MockTwo

Not taking the chance. There's almost 30 picks between 174 and my 201 pick.

 

Tore his inferior vena cava during a practice and nearly died as a result. Sternum still healing from surgery. Even though medically speaking doctors will tell you that there's less risk of injuring the same vein than there was before because of the way veins heal, there's still going to be a stigma associated with the whole incident. Especially for pretend GMs who are out in the public.

I think he'll go higher than the mid-6th round.

The reality is he missed an entire period of months that are crucial to guys building up momentum to be regarded highly for the Draft. Not necessarily by the teams but by the wannabe GMs who pick in this sort of thing. Darius Slay has built a tremendous amount of momentum for the Draft and could now go in the 2nd round. And in fact he was taken with the 12th pick in the 2nd round in this Draft. Would that have happened if Slay tore his vein and missed the months of November, December, January and February? No. Out of sight, out of mind. He'd be the one in the 6th round. Yet he'd be the same player.

 

If you've got to only pick one of the videos to watch, I would say watch the UCLA video. This ain't no small school he went up against. This was the Pac-12 champion from an offensive conference. He dominated. And he didn't just pick that one game to dominate. He dominated most games. He played 3 fewer games than everyone else on defense yet finished 4th in tackles. You know how Quinton Patton dominated most opponents he played in 2012? Well, what did he do against Houston's defense? He had 4 catches for 36 yards and 0 TDs. Literally his worst game of the year. And in 2011 he caught 5 balls for 82 yards and 1 TD. Good production, but pretty muted for him as he averaged 104 yards and 1 TD per game in his career at La Tech. No way of knowing really how many of those 9 catches for 118 yards were on Hayden. I can tell you that Hayden was the guy who tackled Patton on 3 catches for 35 yards, and was also noted for breaking up a pass intended for Patton.

I think I know who my next pick will be at #201. As long as he remains available.

 

There's really only one of those guys I see myself steering toward if available in the 200's. There are three more I might fall to as backup plans.

 

It's really hard to say because the media are behind on him and the scouts are mum on the subject obviously. Personally if my doctors tell me his sternum is going to heal fine and there won't be any problems with it then I'm looking at him on Day 2. He's that good.

 

Yeah it hurts that he's been taken up and I can't take him in the 7th round now. But I have Bjoern Werner. That's the difference. I needed to walk out with a corner and I wasn't going to find better value than Hayden.

 

10 or 11 picks until I'm up again and a lot of my value guys are off the board. These are the ones left...

RB Cierre Wood, Notre Dame
TE Joseph Fauria, UCLA
TE Levine Toilolo, USC
OG Hugh Thornton, Illinois
LB Jake Knott, Iowa State
CB Terry Hawthorne, Illinois
CB Kayvon Webster, South Florida

I'm going to have to add some in here...

QB Brad Sorenson, Southern Utah (full writeup on QB Peter Lalich in the description)
RB Ray Graham, Pittsburgh
FB Lonnie Pryor, Florida State
FB Kyle Juszczyk, Harvard
WR Aaron Mellette, Elon
WR Jasper Collins, Mount Union
TE Justice Cunningham, South Carolina
FS/NCB Josh Evans, Florida
FS Earl Wolff, North Carolina State

 

I'm writing up some picks because I'm about to go to Brewer's Ball and will have to iPad in my picks when they come up.

QB Brad Sorenson, Southern Utah
Brad Sorenson is a big, strong-armed quarterback that played at a school where he could not fully blossom. His road to the Draft was circuitous as he went on a two-year Mormon mission, then went to a junior college where he was All-Conference, attempted to walk on at BYU but had trouble winning the job there, transferred to Southern Utah and became a productive passer. He makes unusually good and safe decisions even when his team is overmatched from a pure talent standpoint. But in all reality, this pick is not Brad Sorenson. This pick is QB Peter Lalich of California (PA). Due to his absence from the database, I am not allowed to take Lalich, but I am writing him in here on the description. Lalich was an elite QB recruit out of high school and committed to UVA under Al Groh. He was forced to play as a true freshman and he showed off his combination of size, arm strength and unusually good decision making for a player that young. Unfortunately he was caught in possession of alcohol as a minor, arrested and put on probation. In a "My Idiot Brother" moment, he admitted to his probation officer that he'd taken a drink while he was on probation. The wording must have been ambiguous because the officer actually thought Lalich admitted to smoking marijuana. Peter appeared in court and showed proofs of his clean drug tests at UVA and said explained it as a misunderstanding, that he was actually admitting to having drank alcohol. The judge appreciated his candor and let him off with a warning, choosing to keep him on probation. But on the same day of the court appearance, the UVA administration, now embroiled in a full-on effort to force Al Groh out, made the decision to kick Lalich off the team. Peter transferred to Oregon State under Mike Riley where it was understood he would be on a short leash. But he had not learned his lesson. Now of legal age, he was caught on a boat on the local lake with alcohol and arrested under suspicion of operating a boat while drinking. The charges were later dropped, but with the ensuing 3 game suspension likely to ensure Lalich would lose the starting quarterback competition anyway, Mike Riley made the tough choice to pull his scholarship. Lalich transferred to California (PA) where the head coach is used to reclamation projects. He's referred to Peter as "the most different, entertaining, fun, quarterback I've ever been around,". He started the relationship by having Peter be fully evaluated by a local alcoholic rehab facility, because his three previous incidents all involved alcohol. They gave Peter a glowing report. The one thing you notice about Lalich on tape again is the great decision making. He knows how to hurt a defense. This is born out by testimonials. His high school coach pointed it out as his best asset, which is noteworthy since Peter is 6'6" and 240 lbs with a cannon arm. Other coaches such as Mike Groh (now WRs Coach for the Chicago Bears) commonly refer to him as a "football savant" or "real life Will Hunting". His California (PA) coach has described coming into the office in the morning to find Peter had been there the previous night drawing up 60 plays on the grease board, many of which were better than he could've thought up. He says, "a lot of (the plays) would be great ideas if everyone could keep up with Pete - including myself. Man it's hard to tell how many plays we could have had in a gameplan." He also said, "Pete made me a better football coach because of the way he made me look at things in the office". With his size, good feet at that size, arm strength, accuracy and football IQ, not to mention a perspective he's gained from having been to the bottom and worked his way back up, I think Peter Lalich is going to represent a fantastic value to a team at the bottom of the draft as a backup quarterback.

OG Hugh Thornton, Illinois
On tape, Hugh Thornton is an animal. He is huge, wide yet well built, hellishly strong and yet he moves explosively and can play a number of positions including left tackle. On film his balance and the details such as the timing of his punch remind me of Johnathan Martin, except he's got far superior body composition and physical strength. The Dolphins are picking up an extreme value by getting him in the 7th round and I expect that one day he will be a starter in the NFL. His background is tragic. He lived in Jamaica with his mother, a free spirit who at one point chose to live in a hovel with her children despite coming from a family with money. Hugh was a bit of wild child so his mother sent him to live with his father in the US in order to learn some discipline. During his first visit back to Jamaica, while Hugh was sleeping, his mother and little sister were brutally and viciously murdered by her spurned ex-boyfriend and his nephew. Thornton went back to live with his father but the two never got along and eventually he left home to live with a relative. He found football as an escape from his troubles, and he blossomed into an incredible athlete. He looks in my eyes to be another in a string of solid offensive linemen to come out of Illinois in recent years, a list that includes Jon Asamoah and Jeff Allen. The Dolphins are thankful to the rest of the league for allowing such a player to fall into their laps all the way in the 7th round.

TE Joseph Fauria, UCLA
With tight end Travis Kelce already in the fold, the Miami Dolphins should be done with this position. However, they cannot resist value when it slaps them in the face. Joseph Fauria was an extremely productive touchdown producer at UCLA, especially this year. A former basketball player, at 6'7" and 257 lbs, with 11 inch hands and 33.5 inch arms, Fauria is well-built athlete who threatens the seam every time he steps on the field. Previous head coach Rick Neuheisel used him incorrectly in 2011, along with several other players (hence his firing), but in 2012 new coach Jim Mora Jr. reformed the offense to take advantage of their unusual set of talents. As such, Fauria scored 12 touchdowns in this new pro-style offense. The negatives are there. He was booted from Notre Dame essentially for being an idiot, playing a prank on a priest by slapping him on the rear end which drew an accusation of sexual harassment. He runs a little duck-footed, like a basketball player. However he is one of the few players at the position than can truly accelerate under a deep pass, which I have seen him do live in East-West Shrine practices, and threaten the seam. He is hell to defend near the end zone. I believe people are truly just over-thinking this one, finding nits in his game. I also think people are just forgetting about him, because he suffered a groin separation during Shrine practices and was unable to play in the game itself and unable to work out at the Combine. The Dolphins believe they got tremendous value in him, an opportunity to take a player that should present to them the same strengths and weaknesses that Michael Egnew SHOULD have given them a year ago. I evaluate Fauria as a better player than Egnew.

CB Kayvon Webster, South Florida
The Miami Dolphins General Manager has personally witnessed Kayvon Webster play at South Florida many times. He is a player that moves and accelerates like he is being controlled by a joystick. His balance, quickness, agility and overall speed are all extremely good. Best of all, he has a tremendous work ethic which the Miami Dolphins General Manager has been able to verify himself through connections with the program. He is known around the team as the guy who beasts all of the workouts and is good in the gym. His only issues on the field are experience-related. As he gets more coaching and snaps he will learn to see the play happening more quickly, and be able to pull the trigger more often. I believe he presents tremendous value in the 7th round, and think he will play in the NFL for a long time.

 

LB Jake Knott, Iowa State
The Miami Dolphins feel that the league is once again forgetting about players simply because they got injured and have not been able to be a part of the pre-Draft process taking place, between bowl games, All Star games and the NFL Combine. Prior to getting hurt, Jake Knott was one of the best coverage linebackers in football. With a football IQ that sees people around him commonly regarding him as near-coach level in prowess, you do not worry about him learning your system or reading the field. He does not stop the run like Luke Kuechly of Boston College, but his ability in coverage does very much remind me of Kuechly. The Dolphins need depth behind their starting linebackers and Knott could eventually be a starter.

 

Thornton, Fauria and Lalich

 

Official Miami Dolphins #MockTwo results:

Pick #012. DE Bjoern Werner, Florida State
Every year there is an immediate knee-jerk reaction to how players perform at the NFL's underwear Olympics. This year's victims include defensive tackle Star Lotulelei (whose crime was succumbing to dehydration from his weight loss program, and being unable to work out) and defensive end Bjoern Werner (who put up mediocre numbers in his underwear). The Miami Dolphins had a difficult time believing that both were on the board at 12. Grades on Star and Bjoern were similar, but the Dolphins intend to extend defensive tackle Randy Starks in order to keep their defensive tackle unit in tact. Werner fit a need. The Dolphins could have chosen to go with a need pick at corner in Alabama's Dee Milliner, but Werner is a better defensive end than Milliner is a corner. Werner's burst and timing off the snap is the most consistent in the Draft. He is the most heads up defensive end in the Draft. He has a full range of counters and heavy hands. He uses his hands and feet in harmony, and he gets off blocks to make plays on the ball. He plays even better from the right side than from the left, which is key for Miami's needs, and he even has the versatility to work in space. His biggest weakness is a lack of consistent snap-to-whistle motor. But one training camp should cure him of any illusion that it's OK in the NFL to pull up on a play just because you think the ball has gotten out of your range. His overall awareness makes him a constant threat to swat the ball at the line of scrimmage, much like J.J. Watt of the Houston Texans, and he proved it by having the second most pass breakups of any defensive lineman in the nation in 2012. He is a complete, three down defensive end with the versatility to work multiple positions at need.

Pick #022. WR Cordarrelle Patterson, Tennessee
The Miami Dolphins felt they could not sit idly by as the top wide receiver in the NFL Draft slipped all the way to pick 22. They had to find a way to move up. Evaluated by former NFL General Managers such as Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum and Charlie Casserly, not to mention former scouts Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks, to be worthy of top 10 or top 12 selection, Patterson is the most dynamic player at his position. The irony is Patterson did not disappoint with his underwear Olympics performance in any way. He ran an unofficial 4.37 in the 40 yard dash, and close examination of the film of his run shows that he actually ran even faster than that. We can only guess that he slipped on a completely unsubstantiated rumor (in all likelihood a planted piece of misdirection) that he was suffering poor interviews. Patterson is a good kid that possesses none of the selfishness or anger issues we have seen with other troubled players such as Dez Bryant or Michael Crabtree. Instead, he suffers a slight case of absent-mindedness which sometimes manifests on the field but is not uncommon at the position. He has the pure speed to take the top off a defense that you find in a Mike Wallace, yet moves with the football in his hands like Percy Harvin. Reports of bad hands remained unsubstantiated despite a thorough examination of his film. So to were claims of having run a limited route tree, or being unable to learn a playbook. The Miami Dolphins were happy to add a player to the stables that has the ability to be a true number one receiver at the next level.

Pick #054. TE Travis Kelce, Cincinnati
With a premium defensive end to play opposite Cameron Wake and a potential #1 wide receiver already in the fold, the Miami Dolphins begin revamping a tight ends unit that has suffered through a combination of neglect and poor luck. Travis Kelce is the anti-Egnew. He is intensely physical, angry, tough, strong, very athletic and possesses very strong ball skills. He was consistently featured in the Cincinnati Bearcat pass offense yet stayed productive and made plays whenever given the chance. The Bearcats moved him all over the field in order to give him the opportunity to be a mismatch against multiple positions. He is one of the strongest blockers in the Draft (some believe the strongest), yet he runs solidly in the 4.6's, makes people miss after the catch, and gets up the field as fast as the wide receivers in his offense. He finishes plays.

Pick #082. FS Shamarko Thomas, Syracuse
The Dolphins were tempted to take California center Brian Schwenke at this pick with the idea of moving him to guard. However, in the end they chose to go with their highest conviction player left on the board, adding a 'Shark' to their Dolphin-infested waters. Shamarko Thomas has been through hell and come out the other side a stronger man for it. Within the span of 9 months, he lost both parents and became the head of household for 5 younger siblings. He could have chosen to come out for the NFL Draft in 2011 in order to provide for his family, but instead chose to delay gratification, get better at his craft, and put himself in the best position possible to do them the most good. He approaches his preparation and workouts with a zeal rare even for professional players, let alone college players. While other college players watch television or play video games, he is outside his house pushing his car uphill by himself to train. The Dolphins' General Manager saw firsthand that, as a safety, Shamarko had better footwork than any corner at the East-West Shrine practices. He has true 4.3 speed and can leap across Springfield Gorge unaided. He is not a good player because he performed well at the NFL Combine. He was a good player on tape which allowed us to easily predict that he would perform well at the Combine. In replacing departing free agent Chris Clemons, he gives the Dolphins the same speed that Clemons had in support, with much more physicality and superior instinct. And as a bonus, you will never, ever, ever have to light a fire under the man. His fire already burns bright and hot.

Pick #174. CB D.J. Hayden, Houston
The Miami Dolphins waited nervously through nearly 100 picks from their previous selection to this one, and ran to the podium to turn in the card for corner back D.J. Hayden of Houston. Hayden has the potential to be one of the three best corners in the entire Draft, based on film study. The former JUCO transfer lit up the tape with Houston in 2011, his first year off JUCO transfer. He forced an amazing 5 fumbles, intercepted 2 passes (returning 1 for a touchdown), tallied 66 total tackles including 8.0 tackles for loss, and broke up 11 passes. That forced fumble number was second only to Heisman candidate Tyrann Mathieu amongst defensive backs. This year, he was blossoming as a cover corner with 4 interceptions (2 returned for touchdowns) in only 9 games, while also contributing 61 more tackles and 8 more pass breakups. He is an extreme play maker with the length and explosive strength to erase receivers physically, while also possessing the explosive speed and instincts to jump in front of passes and make up lost ground in man. Explosive is the word for D.J. Hayden, as it proved both blessing and curse. He is so explosive, he exploded his own heart, literally, in a collision during a practice. He tore his inferior vena cava, which supplies the heart with blood from the lower half of the body. The injury is 95% fatal, yet he lived due to the diligence and quick thinking of his team doctors. Amazingly, his doctors told him that he would be back to playing football once his sternum heals from the surgery, perhaps as early as four months post-op. Because of the way veins heal, he is not in danger of re-injuring the same vein at the same spot. Already a high character, high work ethic guy, the scare has given him a new perspective on football. He says one of his greatest regrets would have been that in the final game prior to his injury, he did not play as hard or as well as he could have. If not for this momentum-stopping, scary injury, he would have proved an extremely fast riser a la Darius Slay, and gone all the way into the highest parts of Day 2. The Miami Dolphins feel blessed to take him in the 6th round. Almost as blessed as Hayden is to be alive today.

Pick #201. OG Hugh Thornton, Illinois
On tape, Hugh Thornton is an animal. He is huge, wide yet well built, hellishly strong and yet he moves explosively and can play a number of positions including left tackle. On film his balance and the details such as the timing of his punch remind me of Johnathan Martin, except he's got far superior body composition and physical strength. The Dolphins are picking up an extreme value by getting him in the 7th round and I expect that one day he will be a starter in the NFL. His background is tragic. He lived in Jamaica with his mother, a free spirit who at one point chose to live in a hovel with her children despite coming from a family with money. Hugh was a bit of wild child so his mother sent him to live with his father in the US in order to learn some discipline. During his first visit back to Jamaica, while Hugh was sleeping, his mother and little sister were brutally and viciously murdered by her spurned ex-boyfriend and his nephew. Thornton went back to live with his father but the two never got along and eventually he left home to live with a relative. He found football as an escape from his troubles, and he blossomed into an incredible athlete. He looks in my eyes to be another in a string of solid offensive linemen to come out of Illinois in recent years, a list that includes Jon Asamoah and Jeff Allen. The Dolphins are thankful to the rest of the league for allowing such a player to fall into their laps all the way in the 7th round.

Pick #204. TE Joseph Fauria, UCLA
With tight end Travis Kelce already in the fold, the Miami Dolphins should be done with this position. However, they cannot resist value when it slaps them in the face. Joseph Fauria was an extremely productive touchdown producer at UCLA, especially this year. A former basketball player, at 6'7" and 257 lbs, with 11 inch hands and 33.5 inch arms, Fauria is well-built athlete who threatens the seam every time he steps on the field. Previous head coach Rick Neuheisel used him incorrectly in 2011, along with several other players (hence his firing), but in 2012 new coach Jim Mora Jr. reformed the offense to take advantage of their unusual set of talents. As such, Fauria scored 12 touchdowns in this new pro-style offense. The negatives are there. He was booted from Notre Dame essentially for being an idiot, playing a prank on a priest by slapping him on the rear end which drew an accusation of sexual harassment. He runs a little duck-footed, like a basketball player. However he is one of the few players at the position than can truly accelerate under a deep pass, which I have seen him do live in East-West Shrine practices, and threaten the seam. He is hell to defend near the end zone. I believe people are truly just over-thinking this one, finding nits in his game. I also think people are just forgetting about him, because he suffered a groin separation during Shrine practices and was unable to play in the game itself and unable to work out at the Combine. The Dolphins believe they got tremendous value in him, an opportunity to take a player that should present to them the same strengths and weaknesses that Michael Egnew SHOULD have given them a year ago. I evaluate Fauria as a better player than Egnew.

Pick #206. QB Peter Lalich, California (PA)
Due to his absence from the database, I was not allowed to officially take Peter Lalich, but I am writing him in here on the description. Lalich was an elite QB recruit out of high school and committed to UVA under Al Groh. He was forced to play as a true freshman and he showed off his combination of size, arm strength and unusually good decision making for a player that young. Unfortunately he was caught in possession of alcohol as a minor, arrested and put on probation. In a "My Idiot Brother" moment, he admitted to his probation officer that he'd taken a drink while he was on probation. The wording must have been ambiguous because the officer actually thought Lalich admitted to smoking marijuana. Peter appeared in court and showed proofs of his clean drug tests at UVA and said explained it as a misunderstanding, that he was actually admitting to having drank alcohol. The judge appreciated his candor and let him off with a warning, choosing to keep him on probation. But on the same day of the court appearance, the UVA administration, now embroiled in a full-on effort to force Al Groh out, made the decision to kick Lalich off the team. Peter transferred to Oregon State under Mike Riley where it was understood he would be on a short leash. But he had not learned his lesson. Now of legal age, he was caught on a boat on the local lake with alcohol and arrested under suspicion of operating a boat while drinking. The charges were later dropped, but with the ensuing 3 game suspension likely to ensure Lalich would lose the starting quarterback competition anyway, Mike Riley made the tough choice to pull his scholarship. Lalich transferred to California (PA) where the head coach is used to reclamation projects. He's referred to Peter as "the most different, entertaining, fun, quarterback I've ever been around,". He started the relationship by having Peter be fully evaluated by a local alcoholic rehab facility, because his three previous incidents all involved alcohol. They gave Peter a glowing report. The one thing you notice about Lalich on tape again is the great decision making. He knows how to hurt a defense. This is born out by testimonials. His high school coach pointed it out as his best asset, which is noteworthy since Peter is 6'6" and 240 lbs with a cannon arm. Other coaches such as Mike Groh (now WRs Coach for the Chicago Bears) commonly refer to him as a "football savant" or "real life Will Hunting". His California (PA) coach has described coming into the office in the morning to find Peter had been there the previous night drawing up 60 plays on the grease board, many of which were better than he could've thought up. He says, "a lot of (the plays) would be great ideas if everyone could keep up with Pete - including myself. Man it's hard to tell how many plays we could have had in a gameplan." He also said, "Pete made me a better football coach because of the way he made me look at things in the office". With his size, good feet at that size, arm strength, accuracy and football IQ, not to mention a perspective he's gained from having been to the bottom and worked his way back up, I think Peter Lalich is going to represent a fantastic value to a team at the bottom of the draft as a backup quarterback.

Priority Free Agents

CB Kayvon Webster, South Florida - The Miami Dolphins General Manager has personally witnessed Kayvon Webster play at South Florida many times. He is a player that moves and accelerates like he is being controlled by a joystick. His balance, quickness, agility and overall speed are all extremely good. Best of all, he has a tremendous work ethic which the Miami Dolphins General Manager has been able to verify himself through connections with the program. He is known around the team as the guy who beasts all of the workouts and is good in the gym. His only issues on the field are experience-related. As he gets more coaching and snaps he will learn to see the play happening more quickly, and be able to pull the trigger more often. I believe he presents tremendous value as a priority free agent, and think he will play in the NFL for a long time.

LB Jake Knott, Iowa State - The Miami Dolphins feel that the league is once again forgetting about players simply because they got injured and have not been able to be a part of the pre-Draft process taking place, between bowl games, All Star games and the NFL Combine. Prior to getting hurt, Jake Knott was one of the best coverage linebackers in football. With a football IQ that sees people around him commonly regarding him as near-coach level in prowess, you do not worry about him learning your system or reading the field. He does not stop the run like Luke Kuechly of Boston College, but his ability in coverage does very much remind me of Kuechly. The Dolphins need depth behind their starting linebackers and Knott could eventually be a starter.

WR Aaron Mellette, Elon - Aaron Mellette is an unusually smart wide receiver with unusual balance in his route running. He has a big body and can make plays with his physical strength, and he is a very technical route runner that should be able to operate within an offense at the next level. Heading into the 2012 season, there were scouts convinced that Mellette had 1st round potential. He did not necessarily follow up on that potential by standing out at the Senior Bowl, nor did he play well when faced with legitimate opponents during the season. However, I believe there is still meat on the bone here.

FB Lonnie Pryor, Florida State - I believe Pryor would fit well in Miami's offense. The system does not necessarily call for what people would describe as a "stab you in the heart" lead blocker. Quickness, vision and the ability to be a threat catching and running the football can also be of import in this system, as we see in Green Bay with John Kuhn. What Lonnie Pryor brings to the table is the ability to score touchdowns. He scored 23 of them during his time at Florida State. He took over the Seminoles' final bowl game against Northern Illinois. In his career he scored 12 touchdowns on 23 run attempts inside the opponent's 10 yard line. That's a very high percentage. I believe he can play like a John Kuhn in this zone-based ground scheme.

LB Travis Johnson, San Jose State - Johnson stood out to me at East-West Shrine practices for the way he consistently got off the football with his first step. He is a fast, athletic pass rusher. His problem from a pass rush standpoint is the fact that he is undersized. Because of this, too often he could be physically handled while trying to turn the corner on an offensive tackle's outside shoulder. He showed an array of moves as a pass rusher at San Jose State and is in fact college football's leading active sacker of the quarterback. When he was called up to the Senior Bowl, he played 4-3 outside linebacker. He looked just as interesting to me at linebacker as he did at times as a pass rusher. I see him as a multiple player that should find a home at linebacker and be able to blitz well and make plays. His tenacity showed up as a defensive end in college, going up against players far bigger, and I believe that tenacity will manifest at linebacker as well. He's just a good all-around football player.

 

Good for that size. Better than Mallett's was at the same size. Here's a play where he was forced to roll out, though I don't know how much anyone can glean specifically about mobility in this one play. The most important thing I took from this play was, look at the situation. This was a huge against-the-wall moment and he came through for them big time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=sZzxvgw_Mlg#t=124s

 

Naturally, in deciding which positions to target, I made some assumptions about the free agent market. They were the following:

1. The CB market is flooded with players that will change teams, and therefore we should be able to do the bulk of our work at that position in free agency

2. Randy Starks will be retained, and should be retained

3. I really dislike the free agent wide receiver class. Mike Wallace and now Greg Jennings both look overpriced and I can't find any diamond in the rough types aside from perhaps Domenik Hixon, who shares some of Brian Hartline's weaknesses and is injury prone

4. One way or another the tackle question will probably be able to be solved in free agency, preferably by finding a way to make it work with Jake Long

So far with the dominos that are falling today, I think those assumptions are holding.