Tweet
Jammer may have been the best tackling CB of all. He had some holes in his game but tackling wasn't one of them.
-
THE YEAR OF THE FLIP! -
Haven't been following this thread, I've kinda checked out since the Jabberwocky in Jacksonville. In the first round I want one of these three. One of them is bound to fall to No. 22.
Bijan Robinson https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/...inson-RB-Texas
Jordan Addison https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/...-WR-Pittsburgh
Zay Flowers https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/...-BostonCollege
In the 2nd round, which will be about #55, I want
(if they draft a WR in round 1) Jahmyr Gibbs https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/...RB-GeorgiaTech
or
(if they draft an RB in round 1) Josh Downs https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/...-NorthCarolina
Telesco/Staley need to invest in the offensive skill positions. In the past three drafts they've used 5 1st-2nd picks on OL or defense. They need speed at WR and skill at RB. Give Moore/Herbert what they need to make the offense unstoppable.Comment
-
SPEEEEEEED SPEEEEED SPEEEEED!!!
I was harping on this last offseason. I was a little disappointed we didn't add another weapon for JH.
Well I'm not the only one.
https://www.chargers.com/news/group-...eason-priority
Here's my WR list assuming the Top 2-3 are gone.
1. Jaylin Hyatt. I have him the #4 WR.
If Hyatt is gone...
2. Zay Flowers
3. Josh Downs.
This being a very weak WR draft class. If the WR they want isn't there there's a real possibility we could go Edge or TE, and pick up a FA WR. FA WR class is pretty weak as well.Last edited by SuperCharged; 02-02-2023, 07:38 PM.Comment
-
No one speeks about stopping the run !Comment
-
Means there will be top talent sitting at 21 due to inevitable early pick “reaches.” Good place to be IMO.Originally posted by wu-dai clan View PostComment
-
He had so many pass breakups because him and Flo (remember him?) were targeted so much. But yeah he was a pretty damn good defender after his first 3-4 years.Originally posted by Topcat View Post
Comment
-
Michael Meyers that dude has game. Notre Dame tight end the dude is a beast. Let me let you marinate Rob Gronkowski Travis Kelce. So what do you want? Do you want the home run hitter Bijan Robinson? Or do you want the Tyreke Hill. Zay Flowers? What do you want.
the polished route runner Jordan Addison?
the possible Mike Evans in Hyatt?
they can’t fuck this up? I’ve been very opinionated on here. Y’all have seen? I’ve gone back and forth you know what I want? I want Kelce give me my Kelce.
im watching Mahomes shred up this league and he has Kelce. Give Herbert his Mahomes. Michael mayers.
he runs great routes strong can block. And that tight end will seal up the middle making it better for Williams.
Moore likes to use the tight end he will have a say in this. So give me the Notre Dame tight end.
im a big USC guy I saw Meyers shred up USC.Comment
-
-
Senior Bowl, related draft trends
February 1, 2023
0 Comment
With our usual eyes on the ground unfortunately sidelined for this Senior Bowl cycle, combined with the TV abysmal (we’re looking at you NFL Network) coverage available up in these parts, its been harder than to get a feel for what’s actually evolving in Mobile this week. Needless to say, what we can say is that the biggest story, both literally and figuratively at this week’s Senior Bowl has been massive Ohio State OT Dawand Jones who has given new meaning to the concept of blocking out the sun. For those who missed it, Jones measured in at 6-8 and a reported 375 pounds with 36.5 inch arms and a record 89.8 inch wingspan. And for the most part, Jones has dominated through the first couple of days as it really is over when he gets his hands on people, However, we did see one play on Tuesday when Jones was a little slow to react to a quick outside move (by a player we couldn’t identify). And that will be the question for Jones going forward; can he move his feet well enough to consistently cut off the edge from fast NFL pass rushers, as well as handle pro counter moves.
Meanwhile, other players who have consistently shown up in dispatches from Mobile include WRs Michael Wilson of Stanford, Rashee Rice of SMU and tiny Nathaniel Dell of Houston; RBs Tyjae Spears of Tulane and Texas’ Roschon Johnson; DEs Keion White of Georgia Tech, Will McDonald of Iowa State, and Derick Hall of Auburn; Bowling Green DT Karl Brooks; Oregon State TE Luke Musgrave; and CBs Riley Moss of Iowa and Miami’s Tyrique Stevenson.
More importantly, perhaps though, we are starting to pick up some whispers from folks around the Senior Bowl about some potential shifts in the positional landscape of the 2023 draft. In particular, it appears that DE could be emerging as the position of choice, at least early on at the upcoming draft. Indeed, edge rushers Will Anderson of Alabama, Tyree Wilson of Texas Tech and Clemson’s Myles Murphy have been mainstays in the top ten for some time, while Iowa’s Lukas Van Ness is also pushing for a top 10 grade on a lot of boards around the league. At the same time, one of the hottest players in mobile this week is Georgia Tech DE Keion White. NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah, the network’s lead draft analyst and a pretty connected guy when it comes to this stuff, for example, has White all the way up to #8 on his just released first top 50 overall ranking for 2023.
Fact is, we haven’t heard that any teams have White quite that high, but most do appear have him rated in the opening round and more than one has him in the middle of the round. White is a really interesting prospect. He was a lightly recruited TE in high school; in fact his only offer was from old Dominion where he played a couple of years as a TE before switching to DE and then moved to Georgia Tech this year where he had 7.5 sacks. That’s not why NFL teams are intrigued though as he is a full-sized 6-5, 280-pounder with reported 4.6 type speed which all translates into a ton of potential upside at the next level. At the same time, Iowa State’s Will McDonald, is a little undersized but has showed some Micah Parsons like moves at the Senior Bowl and may be starting to get some late first interest of his own. On the other hnd, one DE who appears to be struggling at times in Mobile is Andre Carter of Army who has spent way too much time on the ground. He has the size and quickness but appears to really need an off-season in a NFL weight program.
The other position that appears to be growing in scout’s eyes are the cornerbacks. Again, there has been a lead group of three top 15-20 guys in Penn State’s Joey Porter, Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez and Cam Smith of South Carolina. But THE hottest guy in this year’s draft class appears to be Illinois CB Devon Witherspoon, who it appears maybe the #1 corner on multiple team’s boards. And there is a deep second-tier group on the corner including Iowa’s Riley Moss, another player reportedly moving up boards round the league, along with Georgia’s Kelee Ringo, Miami’s Tyrique Stephenson, Emmanuel Forbes of Mississippi State and Maryland’s Deonte Banks.
Its not all defense, though, as both the TE and OT rooms also reportedly look like they are getting stronger. In fact, the TE position is loaded with Notre Dame’s Michael Mayer a first-round lock, while Dalton Kincaid of Utah, Darnell Washington of Georgia and Oregon State’s Luke Musgrave have all got late round supporters. It also looks like it could be another good year at OT where Northwestern’s Peter Skoronski looks like he has established himself as the top prospect at the position.
On the other hand, the one position where there may be some slippage are the wide receivers. It doesn’t appear, for example, that very many teams currently have any WRs in their top ten while it seems that the second-tier group right behind the top three prospects – TCU’s Quentin Johnston, USC’s Jordan Addison and Ohio State’s Jaxon Njigba-Smith – has thinned out a bit although several receivers including Jalin Hyatt of Tennessee, Boston College’s Zay Flowers and SMU’s Rashee Rice still have later first-round potential.Comment
-
Star Games Week Tuesday 01/31/23
February 1, 20230 Comment
So as I sat on my lanai, staring at my laptop and feeling sorry for myself, being in Orlando instead of Mobile, my fingers stumbled upon a recent tweet which mentioned the first Top 50 pre-Draft Prospect rankings from Daniel Jeremiah, alias Move the Sticks. I made a mental note to return to the link to that piece while I watched what seemed like a laboriously slow posting of Senior Bowl player measurements, one by one. Then the light went on Senior Bowl, Jeremiah, player measurements, prospect rankings… wait for it… BINGO! With Jeremiah being on of the half-dozen or so Draftniks that I trust and lean on for info over the next 3 months why don’t I see how many of DJ’s guys are in Mobile this week for Senior Bowl activities.
So before I bore down to the roots of who’s there, and who’s not that DJ really likes let’s float some numbers and explanations of the rules the Senior Bowl has to play by. While Jeremiah is picking from 500 or more eligible players, as verified by the NFL itself, for the 2023 Draft, Jim NAGY has a smaller list, from which he may only “invite” the top 125 or so to come to Mobile. So I grab the print-out from NFL to the Media from last week, which lists the college players who have petitioned the League to seek employment now with the NFL. The list included collegiate 69 players who the League declared eligible for the next Draft, at the end of April. Those 69 players are NOT eligible by rule for the All-Star Games, of which the Senior Bowl is King, and still champion of recruiters for their game venue.
The League also listed 13 players who also petitioned to be included in the Draft. These 13 were granted acceptance by the NFL because they have received their college degrees. Any of these 13 are eligible for the All-Star Games. NAGY recruited some of them, but only 1 of them (Isaiah Foskey/Notre Dame) is in Mobile, but surprisingly not on DJ’s Top 50.
Of the total of 13 mentioned above, 3 were in the Top 50, but chose not to attend the Senior Bowl.
In one final category 4 players who sought an exemption to be in the Draft, were told they did not need to. And one of them, TE LUKE MUSGRAVE/Oregon St, is at the Senior Bowl.
The Senior Bowl effectively has 10 of Jeremiah’s Top 50 players in their Game. They thought they had 13, but 2 withdrew KINCAID/TE/Utah & TYREE WILSON/Texas Tech due to injury. And WITHERSPOON/Illinois withdrew, reason unknown, last week.
Another of DJ’s 50 went to the Shrine Game, in ZAY FLOWERS WR B.C.
Another actual senior who declined the game because of a season long injury, NOLAN SMITH/Georgia, is also on Jeremiah’s list.
The real hit comes from a category that JIM NAGY is powerless to impact, that is the declared players on that list of 69. It s after all the Senior Bowl, not the Underclassmen Bowl as former game Director PHIL SAVAGE used to say. The math says that 32 of 50 players on Jeremiah’s list are underclassmen, and thus not fair game for recruitment.
So the simple truth of the matter is, as usual, the Reeses’ Senior Bowl gets the vast majority of the eligible to attend players. End of discussion.
Cheers
Pigskin
PS To those of you who missed it in all the BRADY retirement talk this morning, RB Roshcon Johnson/Texas broke a bone in his hand in yesterday’s practice. He is out of the game unfortunately.
Comment
-
STAR Games 2023 update Thursday, Feb. 2
February 2, 2023
0 Comment
With a couple of days to watch snippets of practices, plus keeping one ear to the ground, and gathering some numbers of relevance I feel ready to share some Star Game thoughts as the Shrine & Senior Bowl are upon us.
Let me start with one of the most pleasurable of the happenings once practices get under way… surprise standout players. No not guys that have jumped from Priority Rookie Free Agent to First Rounder. There really are not a lot of those miracles lying around out on those practice fields these days. But we do seem to find guys who go from “not on my Top 300 list”, to “might be late draftable”. Got one from each squad in Mobile.
Players do drop out of these events, and this late in the process it’s a mad rush to replace guys like ROSHCON JOHNSON/Texas who unfortunately broke a bone in his hand on Tuesday. So it is not surprising to hear JIM NAGY talk about watching tape of players who were at the Hula & NFLPA games that preceded this week’s Star action. He’s always looking for the “next man up”to get to Mobile to replace someone, for whatever reason it might be. So it’s a pleasant surprise, and a pat on the back to NAGY & his scouts, when some of these ‘Call-up” guys make their mark, like these two…
#67 ASIM RICHARDS OG UNC 6’04/307 10″H/34 1/8″A National Squad
I have to admit this man was not on my Prospect list two weeks ago. When he was announced as an add-in I shrugged and took a quick look at the 2022 UNC football guide. I liked what I read OK. But in two practices he’s been more than just OK. He’s a strong man, with long arms (for an IOL) and he is agile. It shows that he played in a pro style Offense for MACK BROWN as he is proficient in both run blocking and pass pro. I can guarantee you that he has made my watch list as game day approaches.
#0 MARTE MAPU SS/LB Sacramento St 6’025/217 33 3/8″A/80″Wing American Squad
From a strong smaller school football program, MAPU was called up after playing in the NFLPA Game last weekend. He is a seriously talented and athletic hybrid LB/SS who has practiced primarily at LB so far. And his penetration and head on tackling, in TFL ground quite often, is not going unnoticed. You can hear the pads cracking as he hits blockers and RB alike. He too just jumped onto the pages of my Top Prospect list. I am anxious to see what he does on game day.
As with much of higher level football these days, electronic timing is gaining big ground, and looking to eclipse things like the 40-yard dash as a meaningful measurement of player speed, in pads. I was anxious to see how fast/quick TREY PALMER is. Palmer was at Nebraska last season and put up some solid numbers, in both receiving and return work, in a lost season for the Cornhuskers. It sure seemed to me that PALMER would be moving up Draft Boards as his speed was revealed in post-season testing. We got a taste of that Wednesday as the National squad receiver was timed at 21.15 mph, running a fly route. Translation for future reference, that project to a 40-time of about 4.3? This guy is gonna rise all the way up until the NFL Draft begins.
Let’s flash to a guy who was not on many folks prospect radar until the 2022 collegiate season got to late October; TYJAE SPEARS/RB/Tulane. He rushed for over 1,000-yards, proved he was an above average receiver. He was the primary weapon for Tulane as they flipped from a double-digit Loss team in 2021, to a double-digit Win team in 2022. First good impression was weighing in at a solid 205, and looking like the most explosive RB here in practice. He is simply exploding through holes at the line-of-scrimmage and racing to the house. What I have seem in two practices in Mobile, combined with his season’s work at Tulane have him now entrenched in my Top 100.
Unfortunately, the highly scrutinized QB position has been much like a car accident scene; ‘Move along folks, nothing to see here”. But years of scouting (albeit admittedly amateur, not professional) tells me the real proof is in the game day play. So I will say for now, I might expect JAKE HAENER/#9, NATIONAL & CLAYTON TUNE/#3, AMERICAN to be the most effective game day leaders from the 6 active QB here.
This year’s small college darling appears to be CODY MAUCH/OL/N. Dakota St #70. He’s the big guy with flaming red hair sticking out of his helmet, a bit of a QUINN MEINERZ big belly (usually exposed) and a big smile despite missing his front 2 top teeth. But let me tell you, this young guy is not some kind of joke. He’s a legit college player, and pro prospect. He’s big and tough and aggressive. And the big experiment seems to be going well. That experiment is moving him inside to play OG/C here this week. MAUCH ‘s weigh-in numbers were as follows: 6’047/305, 9 5’/8″H/32 1/8″A/79 3/4″ Wing. It’s those relatively short arms that have NFL Scouts looking to see what he can do as a future IOL. He’s doing fine so far. He’s also showing a solid personalty with a self-deprecating sense of humor. Another Top 100 player for me.
OK, so really how big is DAWAND JONES OT/Ohio State? 6’801/375, 11 3/8″H/36 5/8″A/89 1/2″Wing
In other words huge or gigantic. The striking part is that when his unit huddles, even the 6’4/315 guys look a lot smaller than him. He sat out Wednesday with a possible concussion. So without teasing him about his size I will give you a point of reference if you have not seen his size differential with other full sized football players. Go to UTube and google up AndyReid Punt, Pass & Kick competition. It’s an often referenced video of Andy as a kid competing in the NFL sponsored PPK competition. Reid looks like a giant compared to all the kids in his age group. That’s DAWAND in most any football huddle. Now get better young man so we can see you in game action. He’s kinda raw, but as Coach Parcells used to say, you can’t coach size.
I have been a big fan of RASHEE RICE WR/SMU since the 2021 season. He’s an athletic, decent sized receiver @ 6’004/200, 9 1/2″H/32 1/8″A/77 1/4″W. Not numbers that sound like a small guy, but SMU’s media Gide had him about 6’3/210. Doesn’t matter a bit when you analyze his play. RICE caught 96 balls for 1355-yards & 10 TD last season for SMU in 12 games last season. He has decent speed but gets open on route running and a penchant for winning contested throws. He is also a workaholic when it comes to his playbook.
Most of the players in Mobile are 20+ years old. That sorta means that they are just transitioning from boys to men in their football molded bodies. But it looks like a few of them are already grown men, or at least playing like a man. One such player has been KEEANU BENTON DL/Wisconsin. In his muscled 6’3 1/2″/312# frame he is just pushing a lot of his National teammates around to make plays in any drill exercise his coaches run. He’s strong, and shows very good quickness and some well honed penetration moves. He reminds me a lot of 2 former SEC greats, now toiling in the NFL; CHRIS JONES/Chiefs & JEFFREY SIMMONS/Titans. At the pace he is practicing this week BLANTON could be edging his way into the late First Round come Draft time. Guy’s with his size, who can collapse the pocket from the inside are highly desired in today’s NFL defenses. He didn’t get the recognition as the Badgers 2022 season became a dumpster fire every other week of action. That’s why LUKE FICKELL is now their Head Coach and is working the Transfer Portal to boost the Badgers talent pool, as we speak. If you watch the Senior Bowl game this Saturday, keep your eyes on #95/BLANTON and a guy who may line up near him #6/KEION WHITE.
So let’s run this thru one more time. Star Games matter. Anytime they put on the pads and keep score it matters. So…
SHRINE BOWL Thursday (tonight) 8:30 EST/5:30 PST TV coverage NFLNetwork from Las Vegas
REESE’S SENIOR BOWL Saturday 2:30 EST/1:30CST TV Coverage NFL Network from Mobile, AL
Watch them both, and tape them for future study.
Cheers
Pigskin
P.S. I almost forgot to mention my favorite player in this game: LB #1, National Squad, DAIYAN HENLEY, Washington State, 6’1/230#. He has been flying around the field in Mobile and I am pretty sure I am not the only “watcher” this week tat sees First Round (late) talent, in part because he is just as effective against either the run or pass game.
P.S.S. Not to forget the Shrine Bowl tonight… keep your eyes on ZAY FLOWERS WR/RS #4. This speedy/quick, little (5’9/182) water bug is the highest ranked prospect in this game. He’s on the West Squad somehow, even though he’s from Boston College.Comment
-
It all depends on how the prior picks play out.
I would love to see a draft go something like this.
Rd 1. WR
2. Edge
3. WR
4. DL
5. LB/DL
6-7 Best CB/TE on the their big board.
Comment
Comment