I know that Jim Schwartz talked about really wanting to coach the Senior Bowl because he was part of it three times and he said it was such a huge advantage in evaluating players. IIRC, he was there with Tennesee in like 01 (?) and in 1998 with a team (Rams?). There was another time but I don't remember it.
Here is the South roster: http://www.seniorbowl.com/southroster.asp Terry Cody, Jamar Chaney, B Lang, D McCluster, M Johnson, could show up on Draft day.
If by beautiful you mean fat nasty, then yes I agree.... I was once really high on Cody but have soured on him as of late. He will offer no pass rush from the NT spot and Im not sure he will be on the radar because of that
i'm a bit surprised by how many people have all but dropped Terrence Cody. by all means, this is how he looked all year. he blocked two FGs against Tennessee looking like that, and a lot of folks loved him back then. his weight didn't become an issue over night. it's pretty safe to assume he wasn't 365 lbs of steel at any point during his career.
I'm not sure it really functionally is a great advantage. I don't see alot of stellar drafts among Senior Bowl coaches at a brief glance. This, really. No one should be shocked by Cody's appearance with a shirt off or where he weighed in.
Why? Can you imagine what Shuan Rogers looks like with no shirt on? As for "big edge"...check out DC Nolan's drafts in SF: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/2005/draft/teams/49ers.html 2005 Alex Smith Frank Gore Ron Fields out of 8 picks 2006 Vern Davis Manny Lawson Parays Haralson (two #1 picks) Out of 9 picks 2007 P Willis Joe Staley (two #1 picks) out of 9 picks 2008 Kentwan Balmer Chilo Rachel Josh Morgan out of 7 picks Basically Ted Nolan and the 49ers talent evaluation team did not greatly benefit from coaching the Senior Bowl, quite the opposite, they basically hit on their #1 picks and not a whole lot else.
Jarrett Brown....Miami is gonna get a good look at him. Wouldnt mind them taking him later in the draft at all....
Seniorbowl day one recap http://www.nfldraftbible.com/NFL-Insider-Insider-info/seniorbowldayonerecap.html -- Alabama defensive tackle Terrence Cody was massive at this morning's weigh-in process as he came in at 6040, 370 pounds with 11 1/4" hands... he would be wise to drop down towards the 350-355 range over the coming weeks as there were some sighs and grins among the NFL evaluators in attendance. -- USC defensive back Taylor Mays was jacked up and may have passed this morning's "Eye Test" as good if not better than anyone, but after weighing in at 235 pounds, many scouts are whispering that he might fit best up at OLB in the NFL after struggling in pass coverage at times during his college career.
SF coached 3 of those years not all 4. Here are the ratios of players taken by the respective teams that played in the game. I did this quickly so I may have missed a couple. Now these are just picks. I made no judgments on whether the picks were good or not. 05 Oakland 2 out of 7 Tampa Bay 5 out of 12 06 SF 4 out of 9 Tenn 1 out of 10 07 Tampa Bay 3 out of 10 SF 6 out of 9 08 SF 2 out of 6 Oakland 0 out of 5 09 Cincy 3 out of 11 Jax 2 out of 9 So it seems that while it may vary by coaching staff, a fairly high percentage of the players in the game end up being taken by one of the teams that coached there. Nolan's staffs seemed inclined to take a higher percentage than most. It wouldn't surprise me much if Sparano's staff also followed that tendency.
Nolan would have been there for all 4 drafts though Rafi? And I don't doubt a player or three ends up on the Dolphins, but what I am saying is most of the time it is not a huge advantage. Imvho, Sparano and Ireland and Gaine will make it work to our advantage.
I don't think Nolan was on Oakland or Tampa's staff in 05 so he wouldn't have had that advantage he's talking about. As for an advantage, I believe that it should give you a better idea about what the players habits, demeanor and capabilities are. This is similar to how watching more film may give you more information. But even with more information you could still make bad choices.
I included all of Nolan Drafts simply to give some flavor to the point that despite Nolan and Co coaching the Sr Bowl his draft classes were not noticiably better than when he did not coach the Sr Bowl.
Okay, now I understand why you included that year. As for whether it worked out or not it's hard to say. I think you'd have to look at what the team needed and what other options were available. Maybe it made him fall in love with a prospect at the game and pass on a better option who didn't play in the game. Who knows? I think the advantage is that you have more information about the players there. What you do with that information may or may not return a benefit.
