapper.
Ah well. If nothing changes then expect my review of the Seahawks draft class sometime in the next few days, most likely Wednesday or Thursday.
The court of Appeals for the Eight circuit has granted the NFL a temporary stay on the lockout. A final, definitive ruling will come on June 3rd when the full appeal is heard. But judging (haha) by the ruling today and the wording of it, it looks likely that the Lockout will be kept in force and the Judge Susan Nelsons "enjoining of the lockout" (ending of it to you and me) will be over turned.
That's bad news for the players. That means the league can sit out the season while the main case takes its course and the players will start losing game checks. Those at the bottom end of the pay scale will start cracking and soon those at the top end will be forced to give in. Of course, it could end even sooner.
The players and the league are back in mediation under the supervision of a magistrate who has asked the league to come up with a deal to be offered to the players tomorrow (Tuesday, May 17th). There is a lot of speculation as to what that deal might look like.
It might be the same deal they offered back in March, just before the Union decertified. If you remember, that deal was described by DeMaurice Smith as "the worst deal in sports history". Well, it might just start looking pretty special to the players all of a sudden. The league could of course pitch a new deal, either better or worse than the one offered in March.
If they don't take that whatever is offered and instead chose to wait and see what happens on June 3rd, they could find themselves in a bad spot. If the Court of Appeals rules in the leagues favour, then expect the NFL to start offering increasingly worse deals. They would have all the momentum in their favour and the players would be staring at a lot of missing game checks.
This might only be a small thing for now and there is every chance that the Court of Appeals could find in the players favour, but don't count on it. I personally think this whole issue just swung dramatically in the owners favour.
Maybe I'm being optimistic, but by this time tomorrow we could have a new CBA. That would mean a beginning of Free agency. And it would mean my carefully laid plans for my draft series would be flushed down the crapper.
Ah well. If nothing changes then expect my review of the Seahawks draft class sometime in the next few days, most likely Wednesday or Thursday.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
2011 NFL Draft: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
So finally we round out the NFC South, by looking at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa did ok with last years lot and with free agency, so I was expecting (perhaps unfairly) big things from Tampa this year. I think they lived up to the reputation.
It all begins in round one with Adrian Clayborn. I love this kid, I really do. I think it was a great pick, especially at 20th overall. Great value. Clayborn is a seriously talented Defensive End who could finally help the Buccaneers get the pass rush that they need to start taking advantage of what is an increasingly talented young team.
Probably Clayborn's greatest attribute is that of block destruction. I wouldn't go so far as to say he's unblockable, but he does have a real talent for using his hands to get unstuck. In particular he is very adept at fending off cut blocks while keeping his eyes up and in the backfield.
If I had one knock on Clayborn it's that his speed isn't great, but I think he makes up for that with his other skills, like his awareness against the run. If he finds himself on the backside he does a great job of sticking to the hip of the last blocker and making sure he plays his proper run contain assignment. Now there are a lot of pros who struggle with that, so I always find it impressive in a rookie.
It's a core skill for defensive ends and it gives you an insight into his maturity. See, my experience has been that players don't do the fundamental things unless you ram them home. If you want a DE to play backside contain, you have to relentlessly tell him and show him. If he does it, it means he actually listens. All too often it's too tempting for a young player in that position to crash down the line and go chasing for the highlight reel play.
Seeing him playing his run responsibility pitch perfect is impressive. When you couple that with the way he plays the run as it comes towards him, keeping his shoulders square to the line and tracking the running back across the field while fending off blocks, it tells me that Clayborn already has a very solid base of skills to work from and will listen to his coaches to learn everything he can.
When you consider all that, it makes Clayborn a tantalising prospect. My hope is that the Buccaneers will put Gerald McCoy on one side as a DE - a position he had some success with last season - then insert Clayborn opposite him. With those two coming off the edges and causing havoc, that could push the Buccaneers defense to a level it hasn't reached since the days of Warren Sapp.
Of course there's still the chance that the Buccaneers will want to keep McCoy at defensive tackle and that's made more likely by their second round pick; Da'Quan Bowers.
Bowers, a defensive end from Clemson, fell into the Buccaneers lap at number 51 overall. It was something of a miracle that he made it this far down, but then that's what knee surgeries in the off season can do to a kids draft stock. The risk with knee surgery is that you never know how it's going to pan out. It might get better and the player returns to normal, as we saw with Wes Welker in 2010. Or it can go decidedly down hill and the player never fully recovers their speed and agility.
The Buccaneers have taken a gamble, but a calculated one.
Bowers is a mixed bag if I'm honest. He plays pretty smart and seems to have a good grasp of everything going on around him. He sniffs out reverses well and has the speed and determination to pursue plays from the backside.
But generally speaking if you can get your hands on him then Bowers gets locked up. And that is quite an issue for a defensive end. If you can't beat the blocks, how are you supposed to get to the QB? My overall impression then of Bowers was that he often seemed to luck out.
If you don't block him on the blitz then he has the speed to get through, but you're kind of relying on the generosity of other people for that which isn't exactly a recipe for success. This problem is compounded by the fact that the Buccaneers are a 4-3 team who aren't going to be regularly calling on linebackers to bring pressure, confusing or tying up the blockers.
Left to face an offensive tackle one on one, I'm not sure if Bowers has the technical ability to make things happen for himself. I just see him getting wadded up on the outside and not really being able to be of much use. And I'm not even talking sacks. I can't even see Bowers bringing much in the way of QB pressure.
Onwards and upwards then, into round 3 and the 84th pick overall, linebacker Mason Foster. Not a lot to say here really. Foster is a pretty good tackler, but his pass coverage is a definite weak point. That's problematic not just because he's a linebacker in a 4-3, but because the Buc's play a fair amount of "Tampa 2" coverage, which means their linebackers are needed to drop back and fill zones over the middle. That might expose Foster I feel.
Round four saw the Buccaneers take tight end Luke Stocker. An understudy to Kellen Winslow II it would seem. Stocker isn't very quick, but he is strong and has good balance, both of which aid good run blocking. He has good hands which is always a plus, and even though he's not all that fast his strength allows him to fight for extra yards. Not a bad pick in the fourth round.
In round five the Buccaneers went with Florida safety Ahmad Black. Black is a good tackler, who reads the plays really well. His range is pretty good and he breaks on the ball well, playing it well in the air. The Buccaneers made progress at the safety spot in 2010, but the addition of Black gives them that extra boost.
In round six it was running back Allen Bradford from Southern California. Bradford is very much in the same mold as LaGarrette Blount. He's big and strong, but also has a surprising turn of speed in the open field. His agility is also pretty impressive. That's a bonus because it makes him a legitimate second back to Blount, where he'll bring many of the same skills which should help his coaches blend him into their scheme without having to make special dispensations on his account.
In round seven the Buccaneers had two picks, courtesy of a compensatory selection. The first of these they used was on Florida international cornerback Anthony Gaitor. Now I warn you that I'm a confirmed fan now of Anthony Gaitor, so expect this to be glowing to the extreme.
Gaitor had a fast 40 time at his pro day, but I'm always a little wary of 40's in general and especially at pro days. On the field, Gaitor can sometimes look a little sluggish in pads, but don't let that fool you. Gaitors play and route recognition are absolutely superb. He's a great tackler and he plays the ball really well in the air.
Now I had a suspicion he would fall this low and I also mentioned in my cornerbacks post that I feel Gaitors late round evaluation is a huge mistake that shows everything that is wrong with scouting. For my money, I think Gaitor dropped because of where he played (at Florida International). If he was playing for a bigger college, he would have been much higher ranked.
The film is there. You can clearly see that Gaitor is a quality corner. He displays all of the skills that you would expect and also has safety potential in there. He easily looked better on game day than guys like Amukamara and Peterson. His intelligence and vision are plainly superior, yet he ends up in the seventh round.
I don't get it?
Lastly was Daniel Hardy, the tight end from Idaho. I first came across Hardy while looking at Nathan Enderle. Hardy has good hands and great route running technique. Speed is good, if not exceptional. In particular, Hardy seems to thrive in the rough and tumble world of catching over the middle. I really like Hardy. Is he an elite guy at the next level, like a Vernon Davis? I'm not sure. But I can see him on the same level as guys like Hernandez and Gronkowski in New England.
So that's it, the entire Buc's draft class done. Personally I think they had a pretty good draft. Clayborn to start was a great pick. Then came Bowers. I might not be a big fan of him, but the Buccaneers obviously are and importantly they got great value out of him because he was a projected first rounder who dropped to them in the second.
Mason Foster is another question mark for me, but other than that it's all good. The two tight ends they acquired have a lot of promise I feel. They got another good young back to share the workload with Blount and I think they really hit a home run with their selections of Black and Gaitor.
I like what the Buccaneers have done here for their defense. They've improved the defensive line and the secondary all in one go. Perhaps they didn't need two tight ends, but I can live with it because of the development potential there and because it's more weapons for Josh Freeman. An extra wide receiver would have been a nice addition, but the Buc's should do well regardless.
2011 is starting to shape up nicely for the Buc's. They'll be looking to reap the fruit of last years impressive rookie class, mixed with this one. On the basis of what I've seen, I think we'll all have to keep an eye on Tampa Bay this year.
It all begins in round one with Adrian Clayborn. I love this kid, I really do. I think it was a great pick, especially at 20th overall. Great value. Clayborn is a seriously talented Defensive End who could finally help the Buccaneers get the pass rush that they need to start taking advantage of what is an increasingly talented young team.
Probably Clayborn's greatest attribute is that of block destruction. I wouldn't go so far as to say he's unblockable, but he does have a real talent for using his hands to get unstuck. In particular he is very adept at fending off cut blocks while keeping his eyes up and in the backfield.
If I had one knock on Clayborn it's that his speed isn't great, but I think he makes up for that with his other skills, like his awareness against the run. If he finds himself on the backside he does a great job of sticking to the hip of the last blocker and making sure he plays his proper run contain assignment. Now there are a lot of pros who struggle with that, so I always find it impressive in a rookie.
It's a core skill for defensive ends and it gives you an insight into his maturity. See, my experience has been that players don't do the fundamental things unless you ram them home. If you want a DE to play backside contain, you have to relentlessly tell him and show him. If he does it, it means he actually listens. All too often it's too tempting for a young player in that position to crash down the line and go chasing for the highlight reel play.
Seeing him playing his run responsibility pitch perfect is impressive. When you couple that with the way he plays the run as it comes towards him, keeping his shoulders square to the line and tracking the running back across the field while fending off blocks, it tells me that Clayborn already has a very solid base of skills to work from and will listen to his coaches to learn everything he can.
When you consider all that, it makes Clayborn a tantalising prospect. My hope is that the Buccaneers will put Gerald McCoy on one side as a DE - a position he had some success with last season - then insert Clayborn opposite him. With those two coming off the edges and causing havoc, that could push the Buccaneers defense to a level it hasn't reached since the days of Warren Sapp.
Of course there's still the chance that the Buccaneers will want to keep McCoy at defensive tackle and that's made more likely by their second round pick; Da'Quan Bowers.
Bowers, a defensive end from Clemson, fell into the Buccaneers lap at number 51 overall. It was something of a miracle that he made it this far down, but then that's what knee surgeries in the off season can do to a kids draft stock. The risk with knee surgery is that you never know how it's going to pan out. It might get better and the player returns to normal, as we saw with Wes Welker in 2010. Or it can go decidedly down hill and the player never fully recovers their speed and agility.
The Buccaneers have taken a gamble, but a calculated one.
Bowers is a mixed bag if I'm honest. He plays pretty smart and seems to have a good grasp of everything going on around him. He sniffs out reverses well and has the speed and determination to pursue plays from the backside.
But generally speaking if you can get your hands on him then Bowers gets locked up. And that is quite an issue for a defensive end. If you can't beat the blocks, how are you supposed to get to the QB? My overall impression then of Bowers was that he often seemed to luck out.
If you don't block him on the blitz then he has the speed to get through, but you're kind of relying on the generosity of other people for that which isn't exactly a recipe for success. This problem is compounded by the fact that the Buccaneers are a 4-3 team who aren't going to be regularly calling on linebackers to bring pressure, confusing or tying up the blockers.
Left to face an offensive tackle one on one, I'm not sure if Bowers has the technical ability to make things happen for himself. I just see him getting wadded up on the outside and not really being able to be of much use. And I'm not even talking sacks. I can't even see Bowers bringing much in the way of QB pressure.
Onwards and upwards then, into round 3 and the 84th pick overall, linebacker Mason Foster. Not a lot to say here really. Foster is a pretty good tackler, but his pass coverage is a definite weak point. That's problematic not just because he's a linebacker in a 4-3, but because the Buc's play a fair amount of "Tampa 2" coverage, which means their linebackers are needed to drop back and fill zones over the middle. That might expose Foster I feel.
Round four saw the Buccaneers take tight end Luke Stocker. An understudy to Kellen Winslow II it would seem. Stocker isn't very quick, but he is strong and has good balance, both of which aid good run blocking. He has good hands which is always a plus, and even though he's not all that fast his strength allows him to fight for extra yards. Not a bad pick in the fourth round.
In round five the Buccaneers went with Florida safety Ahmad Black. Black is a good tackler, who reads the plays really well. His range is pretty good and he breaks on the ball well, playing it well in the air. The Buccaneers made progress at the safety spot in 2010, but the addition of Black gives them that extra boost.
In round six it was running back Allen Bradford from Southern California. Bradford is very much in the same mold as LaGarrette Blount. He's big and strong, but also has a surprising turn of speed in the open field. His agility is also pretty impressive. That's a bonus because it makes him a legitimate second back to Blount, where he'll bring many of the same skills which should help his coaches blend him into their scheme without having to make special dispensations on his account.
In round seven the Buccaneers had two picks, courtesy of a compensatory selection. The first of these they used was on Florida international cornerback Anthony Gaitor. Now I warn you that I'm a confirmed fan now of Anthony Gaitor, so expect this to be glowing to the extreme.
Gaitor had a fast 40 time at his pro day, but I'm always a little wary of 40's in general and especially at pro days. On the field, Gaitor can sometimes look a little sluggish in pads, but don't let that fool you. Gaitors play and route recognition are absolutely superb. He's a great tackler and he plays the ball really well in the air.
Now I had a suspicion he would fall this low and I also mentioned in my cornerbacks post that I feel Gaitors late round evaluation is a huge mistake that shows everything that is wrong with scouting. For my money, I think Gaitor dropped because of where he played (at Florida International). If he was playing for a bigger college, he would have been much higher ranked.
The film is there. You can clearly see that Gaitor is a quality corner. He displays all of the skills that you would expect and also has safety potential in there. He easily looked better on game day than guys like Amukamara and Peterson. His intelligence and vision are plainly superior, yet he ends up in the seventh round.
I don't get it?
Lastly was Daniel Hardy, the tight end from Idaho. I first came across Hardy while looking at Nathan Enderle. Hardy has good hands and great route running technique. Speed is good, if not exceptional. In particular, Hardy seems to thrive in the rough and tumble world of catching over the middle. I really like Hardy. Is he an elite guy at the next level, like a Vernon Davis? I'm not sure. But I can see him on the same level as guys like Hernandez and Gronkowski in New England.
So that's it, the entire Buc's draft class done. Personally I think they had a pretty good draft. Clayborn to start was a great pick. Then came Bowers. I might not be a big fan of him, but the Buccaneers obviously are and importantly they got great value out of him because he was a projected first rounder who dropped to them in the second.
Mason Foster is another question mark for me, but other than that it's all good. The two tight ends they acquired have a lot of promise I feel. They got another good young back to share the workload with Blount and I think they really hit a home run with their selections of Black and Gaitor.
I like what the Buccaneers have done here for their defense. They've improved the defensive line and the secondary all in one go. Perhaps they didn't need two tight ends, but I can live with it because of the development potential there and because it's more weapons for Josh Freeman. An extra wide receiver would have been a nice addition, but the Buc's should do well regardless.
2011 is starting to shape up nicely for the Buc's. They'll be looking to reap the fruit of last years impressive rookie class, mixed with this one. On the basis of what I've seen, I think we'll all have to keep an eye on Tampa Bay this year.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Keeping you posted; 05/14/11
Well Google gave me my Panthers post back. How gracious of them.
Work has begun on the Buccaneers post, but it's unlikely I'll finish it today/tonight. Expect it in the next 24-48 hours. After that I'll be moving on to the NFC West, because I want to tackle the issue about the Seahawks draft.
Work has begun on the Buccaneers post, but it's unlikely I'll finish it today/tonight. Expect it in the next 24-48 hours. After that I'll be moving on to the NFC West, because I want to tackle the issue about the Seahawks draft.
Friday, May 13, 2011
I hate blogger
I don't fucking believe it.
I wrote an article on the Panthers draft class.... which has now disappeared.
Last night Blogger were doing some kind of maintenance thing and now my Panthers post has gone. Looking around at some other sites on Blogger, I've noticed they've "lost" posts as well.
Typical. I hate Blogger. Fucking ass clowns.
For those that missed it, I'm not writing the whole thing out again. With any luck blogger will recover it of their own accord. Suffice to say the Panthers had a shit draft.
I wrote an article on the Panthers draft class.... which has now disappeared.
Last night Blogger were doing some kind of maintenance thing and now my Panthers post has gone. Looking around at some other sites on Blogger, I've noticed they've "lost" posts as well.
Typical. I hate Blogger. Fucking ass clowns.
For those that missed it, I'm not writing the whole thing out again. With any luck blogger will recover it of their own accord. Suffice to say the Panthers had a shit draft.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
2011 NFL Draft; The Carolina Panthers
See, I told you I was working on it.
Now last year the Panthers went a miserable 2-14. Head Coach John Fox is out the door, heading off west to busy himself with crippling the Broncos. That gives the Panthers a fresh start, a chance to right the wrongs and really get things moving. It's for that reason that this draft was so critical. It's where the Panthers could acquire the building blocks for the new Rivera regime.
That's why I can't help but chuckle just a little bit.
I hate the Panthers. That's probably down more to John Fox and Jeff Davidson (both gone), but still, my ill will remains. That said, anything that looks like it might cause the Panthers problems brings a smile to my face. Enter then Cam Newton, the number 1 overall pick.
I can't stand Newton. His smile looks like it was manufactured for a Colgate advert, right after the one ordered by Deion Sanders. That of course might come down to me being inherently quite miserable, but there you go.
What bugs me the most is the fact that Newton was taken first overall and everyone seemed to be supporting that. Everyone. Pre-draft, Newton was basically hailed as one of the best football players on every board. Of course that was then and now that it's a done deal, everybody seems to have changed their tune a little.
Suddenly everyone has started asking the same questions that I've been asking for ages now; how will Cam Newton convert from the Auburn offense to the NFL?
First off, I want to make the point that this is not a racist thing, something which has been brought up on numerous occasions by people in and around the Newton camp, directed at members of the media. This shouldn't even have to be addressed, but as people have been making an issue out of it, then it has to be covered.
For the record, I'm looking forward to the 2012 and 2013 drafts for quarterbacks Jacory Harris (Miami) and Darron Thomas (Oregon) respectively.
The reason why I'm incredibly sceptical is because I saw nothing watching Newton play for Auburn that I feel will transfer particularly well to the NFL. I saw a lot of running plays, but traditionally NFL offenses aren't keen on having their QB run on every other play.
I didn't see a lot of reads. People have complained and come to Newtons defense by saying that the offense at Auburn wasn't as easy as people think, mainly because the playbook shows lots of routes on pass plays. But that doesn't correlate with what I saw in the games, where Newton often drops back, appears to read one, maybe two routes, then gets on his horse and runs with it.
I should perhaps point out here that as an athlete, Newton is insane. A person of his height and weight should not be able to cut as quickly as he does in the open field. Yet somehow he manages it, along with breaking tackles through pure strength and showing a good turn of pace in a straight line.
But all those things, a quarterback does not make. I don't see the poise and presence in the pocket. I don't see the accuracy down the field. I don't see the ball placement. In fact, I don't see any of the things that I would associate with an NFL level QB.
I can see Newton occasionally escaping for yards. I can see him perhaps being a useful threat around the goal line. But he's no Mike Vick. That comparison has come up more than once, but it's laughable at best. The difference between Vick and Newton is that Vick can throw the ball on a par with some of the best in the league AND run like a demon. Newton just does number two.
It's for this reason mainly that I don't like the Panthers draft. Because now you're hamstrung from day one. If this kid walks onto the field as the QB for week one, it makes no difference who his team mates are. The offense flows through the QB and even run heavy teams such as Carolina (should be), still need a good quarterback to make it all work.
Newton is, in my opinion at least, a bust just waiting to have his Ryan Leaf-esque public meltdown. People are already talking about Jimmy Clausen being on the way out and having to make room, which I think is wrong. If I had to take either of these two into week one as my starter, it would be Clausen.
I'm no Clausen fan, but he's a better passer than Newton and has at least had a year to get acclimatised to the NFL. I have a sore feeling that Panthers fans will be singing for Clausen's return by the time of the first bye week (week 9).
But Newton wasn't the only guy taken, so let's look at the rest of 'em.
First off we have to head to the third round, as Carolina used up it's second pick in 2010 to get a third rounder. So we start with Terrell McClain, defensive tackle. McClain is a big guy who has pretty impressive speed and agility for his size.
That makes him a good candidate in the Panthers 4-3 system, which would find him lined up as one of the two interior tackles. He can rush the QB from there and has the ability to track down the line of scrimmage in pursuit of the run when needed. As far as the player fitting the team, McClain and the Panthers should make a relatively happy marriage.
I feel he was taken a little early for my liking, but then that's a personal opinion and it's not really something you can bash the Panthers heavily for.
Next in the third round is tackle Sione Fua, a compensatory selection. Hmm. Not bursting with praise, let's put it like that. Personally I think Fua gets man handled in the running game far too easily. He just seems to make contact with the offensive linemen and then switch by default to standing upright, instead of trying to get his butt down and use his hands.
On the pass rush he suffers the same problem. On contact he gets stood up far too easily and he struggles to use his hands to work past the offensive linemen and get to the ball. That's a real issue when playing for a 4-3 team, when the pass rush is largely dependent upon the D-line. He doesn't even drive the interior linemen back to help close the pocket on the QB and I feel that at the NFL level, teams will have no problems handling him one on one.
Onto round four, where we find cornerback Brandon Hogan, from West Virginia. Hogan displayed good physicality, which for me is a lost art of sorts among corners. His decision making was ok, but the trouble is, that's where the good stuff ends.
I have problems with his pass coverage. "Average" might cut it in College ball, depending on who you play, but average in the NFL means you're getting beaten repeatedly and picked on by experienced QB's. There are also character concerns hanging over Hogan, who was suspended at one point over a DUI charge that came less than six months after being cited by Police for disorderly conduct and public urination.
In round five the Panthers took Hawaii wide receiver Kealoha Pilares. I've seen some of him now and I can safely say that while I don't mind Pilares, I can't say as I'm his biggest fan. His run after the catch is normally quite good, but I didn't see a lot in the way of a developed route tree, especially when we're talking down the field.
And don't give me any of the that "it's because he played at Hawaii" crap. So did Greg Salas, and that kid really impressed me, including his ability down the field.
In round six it was linebacker Lawrence Wilson first. Wilson is a pretty solid tackler, especially in the open field. Movement across the field, including pursuit is good. Pass coverage was ok. The main concern with Wilson was that sometimes he came crashing down to the line against the run, took a bad line and endded up getting stuffed out of the play.
That shouldn't be so much of an issue in the Panthers scheme, as typically in a 4-3 defense each of the front seven players is assigned a gap to defend against the run. That is of course providing the Panthers stick with the 4-3.
The second of the sixth round picks, a compensatory selection, was Center Zachary Williams. Now there are times when it's difficult to get anything that would resemble footage of a player. With Williams it was damn near impossible. So honestly I can't bash or big the kid up. All I know is that Centers rarely shoot up the rankings on draft boards and when most people have you rated as "10 of ..." Center's, that's usually not a good sign.
Finally then we have Lee Ziemba, the offensive tackle from Auburn. Now I'm not going to say I hate Ziemba. I'm more indifferent to him. I didn't see anything that really made me go "wow, there's a tackle more people should be talking about!"
Apparently he won an SEC award for his blocking, but as I said earlier when I covered Ziemba in the O-line extra, all that does is fail to inspire confidence in me for the other O-linemen in the SEC. Probably went about where he should have. Honestly I don't see him surviving another three years in the league (though to be fair, fellow Auburn tackle alumni King Dunlap has, and Dunlap sucks).
So there you have it. The Panthers 2011 draft. Now let me qualify why I think it sucked so badly.
Reason #1
They splashed their top overall pick on a quarterback. I'm not even pointing the finger at Newton here. They already have Clausen and Tony Pike on the roster, so why not just see how those two pan out? I know that neither of them was really stunning, but it takes time to fully develop a quarterback. It can take two years just to fully learn all the terminology that an NFL offense uses.
I just don't think Carolina needed to go this early. They could have sat and perhaps picked up another young QB later, with a view to giving Clausen and Pike time to prove themselves this season, while quietly showing the project kid the ropes. There were so many better ways to handle it than just splashing the top pick on yet another young QB.
And yes, there were better quarterbacks on the board than Newton. Ryan Mallett for one. Mallett may have baggage in the terms of character concerns, but so does Newton. The only difference is that Mallett can play like a traditional pro style QB and is more likely to make a smooth transition to the next level. Not much then.
Reason #2
One thing the Panthers have chronically struggled with is receivers. And no, their three pass catching tight ends don't count. I love those guys (Barnidge, King and Rosario, the latter two of whom are free agents), plus the addition of Jeremy Shockey, formerly of the Saints, but that still leaves Steve Smith, possibly Brandon LaFell, and then a bag of unknowns and probably won't be's.
Where was the one or two middle to late round picks? Why not go grab some big body, physical guys who can add a bit of height, or maybe some true downfield speed? No. What they get is Pilares, probably another slot style kid.
It just baffles me a bit. How are you ever going to help guys like Clausen, or now Newton, without anybody on the outside to throw to? How is Cam Newton supposed to light up defense's when his number one guy Steve Smith will be double or triple covered? A missed opportunity I feel.
Reason #3
YOUR DEFENSIVE BACKS STILL SUCK!!!!
Excuse me. The Panthers have potential on defense. Their D-line has some capable pass rushers. But Jesus, that defensive backfield is awful. How in the hell do you expect to contain Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Josh Freeman with that collection of crap sitting back there?
This for me was right up there alongside wide receiver. The Panthers are now forced to go fishing around in free agency to try and find something to shore up what is certainly a weak, leaky group. They need safeties and corners, and the 2011 draft could have been the place to start work on that.
But all they took was Brandon Hogan. Nice work. Maybe if they'd laid off the two defensive linemen (a position of little need) taken in the third round, then they might have been able to find some space for one or two fast guys to help them out.
On reflection then, looking at the draft as a whole, I can't buy into what the Panthers have done. To me it just makes absolutely no sense, addresses none of their major issues and will probably leave the Panthers no better off than the year before. They might improve by a game or two, most bad teams do. But this is not the start of the empire in Carolina.
If I was Ron Rivera I'd be looking at what I just left behind for this and asking myself "why, why did I do it? What possessed me to come to this messed up franchise? I should have taken the Raiders job..."
Ok, so it's not that bad.
Next up is the Buccaneers and that's us then done with the NFC South. I'm impressed. It's dragged out nicely. At this rate training camps will be ready to begin by the time I get around to finishing the whole series. Unless of course free agency kicks off prematurely and scuppers my plans by constantly interrupting the series. We'll see. One last thing though before I go.
I hate the Panthers.
Now last year the Panthers went a miserable 2-14. Head Coach John Fox is out the door, heading off west to busy himself with crippling the Broncos. That gives the Panthers a fresh start, a chance to right the wrongs and really get things moving. It's for that reason that this draft was so critical. It's where the Panthers could acquire the building blocks for the new Rivera regime.
That's why I can't help but chuckle just a little bit.
I hate the Panthers. That's probably down more to John Fox and Jeff Davidson (both gone), but still, my ill will remains. That said, anything that looks like it might cause the Panthers problems brings a smile to my face. Enter then Cam Newton, the number 1 overall pick.
I can't stand Newton. His smile looks like it was manufactured for a Colgate advert, right after the one ordered by Deion Sanders. That of course might come down to me being inherently quite miserable, but there you go.
What bugs me the most is the fact that Newton was taken first overall and everyone seemed to be supporting that. Everyone. Pre-draft, Newton was basically hailed as one of the best football players on every board. Of course that was then and now that it's a done deal, everybody seems to have changed their tune a little.
Suddenly everyone has started asking the same questions that I've been asking for ages now; how will Cam Newton convert from the Auburn offense to the NFL?
First off, I want to make the point that this is not a racist thing, something which has been brought up on numerous occasions by people in and around the Newton camp, directed at members of the media. This shouldn't even have to be addressed, but as people have been making an issue out of it, then it has to be covered.
For the record, I'm looking forward to the 2012 and 2013 drafts for quarterbacks Jacory Harris (Miami) and Darron Thomas (Oregon) respectively.
The reason why I'm incredibly sceptical is because I saw nothing watching Newton play for Auburn that I feel will transfer particularly well to the NFL. I saw a lot of running plays, but traditionally NFL offenses aren't keen on having their QB run on every other play.
I didn't see a lot of reads. People have complained and come to Newtons defense by saying that the offense at Auburn wasn't as easy as people think, mainly because the playbook shows lots of routes on pass plays. But that doesn't correlate with what I saw in the games, where Newton often drops back, appears to read one, maybe two routes, then gets on his horse and runs with it.
I should perhaps point out here that as an athlete, Newton is insane. A person of his height and weight should not be able to cut as quickly as he does in the open field. Yet somehow he manages it, along with breaking tackles through pure strength and showing a good turn of pace in a straight line.
But all those things, a quarterback does not make. I don't see the poise and presence in the pocket. I don't see the accuracy down the field. I don't see the ball placement. In fact, I don't see any of the things that I would associate with an NFL level QB.
I can see Newton occasionally escaping for yards. I can see him perhaps being a useful threat around the goal line. But he's no Mike Vick. That comparison has come up more than once, but it's laughable at best. The difference between Vick and Newton is that Vick can throw the ball on a par with some of the best in the league AND run like a demon. Newton just does number two.
It's for this reason mainly that I don't like the Panthers draft. Because now you're hamstrung from day one. If this kid walks onto the field as the QB for week one, it makes no difference who his team mates are. The offense flows through the QB and even run heavy teams such as Carolina (should be), still need a good quarterback to make it all work.
Newton is, in my opinion at least, a bust just waiting to have his Ryan Leaf-esque public meltdown. People are already talking about Jimmy Clausen being on the way out and having to make room, which I think is wrong. If I had to take either of these two into week one as my starter, it would be Clausen.
I'm no Clausen fan, but he's a better passer than Newton and has at least had a year to get acclimatised to the NFL. I have a sore feeling that Panthers fans will be singing for Clausen's return by the time of the first bye week (week 9).
But Newton wasn't the only guy taken, so let's look at the rest of 'em.
First off we have to head to the third round, as Carolina used up it's second pick in 2010 to get a third rounder. So we start with Terrell McClain, defensive tackle. McClain is a big guy who has pretty impressive speed and agility for his size.
That makes him a good candidate in the Panthers 4-3 system, which would find him lined up as one of the two interior tackles. He can rush the QB from there and has the ability to track down the line of scrimmage in pursuit of the run when needed. As far as the player fitting the team, McClain and the Panthers should make a relatively happy marriage.
I feel he was taken a little early for my liking, but then that's a personal opinion and it's not really something you can bash the Panthers heavily for.
Next in the third round is tackle Sione Fua, a compensatory selection. Hmm. Not bursting with praise, let's put it like that. Personally I think Fua gets man handled in the running game far too easily. He just seems to make contact with the offensive linemen and then switch by default to standing upright, instead of trying to get his butt down and use his hands.
On the pass rush he suffers the same problem. On contact he gets stood up far too easily and he struggles to use his hands to work past the offensive linemen and get to the ball. That's a real issue when playing for a 4-3 team, when the pass rush is largely dependent upon the D-line. He doesn't even drive the interior linemen back to help close the pocket on the QB and I feel that at the NFL level, teams will have no problems handling him one on one.
Onto round four, where we find cornerback Brandon Hogan, from West Virginia. Hogan displayed good physicality, which for me is a lost art of sorts among corners. His decision making was ok, but the trouble is, that's where the good stuff ends.
I have problems with his pass coverage. "Average" might cut it in College ball, depending on who you play, but average in the NFL means you're getting beaten repeatedly and picked on by experienced QB's. There are also character concerns hanging over Hogan, who was suspended at one point over a DUI charge that came less than six months after being cited by Police for disorderly conduct and public urination.
In round five the Panthers took Hawaii wide receiver Kealoha Pilares. I've seen some of him now and I can safely say that while I don't mind Pilares, I can't say as I'm his biggest fan. His run after the catch is normally quite good, but I didn't see a lot in the way of a developed route tree, especially when we're talking down the field.
And don't give me any of the that "it's because he played at Hawaii" crap. So did Greg Salas, and that kid really impressed me, including his ability down the field.
In round six it was linebacker Lawrence Wilson first. Wilson is a pretty solid tackler, especially in the open field. Movement across the field, including pursuit is good. Pass coverage was ok. The main concern with Wilson was that sometimes he came crashing down to the line against the run, took a bad line and endded up getting stuffed out of the play.
That shouldn't be so much of an issue in the Panthers scheme, as typically in a 4-3 defense each of the front seven players is assigned a gap to defend against the run. That is of course providing the Panthers stick with the 4-3.
The second of the sixth round picks, a compensatory selection, was Center Zachary Williams. Now there are times when it's difficult to get anything that would resemble footage of a player. With Williams it was damn near impossible. So honestly I can't bash or big the kid up. All I know is that Centers rarely shoot up the rankings on draft boards and when most people have you rated as "10 of ..." Center's, that's usually not a good sign.
Finally then we have Lee Ziemba, the offensive tackle from Auburn. Now I'm not going to say I hate Ziemba. I'm more indifferent to him. I didn't see anything that really made me go "wow, there's a tackle more people should be talking about!"
Apparently he won an SEC award for his blocking, but as I said earlier when I covered Ziemba in the O-line extra, all that does is fail to inspire confidence in me for the other O-linemen in the SEC. Probably went about where he should have. Honestly I don't see him surviving another three years in the league (though to be fair, fellow Auburn tackle alumni King Dunlap has, and Dunlap sucks).
So there you have it. The Panthers 2011 draft. Now let me qualify why I think it sucked so badly.
Reason #1
They splashed their top overall pick on a quarterback. I'm not even pointing the finger at Newton here. They already have Clausen and Tony Pike on the roster, so why not just see how those two pan out? I know that neither of them was really stunning, but it takes time to fully develop a quarterback. It can take two years just to fully learn all the terminology that an NFL offense uses.
I just don't think Carolina needed to go this early. They could have sat and perhaps picked up another young QB later, with a view to giving Clausen and Pike time to prove themselves this season, while quietly showing the project kid the ropes. There were so many better ways to handle it than just splashing the top pick on yet another young QB.
And yes, there were better quarterbacks on the board than Newton. Ryan Mallett for one. Mallett may have baggage in the terms of character concerns, but so does Newton. The only difference is that Mallett can play like a traditional pro style QB and is more likely to make a smooth transition to the next level. Not much then.
Reason #2
One thing the Panthers have chronically struggled with is receivers. And no, their three pass catching tight ends don't count. I love those guys (Barnidge, King and Rosario, the latter two of whom are free agents), plus the addition of Jeremy Shockey, formerly of the Saints, but that still leaves Steve Smith, possibly Brandon LaFell, and then a bag of unknowns and probably won't be's.
Where was the one or two middle to late round picks? Why not go grab some big body, physical guys who can add a bit of height, or maybe some true downfield speed? No. What they get is Pilares, probably another slot style kid.
It just baffles me a bit. How are you ever going to help guys like Clausen, or now Newton, without anybody on the outside to throw to? How is Cam Newton supposed to light up defense's when his number one guy Steve Smith will be double or triple covered? A missed opportunity I feel.
Reason #3
YOUR DEFENSIVE BACKS STILL SUCK!!!!
Excuse me. The Panthers have potential on defense. Their D-line has some capable pass rushers. But Jesus, that defensive backfield is awful. How in the hell do you expect to contain Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Josh Freeman with that collection of crap sitting back there?
This for me was right up there alongside wide receiver. The Panthers are now forced to go fishing around in free agency to try and find something to shore up what is certainly a weak, leaky group. They need safeties and corners, and the 2011 draft could have been the place to start work on that.
But all they took was Brandon Hogan. Nice work. Maybe if they'd laid off the two defensive linemen (a position of little need) taken in the third round, then they might have been able to find some space for one or two fast guys to help them out.
On reflection then, looking at the draft as a whole, I can't buy into what the Panthers have done. To me it just makes absolutely no sense, addresses none of their major issues and will probably leave the Panthers no better off than the year before. They might improve by a game or two, most bad teams do. But this is not the start of the empire in Carolina.
If I was Ron Rivera I'd be looking at what I just left behind for this and asking myself "why, why did I do it? What possessed me to come to this messed up franchise? I should have taken the Raiders job..."
Ok, so it's not that bad.
Next up is the Buccaneers and that's us then done with the NFC South. I'm impressed. It's dragged out nicely. At this rate training camps will be ready to begin by the time I get around to finishing the whole series. Unless of course free agency kicks off prematurely and scuppers my plans by constantly interrupting the series. We'll see. One last thing though before I go.
I hate the Panthers.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Keeping you posted 05/10/11
Yes, yes, I'm working on the bloody Panthers draft article! My inbox has been overflowing with literally a whole two e-mails wondering whether I'm going to be posting it.
Trouble is, I'm very busy right now so it might be a day or two yet. What's the rush anyway? We all know the Panthers had a shit draft. And am I getting paid for this? No! Free of charge, for your pleasure only.
And another bloody thing while I'm at it; how come I occasionally get the odd e-mail - usually from some tosspot Raiders fan bitching because I'm always taking the piss out of Al Davis and his draft strategy (you have seen Al Davis draft haven't you?) or someone who's just finished reading the backlog of articles on their precious Panthers and wants to know why I hate them so much (I even put the bloody reason in my "about me" section, so I wouldn't have to answer said e-mails) - and yet, not a single person leaves a comment on any of the posts, thus promoting discussion.
Well not these days anyway.
If you decide that you too would like to join the club and send me mildly abusive, highly optimistic, and not at all biased by your support e-mails about why your team is going to definitely go 16-0 this year, despite the fact that you went 2-14 the year before, then you can reach me at keepingthechainsmoving@live.co.uk
Trouble is, I'm very busy right now so it might be a day or two yet. What's the rush anyway? We all know the Panthers had a shit draft. And am I getting paid for this? No! Free of charge, for your pleasure only.
And another bloody thing while I'm at it; how come I occasionally get the odd e-mail - usually from some tosspot Raiders fan bitching because I'm always taking the piss out of Al Davis and his draft strategy (you have seen Al Davis draft haven't you?) or someone who's just finished reading the backlog of articles on their precious Panthers and wants to know why I hate them so much (I even put the bloody reason in my "about me" section, so I wouldn't have to answer said e-mails) - and yet, not a single person leaves a comment on any of the posts, thus promoting discussion.
Well not these days anyway.
If you decide that you too would like to join the club and send me mildly abusive, highly optimistic, and not at all biased by your support e-mails about why your team is going to definitely go 16-0 this year, despite the fact that you went 2-14 the year before, then you can reach me at keepingthechainsmoving@live.co.uk
Sunday, May 08, 2011
2011 NFL Draft; The New Orleans Saints
Before we begin I should point out that yes, I did say it was going to be the Panthers next. But for some reason I can't explain I just started the Saints post yesterday and it wasn't until I reached the very bottom of the post after spellchecking that I suddenly realised what I'd done.
And you can fuck right off if you think I'm doing an entire post about Carolina at this hour. Tough. Here's the Saints;
It's been a funny old time for New Orleans in recent years. In 2008 Drew Brees very nearly topped Dan Marinos' record for most passing yards in the regular season. This would have been a reason for great joy, were it not for the fact that the Saints defense absolutely sucked.
Then in '09 it all seemed to come together. From worst to first, their offense flourished again but so did the defense, culminating in a date with the Indianapolis Colts in their first ever Super Bowl and subsequently a win. The 'Lombardi Gras' swept across New Orleans.
Then in '10 it all went a bit wrong. The offense started to occasionally misfire and the defense went into recession. The final humiliating blow was a loss to Seattle in the first round of the playoffs, a bitter pill to swallow given that the general consensus script said that they should have walked into Washington State and shown those dastardly Seahawks just why it is that 7-9 teams shouldn't be allowed into the playoffs.
The 2011 draft was supposed to be about the Saints getting back on the horse ready for another charge at the Super Bowl. All that was standing in their way was a tricky free agent period, where they expected to lose a number of players. But everything would be alright on the night, right? They could bring a few players in and then shore up any last ditch holes in the draft.
Except that the Union formerly known as the NFLPA threw its toys out of the pram, got up and left the negotiating table, decertified, and now here we are, deep in the middle of a bitterly fought legal battle and lockout.
That left the Saints on uncertain ground headed into the draft. With so many players headed out the door into (eventually) free agency there might have been a temptation for the Saints to work their way down the draft order and accumulate picks. Instead they chose to go in quite the opposite direction.
It all started in the first round with the selection of Defensive End Cameron Jordan with the 24th selection overall. I'm a little surprised simply because I feel that of all the issues that the Saints had, D-line wasn't really one of them. Never the less, pick him they did so the question becomes did they make the right choice?
It's hard to say. I don't mean that in the sense of "I'm copping out of making a decision". I mean it in the sense that a lot of the time in college it wasn't hard to find Jordan, because he was the one with two offensive linemen climbing all over him in an attempt to smother him.
Thus drawing an accurate conclusion based on the fact that he's unlikely to see such attention in the NFL can be difficult. One thing he did display constantly was good strength and a strong desire to chase down plays from behind, for which we have to give him credit. The fact that he was able to achieve the things he did under such pressure from the O-line is a testament to him.
Tentatively then, I'm going to nod in an approving manner at picking Jordan. One of the things that New Orleans has struggled with recently has been pass rush and Jordan offers them hope in the sense that even if all he ever does is occupy blockers and cause a lot of havoc up front, that still gives his rushing linebackers a better chance to get to the QB.
Next up is Running Back Mark Ingram, whom the Saints traded up to get, oddly enough doing a deal with the Patriots to get the 28th pick overall, which is the place where many expected the Patriots to take; Mark Ingram.
The price was a second rounder in 2011 and a first rounder in 2012. And that's what has been causing me a little bit of a problem with this pick. That's a lot to give up just to get your hands on a running back. I say that because the success of running backs is often linked quite significantly to the play of their offensive lines. I'm just not sure, given the depth of the running back class, that this was such a clever decision.
Add to that the fact that the Saints already have a solid back in Pierre Thomas, have Chris Ivory who showed a lot of promise in his rookie year, and still tentatively have Joique Bell and Reggie Bush, providing neither of those two is dumped.
Ingram does offer the Saints something in the sense that he can relieve the pressure off Thomas to be an every down, all the time back, but then Ivory and Bell could have done that as well. Ingram is strong and has some other desirable attributes you want in a running back, but I think the cost of the trade is a problem, especially looking at what was left on the board and where else the Saints could have gone (safety, pass rushing linebacker)
Onto round three then as the Saints gave up that second round pick, and here they double dipped, first at number 72 thanks to a trade with Washington the year before, then their own pick at 88.
At 72 they went Linebacker with Martez Wilson, who I really, really can't buy. The issue I have with Wilson is simple; linebackers are supposed to be baby eating demons who are 24/7 hungry for contact. Wilson seems to be the opposite. He always seemed to be looking for someone else to initiate that contact, then he might follow up in necessary.
Again, this is just the impression I got watching him. He could indeed be a baby eating demon who is hungry for contact 24/7. But if I was a betting man, I'd bet against it. Who knows, maybe he'll read this one day and to the delight of all New Orleans fans he'll ram these words back down my throat. Again though, if I was a betting man....
At number 88 the Saints went with Johnny Patrick, cornerback from Louisville. And right here I think they hit a beauty. I really like Patrick because of his combination of strength against the run and talent in pass coverage. One thing I noted especially was his versatility, including rushing the quarterback from a nickel position.
With Tracey Porter and Jabari Greer on the team, that means if Patrick is going to hit the field, then nickelback is his best shot. When you factor in as well that Gregg Williams isn't averse to a bit of risk taking, including blitzing secondary players, then I think we have a great combination on our hands.
Probably the only other more ideal place for Patrick might have been Green Bay, but New Orleans should serve him well. I think the Saints got a good corner prospect with this pick and somebody that fits their system as well, which is an added bonus. There is a possibility, especially given the free agent situation, that he might have to move to Strong Safety which I think he has the skills to cope with.
Now, due to the machinations of various trades, the Saints then went without a pick until the seventh round, where they double dipped again thanks to a compensatory selection. Which gives us a moment to pause and reflect on what will happen when the compensatory picks are dished out as a result of the 2011 free agency period. New Orleans could be big winners in the 2012 draft.
So, picking 226th overall, the Saints took Greg Romeus, the defensive end from Pittsburgh. He had a back surgery last year that restricted his season but man, if Romeus can recapture his earlier college form (and there is nothing to currently suggest that he wont), then the Saints just grabbed a bargain.
Romeus is by no means flawless. He lacks great speed and sometimes finds himself tricked out on certain running plays, plowing down the line to pursue a fullback that doesn't have the ball and leaving the edge open. But that, if not so much the speed, is coachable.
What he does possess is tremendous strength combined with great use of the hands in the pass rush, and a really relentless drive to pursue the QB. Not sure at this stage whether he'd play as a defensive end or a stand up rush linebacker, but either way I think Romeus has a lot to offer the Saints.
At 243rd overall the Saints went with Linebacker Nate Bussey and wouldn't you just bloody know it, I haven't seen a second of the kid because he wasn't on my radar. So, off I got to investigate and here you get your explanation as to why this post took longer than expected. The things I do for you guys.
And on that quick note hello to everyone in the US, Italy, Denmark and Slovenia who according to Blogger seem to have been, over the last six months or so, the main readers. Obviously the US is well in the lead, but the other three are no slouches themselves, with Italy leading the drive.
Back to Bussey and all I can say is; that was a waste of life. Bussey spent most of his time playing as a kind of bizarre, overweight nickelback. His pass coverage was nothing to write home about and against downfield speed he got toasted more thoroughly than the semi-burnt piece of bread that I'm currently munching on, and that provided me with a handy idea for an analogy.
Tackling was ok but when that is your one and only positively identifiable attribute, and I absolutely mean that, then you have problems. But it's a seventh round pick to be fair and most teams don't expect much from them, which to me is quite a lazy excuse for not properly doing your homework.
Overall then? There's a large piece of me that seems to instinctively hate the Saints, if only because I felt that they kind of got a little lucky along the path to their Super Bowl and nobody seemed to acknowledge that fact, not that it's the Saints fault. You play the hand you're dealt.
But I can't say it was a bad draft. Perhaps they gave up too much for Ingram, but if he can prove to be a more versatile and reliable back than Reggie Bush, then you could argue that he compliments well what is undoubtedly a fearsome passing attack.
Defensively I think they drafted well though. Perhaps they might consider getting a new scout for linebackers in 2012, but other than that I tip my hat to the Saints draft. Jordan, Patrick and Romeus are all good players, and in particular Romeus was a bit of a steal taken as late as he was.
All that should help the Saints with that key problem of reliable pass rush and run defense that they've had in recent seasons. Remember as well that in '09 the Saints proved that their defense only has to get a little bit better, maybe be a top 16 contender, to provide the necessary compliment for that explosive offense. Free agency will be interesting for the Saints, but at this rate it looks like they might end up back in the playoffs in 2011.
And you can fuck right off if you think I'm doing an entire post about Carolina at this hour. Tough. Here's the Saints;
It's been a funny old time for New Orleans in recent years. In 2008 Drew Brees very nearly topped Dan Marinos' record for most passing yards in the regular season. This would have been a reason for great joy, were it not for the fact that the Saints defense absolutely sucked.
Then in '09 it all seemed to come together. From worst to first, their offense flourished again but so did the defense, culminating in a date with the Indianapolis Colts in their first ever Super Bowl and subsequently a win. The 'Lombardi Gras' swept across New Orleans.
Then in '10 it all went a bit wrong. The offense started to occasionally misfire and the defense went into recession. The final humiliating blow was a loss to Seattle in the first round of the playoffs, a bitter pill to swallow given that the general consensus script said that they should have walked into Washington State and shown those dastardly Seahawks just why it is that 7-9 teams shouldn't be allowed into the playoffs.
The 2011 draft was supposed to be about the Saints getting back on the horse ready for another charge at the Super Bowl. All that was standing in their way was a tricky free agent period, where they expected to lose a number of players. But everything would be alright on the night, right? They could bring a few players in and then shore up any last ditch holes in the draft.
Except that the Union formerly known as the NFLPA threw its toys out of the pram, got up and left the negotiating table, decertified, and now here we are, deep in the middle of a bitterly fought legal battle and lockout.
That left the Saints on uncertain ground headed into the draft. With so many players headed out the door into (eventually) free agency there might have been a temptation for the Saints to work their way down the draft order and accumulate picks. Instead they chose to go in quite the opposite direction.
It all started in the first round with the selection of Defensive End Cameron Jordan with the 24th selection overall. I'm a little surprised simply because I feel that of all the issues that the Saints had, D-line wasn't really one of them. Never the less, pick him they did so the question becomes did they make the right choice?
It's hard to say. I don't mean that in the sense of "I'm copping out of making a decision". I mean it in the sense that a lot of the time in college it wasn't hard to find Jordan, because he was the one with two offensive linemen climbing all over him in an attempt to smother him.
Thus drawing an accurate conclusion based on the fact that he's unlikely to see such attention in the NFL can be difficult. One thing he did display constantly was good strength and a strong desire to chase down plays from behind, for which we have to give him credit. The fact that he was able to achieve the things he did under such pressure from the O-line is a testament to him.
Tentatively then, I'm going to nod in an approving manner at picking Jordan. One of the things that New Orleans has struggled with recently has been pass rush and Jordan offers them hope in the sense that even if all he ever does is occupy blockers and cause a lot of havoc up front, that still gives his rushing linebackers a better chance to get to the QB.
Next up is Running Back Mark Ingram, whom the Saints traded up to get, oddly enough doing a deal with the Patriots to get the 28th pick overall, which is the place where many expected the Patriots to take; Mark Ingram.
The price was a second rounder in 2011 and a first rounder in 2012. And that's what has been causing me a little bit of a problem with this pick. That's a lot to give up just to get your hands on a running back. I say that because the success of running backs is often linked quite significantly to the play of their offensive lines. I'm just not sure, given the depth of the running back class, that this was such a clever decision.
Add to that the fact that the Saints already have a solid back in Pierre Thomas, have Chris Ivory who showed a lot of promise in his rookie year, and still tentatively have Joique Bell and Reggie Bush, providing neither of those two is dumped.
Ingram does offer the Saints something in the sense that he can relieve the pressure off Thomas to be an every down, all the time back, but then Ivory and Bell could have done that as well. Ingram is strong and has some other desirable attributes you want in a running back, but I think the cost of the trade is a problem, especially looking at what was left on the board and where else the Saints could have gone (safety, pass rushing linebacker)
Onto round three then as the Saints gave up that second round pick, and here they double dipped, first at number 72 thanks to a trade with Washington the year before, then their own pick at 88.
At 72 they went Linebacker with Martez Wilson, who I really, really can't buy. The issue I have with Wilson is simple; linebackers are supposed to be baby eating demons who are 24/7 hungry for contact. Wilson seems to be the opposite. He always seemed to be looking for someone else to initiate that contact, then he might follow up in necessary.
Again, this is just the impression I got watching him. He could indeed be a baby eating demon who is hungry for contact 24/7. But if I was a betting man, I'd bet against it. Who knows, maybe he'll read this one day and to the delight of all New Orleans fans he'll ram these words back down my throat. Again though, if I was a betting man....
At number 88 the Saints went with Johnny Patrick, cornerback from Louisville. And right here I think they hit a beauty. I really like Patrick because of his combination of strength against the run and talent in pass coverage. One thing I noted especially was his versatility, including rushing the quarterback from a nickel position.
With Tracey Porter and Jabari Greer on the team, that means if Patrick is going to hit the field, then nickelback is his best shot. When you factor in as well that Gregg Williams isn't averse to a bit of risk taking, including blitzing secondary players, then I think we have a great combination on our hands.
Probably the only other more ideal place for Patrick might have been Green Bay, but New Orleans should serve him well. I think the Saints got a good corner prospect with this pick and somebody that fits their system as well, which is an added bonus. There is a possibility, especially given the free agent situation, that he might have to move to Strong Safety which I think he has the skills to cope with.
Now, due to the machinations of various trades, the Saints then went without a pick until the seventh round, where they double dipped again thanks to a compensatory selection. Which gives us a moment to pause and reflect on what will happen when the compensatory picks are dished out as a result of the 2011 free agency period. New Orleans could be big winners in the 2012 draft.
So, picking 226th overall, the Saints took Greg Romeus, the defensive end from Pittsburgh. He had a back surgery last year that restricted his season but man, if Romeus can recapture his earlier college form (and there is nothing to currently suggest that he wont), then the Saints just grabbed a bargain.
Romeus is by no means flawless. He lacks great speed and sometimes finds himself tricked out on certain running plays, plowing down the line to pursue a fullback that doesn't have the ball and leaving the edge open. But that, if not so much the speed, is coachable.
What he does possess is tremendous strength combined with great use of the hands in the pass rush, and a really relentless drive to pursue the QB. Not sure at this stage whether he'd play as a defensive end or a stand up rush linebacker, but either way I think Romeus has a lot to offer the Saints.
At 243rd overall the Saints went with Linebacker Nate Bussey and wouldn't you just bloody know it, I haven't seen a second of the kid because he wasn't on my radar. So, off I got to investigate and here you get your explanation as to why this post took longer than expected. The things I do for you guys.
And on that quick note hello to everyone in the US, Italy, Denmark and Slovenia who according to Blogger seem to have been, over the last six months or so, the main readers. Obviously the US is well in the lead, but the other three are no slouches themselves, with Italy leading the drive.
Back to Bussey and all I can say is; that was a waste of life. Bussey spent most of his time playing as a kind of bizarre, overweight nickelback. His pass coverage was nothing to write home about and against downfield speed he got toasted more thoroughly than the semi-burnt piece of bread that I'm currently munching on, and that provided me with a handy idea for an analogy.
Tackling was ok but when that is your one and only positively identifiable attribute, and I absolutely mean that, then you have problems. But it's a seventh round pick to be fair and most teams don't expect much from them, which to me is quite a lazy excuse for not properly doing your homework.
Overall then? There's a large piece of me that seems to instinctively hate the Saints, if only because I felt that they kind of got a little lucky along the path to their Super Bowl and nobody seemed to acknowledge that fact, not that it's the Saints fault. You play the hand you're dealt.
But I can't say it was a bad draft. Perhaps they gave up too much for Ingram, but if he can prove to be a more versatile and reliable back than Reggie Bush, then you could argue that he compliments well what is undoubtedly a fearsome passing attack.
Defensively I think they drafted well though. Perhaps they might consider getting a new scout for linebackers in 2012, but other than that I tip my hat to the Saints draft. Jordan, Patrick and Romeus are all good players, and in particular Romeus was a bit of a steal taken as late as he was.
All that should help the Saints with that key problem of reliable pass rush and run defense that they've had in recent seasons. Remember as well that in '09 the Saints proved that their defense only has to get a little bit better, maybe be a top 16 contender, to provide the necessary compliment for that explosive offense. Free agency will be interesting for the Saints, but at this rate it looks like they might end up back in the playoffs in 2011.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
2011 NFL Draft; The Atlanta Falcons
It's a funny old thing, the draft.
Traditionally there is a spectrum, somewhere upon which most people fall, with "draft for needs" at one end and "take the best player on the board" at the other.
Normally speaking, teams tend to flirt with both ends of the scale at some point, usually drafting the best player available early and filling needs later on. Take my 49ers for a moment, who kicked off their draft with a DE in Aldon Smith, even though the big need was at corner. They then filled this need later on with lower picks.
Some teams will just purely live and die by their boards, taking whatever comes up. The Raiders are a prime example; if it's fast in the 40-yard dash, they'll pick it.
Very rarely however do you see teams go balls to the wall in the first round and draft a pure need, especially if it means sacrificing a lot to get it. Such teams often believe that overall their team is fine, they're just missing one or maybe two pieces that will complete the puzzle.
This is where the two ends of this thread link together and we get around to talking about the Falcons. They swapped first rounders in this draft with the Browns, but also gave Cleveland their second and fourth round picks in 2011, plus their first and second rounders in 2012.
All in all, that's a hell of a gamble. Your losing two picks this year you could use to make your team better. A team that I would hasten to suggest isn't quite as good overall as the Falcons seem believe it is. Now the future picks is an up in the air question. The league warned teams that future picks might be in jeopardy due to the labor dispute and so many would argue that the Falcons might not be giving up as much as we all think.
But that depends on whether you seriously believe that the league and players wont come to some agreement by next year, or whether indeed you believe like me that all of this back and forth bullshit in the courts is nothing more than a game of chess designed to earn the best possible negotiating position for when the parties finally sit down and hash out the deal.
Come next year then, the Falcons are going to have to hope that their strategy in 2011 brought them a Super Bowl, because their next draft class sure as hell isn't going to.
Now all of this might lead you to believe that I don't like Julio Jones who they traded up to get. And the answer to that is; I don't. For some reason I keep mentally confusing him with A.J. Green but that's another story entirely not relevant to this post. But even if Jones was a great player, was trading away all that lovely pickage worthwhile?
My immediate thought is; no. Wide receivers have a notoriously difficult transition to the NFL, where suddenly they find their route tree has expanded from a few simple quicks and intermediates plus the odd deep pattern and some screens, to a list as long as your arm combined together into a series of plays that make a playbook of inhuman size.
Also, the demands on receivers become much greater. They're expected to run routes with a very high degree of precision and to make potentially one of multiple decisions mid route based on the coverage presented, which at this level can get very complex, very quickly.
Thus I personally feel that wide receiver is just about the last position (except maybe running back) that I would be happy to chuck a haul of picks at in order to fill. And even if I did, Julio Jones would not be my man.
I just find him a little... underwhelming. I turned on the first game expecting to see this super wide receiver who everyone has been saying is pure first round potential, and what I saw was Mike Sims-Walker of the Jaguars; not a bad receiver, but not exactly a franchise player. And not really a first rounder.
Given the amount of picks that were sacrificed I really don't have a good feeling at all about this pick. I understand that the Falcons are a little short at the position, but there were other players who could have been snagged later, and for much better value. Obviously the team in Atlanta disagree.
Next up is LB Akeem Dent, taken in the 3rd round. From what I've seen..... meh.
The first time around that I watched one game I was quite pleased and thinking "this is looking good". At which point I realised that I'd been watching the wrong guy (Christian Robinson). When I went back again I already knew what the answer was going to be because I'd spent the entire game the first time around (still with me?) moaning about, "Jesus, if only that other kid would get off his arse and do something! Nice stance though..."
As you've probably already guessed, that other kid was Dent. And yep, he does take a good, low stance, ready to burst away and make a play. The trouble is he comes out of said stance rather lethargically and then has a tendency to run around the field at half speed and distinctly looking like he's trying to avoid getting his kit dirty.
We can surmise that this is half speed simply because anytime he's asked to rush the QB he promptly gets on his horse and comes flying downhill like a bullet out of a gun, sniffing the glory of a sack. Unfortunately his block destruction skills are about as developed and well honed as mine, i.e. not at all. Occasionally he makes a tackle when the play cuts back into him.
All in all, the Falcons draft is so far looking distinctly rubbish from the viewpoint of my pompous mountain here behind a keyboard.
Whose next? Jacquizz Rodgers? Now we're getting somewhere!
Taken in the fifth, Rodgers is quite a handy player to have in your backfield. Vision is questionable at times if I'm completely honest, but speed, agility and balance are very good. Luckily for Jacquizz, the Falcons tend to play very much an old school style "follow the Fullback into the hole" type running game, where bad vision is less of a problem. Note I said "less" of a problem not "no" problem.
He should make a useful change of pace to Michael Turner. The trouble the Falcons have had with their running game is that trying to beat teams down with Turner every game has proven a successful tactic, but also leads to him spending more time on the bench in the future than they would like as he nurses various injuries.
Rodgers offers them a legitimate alternative runner who isn't just there to take pressure off Turner, but is actually a threat to go the distance in and of himself. With that breakaway speed and cutting ability, Rodgers has something of the Chris Johnson about him. He's not quite that fast, but one on one with a safety I can see him being just as deadly.
On to round six and it's time to take a punt (chortle, chortle) on Matt Bosher, the punter/kicker from Miami. At which point I have to stop, laugh, and then recompose myself. I have nothing against punters and kickers and in fact I accept, probably more than most, how valuable a decent punter/kicker can be.
But I also live in a country where two of the main sports are Association Football (otherwise known as Soccer) and Rugby Union Football (otherwise known as... Rugby Union). Therefore I can confidently tell you that while good kicking is by no means a widely possessed skill, it's also really not that hard to develop with a bit of good coaching and a healthy dose of practice.
No really, it's not that hard.
For the cost of using a draft pick and the associated salary on a Punter/Kicker, you can instead invest in a half decent kicking coach (I'll take $50,000 a year which is less than a practice squad player, keepingthechainsmoving@live.co.uk ) and just train some undrafted kid to get a bit better.
Onwards and upwards then, like a line drive punt with plenty of hang time, into round seven where the Falcons had two picks. First up is offensive guard Andrew Jackson from Fresno State, another player that I had to go back and have a look at.
Except I can't, because for the life of me I cannot beg, borrow, steal, find, stumble across, unearth or otherwise get hold of anything that might be remotely considered "film" of the Fresno State offense.
So it comes down then to Cliff Matthews, Defensive End from South Carolina. Who I think Atlanta have done well to pick up. He's not a bad kid, pretty quick with good technique. His tackling is usually pretty good and he works hard to chase the play.
Take those attributes and put him on a D-line with guys like John Abraham and Kroy Biermann, who can spend the next year or two teaching him how to be a professional and how to develop himself as a Defensive End, and you have a recipe for a good shot at a half decent career.
Overall then, I'd say the Falcons kind of arsed this draft up, unless of course Jackson turns out to be beast, Rodgers runs for 2,000 yards as a rookie and Matthews starts trucking people from day one. I just can't see it myself.
Now I promised myself I wouldn't do the redundant A, B, C thing, not least because most analysts don't even seem to understand what separates a C from a B on their own grade rankings. Instead I'm going with more of the verbal, generalisation type approach.
That is to say, I personally believe that the Falcons had a great chance to get better in this draft and build the foundation of a perennial playoff team, but instead have sold this and next years draft down the river while making very little discernible impact in the short term, and probably not a huge deal more in the long term either.
And yeah, I would rate this as being worse than the Seahawks draft. Much worse. Next up, the Carolina Panthers, probably some time over the weekend. I'm hoping to string this series out a little, so as to give both you and me a meaningful source of football to talk about in the next long month or two.
Traditionally there is a spectrum, somewhere upon which most people fall, with "draft for needs" at one end and "take the best player on the board" at the other.
Normally speaking, teams tend to flirt with both ends of the scale at some point, usually drafting the best player available early and filling needs later on. Take my 49ers for a moment, who kicked off their draft with a DE in Aldon Smith, even though the big need was at corner. They then filled this need later on with lower picks.
Some teams will just purely live and die by their boards, taking whatever comes up. The Raiders are a prime example; if it's fast in the 40-yard dash, they'll pick it.
Very rarely however do you see teams go balls to the wall in the first round and draft a pure need, especially if it means sacrificing a lot to get it. Such teams often believe that overall their team is fine, they're just missing one or maybe two pieces that will complete the puzzle.
This is where the two ends of this thread link together and we get around to talking about the Falcons. They swapped first rounders in this draft with the Browns, but also gave Cleveland their second and fourth round picks in 2011, plus their first and second rounders in 2012.
All in all, that's a hell of a gamble. Your losing two picks this year you could use to make your team better. A team that I would hasten to suggest isn't quite as good overall as the Falcons seem believe it is. Now the future picks is an up in the air question. The league warned teams that future picks might be in jeopardy due to the labor dispute and so many would argue that the Falcons might not be giving up as much as we all think.
But that depends on whether you seriously believe that the league and players wont come to some agreement by next year, or whether indeed you believe like me that all of this back and forth bullshit in the courts is nothing more than a game of chess designed to earn the best possible negotiating position for when the parties finally sit down and hash out the deal.
Come next year then, the Falcons are going to have to hope that their strategy in 2011 brought them a Super Bowl, because their next draft class sure as hell isn't going to.
Now all of this might lead you to believe that I don't like Julio Jones who they traded up to get. And the answer to that is; I don't. For some reason I keep mentally confusing him with A.J. Green but that's another story entirely not relevant to this post. But even if Jones was a great player, was trading away all that lovely pickage worthwhile?
My immediate thought is; no. Wide receivers have a notoriously difficult transition to the NFL, where suddenly they find their route tree has expanded from a few simple quicks and intermediates plus the odd deep pattern and some screens, to a list as long as your arm combined together into a series of plays that make a playbook of inhuman size.
Also, the demands on receivers become much greater. They're expected to run routes with a very high degree of precision and to make potentially one of multiple decisions mid route based on the coverage presented, which at this level can get very complex, very quickly.
Thus I personally feel that wide receiver is just about the last position (except maybe running back) that I would be happy to chuck a haul of picks at in order to fill. And even if I did, Julio Jones would not be my man.
I just find him a little... underwhelming. I turned on the first game expecting to see this super wide receiver who everyone has been saying is pure first round potential, and what I saw was Mike Sims-Walker of the Jaguars; not a bad receiver, but not exactly a franchise player. And not really a first rounder.
Given the amount of picks that were sacrificed I really don't have a good feeling at all about this pick. I understand that the Falcons are a little short at the position, but there were other players who could have been snagged later, and for much better value. Obviously the team in Atlanta disagree.
Next up is LB Akeem Dent, taken in the 3rd round. From what I've seen..... meh.
The first time around that I watched one game I was quite pleased and thinking "this is looking good". At which point I realised that I'd been watching the wrong guy (Christian Robinson). When I went back again I already knew what the answer was going to be because I'd spent the entire game the first time around (still with me?) moaning about, "Jesus, if only that other kid would get off his arse and do something! Nice stance though..."
As you've probably already guessed, that other kid was Dent. And yep, he does take a good, low stance, ready to burst away and make a play. The trouble is he comes out of said stance rather lethargically and then has a tendency to run around the field at half speed and distinctly looking like he's trying to avoid getting his kit dirty.
We can surmise that this is half speed simply because anytime he's asked to rush the QB he promptly gets on his horse and comes flying downhill like a bullet out of a gun, sniffing the glory of a sack. Unfortunately his block destruction skills are about as developed and well honed as mine, i.e. not at all. Occasionally he makes a tackle when the play cuts back into him.
All in all, the Falcons draft is so far looking distinctly rubbish from the viewpoint of my pompous mountain here behind a keyboard.
Whose next? Jacquizz Rodgers? Now we're getting somewhere!
Taken in the fifth, Rodgers is quite a handy player to have in your backfield. Vision is questionable at times if I'm completely honest, but speed, agility and balance are very good. Luckily for Jacquizz, the Falcons tend to play very much an old school style "follow the Fullback into the hole" type running game, where bad vision is less of a problem. Note I said "less" of a problem not "no" problem.
He should make a useful change of pace to Michael Turner. The trouble the Falcons have had with their running game is that trying to beat teams down with Turner every game has proven a successful tactic, but also leads to him spending more time on the bench in the future than they would like as he nurses various injuries.
Rodgers offers them a legitimate alternative runner who isn't just there to take pressure off Turner, but is actually a threat to go the distance in and of himself. With that breakaway speed and cutting ability, Rodgers has something of the Chris Johnson about him. He's not quite that fast, but one on one with a safety I can see him being just as deadly.
On to round six and it's time to take a punt (chortle, chortle) on Matt Bosher, the punter/kicker from Miami. At which point I have to stop, laugh, and then recompose myself. I have nothing against punters and kickers and in fact I accept, probably more than most, how valuable a decent punter/kicker can be.
But I also live in a country where two of the main sports are Association Football (otherwise known as Soccer) and Rugby Union Football (otherwise known as... Rugby Union). Therefore I can confidently tell you that while good kicking is by no means a widely possessed skill, it's also really not that hard to develop with a bit of good coaching and a healthy dose of practice.
No really, it's not that hard.
For the cost of using a draft pick and the associated salary on a Punter/Kicker, you can instead invest in a half decent kicking coach (I'll take $50,000 a year which is less than a practice squad player, keepingthechainsmoving@live.co.uk ) and just train some undrafted kid to get a bit better.
Onwards and upwards then, like a line drive punt with plenty of hang time, into round seven where the Falcons had two picks. First up is offensive guard Andrew Jackson from Fresno State, another player that I had to go back and have a look at.
Except I can't, because for the life of me I cannot beg, borrow, steal, find, stumble across, unearth or otherwise get hold of anything that might be remotely considered "film" of the Fresno State offense.
So it comes down then to Cliff Matthews, Defensive End from South Carolina. Who I think Atlanta have done well to pick up. He's not a bad kid, pretty quick with good technique. His tackling is usually pretty good and he works hard to chase the play.
Take those attributes and put him on a D-line with guys like John Abraham and Kroy Biermann, who can spend the next year or two teaching him how to be a professional and how to develop himself as a Defensive End, and you have a recipe for a good shot at a half decent career.
Overall then, I'd say the Falcons kind of arsed this draft up, unless of course Jackson turns out to be beast, Rodgers runs for 2,000 yards as a rookie and Matthews starts trucking people from day one. I just can't see it myself.
Now I promised myself I wouldn't do the redundant A, B, C thing, not least because most analysts don't even seem to understand what separates a C from a B on their own grade rankings. Instead I'm going with more of the verbal, generalisation type approach.
That is to say, I personally believe that the Falcons had a great chance to get better in this draft and build the foundation of a perennial playoff team, but instead have sold this and next years draft down the river while making very little discernible impact in the short term, and probably not a huge deal more in the long term either.
And yeah, I would rate this as being worse than the Seahawks draft. Much worse. Next up, the Carolina Panthers, probably some time over the weekend. I'm hoping to string this series out a little, so as to give both you and me a meaningful source of football to talk about in the next long month or two.
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