Welcome to the Redskins Jeremy Sprinkle, TE, Arkansas

[gohogs14]

On 4/29/2017 at 9:43 PM, stevemcqueen1 said:

Welcome to the Redskins Jeremy.

 

This dude is a lanky long strider.  Eats up so much ground in the open field.

 

I haven't really delved into his cut ups yet, but the first thing I notice is that his frame is gigantic.  Like big enough for an OT.  He has super long limbs and he's thick at the joints.  Looks like a classic late bloomer who is not even close to growing into his body yet and he's already 250.  As he ages and gets his man strength, I think he could easily get up to 275-280 without losing speed.  He's a king sized tight end.

 

He came to Arkansas as a 205 pound, 2-star athlete. He's still pretty raw. A lot of our fans think he was underutilized in the passing game this past year because the OL was really bad so he had to stay in and block. He probably caught a million play action dumpoffs into the flat. He has really big hands.

 

When we had Hunter Henry here to draw the defense away from him in 2015, he led all SEC TEs in TD catches. I could see him being a big threat in the redzone with defenses keying on stopping Reed similar to that. We even lined him up at FB at 6'5 and he would end up wide open on wheel routes down the field off of play action. His signature "Sprinkle" celebration is sort of like an upside down Johnny Manziel "money" motion that really caught on here lol.

 

The Belk Bowl incident was really stupid and surprising because he was a captain and one of the most well liked players on the team for 5 years. Probably knocked him down a round.

 

[beachboy757]

I like this draft pickup also but don't like the downplaying of J. Reed lately (not just here but also on other social media outlets) by fans.  We know Reed is not a good pass blocker but some have been making Reed out as a JAG even when it has been shown statistically that he makes the difference between us being a bad team vs a respectable one.

[Koolblue13]

On 5/1/2017 at 2:26 AM, Rattlesnake88 said:

Big kid. Love that he can block. No comparison to Paulson other than he can block though. Logan was all rigid like a breadstick(ol Greg reference for ya) and hands of stone. Sprinkle is quicker in and out of his routes (a little loosy goosey though), softer hands, faster and longer limbed. 

Was that an Archer reference after the ol greg reference? 

[Koolblue13]

I can't be the only one who wants to call him Jimmy Sprinkles. 

[Rattlesnake88]

6 hours ago, Koolblue13 said:

Was that an Archer reference after the ol greg reference? 

Lol no unfortunately 

[Koolblue13]

13 minutes ago, Rattlesnake88 said:

Lol no unfortunately 

Must have been a rouse

[Morneblade]

His blocking is on display here. But look at what he can do at the end of a game in the RZ

http://steelcityblitz.com/2017/03/16/scb-steelers-draft-journal-jeremy-sprinkle/

[Koolblue13]

Hes fun to watch.

[JaxJoe]

I was reading a Mark Tyler article over at Hogs Haven and he had Jeremy Sprinkle off his initial 53.  There is no way the Redskins cut him and hope they can resign him to the practice squad. Since Sprinkle can also play special teams, I know he will make it unless he royally chokes or gets injured.  So, I Wonder if the Redskins will keep 4 tight ends this year?

 

http://www.hogshaven.com/2017/5/3/15528444/redskins-early-2017-projected-depth-chart 

[The Mayor of Fed Ex Field]

38 minutes ago, JaxJoe said:

I was reading a Mark Tyler article over at Hogs Haven and he had Jeremy Sprinkle off his initial 53.  There is no way the Redskins cut him and hope they can resign him to the practice squad. Since Sprinkle can also play special teams, I know he will make it unless he royally chokes or gets injured.  So, I Wonder if the Redskins will keep 4 tight ends this year?

 

http://www.hogshaven.com/2017/5/3/15528444/redskins-early-2017-projected-depth-chart 

He also had D. Everett as "REAL starter" at FS, and a "notable cut".

 

Niles Paul is cut. Carrier is cut. Sprinkle makes the team.

[Koolblue13]

We carried 4 last year, right? I think Paul and Sprinkle make the team, unless someone hits IR before cuts. We don't have a legit blocking TE.

[Peregrine]

10 hours ago, The Mayor of Fed Ex Field said:

He also had D. Everett as "REAL starter" at FS, and a "notable cut".

 

Niles Paul is cut. Carrier is cut. Sprinkle makes the team.

 

I think its a given either Paul or Carrier gets cut.  They want to develop a young TE, neither Paul or Carrier is that, and one of them is 4th string right now taking up more cap space than a rookie.  No reason to keep the 4th string TE rather than develop the young guy.

[Conn]

No way Carrier makes this team imo. Paul probably does, we like to keep 4 TEs and its a big part of our offense.

 

The tough part is Paul is a STs stud, so he has to be active. I doubt we can justify keeping 4 TEs active on game day, even though I really wanna see Sprinkle worked into RZ packages early on. Our WR corps is so tall now though, and adding to that VDs height, they may not feel compelled to rush Sprinkle onto the field in those situations. 

[GhostofAlvinWalton]

The best thing for Sprinkle is he has two avenues to get to be active on game day (assuming he makes the 53)...ST and his blocking. That will hopefully speed up his development even though he has an entrenched starter in front of him. 

 

It sure would be nice to have a "Heath Miller type" as the 2nd string in a year or so...

[Morneblade]

2 hours ago, ConnSKINS26 said:

No way Carrier makes this team imo. Paul probably does, we like to keep 4 TEs and its a big part of our offense.

 

The tough part is Paul is a STs stud, so he has to be active. I doubt we can justify keeping 4 TEs active on game day, even though I really wanna see Sprinkle worked into RZ packages early on. Our WR corps is so tall now though, and adding to that VDs height, they may not feel compelled to rush Sprinkle onto the field in those situations. 

 

Sprinkle is the one TE we have that can really block. The best things about him is he's a good inline blocker for a running play, and a threat as a receiver in the RZ. Unlike Grant, he doesn't give the defense a "tell" on what we are running. He can do it all. I think he might be on the field more in those situations, because he is not one dimentional

I also saw him line up as a FB and be effective.

[Conn]

27 minutes ago, Morneblade said:

 

Sprinkle is the one TE we have that can really block. The best things about him is he's a good inline blocker for a running play, and a threat as a receiver in the RZ. Unlike Grant, he doesn't give the defense a "tell" on what we are running. He can do it all. I think he might be on the field more in those situations, because he is not one dimentional

I also saw him line up as a FB and be effective.

 

I agree, in the long term. I more meant as a rookie. TE is notoriously one of the more difficult transitions for college talent. So we'll have to see how he picks up the offense, being more of an inline TE (which I agree we sorely needed) will only make it tougher at first as he can't just go out there and run routes, he's gotta learn and prove he can handle/be trusted with his blocking assignments as well. It's almost like learning two positions, compared to what Reed had to learn as a rookie who mainly operated as almost a slot receiver, and it was accepted that he couldn't block and wouldn't be asked to do much of it anyways.

[Morneblade]

4 hours ago, ConnSKINS26 said:

 

I agree, in the long term. I more meant as a rookie. TE is notoriously one of the more difficult transitions for college talent. So we'll have to see how he picks up the offense, being more of an inline TE (which I agree we sorely needed) will only make it tougher at first as he can't just go out there and run routes, he's gotta learn and prove he can handle/be trusted with his blocking assignments as well. It's almost like learning two positions, compared to what Reed had to learn as a rookie who mainly operated as almost a slot receiver, and it was accepted that he couldn't block and wouldn't be asked to do much of it anyways.

 

True, and he didn't have much of a route tree at Arkansas. But I think he can be in there as a inline TE and block first. One thing I noticed he did A LOT was through a hard chip on a DE/OLB and act like he was blocking then run into the flat. And be wide open almost ever single time. He would really sell the block, not just nudge with a shoulder. I think he could come out as a rook and do that. He might be the opposite, start out blocking more than then running a larger variety of routes in a year or 2. He might need to clean up a couple things in blocking, but from the game films I saw, he was really solid. I would put him out there day one and not worry about him getting beat much. He was many times put one on one with either a DE or OLB and would just stone them. Route tree and route running I think is where he is going to need time, and he has a great guy to watch running routes in Jordan Reed.

[skinny21]

@Morneblade Your post made me think about his first time on the field with Reed... imagining what must go through his head watching Reed run routes.  

 

I'm guessing it'll involve expletives.  

[Morneblade]

7 minutes ago, skinny21 said:

@Morneblade Your post made me think about his first time on the field with Reed... imagining what must go through his head watching Reed run routes.  

 

I'm guessing it'll involve expletives.  

 

It might be the exact same thing when Reed sees Sprinkle take a DE one on one and stuff him at the LOS. Arkansas did that a lot. The OT that was getting his ass beat, they put Sprinkle in his side and many times had the OT downblock on the guard, leaving Sprinkle one on one with the guy that was giving the OL fits.

[RedskinsMayne]

Well, i hope he becomes a huge star so i have a legitimate reason to wear a sprinkle jersey.

[Butters20]

What I see is an athletic, coordinated guy with low top speed and not much vertical. 

 

What i I also see is a great blocker, capable receiver with an already 255 pound body that has the frame to add more muscle. He's gonna be a big kid after two years in the league  

 

reed Davis Paul sprinkle 

[The Consigliere]

I've been of mixed emotions on the pick. On the negative side, I wanted us to land a stud TE from the draft, and my stud TE's were Howard, Njoku, Engram, and Everett with a second tier of Shaheen, Butt, Kittle, J. Smith, and Hodges. For me Sprinkle didn't fit in either of the tiers, just not a good enough athlete and for me, getting blocking TE's that can catch adequately is easier to replace than Jordan Reed types, and TE's like Howard, Njoku, Everett, Shaheen, Butt and Kittle struck me as butter options in terms of guys that can add something to the passing game (in some cases, a ton), and be at least adequate on the blocking end. One of my main reasons why is like many, I don't see Reed as long for the league. Just way too many concussions. 

 

All this being said, I think Sprinkle may be perfect as a means to disguise play calling in the red zone, and he adds yet another huge target in the red zone for Kirk to hopefully up his comp percentage. At this point the size of our pass catchers is just flat out absurd, bully's well and truly if they can put it together. Sprinkle lining up will not give away play calling, and just as good, he's a legit blocker, and as such, I can see the reasoning. We'll just go Reed replacement hunting down the line I guess. From what I can tell Sprinkle just reminds me of a less athletic Pettigrew, or Martellus Bennett, basically a very much poor man's version of both of them.

 

Some Comp's:

 

https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/brandon-pettigrew/

 

https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/martellus-bennett/

 

https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/jeremy-sprinkle/

 

 

[Morneblade]

10 hours ago, The Consigliere said:

I've been of mixed emotions on the pick. On the negative side, I wanted us to land a stud TE from the draft, and my stud TE's were Howard, Njoku, Engram, and Everett with a second tier of Shaheen, Butt, Kittle, J. Smith, and Hodges. For me Sprinkle didn't fit in either of the tiers, just not a good enough athlete and for me, getting blocking TE's that can catch adequately is easier to replace than Jordan Reed types, and TE's like Howard, Njoku, Everett, Shaheen, Butt and Kittle struck me as butter options in terms of guys that can add something to the passing game (in some cases, a ton), and be at least adequate on the blocking end. One of my main reasons why is like many, I don't see Reed as long for the league. Just way too many concussions. 

 

All this being said, I think Sprinkle may be perfect as a means to disguise play calling in the red zone, and he adds yet another huge target in the red zone for Kirk to hopefully up his comp percentage. At this point the size of our pass catchers is just flat out absurd, bully's well and truly if they can put it together. Sprinkle lining up will not give away play calling, and just as good, he's a legit blocker, and as such, I can see the reasoning. We'll just go Reed replacement hunting down the line I guess. From what I can tell Sprinkle just reminds me of a less athletic Pettigrew, or Martellus Bennett, basically a very much poor man's version of both of them.

 

Some Comp's:

 

https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/brandon-pettigrew/

 

https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/martellus-bennett/

 

https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/jeremy-sprinkle/

 

 

 

Honestly, pass catching TE's are a dime a dozen now. You're going to find 5 or 6 in ever draft, because that is what they basically do now. Finding a guy that that can block well AND still be a threat as a receiver is becoming much harder to find. Jordan Reed is the template for what most TE's are now. A guy that is basically a big WR, but can't block to save his life. I'm not really worried about finding a replacement for him if he has a couple more concussions and it out of the league in 2 years. There will be a dozen or so TE's like him to choose from. I'm not downplaying Reed, he's GREAT. But he is also what almost ever TE coming out of college is.

 

Finding guys that can be a complete TE are become much harder to find. Which is why I like the Sprinkle pick so much. First, he HUGE. he's kinda lanky right now, he could end up being 270 and still be able to move. He's fast for his size, has soft hands and can really block. And the blocking part is one of the things that has killed our running attack. We don't have a TE that can block, he is now that guy.

 

No, he is not the best athlete. He looks a little cumbersome running some routes, but part of that is just how big he is. I also wish he was a little more physical as a ball carrier. But overall, I really like the selection. Heck he's a 5th ROUND PICK! I absolutely guarantee he makes the team, and plays a lot and contributes to both the run and pass games. You want a RZ target/bailout guy? Hit your 6'5 TE.

 

 

 

http://www.patriots.com/video/2017/03/01/college-highlights-jeremy-sprinkle-te-arkansas

 

[The Consigliere]

Honestly you're wrong about this. Replacement level TE's who can catch are indeed, a dime a dozen, they stink, and that's why so many greeted this class of TE's, perhaps the best ever, so happily. With the stud TE having dried up from the college ranks for several years (it's telling that as Gonzalez retired, Hernandez went to prison, Witten grew old, and Gronk suffered a series of season ending injuries, no TE's of note have managed to replace their quality with anything like consistency: Kelce and Reed seem the closest, but the former has had injuries and a coach and QB that fail to utilize him effectively while Reed has been waylaid by injuries and concussions). The league is littered with barely adequate pass catchers, if that's what you mean by plentiful, then sure. 

But you're missing the forest for the trees here. The reason this draft was so special was precisely because of the quality of the pass catching TE class. Just about every scout and analyst on the planet has rightly called the class either the best ever with only the '10 class close (which wasn't close to as deep, but did feature Gronk, Hernandez, and Jimmy Graham,and Pitta sandwiched around a bunch of bust's and mediocre guys like Gresham, Moeaki, Dickson, Graham etc. This draft featured 5 different TE's who rated equal to or better than any TE drafted since '10 other than Eifert, and Ebron in Howard, Njoku, Engram, Everett and Shaheen, and that's not even bringing up Butt, who rated equal to or better than Hunter Henry (who went early 2nd last year), and Butt went in the fifth freaking round. Guys like Kittle, Sprinkle, Smith and Saubert would have gone late day 2 or early day 3 typically but instead were all day 3 picks. 

 

The pass catching TE's in this draft: Howard, Engram, Njoku, and Everett in particular would have been the #1 TE's in virtually every class over the past fifteen years other than Shockey in '02, KWII in '04, Vernon Davis in '06, Eifert in '13 and Ebron '14. All of these guys might have been first rounders in A LOT of classes.

That's why I'm bummed. This is a rarity. When you get TE's of this quality, they typically go top 5-15 (see Shockey, KWII, Davis, and Ebron) but because this class was so loaded with cream at the top AND with ridiculous depth, these guys fell. I can live with us losing out on them because we got Jonathan Allen, and as long as he can render his ho-hum combine irrelevant because of all of his other tools, I can live with that. My issue is that at the end of the day, Sprinkle isn't what made this TE class special. He's a good blocker, and a poor receiving weapon: 

 

"...An unremarkable athlete, he posted a 34th percentile college dominator score, as well as a less-than-breathtaking 53rd percentile breakout age of 21.1.

Phil Watkins, the author of the Rotoviz TE model  estimated the probability of each member of the 2017 class emerging as a long term NFL starter. Sprinkle…did not feature at the top of this list [...finishing 12th...]....if we look at Kevin Cole’s combine measurables tree, again we see little to celebrate with regards Sprinkle’s future....Sprinkle ran a 4.65 at his pro day, clearing the first obstacle, but was only able to deliver 15 reps on the bench. He also only managed a 30 1/2 vertical jump....We may be erring somewhat on the negative side with regards Sprinkle’s hopes in the NFL, so lets see what comps we can find....I don’t think if I were to walk into the Hall of Fame selection meeting when the above players [Kenard Backman, Andrew Quarless, Ted Bolser, Tamme, DJ Williams, Luke Stocker, Jesse James, TJ Williams...] retired and tried to get them nominated I would be allowed to say more than a few words before security “re-accommodated” me outside. There are some solid pros on the list, notably Brent Celek, Jacob Tamme and Gary Barnidge, but very little superstardom...."

 

link: http://rotoviz.com/2017/05/2017-nfl-draft-reaction-jeremy-sprinkle-washington-redskins/

 

I can deal with the pick because I can see the rationale and a way we can use him well to disguise play calling and improve red zone efficiency. I'm gonna hang my hat on that, but I would have very much preferred landing a day 3 pass catcher to develop behind Reed (we have options there, but I'm not super enthused about either of them at this point, though I wouldn't say they're bad, I think Paul and Carrier both have unusual talent, but both have also gotten hurt repeatedly like Reed) like a Kittle, or a Jonnu Smith, or a Butt or Hodges. Nothing to be done about now other than cross fingers and hope he turns into an excellent blocking TE with some pass catching chops, it might happen, and I liked the pick btw in terms of value, I think he would have gone top 100 to 115 last year, instead we get him 154th :). Btw, a good chunk of the quoted material above exclusively concerns itself with pass catching chops and predictors of that, it isn't super concerned with his skill as a blocker, which obviously we are very concerned and interested with. 

[Morneblade]

Let's just say I think he is much better than a "poor receiving weapon", and a better blocker then the rest of the bunch.