because of his get off and height/leverage advantage, I think he'll create opportunities where he gets tackles on the balls of their feet to where he can rock them back and turn in for the easy sack if he could only generate that explosion at the end to polish it off. That's my main concern. The power is there.... but the explosion ability needed to convert speed to power just isn't. It's evident in his vertical, broad, and bench...... but it's also evident when he's running how tightly wound he is, so that's why I was thinking if he got religious with his stretching, box jumping, and so forth that he could fix his explosion issue enough to create a speed to power move [ala Wake below].... or speed to flat out bullrush [ala Clemons below]. If all he has at his disposal is going left or right by the tackle, I think he could be a decent situational rusher, but if he could add that third pitch to his fastball and curve, I think there's a chance he's a decent starter in a defense that uses a downhill 7 or 9 tech rush end. Not many great pass rushers exist who post mediocre verticals & broad jumps, and the ones who do are usually guys who can either leave smoke trails around the edge or have the power to drive guys back. Then you go back to the Sam clip above at 7:34 and see how he just sorta fizzles where the last second explosion is needed. The technique fizzles there too.
I mentioned the specific reason- "So I'm just thinking in terms of what Mayock suggested, that a lot of teams might view Verrett as a nickel corner and could draft him as such. So if that happens, why not see if you can get his playmaking ability on the field as your FS in base D?". Then I used the Mathieu reference who is clearly being used as more than just a corner.So as you can see I'm just posing a hypothetical in case he's being viewed as a nickel rather than starting boundary guy, or is drafted by a team that wants him for such.
I mentioned the specific reason- "So I'm just thinking in terms of what Mayock suggested, that a lot of teams might view Verrett as a nickel corner and could draft him as such. So if that happens, why not see if you can get his playmaking ability on the field as your FS in base D?" So as you can see I'm just posing a hypothetical in case he's being viewed as a nickel rather than starting boundary guy.
no, he just suggested that he could get drafted by a team for such a role. After all, the team that drafts him doesn't have to start him on the outside. All it takes is one team to think, "we're set on the perimeter but we'd love to have this guy covering the slot", no? If it were set at boundary corner but had a need at FS and the slot, I would be tempted to draft him if I had no other pressing needs. So as far as the "free safety" mention from my previous post- it's possible to have teams with a need at FS but little need for a starting corner, so why would you wanna entirely rule off Verrett from your candidate list, especially if the top 2 FS prospects are off the board and you're looking at Lamarcus Joyner or Ed Reynolds?
I've read that Sam is very strong in the squat when it comes to max lifts. He could be more of a guy with slow twitch rather than fast twitch muscle strength. You know that if for example you and me could each do say 20 reps @225 on the bench, it does not mean our 1RM is the same, or that if you could do 5 more reps @225 that you automatically could do more for a 1RM than I could.
That's a good point. Yeah you can see the power is there on tape.... and he has a good first step so that aspect of his explosiveness/twitchiness is sufficient, and he can get around the corner just fine. It's only when he's running that it's an issue, so I get the sense that some of it could be flexibility related. Watch him run his 40 again or chase down a play and it just looks like he's so wound up. I know Byron Maxwell [starting stud corner for Seattle, from Clemson] couldn't touch his toes in college and had a bunch of issues b/c of his lack of flexibility. So he's been religiously dedicated to hot yoga the past 3 years and it transformed him. If Sam's flexibility happens to be for crap, then I could see where those tight tendons, ligaments, and muscles would pose a problem trying to leverage the force needed mid-run to convert speed to power. Maybe he's tight b/c he's focusing heavily on power in the gym and not enough on explosion/flexibility. ??
I'm watching everything from the combine on tape so I'm late to the party.. Mayock gives Sam a plus grade.. Billick reiterates what I said when Sam came out, " lets as a network set the course and only treat him as a football players" Good for them.. Handled his presser with leadership..." I would be excited to join the Miami dolphins, I can take care of my self, I know how to communicate..
Deion digs Verrett. Says I wanna work with that kid.. Mayock says he has everything but size.. Sub 4.4 Explosive split. .competitive as hell.
If Taylor lewan doesn't drop to 19, which he won't, then it's Zack Martin vrs the field.. So if you get a Zack Martin and you sign a Monroe, Collins, or Albert, you have Pouncey, you've just shored up 3/5ths of your oline with hi level players. It will depend on the field..in this draft, the field could win.
Good friend of mine worked exclusively with Calvin Pryor for this combine.. A bit disappointing, thought he was thinking a bit to much about the technicalities..still a bad *** though.
If we would of drafted Nickell Robey last year in the later rounds we wouldn't even be thinking about corner.
I agree with the "field" comment. They have to get a guy they cannot take a pass on. I have not decided, but there will be a slew of players available at 19. Could be Amaro, Cooks, Beckham, Pryor, Fuller, Hageman, Mosley just to name a few and I would include Martavis, Fuller, Benjamin. It's all up for discussion. (I do not think Jake Matthews, Robinson, Clowney, Watkins, Ebron, Lewan, Mack, Donald, Evans, Dennard, and Barr will be available at 19.)
Based on the way the talents are shaking out versus Miami's needs it would make the most sense at the moment to target a defensive tackle at 19. Between Aaron Donald, Timmy Jernigan, Ra'Shede Hageman and Louis Nix...someone is going to be there. If you have most of those guys rated that high as I do then you won't lose sleep over whether you took the best available player or not, unless a marquee guy slips. What I'm still trying to decide is whether Kyle Fuller represents one of those marquee guys that you would feel guilty passing on in favor of a guy that fit a need like Jernigan or Hageman. It's close. And I'm trying to decide if Jason Verrett belongs up there as well. I will be honest. I only JUST got around to doing a deep dig on Darqueze Dennard. I have him rated high based on praise from evaluators I like. I have to say...the USF tape made him look like a Day 2 player at best. The other tapes better be a HELL of a lot better than that. I put on the USF tape because I wanted to see how he did against a guy with a pro-like combination of skills and physical ability in Andre "Freakshow" Davis. Dennard matched up with Davis in press-man coverage on a deep back-shoulder play, which is EXACTLY what I wanted to see. The result? Awful for Dennard. He looked out of control, had no sense for the timing of the throw, just blew by Davis and then complained like he wanted a flag for OPI. And the real issue to me is that Dennard didn't even match up on Davis much in the game and struggled with the other guys too. I'm so disappointed I'm damn near ready to take him off my targets board.
Extremely competetive guy, physical. similar to Haden from UF coming out, with a bit more bulk and a tad faster than Haden.
I don't think good GMs will sleep on Barr but it seems like he's getting overlooked a bit, maybe I'm wrong, Mayock wasn't glowing about him, citing his lack of strength.. Lol, could you imagine Barr and Jordan on the field..damn would that be awesome, I love Barr I don't care what some say, he's special.
There is just no conceivable scenarioimo that Donald will get get to us, he's a blue chip prospect in this draft.. I would trade up if he even got to 12.
The Notre Dame game is one of his better performances, that one is pretty easy to find on DraftBreakdown. He also had a really nice game against Northwestern, but I don't know if that's easily findable on the internet. IIRC he had a nice game against Indiana, but again it doesn't look like you can find that game online, so here's a gif of him deflecting a pass:
I don't know what's more shameful: Dennard's poor play or the fact that it took me this long to discover it.
The coverage in the Notre Dame game was terrible. Really terrible. He regularly pass interferes and holds illegally. The problem is he's subbing in illegal tactics for actual skill because he's bad at reading the leverage and eyes of a player on the move, and there's no way he's able to look up for the football while maintaining coverage. He's got bad balance. His speed looks deficient on a regular basis. He's not really a good tackler. Mistake factor is high with him. He seems to only stand out when he's playing the short zones and if you're that kind of player then the NFL will find you out quickly unless you are significantly protected by your defense. Andre Davis and Ty Montgomery made him look silly. T.J. Jones made him look silly with a touchdown catch in the back of the end zone. I would struggle taking this guy in DAY TWO, let alone the 1st round.
Maybe it's a preference thing. I prefer my coverage players to be able to find the football in man coverage and to be able to read the receiver in time to break up passes. I prefer my coverage players not to engage in flaggable illegal contact on 75% of their deep coverage attempts down the field. I prefer my coverage players to have balance. Here's a good video that focuses on him specifically in coverage. I don't understand how I'm supposed to be impressed by this: [video=youtube;1_qv3NFwZkE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_qv3NFwZkE[/video]
If Greg Robinson is the first tackle off the board, whoever takes Jake Matthews is going to laugh all the way to the playoffs (probably Atlanta, if they're smart)
Man that tight end group looked uninspiring in their drills, real trouble being coordinated the deeper they got downfield...I think at 80%. Nicklas looked better than the others.. He moves up to 2nd on the board in that group.
I wouldn't touch him. Not on day one. A corner that has zero awareness of where the ball is in college is going to get destroyed and kicked out of the nfl in 2 years. He isn't jut unable to track the ball, he is literally clueless as to what is happening outside of him staring at his WR wit his back to the world.
Lyerla is chancy. Big rewards but chancy. I like Amaro. He's big and a highly impressive athlete, works the middle pretty darn well. Has way more potential as a blocker than Ebron. I actually see Amaro knocking guys down every now and then when he's got his technique right. I think the will is there and the size and physical ability are certainly there. He'll never be Niklas in that regard but he could be pretty good.
I like his size. Small hands. Seems pretty athletic and physically gifted even if he's not an Ebron or similar.
Colt without the flags gives Ebron a run for his money as best at his position.. Would take him at 19 if he wasn't a dumass.
