Some thoughts on tight ends. Chris Gragg is one of the few guys that makes me think he might actually be a personnel mismatch and not just a guy who "can play in this league". Of course I've been on Joseph Fauria for years. The sheer size will help him be a mismatch and mixes in with that behemoth size some impressive jumping and ball skills. He can threaten the middle of the field with his mere presence. I'm onto Levine Toilolo and have been for a while even if he's not likely to come out. I think I still like him more than Zach Ertz. And the thing about Phil Lutzenkirchen is he just does great things on the field as a football player and I'd just love to have him on my team. Would anyone honestly be surprised if in the biggest game of the year Phil Lutzenkirchen made some ridiculous one-handed grab in the end zone to win the game? That's what I view him to bring to the table. Tenacious blocker too, way better than his size would indicate on that front IMO. He doesn't tip toe around anything at any point on any play. Everything is full speed, which IMO is going to help him negate his athletic disadvantages. I've seen in Travis Kelce be Cincinnati's biggest cog in their passing offense in the Big East and I just come away impressed how consistent he is. Justice Cunningham also has my attention. For me he embodies the cynical command you hear barked by coaches, "Be an athlete". He has no problem being an athlete. Highly underrated right now because of an under-productive career, but extremely impressive on the plays he did make for South Carolina. I don't know his back story at all so I reserve the right to change my mind if he's a complete a-hole and that's why he's under-productive.
Gragg has a solid overall game and I'd want him on this team if we miss out on Reed, as Clay can't be our only legit Hback in this offense IMO, especially if Egnew is to be a TE.
What happens if Lotulelei miraculously happens to fall to our pick and the other top defensive guys are off the board? Could you pass on him?
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Not sure if he's going to declare this year, but I'd take Eddie Lacy. I think he'd serve as a nice compliment to Lamar Miller. Big, north-south runner, catches the ball decently well. I think I'd take him over a guy like Le'Veon Bell or Stepfan Taylor.
He's interesting because there are actually traits in his game that I'd love in a safety more so than a linebacker. He's really calm until he sees the play and pulls the trigger, and I think that is what makes him such a good coverage linebacker. It helps that he's constantly eyeballing the quarterback and reacting to his eyes. But his strength in that way becomes his weakness in the other way because I really don't think he's a good run defender as he's not near aggressive enough to be good in that area. It makes you wonder if he's just a nickel coverage linebacker at the next level. But then, most linebackers the problem you end up with is that they can't play on third down. This guy would start on third down and work his way into first and second, and linebackers from an instincts standpoint tend to age like a fine wine anyway. I'm not sure anyone would imagine Kevin Burnett being good against the run early in his career, nor would they have imagined Karlos Dansby defending the run as a middle linebacker. It seems to me like if you can play on third down, you can build up to first and second eventually. I'd take him, I'm just not sure how high.
Some of the run defense that he plays can be downright embarrassing. He has the length and talent but man, he shies away at times while other times playing irresponsibly.
Again, this is a kid who flashes in EVERY SINGLE GAME and who is one of those players who we talk down and then boom he becomes an NFL star. Some of run defense can be downright fantastic as well.
What is your guy's take on Cordarrelle Patterson? I was watching one of his 2012 highlight vids and really enjoyed watching him run in the open field. Is he a possible target for us in the 1st round?
He's exciting in the open field but I get nervous because he's not only raw as a receiver, he seems to ME anyway to not be very physical and to be intimidated by physical coverage. I've seen other people write scouting reports that say the opposite and I have a hard time seeing what they're seeing.
You have a valid point.... but then again, Suh didn't lead his team to a National Championship game. I just think it's ridiculous there's this much of a bias toward offense.
True, but Suh's Nebraska team wasn't on the same level as ND is this year. I remember Suh pretty much nearly winning that Big12 Title Game by himself against Texas. The Heisman's been offensively biased since...pretty much ever.
This years Heisman was pretty lackluster. Preseason favorite was Barkley then Geno Smith lit it up but there was no one that really cemented themselves.
I disagree, maybins muscles are that of the popcorn variety..I don't see that with Barr, he's got long limbs, but strong joints and tendons, he's explosive.
No, I agree about that, Deej. I said something similar in the other thread...... but I just went with the word twiggy b/c he's a lengthy tweener at the moment IMO.
If you beat the SEC record set by Tebow and then Cam Newton you have to win it. Plus, his acceptance speech was mega.
What do you guys think of Zach Boren. Seems like a do it all kind of guy (line up at FB, MLB, ST ace) He played LB in high school and only made the switch inside due to injuries. I thought he played pretty well at LB but more of a late round guy. He can make a roster with his versatility. Pretty much how Julian Eldeman is for the Patriots.
I don't think H-Back is a position filled by a specific player, it's a role that pretty much every tight end on the roster will fill. Fasano and Clay mostly play it, but Egnew was still lined up there in pre-season.
I agree, and that's a great point.... but at the same time guys like Clay, as you know, will only serve that Hback role as they lack any inline ability. If Egnew becomes the main TE of the future to where he can be lined up at Y more often (b/c of his size), then I'd like to make sure we have a real stud to compliment him in 2 TE formations. I like Clay and have so before we drafted him, but I wouldn't not draft a versatile, playmaking, matchup-advantage creator like Reed just b/c Clay is rostered.
I think they've got to do a good job to balance the skill-set. You gotta have someone who can line up in a 3-point stance next to the tight end, if everyone on the roster is either a H-Back/Fullback or a slot player, I think you're losing something, or you've also got to look at finding a blocking specialist.
As BuckeyeKing mentioned, Zach Boren might be a guy they could look at as a blocking specialist. At least as a true FB and someone who can play a lot of special teams.
My preference if we're doing something like that would be Phil Lutzenkirchen because in addition to being a good blocker that goes 100 mph he has very, very soft hands and a concentration level that lets him do things in the passing game.
To bad Brandon graham doesn't train and eat like a professional athlete should, he might actually reach his potential..
No, I agree completely with this. If we let Fasano walk and either don't replace him or don't foresee Egnew replacing him, then drafting an Hback wouldn't be my priority over a more traditional TE. However, if we have Fasano, Egnew, and Clay, then I'd want to compliment that group with the best playmaker around, who IMO is Jordan Reed.
when your in the shape he's in at a very young age, your not playing to your potential, and probably a contributing factor in being injured.
One thing I mentioned on another site is we really ought to get more used to the idea that the Dolphins' first round pick could be a corner like Johnathan Banks or Dee Milliner. The Dolphins lost Vontae Davis from their long term plans at that position and they replaced him with a guy I think they know really ought to be no better than the #3 corner. That's how they paid Richard Marshall, and they were by far the high bidders. I haven't gotten enough chances to watch Banks yet. I hear toward the latter part of this season he was getting burned left and right. Particularly I heard it was so bad with Donte Moncrief that Miss St had to take Banks off of him and try Slay and other corners. Moncrief caught 7 balls for 173 yards and 3 TDs in that game. I can't really verify this as I've yet to see the game but just from highlights it looks to me like Banks was burned by Moncrief on a 43 yard gain, a touchdown, and Banks also let up a touchdown to the H-Back on a wheel route in what was a very disturbing play for Banks, IMO...particularly because of the hips and closing speed he showed (or didn't show, rather). For my money I think it's likely Dee Milliner is the best corner in the Draft. I think he's got the best combination of size, burst, closing speed, ball skills and awareness, physicality and aggression. He's overly aggressive in his support tackling angles and that gets him into trouble sometimes but I think that can be coached. He's got the rest of it and he's been a key cog in that obnoxiously good secondary for a few years. I'm not saying Miami needs to draft Milliner at #11 or #13 or wherever they pick...but what I AM saying is we ought get a little more used to the idea because it seems one of the most likely outcomes. To date I've seen almost no mock drafts (scatch that, none) with Dee Milliner as Miami's 1st round pick. Going back to something Anonymous said about Greg Jennings and Joe Fauria, I'm a pretty big fan of that combination. I wonder how well this team would play if they were able to retain Jake Long, Randy Starks and Sean Smith (should cost around $24 million), sign Greg Jennings (another $8 million), and draft guys like Dee Milliner, Quinton Patton, Joseph Fauria, Tank Carridine and Dennis Johnson. It's not complete but it would be a start. I'm not going to assume at this point that Manti Te'o, Bjoern Werner or Anthony Barr reach Miami's pick in the 1st round. Barr could very well stay in school, and Werner and Te'o will likely go too high.
I adored Brandon Graham coming out. PFF has him second only to Cameron Wake amongst 4-3 DEs, and he's only played like 350 snaps this year.
I don't think we'd see a huge impact from a 1st round CB. It's just the nature of the position now vs. all these spread formations. Their impact is marginalized and they're easy to game plan around. Outside of a guy like Revis, few CBs impact the game as much as a pass rusher, safety or pass catcher does. The GMs who aren't adapting may still see CB as a premium position, but IMO that value is misplaced.
