Finally sat down and watched this kid more in depth and I really like that the Dolphins picked him up. Strong blocker, very tough and aggressive, can cut block, drive block, even pass protect like a tackle with a shuffle step, though it's certainly not his best style.
In the receiving game he has adequate speed, but nice soft hands. Surprisingly good for a player as physical and brutish as him, actually. I saw no drops that I'd blame on him in the two games I watched.
He's also very active in looking for new people to block and makes himself useful as the play develops. When he catches the ball in the secondary it's hilarious to watch DBs struggle to bring him down. He has powerful legs and keeps them churning. After a couple of years in our strength and conditioning program he'll be even harder to tackle.
He works the seam very well, is adept and chipping then releasing into patterns.
Just a very good tight end, except today's NFL values wide receiver-style TEs more highly so guys like Sims go a bit overlooked.
He provides flexibility on run downs, easily able to contribute to the passing game. I expect to see a lot more 2TE sets this year with Keller and Sims. I'm not sure where Clay will fit into this equation if he struggles to perform in preseason. I expect to see Sims in a Dolphins uniform for years to come. Can't say the same about Clay.
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Da 'Fins, P h i N s A N i T y, Sceeto and 2 others like this.
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His ability to catch the football is being underrated in all of the "..he's a blocker..!" stuff.
Reminds me of the old Falcons Te Alge Crumpler who looked like a Tackle but was more of a WrDOLPHAN1, P h i N s A N i T y, Sceeto and 2 others like this. -
Couldn't agree more. He has great hands. As a guy who watches his fair share of Big Ten football, Sims doesn't drop many balls.Bpk likes this.
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I think his blocking is probably being a bit overrated. He's got upside, but he needs some work. The Alge Crumpler comparison is good, I think.
It seems like this offense may move in a more tight-end oriented direction with a lot of rotation. -
He's definitely a good blocker, but he will have some challenges handling NFL size and talent his first year or two.
The flaw I see in his blocking, besides level of competition, is that he sometimes gets beatn b a quick inside step crossing his face and penetrating.
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To me, we have a nice Te corps working, with Keller and Clay being somewhat proven and Sims and Egnew prospects with different skillsets but lots of upside.
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Said it before, thought while watching Sims last season he could be a nice find if he played about 20 pounds lighter to give his feet a little boost b/c there seemed to be some underlying tools & talent to work with.
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nice comparison there, how about Bubba Franks ?
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Larryfinfan 17-0...Priceless Club Member
So you'd kinda compare him to Fasano ?? I mean, imo, that's about what Fasano was for us...good enough, just not that seam-busting guy that seems to haunt our D the last few years... -
Larryfinfan 17-0...Priceless Club Member
If you look at GB in the past, they like a lot of different types of TE bodies to use...they aren't stuck on either a seam-busting, big WR type or a slower, bigger guy that can block and is hard to bring down. One thing for sure, they haven't use Finley to block very much the last couple of years...
Either way, I think we'll see a rotation of these guys, the seam-buster (Keller, Egnew), the blocker (Sims), the H-back type (Clay) on the field at various times... -
i'm happy that I believe we finally have a group of TEs that can both contribute -- and have a future.
not sure if Clay will make it beyond this year IF Sims, Egnew and Miller continue to develop. Don't have 'high' hopes for Miller, but looks like he could contribute.Da 'Fins likes this. -
It's just that when I first saw his measurements of 6'5 and 285 I was expecting to see burly run blocking TE who might even be a bit one dimensional, but he surprised me with some athleticism and looked like he could probably ball it a little on the basketball court for a big guy. I thought to myself, there could be something to this kid if he could improve his quickness a tad, that a lighter version of himself might just make for a nice dual threat TE. Low and behold he's down to 260ish, so if he sees an increased pep in his step he could become as good as or better than Fasano in my early opinion. It'll be interesting to see if by next year we're sitting at Egnew & Sims as our 1-2 TE tandem.
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Big guy with soft hands and good blocking potential pretty much describes him on the positive side. On the negative side there's no particular RAC skill set there, no real speed, turns like a barge at times, not very explosive, and his blocking lacks consistency.
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I like this kid's potential and what he can do in this O. You were down on him in the past, so I watched a lot more film on him and while I see some of what may concern you, I don't think it's that bad and there are a lot of good qualities about him which can make him a great fit in this O. With a lot of TEs, even a Gronk type, they're usually not some down field burners and fluid cutters. They, due to their size, even plod a bit, but they get the job done. I think he can be sufficient in that department. Maybe even more like Fasano, which is the type of role he will probably fill. We don't have a big red-zone threat type, so hopefully he can help there. We have receivers who will take attention away from him, so that should further help him in the redzone. Also, with the uncertainty of Martin at LT and the loss of Fasano, we really needed help with protection. I hope his positive side prevails. :pointlol:
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It's not that it's "that bad". It's that there's not much there that's really "that good". He doesn't do anything that translates to superlative at the next level which to me screams "just a guy".
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Which sometimes is pretty good with a 4th round pick, if you had no blocking TE prior to the pick.
Lol.
Dion won't be making any Pro Bowls but he'll help this offense function.GMJohnson likes this. -
I'd prefer better players.
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Exactly. He can play ST and help out in short yardage/goal line right away. In the mean time we already have a solid #1 and #2 TE/H-Back, plus a developmental guy in Egnew. It's not like we need Sims to come in grab 500 snaps or catch 60 passes. Like Jordan, Taylor, Davis, and Jenkins, he's a guy who was probably drafted a year ahead of time. He'll come in and basically red shirt this season, then in 2014 he will hopefully be ready to take on a bigger role if needed. Same deal with Lamar Miller and John Martin last year. I like the way Ireland is addressing needs ahead of time so that there's no need to rush rookies onto the field. It's a smart strategy to use and it's also a sign that there's a pretty good talent base already on board.
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And there were better players available there, but let's let go of that and move on. I happen to agree with you, if you are saying that at that spot there were better prospects available.
That said, Dion Sims is a great fit for a hole on this team. Sometimes getting a better player won't mean squat if the offense ends up struggling because it doesn't t have the pieces to run, which ends up stunting a lot of young players development as your RB learns to hesitate and dance in the backfield, your QB develops happy feet, etc etc.
I get why they wanted Dion. They needed a TE with good blocking skills (agree he is not always consistent, but at least the skills are there and he displays them more often than not).
If you told me you needed to walk out of the offseason with a second tight end, I would be plenty happy if that TE was Dion Sims. He will produce at this level. Most draft picks do not.
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That's the X-factor. You bring up the right point to make, IMO. I can't account for exactly what he'll look like on the field after the weight loss. I have a feeling that it won't be enough, and that feeling is based on some Combine stuff, but that's hardly conclusive evidence.Kucha likes this.
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About a 4.74 forty, which I would not of bet he could of run if watching just college film..
Off the top of your head do you know where his 10 yard split came in relative to the class, cause he sure is a lumbering player coming out of the gate. -
I'm showing a 4.68 in the 40 with a 1.62 split. The 40 was good. That's not where I think you're going to see the shortcomings. Nor do I think what you see in a 40 yard dash translates well to what you see in his ability to get off the ball at the snap (which I think is kind of mental). Where I think his creakiness showed up most at the Combine was in his 4.52 shuttle time, and his 7.36 cone drill. A 9'4" broad jump isn't really all that great either. These are the measures of agility and explosion.
But we'll see. I would have preferred other options, but people know that. -
The shuttle thing is interesting. Brings up his lateral agility. That agrees with what I noticed to be a bit of trouble boclking guys who came across his face with quick lateral steps.. his quick side-to-side movement against a quick lateral rusher is one of his weaknesses as a blocker.
He is certainly not a freak athlete. But when I watch him, I see a guy who can anchor, generate some leverage, is tenacious, stays active in finding guys to block, executes a variety of blocks, has soft hands... and with that weight loss, will hopefully gain a touch of agility. He is, imo, no question an improvement over a guy like Mastrud.
We've upgraded the blocking TE spot. Now we need Egnew to develop into Keller's replacement. -
I guess the numbers say he does... yet watching him I didn't feel like he had great topspeed.
Anyone know his top speed, or don't they measure that officially? -
Not sure upgrading a Jeron Mastrud who is your #3 tight end should be the goal at the top of the 4th round. Especially when you've got guys like Brian Schwenke, David Bakhtiari, Shamarko Thomas, B.W. Webb, Khaseem Greene, Phillip Thomas, Johnathan Franklin, Quinton Patton and Devin Taylor still on the board.