McKinnon is the 15th-ranked RB by NFLDS, projected to the 5th-6th round area. I like the size; 5'9" 209. But his listed speed is 4.58; not a speedster. It'll be interesting to watch him run the 40, but even more interesting will be how his leg strength measures out.
He looks plenty fast to me on film, even on a knee that was at 75%. #1 in the UF clip chasing McKinnon is Vernon Hargreaves, one of the best corner recruits the past decade who runs about a 4.4. McKinnon blows by him and starts to outpace him until he pulls up..... and like I mentioned- that was with a sprained ankle.
You have to be careful with small-conference RBs. Everything is skewed—stats in particular. And your eyes can betray you; everyone who saw his HS tape thought Noel Devine was the next Barry Sanders. He was more like the next Marcus Dupree.
But the clip in particular was against Florida. I'm not calling the guy the next anything. Just pointing out that he could be worth keeping an eye on, perhaps as a late round/UDFA guy.
Would also like to see his 20 splits as well as the 40. Looks like his legs run out after 20 yards (whether that's his ankle or not is hard to say). Happens to a lot of power guys. But, I like him because he can and is willing to block - and we don't have any RBs on the roster who have chosen to take up that profession, unfortunately.
It's a league-wide trend that running backs give up the most pressure in pass protection. Daniel Thomas and Lamar Miller were in pass protecting situations the most, and 10th most respectively. Lamar Miller is 7th in pass blocking efficiency. Scheme might have had more to do with it than anything. Our focus should be more on which running backs would be better in short-yardage situations, a serious problem for us this past season. https://www.profootballfocus.com/bl...e-stats-pass-blocking-efficiency-rbs-and-tes/ This article is dated December 12th.
It's funny how this works out but there are two FCS quarterbacks that I really like a whole lot and yet when I'm watching their tape I get just as interested in the architects of their offense as I do the players themselves. With Jimmy Garoppolo, it's hard not to notice how much Dino Babers' coaching really pushes the boundaries of what we know and accept about football. He learned everything Art Briles had to teach him and yet to my eyes it looks like he's taken some things to an even bigger extreme. And he really fires up his troops. With Brock Jensen, the offense run by Brent Vigen is much more pro style. Yet for being pro style, you really come to appreciate how well coached it is and how many of the new, hard to defend elements have been integrated seamlessly into an offense that by all means you look at and think: this could be an NFL offense. And a good one, at that. He throws so much at the defense. There's pistol in there as well as shotgun. There's zone and power. There's read-option in there. There's WR screens, RB screens and draw plays. There's play-action rollouts as well as play-action in the pocket. The guy has to be an immense teacher in order to get these kids running an offense like this so seamlessly. These are a bunch of FCS players and they beat a GOOD Kansas State team. And it wasn't by running some kind of gimmick Georgia State triple option rushing attack that Goliath was unused to defending. They beat them by running a wide variety of sound fundamental offensive concepts. I mean, re-watch the Billy Turner versus K-State video and instead of focusing on Turner and what he did to K-State, look at Brock Jensen and the offense in general. [video=youtube;jm9_gSO8v6c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm9_gSO8v6c[/video] I will be very interested in seeing how Brent Vigen's offense does at Wyoming. Keep in mind the head coach at NDSU (and now Wyoming) Craig Bohl is a defensive guy.
As for Brock Jensen...I've nailed down why I like him. He is so much like T.J. Yates it's kind of scary. One thing you have to keep in mind about watching a QUARTERBACK at the FCS level is that he's not necessarily going to look like a man amongst boys just because of the lower level of competition. I guess if he's Cam Newton and so much of his game is physical, he will. But the stepdown in competition takes a toll on your supporting cast and not just the guys you throw against. If your sh-tty guys aren't getting open against your sh-tty opponents then you're still not going to complete passes. If your sh-tty offensive line isn't blocking your sh-tty opponents, then you're under a massive amount of pressure. Any quarterback would struggle with that. So knocking a passing/pro-style quarterback because of his level of competition is actually a complicated matter and can't be done in any kind of generalized way. You still get to see a lot of what could make him successful as a pro. That's why it is unsurprising to me that Jimmy Garoppolo would continue to stand out at Shrine and Senior Bowl practices as you step up the level of competition. You can see the goods at the FCS level. Accuracy is accuracy. A quick release is a quick release. A tight spin is a tight spin. Good mechanics are good mechanics. Quick decision-making is quick-decision making. Pocket sense is pocket sense. These are not subject to level of competition arguments. Going back to Brock Jensen, you get the feeling he has as much dedication to the refinement of the craft as T.J. Yates did. He's accurate, he throws well (really good arm, surprisingly good), and CONSISTENT in his execution (very underrated trait for the position). He's got the NFL size. He's got the NFL arm. He's got NFL accuracy. He's got NFL mechanics. He's got NFL consistency. He senses pressure in the pocket and can do something about it. He delivers NFL passes while staring down the gun barrel of a heavy blitz on 3rd down. There's a reason this guy has won THREE STRAIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS...which to me is a staggering accomplishment for a quarterback regardless of level of competition. What's interesting about their three consecutive championship runs is back in 2011 (the year of their first championship run), head coach Craig Bohl didn't think they were going to be ready for a championship run until 2013. That's when he saw long term the players they had maturing enough to be really good. They won championships in 2011 and 2012 and to me that's because they had great coaching on offense and a really good quarterback. I'm not saying this guy is an NFL starter, the next Tom Brady, etc. I see him like a T.J. Yates...which is to say not a franchise level guy but it would not surprise me if he just kept getting so much better at his craft so steadily that one day he ended up that good. What both players lack is that one eye popping trait (other than consistency and accuracy) that you can really isolate and say...that's what is going to help him be great. But I'm not sure Peyton Manning or Tom Brady had that, either.
You know I've seen a lot of Cyril Richardson between watching the Senior Bowl practices and charting out Lache Seastrunk over the past few days. I'll admit O-Line is the thing I feel least comfortable looking at because I don't spend a ton of time doing it, but I'm just so unimpressed with Richardson. I'm not sure I saw him win a single snap during the televised 1 on 1s. On his Baylor tape he doesn't pay with any aggressiveness, let's up on his guy way before the play his over. I've just watched multiple Seastrunk runs get blown up in the back field during this TCU game because Richardson is just getting beat up. I know he's got the protoypical size, etc but not really feeling the first round hype there.
You should consider the GM league me and Phinsational are in, you seem like a good candidate. It's a good time and the draft is very entertaining. Also, I've won the league before...Phinsational/ Todd has never been top 3.
Yes Chris, as an under tackle.... and he can work on tripping up our future fullback Jerick McKinnon in practice while he's searching for the middle linebacker to put a hat on, smart ***.
....to move Vernon to nickel pass rusher/rotational guy so we have someone more appropriate at RE and who's better capable of handling closed end duties as well as keeping the trash off Jordan at OLB. I'd entertain a slight poor man's Ziggy Ansah
Like Seattle. Hell, I would draft Donald/Ealy to play that role and also sign Willie Young in Free Agency to back up Wake. Have 4 ends like they do in Bryant, Bennet, Avril and Clemons. Move Jordan to linebacker, which is what Seattle did with Bruce Irvin.
No can do.... I mean- won't forget about it. Anthony Collins - Weston Richburg - Alex Mack - Pouncey - Morgan Moses/Billy Turner Would that suffice for your licking? Power both up the gut and behind the right tackle. Speed, coordination, and athleticism at guard to get us that second level stuff for some friggin' chunk yardage. Capable enough to run zone stuff and a massive upgrade in pass pro, well at least by 2015 given the two rookies. But what I especially like about it is the interior. Think about it. We've got an athletic, mobile QB with some wheels. First of all, that trio [along with Collins to the left] should provide some nice passing lanes, something Tannehill currently thinks is the left side of the highway. But most importantly, if Tannehill gets pressured off the edge, or anywhere for that matter, he'll have room to either step up and make a throw or take off to avoid a sack. Plus he'll have the luxury to tuck and run for easy positive yards when guys are covered downfield rather than forcing throws or getting sacked out of FG range. INTs will go down. Drives will be extended. Defenses will have to start accounting for it which could create opportunities elsewhere if Lazor brings some creativity with him [or Philbin allows it]. I don't think Tannehill needs world beaters in pass pro at tackle if the interior gives him enough space and lanes to operate with, so in that regard I think we could go with the mauling run blocker, Moses. I also like the fact that it improves our situational football tremendously by giving us multiple spots along the line to run behind in short yardage/goal line, having a center capable of handling the biggest nose tackles of the league, and a pair of guards who can get out in front of 3rd down screens like a badass which could really alter the dynamic of our offense IMO. Plus we could incorporate some double-screens with Richburg and Collins faking it to the left and Pouncey pulling and doing some combo blocking to the right for Branden Oliver to weave through to paydirt. Just a thought.
I'm interested In bringing low cost options on both lines, and freeing up the draft. I wouldn't be interested in bringing in lineman like Mack or Albert. I'm more interested in bringing In guys like Collins, John Greco, Saffold, Mike Pollak, Beadles, Schwartz, etc. I know some of these guys shouldn't stop us from drafting lineman obviously but I'd be willing to take lineman later in the draft.
Interesting as well. I still think they want Dion Jordan as their version of the Bengals' Michael Johnson. I'm working on a comprehensive defensive review for a thread after watching some of what Cincinnati did this year. I *THINK* I understand a little bit more of what Kevin Coyle was trying to do. I think he adjusted more as the season wore on - think first Jets game onward - and saw better results.
First off, I'm not licking anything you give me. Second, are you sure you can acquire Kony Ealy, Weston Richburg and Morgan Moses/Billy Turner? Because from where I'm standing, a lot of those guys figure to go around the same area whereas if you want all three of them then you have to hope they get staggered correctly over 3 whole rounds. Third, I don't think I'm into the whole Pouncey back to guard thing. I know I've proposed it as part of a sub package and I really do like that idea. But I don't like it full time. I think Pouncey is a unique center. I like that he can use his mobility in either direction from the swing. Fourth, you know that Anthony Collins is pretty much the corner stone of 70% of my offensive line buildout scenarios so you're just looking to score brownie points.
I think assuming what Coyle wants to do is exactly what Zimmer does is sort of erroneous. Based on guys we brought in, I'm not sure all of Zimmer's D translates to Coyle. Cincy generates a tremendous amount of pass rush from their line, including the interior. They have thumpers at LB like Maualuga and Burfict and less than agile guys like Michael Boley and James Harrison. We're seemingly more interested in end pressure and blitzing/coverage from our backers. I think that explains why Vernon got killed in run support a lot because we got enamored with his sack number. If we let Soliai walk and bring Starks back, I'd reevaluate this because we'd be moving toward interior line pressure as well. But, I am convinced that we only have 1.5 linebackers that can clean up runs. Sent from my GT-P3110 using Tapatalk
I think this is very doable. I have previously proposed Anthony Collins and Rodger Saffold because they are both so versatile and give you so many options. But Jake Long got hurt and the Rams may decide to move on there. That throws a monkey wrench in that plan in several ways. First off, they may decide they can't lose Saffold as a result of the Long injury. Second...I know this is controversial but IF the Rams release him (I believe they have injury protections which specifically make this possible) and IF Jake Long is not done with his career then you figure some team is going to sign him to a low money deal...and at this point, why wouldn't that team be Miami? He knows the system. He has been here for years. He was comfortable here. Our staff knows all about his medical issues, and at this point the money is going to be so low there's no risk. You can STILL draft a right tackle or whatever to replace him. He would be a pure add-on to the strategy, a bonus, a roll of the dice. Doesn't prevent you from going out and getting whichever OLs you want be it Collins, Pollak, Saffold, Schwartz, etc. You should never turn down a good idea if it's cheap. Outside of that I really like Geoff Schwartz. I thought Miami should have signed he and Anthony Collins last year when they were both dirt cheap. It's too bad they didn't.
Oh yea, I forgot about Long's injury. They could just decide to pick Matthews at 2 and let Long walk. I wouldn't be opposed to him at a low cost option. Or Gross for that matter. I think he can be brought in on a short term deal. He might be pricey, though. I like Schwartz, as well. But I'm really interested in Greco. I think he could be a steal.
LOL. Damn typos. But still, that hurts my feelings man. I hear ya. TBH I haven't studied Ealy enough to know whether I want him or not or where I think he'll go. For now he's on my "potential BPA" list. I'm not set on drafting him. Not yet at least. If I end up loving him, I'd think hard about him at #19 as BPA. Otherwise I'd just as soon trade back and see if he's still there, perhaps with San Fran [for one of their 2nds] or a shorter trade back for an extra 3rd so that we'd have some wiggle room with our 2nd rounder if we want to trade up for Moses or whoever [Aaron Donald perhaps, and then go after Billy Turner with the next pick instead]. Then we still got the 3rd rounder for Richburg. Maybe our new "GM" will do something that surprises us and trades Misi for a 3rd or packages him with a pick for a trade up. Impossible to disagree about Pouncey being a unique center, but I like the idea of getting stouter up the middle with the ability to move a big nose tackle better than Pouncey is capable of, but I understand your sentiment as well. Ultimately I'm guessing Pouncey wouldn't want to move from center, but if he happened to be ok with it, I don't think any combination of FA guard + Pouncey at center would be better than Mack at center and Pouncey at guard. I was just looking for a way to get the best overall talent on the field along the interior, and I don't think there's anyone better than Mack available, do you? learn something new every day.
I agree, the personnel at LB is the biggest difference. If you look at what they do schematically, it's a lot similar. The biggest difference is that Miami is more creative when it comes to implementing coverage packages utilizing LBs where as Cincinnati is less aggressive, but by virtue of that, they're much better against the run.
I'd go after Maurice instead of Mack too, Trav....... if he were a FA. Still feel Chad Rinehart would be a good bargain at left guard. Played about half the year on an ankle sprain IIRC and still allowed just one sack. In Buffalo he allowed 1 sack in 27 games [10 starts]. He gets a good push in the ground game [only need to watch the SD-Cincy playoff game to notice it]. He's not a good 2nd level blocker but he's strong enough at the point of attack and moving guys off the line that I could overlook it.
LT - Anthony Collins LG - Weston Richburg OC - Mike Pouncey RG - Chad Rinehart RT - Morgan Moses This would free up some cap space..... and would give us a great duo of big bodies to run behind in short yardage [Rinehart & Moses].
Someone's listening to Omar Kelly. By the way, yeah...wow...that looks like an effing great line on paper. Definitely a pass protecting line though. Not a run blocking line.
