there are like 3 hard knocks threads already open

 

Say whaa?

 

I was hoping this was a discussion of Shelby being part of the first team reps today with Odrick's little injury.

 

Even though the OP does mention Hard Knocks once in the thread I veiwed the thread heading as being directed at a specific player for information or comments, I'm fine with it.

What injury does Odrick have?

 

Nobody knows yet to my knowledge.

But Derrick Shelby with the 1's ahead of Olivier Vernon is pretty interesting. Knew he was good, knew he'd flash once the pads come on, but damn.

As I've said before Shelby reminds me of a cross between Pernell McPhee formerly of Mississippi State, and Dexter Davis formerly of Arizona State. He's got closer to McPhee's size and strength, but also McPhee's speed which is slower than Davis', yet he's got Dexter Davis' explosive qualities. All three are feisty and resilient.

Shelby was buzzing in Matt Barkley's ear the entire Utah-USC game which might have been Barkley's worst game of the season. Unfortunately there weren't many instances of Shelby having to match up on Matt Kalil. But he impacted the game a whole lot, nonetheless.

He's a heads up player and really sees the ball, reacts well to it. Couple that with his explosive qualities and you have the reason he batted an unusual number of passes in 2011 (7 of them). That pairing of qualities (awareness, explosiveness) also accounts for his fumble recovery in the end zone against BYU. Combine those aforementioned traits with his general feistiness, relience and balance, and that's how you had that interception returned for a touchdown against Pittsburgh on a screen play. It was an impressive runback, he didn't have a clear lane to the end zone at all.

Honestly when I watched him in college I kept thinking to myself, how was he not drafted? He could play in NFL games. Don't know about starting, but he can play.

 

Nice call CK, you told me about the kid 2 weeks ago..


"Every training camp produces a surprised undrafted rookie or two, and this year it’s Shelby, who started 40 games at Utah and was a First Team All-Pac 12 defender last year with five sacks and 10 tackles for loss. Shelby, 6-2 and 266 pounds, started at both left and right end at Utah, and has climbed ahead of veteran Jamaal Westerman to be listed as the primary backup at left defensive end.

"Shelby still has a lot to prove during camp, and must hold off Westerman, Jaquies Smith, Jarrell Root and others to win one of the final roster spots. But he’s in the driver’s seat right now, and could make Westerman, who signed a one-year deal after spending four years with the Jets, expendable."

Palm beach post..

 

Derrick Shelby's interception return for a touchdown against Pittsburgh:
[video=youtube;p4z5zNcHRX0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4z5zNcHRX0[/video]

Derrick Shelby's fumble recovery in the end zone for a touchdown against BYU:
[video=youtube;nTBZmpXsaUs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTBZmpXsaUs[/video]

Derrick Shelby versus Washington:
[video=youtube;oIrc9iCAPpc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIrc9iCAPpc[/video]

Derrick Shelby Pass Downs versus USC (it's a Barkley video, but Shelby is #90 lines up mostly at LDE):
[video=youtube;ebLa2pMr8Mc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebLa2pMr8Mc[/video]

Derrick Shelby Interviewed:
[video=youtube;NNnzpjSjdCI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnzpjSjdCI[/video]

 

Thanks there seems to be such an abundance of players that I'm finding myself rooting for this year. If a few keep it up into game time we might see this team start to turn things more in the right direction.

 

I still see a talent issue.

1. David Garrard has a fragile back and could easily injure it at any point. Once he's gone, you're down to Matt Moore whom I personally believe doesn't fit this new West Coast Offense (hence his struggles) and a ROOKIE Ryan Tannehill. Traditionally, rookie QBs are awful. Even Peyton Manning had a 3-13 record with a 71 passer rating. Eli had a 1-6 record with a 55 passer rating. Yet those are two of the best QBs in the game today. You can't underestimate how big a factor this is. In terms of Vegas think, any team that stands a decent chance of having a rookie QB out there for a significant amount of time sees the sharps going heavy against them in the win column. It is what it is.

2. The only pass rusher I feel I can count on outside of Cameron Wake is Randy Starks. I could normally count on Jared Odrick but I personally believe his work and training at LDE on base downs will affect his work on the inside on pass downs. I'm not counting on much pass rush from a guy in Olivier Vernon who didn't even get much pass rush in college. Derrick Shelby is a nice player but we'll see on the pass rush angle, I don't have high hopes there. Tony McDaniel...never been a huge fan.

3. Omar brings up a point. If any of these linebackers get hurt then his substitute will play like refried ***. I was not a fan of the Gary Guyton signing, when I put together a tape of Anthony Fasano's greatest catches from 2011 it was clear that he made Gary Guyton his b-tch. Jason Trusnik shouldn't see the field on anything but special teams. Austin Spitler isn't nearly as good as I once hoped he'd become. I never held much hope for Josh Kaddu as anything more than a special teams guy, especially this early in his career. When I took a look at tape of UDFAs like Shelly Lyons and Cameron Collins (same time I took a look at Derrick Shelby, Jacquies Smith and Jarrell Root), I came away starkly unimpressed. Collins has some size/athleticism, but he's not a good player.

4. Now we've got this whole corner blowup between Richard Marshall and Vontae Davis. When they signed Marshall it was my evaluation based on his Arizona tape that really he's not all that good a corner, but he could be an excellent safety. He's smart, physical, has some agility and quickness to him, but clearly a liability in man coverage against some of the receivers out there. Torrey Smith abused him. Anquan Boldin abused him. If Vontae had such a bad off season he's getting dragged up and down the field by Rishard Matthews for christs sakes, that's a problem. And I actually LIKED Rishard Matthews. I previously had been confident that even though Sean Smith gets all the publicity, quietly Vontae Davis would be the guy to iron out his inconsistencies under the tutelage of Kevin Coyle, who got a lot out of Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph, two similarly inconsistent but highly talented former 1st round picks like Vontae. Now with this whole Vontae blowup, I can't feel confident in that theory anymore. It is what it is, it's a blow to my model of the Dolphins' overall talent/prospects for this year.

5. Account me totally unconvinced that Legedu Naanee has suddenly gone from being just a guy to being a pro bowler. Practice is one thing, games are another. He obviously PRACTICED well in Carolina, hence his climbing that depth chart all the way to the point he's getting 761 snaps to Steve Smith's 980 and Brandon LaFell's 706...but when it came to GAME TIME, this dude shut down. No run after catch, popped up interceptions, not very strong, didn't make many/any big plays. Go find some Cam Newton highlights out there. Find as many as you can. Tell me how many of those highlight throws go to Legedu Naanee. From the highlights you'd think they didn't even have a receiver named Legedu Naanee on the team, yet this guy took 761 snaps out there!

6. Now with Brian Hartline ailing, that's another blow to my model of the Dolphins' talent/prospects. Again, it is what it is. I had previously been under an assumption that Hartline was going to ascend in this new offense. Now I can't assume that anymore. I'm supposed to assume Legedu Naanee will do that. Fat chance in hell on that.

7. Who is going to play safety opposite Reshad Jones? And by the way, since when did Reshad Jones become the ****, anyway? I'm not discounting the possibility that he's becoming a fantastic player but I'm going to have to see it first (in games not practice) because last year he was pretty atrocious.

I like a lot of the players but when it comes to the WIN column, to me the questions still abound for this team.

 

Amazing Shelby replaced Soliai at NT for a season at Utah.

 

He reminds me of Marco Coleman.

 

I'll match that and raise you a Lorenzo Bromell.

 

I don't see a comparison to Bromell. He was 6'6. Shelby is roughly Coleman's size, 6'3 and 270, long arms, strong, good motor, but bad 40 time for his size. Coleman ran in the 4.9s too before the 1992 draft, but it didn't hurt his draft status. IMO, the reason Shelby went undrafted is largely due to his 4.91 forty times, which is pretty slow compared to many players of his size. It maybe a dumb reason to discount a guy too much based on their forty times, but I think it does happen.

 

I was just slinging it to see if it would stick.

 

2 weeks ago? There was a lot of talk around here about him in the week after the draft when our UDFA signees were being discussed.

 

Thanks for the healthy dose of reality. "Slap"......I needed that!

 

I didn't know that. That's pretty wacky, but it seems like it might be a reason why be would be Odrick's backup.