See I haven't seen that from him. I saw a guy who was constantly brought down by the first tackler. Sure, he's gonna make some guys miss at the college level, but I didn't see him breaking tackles. I think he's talented, but he seems like a Darren Sproles 2.0 to me right now. And like Mari0k, I also got to see Devine play ball in North Fort Myers.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Q9rILGiWKI"]YouTube- Noel Devine - sick run against Maryland[/ame] There is one. If you look at the video posted earlier in this thread, you'll see him break plenty of arm tackles. Now he isn't going to truck people, but he certainly is willing to run through traffic.
One thing I really like about Devine, and that you see Chris Johnson, is that you rarely see him get cleanly hit. He has so much quickness, and such great balance, that 90% of the times he gets hit, its usually just partial contact. You see a lot of guys that look like they're going to lay him out, end up trying to arm tackle him and he runs right through it.
I think we've already discussed this, haven't we? Needless to say, I agree. He's the mismatch chunk yardage return man that they've been looking for in three off seasons but have yet to find, and he's shown the high level of durability that piques their interest.
I don't think Noel Devine is going to be a first round prospect. I'll be surprised if that's the case. Miami would look at him in later rounds.
It's good that you have some inside perspective on this, but at the same time, you're not really providing any ability for an immature 16-17 year old to be a more mature 23 or 24 year old. The guy has gone back home three years running to run a camp for kids, and he made the decision not to come out of school so that he could go back and try and win something, and to graduate. Those strike me as very mature things to do. One of the most responsible, law abiding, most ridiculously together people I have ever known...when he was 17 years old, there he is getting caught for something as dirty as shoplifting. I just don't see sharing perspective gathered from when he was a 16 or 17 year old kid and projecting that to be how he is even now, at 22 years old, let alone what he'll be in the NFL at 23 or 24 years old. I'm not a big proponent of the "growing up" argument as it applies to 21 year olds and figuring out what they'll be like as 22 or 23 year olds...but a 17 year old version of Noel Devine versus a 23 year old version? Come on, man. There's a lot of space and a lot of maturation going on in between those marks.
I'm not sure what Barry Sanders has to do with Bill Parcells. Parcells' favorite RB is Curtis Martin at 5'11'' and 210 lbs. Devine needs a sudden growth spurt if he wants to appeal to Bill Parcells. And Mel Kiper needs a sudden brain spurt if he wants his evaluations to be taken seriously. I'm pretty sure that the only thought process Kiper went through when assigning Devine to the Dolphins was a quick look at when our RBs' contracts expire and a look at his list of RBs to see which one might be available in the neighborhood of where we're likely to pick. Why are we even talking about the draft and Mel Kiper one day before training camp begins? I agree that he's not a first round prospect, but Kiper matched him up with us in that round. Either Kiper thinks that Miami will draft very low in the first round in 2011 and that Devine will have a monster season that will dramatically increase his draft stock, or he's just plain nuts. I vote for the latter.
I think there's a lot of people that assume they know what kind of back Parcells likes, but I don't think they realize that Parcells likes different types of backs so long as they have shown they can do the job AND not get hurt. There's been room for the Dave Meggetts and Joe Morris', AS WELL as the O.J. Andersons, Ricky Williams', etc. They'll tend toward the bigger guys (not necessarily the super big guys), because the bigger more stout guys tend to show a little better durability. But they don't rule people out based on size alone like they do at other positions. Ireland stated pretty clearly there are some positions where size standards are more firm than others. They did like Dexter McCluster. A lot. They did like Ray Rice a lot. They did like C.J. Spiller a lot. Parcells personally scouted and brought aboard that midget QB from Georgia Southern, whom he hoped would be the kind of player than a Noel Devine would be. People that keep saying that Miami will never acquire that kind of player...are going to be just as surprised as when they said Miami would never draft a cornerback in the first round, or an offensive linemen at #1 overall, or a guy like Pat White in the second round. Parcells loved Dave Meggett when he had him with the Giants. He brought him with him to New England when he came available. Brought him with him to the Jets again when he came available. Again, not saying Miami would go for Devine in the first round, but I don't think Devine will end up in the first round anyway. He'll be 23 years old. There are a lot of teams that won't like his size.
We may have, I don't remember honestly. I agree with all your posts in this thread though. Dave Meggett is the one I had in my mind when I was talking to Boik but I couldn't think of the mans name.
While it's impossible to tell how the RB position will shake out during and after the season, I don't see how Devine fits in on the team.
By the way, Mel Kiper makes it clear that he agrees with me entirely, which includes not thinking that Noel Devine is a first round pick. What he's basically doing here is saying that he's not sure who Miami will end up with in the first round, but one way or another he thinks they'll come out with a guy like Noel Devine. But I suppose that Jacquizz Rodgers could also be evaluated as the same potential type of player.
He fits IMO. He brings a different dimension to the offense than the other tailbacks do. He picks up yards in a hurry.
I like Rodgers more, honestly, but I wouldn't complain with either. Rodgers has some Ray Rice in him IMO. He's not exactly like Rice but for a smaller guy, he's pretty physical runner IMO.
What's the confusion? He would be Patrick Cobbs, except he would provide a whole lot more big play ability than Cobbs. He'd be a return guy. He'd be used as a mismatch against linebackers in the passing game. By that I mean they'd march him onto the field and because he's a running back the defense will keep an extra linebacker in, but then they can motion him out wide signaling pass and a lot of the time the defense will have to bring a linebacker out to cover him, and that's a mismatch with his size, quickness and 4.3 speed. And he's a gifted running back that can actually buck it up the middle, he shows strength and power, as well as the shiftiness to pick up big gainers.
Rodgers is a junior. He might not come out. I do like the guy but it's questionable how appropriate it is to talk about him at this stage. It would be different if he were being viewed as an elite physical talent, those guys tend to come out early...but guys like Rodgers...I would tend toward him staying in school.
Except we're looking at potentially having to replace Ronnie and Ricky, not Cobbs. So when Kiper thinks we should draft Devine as a first round replacement for either/both of those guys... I don't see it, for exactly the reason you just said: he's basically Patrick Cobbs, and we already have Patrick Cobbs. If Cobbs is traded or leaves (his contract is up after this season, right?) then sure, bring Devine in as his replacement. But then you still have the problem of replacing Ronnie and/or Ricky, which isn't solved by drafting Devine in the 1st as Kiper thinks we should do.
CK just highlighted that Kiper said he didn't see Devine as a first round pick. In other words, we get him outside of the first.
I love Devine. I think he needs to add a little weight, but I think he can be like Ray Rice and Jones-Drew in the NFL. He has crazy speed. If you watch West Virginia games you can see this guy is the real deal.
I think you're making the mistake of thinking that those types of roles are always going to be 1-2-3. Cobbs isn't talented enough to go up to #2 or #1 in this offense, but that doesn't mean the kind of player he is could never go to #1 or #2 in this offense. Between Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown, one of those two will be back. My money's on Ricky. I think it's a mistake to believe that they're so rigid that they're always going to keep the formula of having three big powerful guys (let's not forget Hilliard) with one smaller slashing utility guy. They could have two big powerful guy and two smaller guys. Patrick Cobbs could stay in his role while Ricky Williams and Noel Devine work as runners.
Assuming a) interest in Devine on the part of the FO, and b) that he replaces Cobbs, that still leaves us with question marks higher up the RB depth chart. I'm not in a hurry to nail down the 3rd down running back position with a 2011 rookie. I'm not even sure we need to draft someone to fill that position. Extending Cobbs is a legitimate option, as is letting Hilliard and Sheets compete for that spot if Cobbs is let go, assuming both are still on the roster somehow. I don't think I'm pegging guys into roles, I'm just looking at the current RB depth chart and failing to see a slot for Devine, as explained in the quote above. Agreed. I'm not sure I see Devine splitting time effectively with an aging Ricky. That feels like a Plan C or Plan D.
The following statement... ...is incongruous with the proceeding follow up statement... I think that's way too rigid a way to look at the situation, to just look at the current depth chart and freeze it into place, replacing every guy with a similar player. To each his own but I could see it being a Plan A.
