2014 Comprehensive Nfl Draft Database

[Darth Tater]

even if the other becomes a true #1.

No, since you can't really call it unless you compare it to other options.  Its a good outcome but how does it compare with outcomes of other alternatives?

[Laron Burgundy]

Just because it's a bit better than London running on fumes doesn't make it a worthwhile pick at #34.

 

So far, I've yet to see a player who lacks certain intangibles or desire in college, suddenly develop them in the pro's.  If a player doesn't look like he wants to be physical in college, I doubt it changes once he gets drafted.  It's not just that Shazier can't get off blocks, it's that he doesn't try to make it difficult for the blocker.

 

Shazier is going anywhere between mid-1st to mid-2nd.  His unreal 40 yard time could make for an interesting trade down scenario if he were there at #34.  But there are probably half a dozen guys I'd be happy taking at #34 over Shazier.

 

I'm sure others would have different perceptions of Shazier.  But when I watch Shazier, I don't see someone who loves competing and winning at football, I see someone who loves being an athlete and happens to play football.

 

See, I don't see the whole lack of fight in him point.  He took and delivered a ton of shots in college.  He's far from soft, so I don't get that criticism of him at all.  In fact, I'd say his violence is one of his top traits.  Thing is he could be more violent with his hand use when engaged with a blocker, and he could stand his ground better instead of giving up ground in order to make space from the blocker, but those are things you could probably say about most college linebackers.

 

I don't see a lack of fight.  I see a guy who knew he could give up 5 yards of ground to a blocker to disengage and still make a tackle behind the line of scrimmage once he was released.  His role in that defense (and it would be his role in ours as well) was to get to the ball, not to occupy blockers so others could get the ballcarrier.  Others in that back 7 weren't overly talented, so the team couldn't rely on him just filling a lane and his team cleaning up.  The few times I saw him do that were often the times Ohio State got gashed.

 

When I speak of intangibles such as work ethic or passion, that's something that none of us can really see from just cut-ups of games.  It's something better determined by interviews with teammates, coaches, and the player himself.  Things we aren't really privy to.  I just don't know how anyone calls out the 3rd leading tackler in the country, a guy who was also 2nd in tfl, for lack of heart when playing.

 

Now, if the guy was a total chode to teammates and his coaches couldn't stand his laziness, then no he's not the player we should draft.  But that's something I'm incapable of determining from where I sit.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

So I've read that we've met with a late round OT prospect, Charles Leno Jr., a lot.  He seems like a classic Shanny pick.  He kicked ass in the agility drills, his combined score for shuttle + cone is 11.97.  His arm length is good at 34" & 3/8ths.  He's got a pretty good pair of mitts at 10" & 1/8th.

 

Only one video up of him on draftbreakdown:

 

 

That play at 4:08 is crazy.  Like literally insane.  I don't know what to think about it, but clearly they have a lot of faith in Charles Leno's abilities to call that.  I'm just flabbergasted.  The combine scores back it up, and the fact they ran that play indicates he's incredibly athletic for a 305 pounder.

 

One thing I like about it, the extra shove after the play was well over.  You want mean lineman that will wear out defenders.

 

So, he looks good.  Very curious about future videos, I want to see what he looks like against a better team.  I sort of question his strength and punch.  He seems to catch defenders a bit, but at least he does it with arm extension.  Every now and then you see him attempt to jolt someone with a punch, I wish you saw it more often.  Occasionally when he tries to catch someone he'll get pushed backwards a bit.

 

One thing I really liked, and this could work well in a Gap scheme, is that his quick feet can allow him to wall off an unsuspecting defender before they realize that's what he's doing.

 

I saw nothing to indicate a grade as low as round 5-6 (CBS and NFL.com), but I'm assuming the reasoning for that is in the other games that there aren't cutups for.

 

Basically, from watching 1 game, I'd draft him.  He looks like a pretty good RT to develop.  I need to see more film though.

[Gizmo 3squire]

Since we will eventually trade Cousins, who is on board the Logan Thomas as RG3's backup train?

 

<-----That's right, this guy 

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants him. Dude looks like he can be a viable backup too.

[Laron Burgundy]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants him. Dude looks like he can be a viable backup too.

Thomas has all the physical ability in the world but he's not mentally there. Not even close at this point and likely never will be. He can't read defenses and his accuracy is awful even when he makes the correct read. If I thought I could turn him in to a tight end he'd probably be a steal late in the draft, but he's no cam newton, who was at least an accurate qb coming out of college.

[darrelgreenie]

I'll take a flier on him late as a TE

not many people with his skillset running around

He could make a nice living as a TE

[RemoveSnyder]

Leno

 

He was a guy that I noticed during the Kickslide Drill and other proprietary positional drills, at the Combine. Like you said, shanny-esque.

 

[Gizmo 3squire]

Thomas has all the physical ability in the world but he's not mentally there. Not even close at this point and likely never will be. He can't read defenses and his accuracy is awful even when he makes the correct read. If I thought I could turn him in to a tight end he'd probably be a steal late in the draft, but he's no cam newton, who was at least an accurate qb coming out of college.

 

he's that bad?

 

yikes

 

well nwm then.lolol

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

See, I don't see the whole lack of fight in him point. 

...

Thing is he could be more violent with his hand use when engaged with a blocker, and he could stand his ground better instead of giving up ground in order to make space from the blocker, but those are things you could probably say about most college linebackers.

 

But he's projected to be a mid 1st to mid 2nd round pick.  He's not supposed to be an average caliber college linebacker when an average college blocker is in front of him.  You can even see occasional plays where a wide receiver is effective when blocking him.  That should not be the case for his draft range.

 

 

I don't see a lack of fight.  I see a guy who knew he could give up 5 yards of ground to a blocker to disengage and still make a tackle behind the line of scrimmage once he was released.  His role in that defense (and it would be his role in ours as well) was to get to the ball, not to occupy blockers so others could get the ballcarrier.  Others in that back 7 weren't overly talented, so the team couldn't rely on him just filling a lane and his team cleaning up.  The few times I saw him do that were often the times Ohio State got gashed.

 

How do you know what his role in our defense would be?  We don't exactly operate with a traditional 4-3 Will, Mike, and Sam.  And he's projected to be a 4-3 Will in the pro's (which he could be very good at for a team like the Bucs, but they already have Lavonte David).

 

And this all works in a perfect environment, every now and then a player will have to do the dirty work and aggressively take on a blocker.  If Shazier is incapable of that, we start having issues.

 

 

When I speak of intangibles such as work ethic or passion, that's something that none of us can really see from just cut-ups of games.  It's something better determined by interviews with teammates, coaches, and the player himself.  Things we aren't really privy to.  I just don't know how anyone calls out the 3rd leading tackler in the country, a guy who was also 2nd in tfl, for lack of heart when playing.

 

Now, if the guy was a total chode to teammates and his coaches couldn't stand his laziness, then no he's not the player we should draft.  But that's something I'm incapable of determining from where I sit.

 

True, and I haven't heard anything to say he's an asshole off the field.  But one can be a workout warrior in the gym, yet still not give it his all on the field.  Bacarri Rambo, athletically, should be better than he is.  But he's a timid and poor tackler, and let's himself get blocked out of a play instead of attacking the block.

 

There are a lot of advantages in being physical with a blocker.  If you can attack the blocker, you can often position yourself on the correct side of the blocker so as to still sort of "occupy" the running lane.  You'll have an outside (or inside) shoulder free to attempt a tackle.  Often you won't bring him down solo, but you can at least slow the runner down.

 

One of the issues we had was our guys (such as Rambo) would let himself get blocked straight up.  This still gives the runner options for where to run, they can cut to the left or right of their blocker.  If someone attacks the blocker while keeping a shoulder free and (correctly) dictates which side of the blocker the runner can't cut towards, then it's easier to corral the runner towards your teammates.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

He was a guy that I noticed during the Kickslide Drill and other proprietary positional drills, at the Combine. Like you said, shanny-esque.

 

So the guy we just signed, Shawn Lauvao, also had an impressive agility score with a 12.07.  And he weighs 315.  Seems like the rumors of us having interest in Charles Leno could be true, as we look to be continuing in the super athletic lineman mold.

[Laron Burgundy]

But he's projected to be a mid 1st to mid 2nd round pick.  He's not supposed to be an average caliber college linebacker when an average college blocker is in front of him.  You can even see occasional plays where a wide receiver is effective when blocking him.  That should not be the case for his draft range.

 

 

How do you know what his role in our defense would be?  We don't exactly operate with a traditional 4-3 Will, Mike, and Sam.  And he's projected to be a 4-3 Will in the pro's (which he could be very good at for a team like the Bucs, but they already have Lavonte David).

 

And this all works in a perfect environment, every now and then a player will have to do the dirty work and aggressively take on a blocker.  If Shazier is incapable of that, we start having issues.

 

 

 

True, and I haven't heard anything to say he's an asshole off the field.  But one can be a workout warrior in the gym, yet still not give it his all on the field.  Bacarri Rambo, athletically, should be better than he is.  But he's a timid and poor tackler, and let's himself get blocked out of a play instead of attacking the block.

 

There are a lot of advantages in being physical with a blocker.  If you can attack the blocker, you can often position yourself on the correct side of the blocker so as to still sort of "occupy" the running lane.  You'll have an outside (or inside) shoulder free to attempt a tackle.  Often you won't bring him down solo, but you can at least slow the runner down.

 

One of the issues we had was our guys (such as Rambo) would let himself get blocked straight up.  This still gives the runner options for where to run, they can cut to the left or right of their blocker.  If someone attacks the blocker while keeping a shoulder free and (correctly) dictates which side of the blocker the runner can't cut towards, then it's easier to corral the runner towards your teammates.

 

If he didn't have flaws we'd be talking about him as a top ten pick.  He has a lot of the same issues as Ogletree had last year and his draft range will be similar.  In my eyes he's a lot more explosive than Ogletree.

 

I actually did some reading up to see what his personality is like and apparently he's a pretty good guy.  His dad was a pastor, so he has that upbringing.  He was also born with alopecia, so he's had hair loss his entire life and was bullied when he was younger.  Instead of letting that turn him into a bitter, hateful person people say he's uplifting to be around.  He joined a teammate in a trip to that guy's hometown after his teammate's dad passed away.  He played in a #48 jersey for a game when the manager of his high school team passed away from muscular dystrophy and he donned #2 for a teammate who had lost his senior season due to injury.  All-in-all he seems like a much better teammate than, say, Te'O, who makes up girlfriends passing away just for the publicity.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

If he didn't have flaws we'd be talking about him as a top ten pick.  He has a lot of the same issues as Ogletree had last year and his draft range will be similar.  In my eyes he's a lot more explosive than Ogletree.

 

I actually did some reading up to see what his personality is like and apparently he's a pretty good guy.  His dad was a pastor, so he has that upbringing.  He was also born with alopecia, so he's had hair loss his entire life and was bullied when he was younger.  Instead of letting that turn him into a bitter, hateful person people say he's uplifting to be around.  He joined a teammate in a trip to that guy's hometown after his teammate's dad passed away.  He played in a #48 jersey for a game when the manager of his high school team passed away from muscular dystrophy and he donned #2 for a teammate who had lost his senior season due to injury.  All-in-all he seems like a much better teammate than, say, Te'O, who makes up girlfriends passing away just for the publicity.

 

That's a good point, from what I remember of Ogletree, I do like Shazier better.

 

And the rest makes it seem like we shouldn't have any off the field worries with him, which is nice.

[amm0409]

Benton,

#Redskins are at #Rutgers pro day, contact confirms. They showed interest in Brandon Coleman at the combine.

[RemoveSnyder]

as we look to be continuing in the super athletic lineman mold.

 

Which is kind-of frustrating to me. I don't mind a guy who can move, move his feet and slide, move himself in space ... but I'd also like to get a guy who can move another man's 330+ lbs body.

 

Just sayin'.

[darrelgreenie]

Right now our WR corps is a bunch of little fellas and an injured 'taller' WR who plays like a short WR

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

Which is kind-of frustrating to me. I don't mind a guy who can move, move his feet and slide, move himself in space ... but I'd also like to get a guy who can move another man's 330+ lbs body.

 

Just sayin'.

 

Yeah, it'd be nice.

 

For now, I'll just settle on having an o-line that is, while incapable of moving a big DT out of the way, can at least prevent themselves from similarly being moved out of the way.

 

So Shanny's o-lines tend to be smaller, athletic, and poorer in pass protection.  He's gotten enough time for his QB by using lots of bootlegs and moving pockets, but in a straight drop back game, they've been anything but stout.  Every now and then, one of our o-lineman would get blown backwards in the run game too.

 

I mean, theoretically with proper technique, and overall line effort, we can combo, down, reach block our way into moving d-lineman out of the way.  The biggest problem was in pass pro, as our lighter o-line would give up too much ground.  The Bengals o-line wasn't the best at mauling a guy off a spot, but they were generally very solid in pass-pro and extremely stout.  They weren't getting pushed backwards in the pass or run game.

 

So, and this still uses my optimism for LeRibeus, but we could add 40 pounds to our Guard spots.  Lauvao at RG and LeRibeus at LG with Monty/Licht fighting for Center.

 

We might not ever have a world beating o-line, but stout and mobile is better than what we currently have.

[Always A Commander Never A Captain]

Right now our WR corps is a bunch of little fellas and an injured 'taller' WR who plays like a short WR

 

I swear Hankerson's catch radius wildly fluctuates.  I think it has to do with him not having quick feet.  It's harder for him to readjust to throws, but sometimes you see his long arms and gigantic hands in action.

[Laron Burgundy]

Benton,

#Redskins are at #Rutgers pro day, contact confirms. They showed interest in Brandon Coleman at the combine.

 

Coleman isn't my favorite prospect and I hope he's not the target when Jeff Janis might be on the board a round later.  Janis blew up the combine but what I like about him is his nifty footwork along the sidelines and his ability to adjust to poorly thrown balls.  He was sensational in college as a deep threat but also ran a lot of the intermediate routes.  Solid hands to extend for the catch, would make the tough catches in traffic (which is a negative for Coleman imo) and he initiated contact.  It may be a lazy comparison but he reminds me of the shiftiness and hands of Jordy Nelson with some of the toughness of Alshon Jeffrey.

 

And with signing Bruce Campbell, who was quite the workout wonder, I wonder if we go after someone like Seantrel in the draft.  Lauvao had a good workout as well.  Campbell is still very iffy with his technique, some plays he'll be great and others will just be awful.  I wonder how he'll look with more zone blocking, but he worked well as a pulling guard for Carolina.  I don't know if our plan is to have him compete at RT, but with Justin Tuck, Anthony Spencer and Demarcus Ware gone from our division, our RT's life just got a lot easier.

[darrelgreenie]

Hard for me to judge Janis because the only vid I've found aren't game cut-ups but highlight reels. 

At the Senior Bowl he looked slight and I worry aboout his frame and strength in the NFL where most CBs can press.

Janis has great speed but he's a project to me because of the level of competition question and his slight frame.

I would love to land him late in draft 6th roundish.

[RemoveSnyder]

... straight drop back ... anything but stout ... get blown backwards

... The biggest problem was in pass pro

... give up too much ground. 

 

I know.

 

And one of the best guys in the draft, who is a combo of mobility, movement and anchor, is Zack Martin, at least for Guard, as I project him.

 

No 1st rounder (as you know).

 

I know Bitonio has got a nasty streak. He's a guard, at least to me, guard size. He is pretty skinny in the legs comparatively to being barrel-chested up-top. I haven't looked enough yet at his anchor (specifically) to see if it will be a limitation for him moving forward, but he's pretty fiery as a blocker, seemed to be able to move his feet well, got after it. Easy slide from LT to LG.

 

I think he's a 2nd round talent.

[bird_1972]

Please, please .... let's draft a NT. 

 

Please...

[Laron Burgundy]

Please, please .... let's draft a NT. 

 

Please...

 

I think the problem is the NT's this year just aren't that great.  I would rather sign a guy like Soliai or even Cody rather than draft one, outside of Nix falling to us.

[RemoveSnyder]

http://nfl.si.com/2014/02/23/mike-evans-john-brown-nfl-combine/

Risers

John Brown, WR, Pittsburg State:

 

The combine is a grain-of-salt situation in a lot of ways — a couple of 40 times or positional drills (usually) do not supersede years of game performances. For the small-school guys, though, it’s a prime opportunity to get some face time after college careers spent mostly off the radar.

 

That’s why at just about every combine a few of those lesser-known prospects stand out as “stars.” This year, it was Brown, who followed up a strong Shrine Game week showing with an impressive effort in Indianapolis.

 

The standout moment for the 5-foot-10 receiver came in the 40-yard dash. Brown clocked in with a 4.34, just shy of Brandin Cooks’ top time for the position of 4.33. Cooks, by the way, may have solidified a spot in Round 1 with workout. He’s a smooth, confident pass-catcher with elite speed.

 

But Brown turned in strong work during the “gauntlet” drill, just like Cooks — that drill asks receivers to spin into catches twice on the sideline, then sprint the width of the field while attempting five more catches at various intervals. That Brown has shown scouts multiple times now his pass-catching abilities certainly should help him from here on out.

 

“(He) has great work ethic, and his teammates see that, that’s why they elected him as a captain again,” Pittsburg State coach Tim Beck said earlier this season, according to The Wichita Eagle.

 

“He doesn’t take plays off. He jumps to be the first in line in every drill and wants to be out there, working, constantly. A lot of people can run really fast, but not a lot of people can run full speed and catch the ball and make decisions on the fly like he can.”

 

[RemoveSnyder]

John Brown

Hudl Profile Page: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/577945/john-brown

JB Navigation Page: http://www.hudl.com/athlete/577945/highlights

...

 

John Brown || Nov. 22, 2013 || 2432 views

...

Money Man || Nov. 29, 2012 || 113 views

 

[RemoveSnyder]

I defy any of you to click on the first image, which takes you to the HudL page showing J.Brown's highlights, watch it, and not come away impressed.