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I am pretty much resigned to the fact we get no Cooper or Warmack and have to like it.
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2013 NFL Draft: 50 essential, eccentric facts
NFL Draft
By Chris Burke
The 2013 NFL draft is almost upon us — have you been studying up? If not, it may be too late for you to put together scouting reports on this year’s prospects (don’t worry, we’ve got your back), but you can still sound like an expect when everyone gathers around the water cooler the Monday after the draft. Below are 50 facts about this draft — some good, some bad, some weird.
The best, worst and weirdest moments in NFL draft history
1. Seventy-three underclassmen entered the 2013 NFL Draft, the most ever in one class.
2. OT Lane Johnson, widely believed to be the third best offensive tackle available in this draft, completed 32 of 61 passes as a backup quarterback at Kilgore College before transferring to Oklahoma.
3. Twelve different players ran the 40-yard-dash in under 4.4 seconds at the NFL’s combine. WR Marquise Goodwin’s 4.27 was the fastest clocked time.
4. DT Star Lotulelei’s full first name is Starlite.
5. Of the top seven finishers in last season’s Heisman race, only two (LB Manti Te’o and QB Collin Klein) are prospects in this year’s draft.
6. Washington CB Desmond Trufant ran the same 40 time at the combine (4.38) that his brother, Marcus, did prior to being selected No. 11 overall in 2003.
7. QB Matt Barkley set the USC record for highest completion percentage in 2011: 69.1 percent.
8. DE Cornellius Carradine earned his nickname, “Tank,” by carrying around a toy tank as a young child.
9. The heaviest player in this year’s draft? Ole Miss offensive lineman Terrell Brown at 388 pounds. He also stands 6-foot-10.
10. The lightest player? That’s 148-pound WR Jesse Grandy from Central Arkansas.
11. A native of Manchester, England, OT Menelik Watson started 13 games for Marist’s basketball team before transferring to Saddleback Community College and picking up football.
12. Fresno State safety Phillip Thomas, projected to be a Round 2 or 3 pick, led college football’s FBS (formerly Division I) in interceptions last season with eight.
13. Before transferring to Tennessee for the 2012 season, WR Cordarrelle Patterson played at Hutchinson Community College, which also produced current Lions backup QB Shaun Hill.
14. Southern Miss LB Jamie Collins posted a mark of 11 feet, 7 inches on the broad jump at the combine, breaking the previous record by two inches.
15. The SEC has produced the most draft picks for each of the past six years. The conference had 42 players taken in 2012, one more than the Big Ten.
16. Ohio State has had 83 players drafted since 2000, most of any school in the country.
17. Miami has had the most players selected in Round 1 since 2000, with 26. USC is second at 18.
18. N.C. State QB Mike Glennon threw 564 passes in 2012, behind only Marshall’s Rakeem Cato (584) for the most in the FBS.
19. TE Zach Ertz finished his Stanford career with 112 catches — 16 more than former teammate Coby Fleener, the 34th overall pick in 2012, made in four seasons with the Cardinal.
20. QB Ryan Nassib left Syracuse as the school’s record-holder for most career completions (791) and most yards passing (9,190).
21. SMU DE Margus Hunt and Missouri Southern St. DT Brandon Williams tied for the most bench press reps at the scouting combine with 38. The record is 49, set by Stephen Paea in 2011.
22. Eastern Washington WR Brandon Kaufman set an FCS record last season by racking up 1,850 yards receiving.
23. Mississippi State CBs Darius Slay and Johnthan Banks combined for nine interceptions during the 2012 season — five by Slay.
24. RB Le’Veon Bell carried the football 382 times for Michigan State in 2012, the most rushing attempts made by any player in the country. Wisconsin’s Montee Ball had his number called 356 times.
25. OT Luke Joeckel has a twin brother, Matt, who is expected to serve behind Johnny Manziel as Texas A&M’s backup quarterback this season.
26. West Virginia WR Stedman Bailey caught 25 touchdown passes in 2012, seven more than any other receiver in the FBS. Only one other receiver, Clemson’s DeAndre Hopkins, had more than 14 TDs.
27. Bailey’s ex-West Virginia teammate, WR Tavon Austin, averaged 12.2 yards per carry during his senior year in high school while rushing for 2,660 yards and 34 touchdowns.
28. Alabama defensive lineman Jesse Williams initially committed to Hawaii after beginning his football career in his native Australia.
29. WR Quinton Patton had a 21-catch game against Texas A&M in October, tying Troy Edwards’ Louisiana Tech record.
30. Georgia DE/OLB Jarvis Jones led the FBS in tackles for loss (24) and sacks (14.0) last season.
31. WR Da’Rick Rogers caught 158 passes in his collegiate career — 97 for Tennessee between 2010-11 and 61 last year for Tennessee Tech.
32. Duke has not had a player drafted since Drew Strojny in 2004 (St. Louis). Either QB Sean Renfree or WR Conner Vernon could break that drought this year.
33. DE/OLB Ziggy Ansah twice tried out for BYU’s basketball team before earning a spot on the Cougars’ football roster for the 2010 season.
34. Oklahoma State’s Quinn Sharp, who also handled punts for the Cowboys, led the FBS with 28 field-goal makes and 34 attempts.
35. A total of 32 compensatory picks were handed out for this draft, to 16 different teams. The highest selection: Houston at No. 95 overall, in Round 3.
36. Utah State RB Kerwynn Williams totaled 2,209 yards from scrimmage last season, most of any FBS player in this draft. He finished just 23 yards behind Arizona running back Ka’Deem Carey for the top mark in the country.
37. 1996 marked the last year that no quarterback was taken in Round 1 of the draft. Michigan State’s Tony Banks was the first QB picked that year, at No. 42 overall by St. Louis.
38. 1963 was the last draft that saw no running backs picked in Round 1 — a streak that could end next week. The first RB off the board in ’63 was Don Lisbon, in Round 3.
39. Oregon OT Kyle Long is the son of NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long and the brother of current St. Louis Rams defensive lineman Chris Long.
40. UCLA RB Johnathan Franklin was a season 2 cast member on the BET reality show “Baldwin Hills,” which aired from 2007-09.
41. The Kansas City Chiefs have never made the No. 1 overall selection as a member of the NFL; their lone No. 1 pick (Grambling DT Buck Buchanan) came in 1963, when the Chiefs played in the AFL.
42. QB Landry Jones was the second-most prolific passer in the FBS last season, throwing for 4,267 yards. No. 1 was Baylor’s Nick Florence, who opted to quit football rather than enter this year’s draft.
43. Tennessee QB Tyler Bray broke Peyton Manning’s single-game passing record of 523 yards by accumulating 530 yards in a 55-48 win over Troy.
44. TE Travis Kelce was Cincinnati’s wildcat quarterback during his freshman season. He ran eight times for 47 yards and two touchdowns.
45. DE/OLB Dion Jordan suffered second- and third-degree burns on over 40 percent of his body in 2007, due to an accident that occurred as Jordan and some friends were attempting to siphon gasoline out of a car with a vacuum.
46. Hawai’i CB Mike Edwards finished last season as the FBS leader in kickoff return yards with 1,215. He was one of just four players to reach the 1,000-yard plateau on the year.
47. Of the 15 fastest defensive players in the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, 13 were cornerbacks and two were safeties. The fastest defensive player outside the secondary was Missouri LB Zaviar Gooden at 4.47 seconds.
48. Houston CB D.J. Hayden nearly died during a November practice, when a collision tore his inferior vena cava — the vein that carries blood from the lower half of one’s body to the heart.
49. RB Zach Line finished his SMU career with 4,784 total yards, breaking Eric Dickerson’s previous mark of 4,640.
50. Lawrence Okoye is attempting to make the NFL jump despite having never played a down of football. The 6-foot-6, 308-pound Okoye finished 12th in the discus at last summer’s Olympics.
NFL Draft
By Chris Burke
The 2013 NFL draft is almost upon us — have you been studying up? If not, it may be too late for you to put together scouting reports on this year’s prospects (don’t worry, we’ve got your back), but you can still sound like an expect when everyone gathers around the water cooler the Monday after the draft. Below are 50 facts about this draft — some good, some bad, some weird.
The best, worst and weirdest moments in NFL draft history
1. Seventy-three underclassmen entered the 2013 NFL Draft, the most ever in one class.
2. OT Lane Johnson, widely believed to be the third best offensive tackle available in this draft, completed 32 of 61 passes as a backup quarterback at Kilgore College before transferring to Oklahoma.
3. Twelve different players ran the 40-yard-dash in under 4.4 seconds at the NFL’s combine. WR Marquise Goodwin’s 4.27 was the fastest clocked time.
4. DT Star Lotulelei’s full first name is Starlite.
5. Of the top seven finishers in last season’s Heisman race, only two (LB Manti Te’o and QB Collin Klein) are prospects in this year’s draft.
6. Washington CB Desmond Trufant ran the same 40 time at the combine (4.38) that his brother, Marcus, did prior to being selected No. 11 overall in 2003.
7. QB Matt Barkley set the USC record for highest completion percentage in 2011: 69.1 percent.
8. DE Cornellius Carradine earned his nickname, “Tank,” by carrying around a toy tank as a young child.
9. The heaviest player in this year’s draft? Ole Miss offensive lineman Terrell Brown at 388 pounds. He also stands 6-foot-10.
10. The lightest player? That’s 148-pound WR Jesse Grandy from Central Arkansas.
11. A native of Manchester, England, OT Menelik Watson started 13 games for Marist’s basketball team before transferring to Saddleback Community College and picking up football.
12. Fresno State safety Phillip Thomas, projected to be a Round 2 or 3 pick, led college football’s FBS (formerly Division I) in interceptions last season with eight.
13. Before transferring to Tennessee for the 2012 season, WR Cordarrelle Patterson played at Hutchinson Community College, which also produced current Lions backup QB Shaun Hill.
14. Southern Miss LB Jamie Collins posted a mark of 11 feet, 7 inches on the broad jump at the combine, breaking the previous record by two inches.
15. The SEC has produced the most draft picks for each of the past six years. The conference had 42 players taken in 2012, one more than the Big Ten.
16. Ohio State has had 83 players drafted since 2000, most of any school in the country.
17. Miami has had the most players selected in Round 1 since 2000, with 26. USC is second at 18.
18. N.C. State QB Mike Glennon threw 564 passes in 2012, behind only Marshall’s Rakeem Cato (584) for the most in the FBS.
19. TE Zach Ertz finished his Stanford career with 112 catches — 16 more than former teammate Coby Fleener, the 34th overall pick in 2012, made in four seasons with the Cardinal.
20. QB Ryan Nassib left Syracuse as the school’s record-holder for most career completions (791) and most yards passing (9,190).
21. SMU DE Margus Hunt and Missouri Southern St. DT Brandon Williams tied for the most bench press reps at the scouting combine with 38. The record is 49, set by Stephen Paea in 2011.
22. Eastern Washington WR Brandon Kaufman set an FCS record last season by racking up 1,850 yards receiving.
23. Mississippi State CBs Darius Slay and Johnthan Banks combined for nine interceptions during the 2012 season — five by Slay.
24. RB Le’Veon Bell carried the football 382 times for Michigan State in 2012, the most rushing attempts made by any player in the country. Wisconsin’s Montee Ball had his number called 356 times.
25. OT Luke Joeckel has a twin brother, Matt, who is expected to serve behind Johnny Manziel as Texas A&M’s backup quarterback this season.
26. West Virginia WR Stedman Bailey caught 25 touchdown passes in 2012, seven more than any other receiver in the FBS. Only one other receiver, Clemson’s DeAndre Hopkins, had more than 14 TDs.
27. Bailey’s ex-West Virginia teammate, WR Tavon Austin, averaged 12.2 yards per carry during his senior year in high school while rushing for 2,660 yards and 34 touchdowns.
28. Alabama defensive lineman Jesse Williams initially committed to Hawaii after beginning his football career in his native Australia.
29. WR Quinton Patton had a 21-catch game against Texas A&M in October, tying Troy Edwards’ Louisiana Tech record.
30. Georgia DE/OLB Jarvis Jones led the FBS in tackles for loss (24) and sacks (14.0) last season.
31. WR Da’Rick Rogers caught 158 passes in his collegiate career — 97 for Tennessee between 2010-11 and 61 last year for Tennessee Tech.
32. Duke has not had a player drafted since Drew Strojny in 2004 (St. Louis). Either QB Sean Renfree or WR Conner Vernon could break that drought this year.
33. DE/OLB Ziggy Ansah twice tried out for BYU’s basketball team before earning a spot on the Cougars’ football roster for the 2010 season.
34. Oklahoma State’s Quinn Sharp, who also handled punts for the Cowboys, led the FBS with 28 field-goal makes and 34 attempts.
35. A total of 32 compensatory picks were handed out for this draft, to 16 different teams. The highest selection: Houston at No. 95 overall, in Round 3.
36. Utah State RB Kerwynn Williams totaled 2,209 yards from scrimmage last season, most of any FBS player in this draft. He finished just 23 yards behind Arizona running back Ka’Deem Carey for the top mark in the country.
37. 1996 marked the last year that no quarterback was taken in Round 1 of the draft. Michigan State’s Tony Banks was the first QB picked that year, at No. 42 overall by St. Louis.
38. 1963 was the last draft that saw no running backs picked in Round 1 — a streak that could end next week. The first RB off the board in ’63 was Don Lisbon, in Round 3.
39. Oregon OT Kyle Long is the son of NFL Hall of Famer Howie Long and the brother of current St. Louis Rams defensive lineman Chris Long.
40. UCLA RB Johnathan Franklin was a season 2 cast member on the BET reality show “Baldwin Hills,” which aired from 2007-09.
41. The Kansas City Chiefs have never made the No. 1 overall selection as a member of the NFL; their lone No. 1 pick (Grambling DT Buck Buchanan) came in 1963, when the Chiefs played in the AFL.
42. QB Landry Jones was the second-most prolific passer in the FBS last season, throwing for 4,267 yards. No. 1 was Baylor’s Nick Florence, who opted to quit football rather than enter this year’s draft.
43. Tennessee QB Tyler Bray broke Peyton Manning’s single-game passing record of 523 yards by accumulating 530 yards in a 55-48 win over Troy.
44. TE Travis Kelce was Cincinnati’s wildcat quarterback during his freshman season. He ran eight times for 47 yards and two touchdowns.
45. DE/OLB Dion Jordan suffered second- and third-degree burns on over 40 percent of his body in 2007, due to an accident that occurred as Jordan and some friends were attempting to siphon gasoline out of a car with a vacuum.
46. Hawai’i CB Mike Edwards finished last season as the FBS leader in kickoff return yards with 1,215. He was one of just four players to reach the 1,000-yard plateau on the year.
47. Of the 15 fastest defensive players in the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, 13 were cornerbacks and two were safeties. The fastest defensive player outside the secondary was Missouri LB Zaviar Gooden at 4.47 seconds.
48. Houston CB D.J. Hayden nearly died during a November practice, when a collision tore his inferior vena cava — the vein that carries blood from the lower half of one’s body to the heart.
49. RB Zach Line finished his SMU career with 4,784 total yards, breaking Eric Dickerson’s previous mark of 4,640.
50. Lawrence Okoye is attempting to make the NFL jump despite having never played a down of football. The 6-foot-6, 308-pound Okoye finished 12th in the discus at last summer’s Olympics.
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[h=1]Drew’s Final 2013 Top Ten (+5)[/h]By Drew Boylhart on April 16, 2013
For those who are not members yet and do not know me, I have been involved in the draft for 30 years and doing public profiles since 2004. I don’t break down film, I break down players. My profiles are opinionated and different and most people at first think I don’t know what I’m talking about because I don’t “report” about players for the draft, I profile them from film. I am not a scout; I am a profiler/analyst. I tell you why I think a player will be successful at the NFL level from his play on the field and not from inside information or rumors or planted from agents or others. I have no hidden agenda and I’m beholden to no one but the fans. I am a true “Draftnik” and one of the only ones left that feeds the fans “need to know” hunger about players in the draft. So don’t get angry because you may disagree with my top ten because, over the years I’ve had a pretty good record of success. The proof is on the site. That being said, here are my top ten players +5 in this draft.
1. Matt Barkley QB USC
I know what you’re thinking, I’ve lost my credibility already but here are the facts about Matt from film and an “excerpt” from my profile of Matt completed at the end of the college season and before everyone muddy the waters with BS.
“If you want to draft a potential franchise QB, then don’t be a fool. Draft Matt (Bite Me) Barkley — it’s really that simple. He has carried the USC team on his back for three years. He has waited patiently for his wide receivers to become consistent and has never shied away from throwing to them in difficult situations. He is an excellent leader, has good athletic talent and can read defenses as well as anyone that has ever come out of the college ranks in recent years. Matt is smart and understands situational football. His pre-snap reads are excellent and his ability to move around in the pocket to gain extra time is very good. He can be successful in any style of offense, but he is a pure pocket passer and will impact in a classic NFL offense or West Coast style of offense the best. You can nitpick (Matt) all you want, but all you have to do is turn on the tape and watch him play and you can see the maturity, ability to lead, come back potential, ability to open up the running game with could accurate passing and that makes him in my mind a top ten pick. Matt’s style of play and ability to impact reminds me a lot of Matt Ryan when he came out in the draft. He is not as tall but his ability to make the talent of the team better and more consistent is the same. When Matt Ryan was drafted out of Boston College, the experts were split. They didn’t think the competition was good. He didn’t play in a bowl game, he was too skinny and a bunch of other excuses. Not me, and I’m not going to listen to all those excuses about Matt Barkley either. I’m not sure in what round Matt will be selected, but I am sure of one thing: if I needed a franchise QB in this draft I would not pass on him. He is the real deal. Matt (Bite Me) Barkley…I think that nickname will come to good use”.
2. Dion Jordan DL/LB Oregon
An excerpt from my profile of Dion Jordan, “Dion is a 6’6″ player who has the athleticism to play multiple positions for your defense and all at a high level. I have seen him line up as a linebacker, defensive end and in coverage like a safety because of his skills, speed and fluidness. He gives excellent effort on every play and shows leadership skills through his play on the field. He is the type of player you build your defense around once you decide in which position he will be most impactful. As a defensive end he shows a terrific burst off the line to rush the passer and gets into the backfield to disrupt plays as quickly as any defensive lineman in this draft. As a stand up linebacker in a 3-4 defense, he shows the ability to beat his player one-on-one on the line along with the coverage skills and football intelligence to cover and intercept balls thrown to his side of the field on screens. Dion has the speed to stay with, and cover, receivers down the field as well. He does a solid job stringing out sweeps and is a solid tackler. When he lines up in the slot in coverage, he can play man-to-man coverage and shut down any pass catching tight end in the NFL. Because of his unique athletic talents, he will impact the day after you draft him. I call him Dion (Neon) Jordan because he lights the field up with his talents”.
3. Ezekiel Ansah DE BYU
Excerpts from My profile of Ezekiel, “Ezekiel has the natural strength to be a dominating defensive lineman for the team that drafts him. He has strong athletic abilities and has the foot speed that most linebackers would love to have coming out in any draft. He is excellent at shedding his block and making a tackle at the line of scrimmage. Although Ezekiel, at this point of his career, lacks the typical burst off the line that most like to see in a pass rusher, he does possess those long arms and legs making long strides off the line of scrimmage that tackles will struggle with when pass blocking him. Ezekiel plays DE in a 3-4 defense that uses a 2-gap system and he does an excellent job right now with limited experience. But don’t mistake this kid not being able to play multiple positions in any style of defense because of his natural strength, size, speed, athletic talents and overall intelligence to learn. Ezekiel has the potential to become a complete impact defensive lineman. He will be a dominating pass rusher and, right now, he is one of the few coming out in this draft that also knows how to stop the run. He reminds me a lot of New York Giant Justin Tuck (see The Huddle Report archives) when he came out in the draft. A strong powerful player with natural pass rushing talent but lacking the pass rushing skills. Draft Ezekiel and plug him into the strong side DE position in your 3-4 or 4-3 defense and he will impact. They call this kid Ziggy as a nickname and that sounds good to me, Ezekiel (Ziggy) Ansah”.
4. Bjoern Werner DE FSU
Bjoern is a power rusher whose strength, size and balance are the key skills to him being an impact player for the team that drafts him. He has strength in both his upper and lower body; trying to push this kid around on the field is like trying to push a wheelbarrow of cow manure up the plank and into the spreader. He can play in multiple fronts all over your defensive line. He shows on film to have good foot speed, which has shown more explosion to the ball this year than in the past. He loves the physical part of the game and understands when he needs to step up and make a play. You will not fool him twice in a game with the same play. He is a head up, wrap up, squeeze and drive tackler and is a sure tackler in the open field because of his natural athleticism. Bjoern has natural strength, or what I call “farmboy” strength. I’m sure he can go into the weight room and embarrass most of his teammates, but the truth is he understands leverage and uses it very well on the field against his opponents. Double teams do not stop Bjoern and he is as good defending against the run as he is a pass rusher. You can use him in a 2-gap system or a 1-gap system and he will impact, making sacks and tackles on, and behind, the line of scrimmage. He looks to be an excellent teammate and plays very well within the context of the game plan and with the other linemen. In a 4-3 defense, Bjoern has the potential to be as impactful as Chris Long, St Louis Rams. If he plays in a 3-4, Bjoern has the potential to be as impactful as JJ Watt, HoustonTexans.
5. Ryan Nassib QB Syracuse
Excerpts from my profile written from film and just after the college season and before The firing of Chan Gaily and the hiring of Dan Marrone. Date of profile, December 2012.
“Ryan is a mentally tough, strong-armed quarterback who is just starting to reach his potential. He has good size and strength and reminds me a lot of Jim Kelly (former QB, Buffalo Bills). Ryan is smart and has the athletic talent, arm strength and accuracy to be used in any style of offensive system. He works out of a multiple formation offense that includes working from under center as well as shotgun. He is a power runner and will make the short yardage himself on third and fourth downs when needed. Every time I see this kid he improves — from year to year and from game to game. He understands down and distance and will throw the ball away inside the red zone to save a score. Not many young QB’s understand that part of the game, so it’s impressive that Ryan does. Ryan is pretty sharp inside the 20 yard line and is always looking to score. He has good, quick feet and throws well on the run. His throwing mechanics have improved from year to year, which speaks to his ability to understand how much more he has to learn. Ryan’s leadership skills are decent and will get better with experience. This is your sleeper QB in this draft and I suspect as we get closer to the draft you will be hearing more about him. He has starting potential right now and, if he continues to improve his passing like I believe he will, then the team that drafts Ryan will have their franchise quarterback also. Ryan is a quarterback who can open the running game up because of his passing”.
6. Sharrif Floyd DT Florida
Excerpt from Sharrif Floyd profile, “Sharrif is an excellent run stuffing defensive tackle. He uses really solid techniques, keeping his shoulders square to the line of scrimmage and keeping offensive linemen off of his body to shed and make tackles in the hole. He has the lateral agility that you look for in a defensive tackle for stopping the run, but don’t be fooled, he is quick off the snap and can play more than one position on the defensive line in multiple fronts. He has solid change of direction skills, which makes him more than just a “push the pocket” pass rusher for the next level. For his size, Sharrif shows decent foot quickness and will string out running plays easily to make a tackle behind the line of scrimmage on sweeps when playing on the outside in a 4-3 alignment. He has the overall athletic talent to play in both a 1-gap or 2-gap style of defense which is a big plus when looking for defensive lineman in a draft. He is as talented as Marcell Dareus when he came out in the draft…not as big and not as powerful, but he has the same type of talent”.
7. Eric Fisher LT Central Michigan
Eric is a very athletic offensive lineman. He shows great aggressiveness to get out in front of screen plays and has the speed and foot quickness to be used in a pulling offensive line system. Eric shows leadership skills through his play on the field and he works well with his left guard on stunts and blitzes. Eric has good football instincts and looks on film to be mentally tough. He has the athletic quickness and lateral agility to handle the speed pass rushes at the next level and he will be able to play left or right tackle in a spread offense or a traditional pro style offense. On film, Eric looks like he has the work ethic to improve dramatically in his first year of playing for the team that drafts him. He should be a good one. Is Eric the best offensive lineman in this draft? No, he is not… but he has the potential to be the best left tackle in this draft. Do your homework, interview this kid and then plan on drafting him for the left side of your offensive line. Eric needs some work, but just about every player in this draft needs to improve his technique.
8. Barrett Jones OL Alabama
This might surprise just about everyone. I know that Barrett will not sniff the first round in this draft. The reason is because Barrett is injured and not able to work out but remember, I do all my profiles from film work during the college season and Barrett was one of the best offensive lineman I have seen since Nick Mangold who I also rated as a top ten pick in the 2006[SUP]th[/SUP] draft. The following is an excerpt from my profile of Barrett.
“Barrett has the size, athletic talent, mental toughness and football intelligence to play multiple positions on the line of scrimmage at a Pro Bowl level. He shows excellent pass blocking skills because of his strong lateral agility and the job he does mirroring his opponent. He has the ability to anchor against the bull rush as well as the size and bulk to run block. He is very smart and quick and uses his hands very well. When Barrett is playing the tackle position, he has the foot speed and quickness to recover if he gets beat off the line of scrimmage. This ability is very unusual for a man his size. Barrett played the center position this year after playing left tackle last year and guard the year before. He shows excellent leadership skills and recognition of his and his teammates blocking assignments. He identifies when he is having problems blocking his opponent and will adjust his style to meet the challenge during the game. He is a quarterback in a offensive lineman’s body. He has the feet to be used in a pulling system and is athletic enough to get out in front for screens. Barrett understands that while he might be not as strong as the person he is blocking. He understands that and will adjust during a game and will use his opponents’ own strength and aggressiveness against them to dominate and make his blocks. You saw that in the Alabama-Georgia game. Late in the game, Alabama ran right up the middle of the Georgia defense. Barrett had the nose tackle (who was bigger and stronger) so frustrated in the 4th quarter because, Barrett was smart enough to adjust his style of blocking from the 1st quarter when those defensive tackles were making plays against him. That’s leadership. That’s a Pro Bowl offensive lineman. I call him Barrett (Bonus) Jones because he plays all of those positions with great proficiency”.
9. Lane Johnson LT Oklahoma
Excerpts from Lane’s profile, Let’s just start with this: Lane is one of the best pure left tackles in this draft. He has the most athletic talent at this position and plays the position effortlessly. He has excellent size, strength and quickness to play left tackle and his ability to learn and bring what he learns into the game as quickly as he has, is very unique. He has strong hands and is very smart. He can play more than one position on the offensive line for the team that drafts him. Lane has excellent lateral agility to mirror his man (if he has to) and the quick feet to recover if he gets beat. Lane does a very good job blocking for the run as well as the pass. He stays with his block through the whistle and shows excellent leadership skills through his play on the field. Lane is very proud and has that little bit of nasty streak that makes him mentally tough. He has excellent physical stamina and can play in any style of offensive line blocking scheme. Lane’s athleticism makes it easy for him to go to the second level and make his blocks. He can be used in a pulling system and has no problems getting out in front of sweeps and screens to make blocks down the field. This kid is hiding in plain sight and I’m not sure why no one seems to notice him, but you can bet after the Senior Bowl they will be talking about him big time. Lane is learning the left tackle position very fast, but still has some room for growth which I believe he will do with more repetitions.
10. Cordarrelle Patterson WR Tennessee
from my profile of Cordarrelle,
“Cordarrelle plays the game with a toughness and arrogance that you love to see in a potential #1 wide receiver. He has excellent size, strength and speed to play his position at a very high level for the team that drafts him. He loves being physical and wants to make the big play. You will not move this kid off his routes. He has very good hands to catch the ball and the ability to adjust to the ball in the air to make the acrobatic catch. He has the speed to go deep and the toughness and strength to make the catch over the middle and take the hit on crossing routes.
“ He is a special team’s nightmare for the opponent. Sometimes Cordarrelle is too confident and too arrogant. On deep balls when he beats his man, he has a tendency to nonchalant the ball and drop it. He will need to be more consistent running routes at the same speed he practices and bring that to the game so that timing issues do not become a problem. On special teams, he can return a kickoff 110 yards for a touchdown and, on the next kickoff, take the ball out of the end zone and get tackled on the two yard line. On any play from the line of scrimmage, he could catch the deep ball, run a reverse or catch the ball on a crossing route and take it all the way for six points. That’s just the way it is and you’re going to have to live with it because he is not going to change. It’s what makes him so impactful, so deal with it. I call him Cordarrelle (Deal With It) Patterson”.
That’s the Top Ten and here are five players who were close.
11. Tavon Austin WR West Virginia
12. Jamar Taylor CB Boise St
13. Jonathan Cooper OG North Carolina
14. Jonathan Banks CB Mississippi St
15 Kenny Vaccaro S Texas
If you’re expecting to see QB Geno Smith West Virginia, OT Luck Joeckel Texas A&M and OG Chance Warmack Alabama on this list of top ten picks, don’t bother to read any further because you’re just going to get mad and decide I have no credibility all because I excluded your favorite player. The reason I exclude those players are because I feel that Geno is a developmental QB, Luke is more of a right tackle and not a left tackle and Chance, lacks the pass blocking skills and will have to be moved over to the right side to take advantage of his excellent run blocking skills. So if that bothers you, don’t bother to read the rest because doing profiles from film work with no hidden agenda might not interest you.
This year there seems to be conflict and despair about the talent in this draft compared to the 2012 draft. I’m here to tell you that this is total BS. As most of the members know, I look at film for all my profiles and I can tell you for a fact that this draft is one of the more talented drafts and deep drafts equal to the last few years and with excellent talent. It has the usually amount of 1[SUP]st[/SUP] Round quarterbacks (two) and deep in the defensive line and offensive line. Cornerbacks are deep into the 4[SUP]th[/SUP] round and the safety position is so deep that many veteran safeties on teams right now will be out of a job if they look for too much money in free agency. There are all types and styles of running backs and the receiver group is loaded into the 5[SUP]th[/SUP] and 6[SUP]th[/SUP] rounds. The specialty players like slot receivers, pass catching Tight Ends and third down backs are in every round. I think the biggest misconception is that there are no players worthy of being considered as top ten talents in this draft. I’m here to tell the fans whose teams are drafting in the top ten that this year, there are some of the most explosive pass rushing defensive lineman and pass blocking offensive lineman that I have seen in years along with those two potential franchise quarterbacks I mentioned before and a couple of explosive receivers also. As Buddy Nix said before draft season started, “Don’t believe what the media is saying about the quarterbacks in this draft because if you do, they will lead you down the wrong road”.For those who are not members yet and do not know me, I have been involved in the draft for 30 years and doing public profiles since 2004. I don’t break down film, I break down players. My profiles are opinionated and different and most people at first think I don’t know what I’m talking about because I don’t “report” about players for the draft, I profile them from film. I am not a scout; I am a profiler/analyst. I tell you why I think a player will be successful at the NFL level from his play on the field and not from inside information or rumors or planted from agents or others. I have no hidden agenda and I’m beholden to no one but the fans. I am a true “Draftnik” and one of the only ones left that feeds the fans “need to know” hunger about players in the draft. So don’t get angry because you may disagree with my top ten because, over the years I’ve had a pretty good record of success. The proof is on the site. That being said, here are my top ten players +5 in this draft.
1. Matt Barkley QB USC
I know what you’re thinking, I’ve lost my credibility already but here are the facts about Matt from film and an “excerpt” from my profile of Matt completed at the end of the college season and before everyone muddy the waters with BS.
“If you want to draft a potential franchise QB, then don’t be a fool. Draft Matt (Bite Me) Barkley — it’s really that simple. He has carried the USC team on his back for three years. He has waited patiently for his wide receivers to become consistent and has never shied away from throwing to them in difficult situations. He is an excellent leader, has good athletic talent and can read defenses as well as anyone that has ever come out of the college ranks in recent years. Matt is smart and understands situational football. His pre-snap reads are excellent and his ability to move around in the pocket to gain extra time is very good. He can be successful in any style of offense, but he is a pure pocket passer and will impact in a classic NFL offense or West Coast style of offense the best. You can nitpick (Matt) all you want, but all you have to do is turn on the tape and watch him play and you can see the maturity, ability to lead, come back potential, ability to open up the running game with could accurate passing and that makes him in my mind a top ten pick. Matt’s style of play and ability to impact reminds me a lot of Matt Ryan when he came out in the draft. He is not as tall but his ability to make the talent of the team better and more consistent is the same. When Matt Ryan was drafted out of Boston College, the experts were split. They didn’t think the competition was good. He didn’t play in a bowl game, he was too skinny and a bunch of other excuses. Not me, and I’m not going to listen to all those excuses about Matt Barkley either. I’m not sure in what round Matt will be selected, but I am sure of one thing: if I needed a franchise QB in this draft I would not pass on him. He is the real deal. Matt (Bite Me) Barkley…I think that nickname will come to good use”.
2. Dion Jordan DL/LB Oregon
An excerpt from my profile of Dion Jordan, “Dion is a 6’6″ player who has the athleticism to play multiple positions for your defense and all at a high level. I have seen him line up as a linebacker, defensive end and in coverage like a safety because of his skills, speed and fluidness. He gives excellent effort on every play and shows leadership skills through his play on the field. He is the type of player you build your defense around once you decide in which position he will be most impactful. As a defensive end he shows a terrific burst off the line to rush the passer and gets into the backfield to disrupt plays as quickly as any defensive lineman in this draft. As a stand up linebacker in a 3-4 defense, he shows the ability to beat his player one-on-one on the line along with the coverage skills and football intelligence to cover and intercept balls thrown to his side of the field on screens. Dion has the speed to stay with, and cover, receivers down the field as well. He does a solid job stringing out sweeps and is a solid tackler. When he lines up in the slot in coverage, he can play man-to-man coverage and shut down any pass catching tight end in the NFL. Because of his unique athletic talents, he will impact the day after you draft him. I call him Dion (Neon) Jordan because he lights the field up with his talents”.
3. Ezekiel Ansah DE BYU
Excerpts from My profile of Ezekiel, “Ezekiel has the natural strength to be a dominating defensive lineman for the team that drafts him. He has strong athletic abilities and has the foot speed that most linebackers would love to have coming out in any draft. He is excellent at shedding his block and making a tackle at the line of scrimmage. Although Ezekiel, at this point of his career, lacks the typical burst off the line that most like to see in a pass rusher, he does possess those long arms and legs making long strides off the line of scrimmage that tackles will struggle with when pass blocking him. Ezekiel plays DE in a 3-4 defense that uses a 2-gap system and he does an excellent job right now with limited experience. But don’t mistake this kid not being able to play multiple positions in any style of defense because of his natural strength, size, speed, athletic talents and overall intelligence to learn. Ezekiel has the potential to become a complete impact defensive lineman. He will be a dominating pass rusher and, right now, he is one of the few coming out in this draft that also knows how to stop the run. He reminds me a lot of New York Giant Justin Tuck (see The Huddle Report archives) when he came out in the draft. A strong powerful player with natural pass rushing talent but lacking the pass rushing skills. Draft Ezekiel and plug him into the strong side DE position in your 3-4 or 4-3 defense and he will impact. They call this kid Ziggy as a nickname and that sounds good to me, Ezekiel (Ziggy) Ansah”.
4. Bjoern Werner DE FSU
Bjoern is a power rusher whose strength, size and balance are the key skills to him being an impact player for the team that drafts him. He has strength in both his upper and lower body; trying to push this kid around on the field is like trying to push a wheelbarrow of cow manure up the plank and into the spreader. He can play in multiple fronts all over your defensive line. He shows on film to have good foot speed, which has shown more explosion to the ball this year than in the past. He loves the physical part of the game and understands when he needs to step up and make a play. You will not fool him twice in a game with the same play. He is a head up, wrap up, squeeze and drive tackler and is a sure tackler in the open field because of his natural athleticism. Bjoern has natural strength, or what I call “farmboy” strength. I’m sure he can go into the weight room and embarrass most of his teammates, but the truth is he understands leverage and uses it very well on the field against his opponents. Double teams do not stop Bjoern and he is as good defending against the run as he is a pass rusher. You can use him in a 2-gap system or a 1-gap system and he will impact, making sacks and tackles on, and behind, the line of scrimmage. He looks to be an excellent teammate and plays very well within the context of the game plan and with the other linemen. In a 4-3 defense, Bjoern has the potential to be as impactful as Chris Long, St Louis Rams. If he plays in a 3-4, Bjoern has the potential to be as impactful as JJ Watt, HoustonTexans.
5. Ryan Nassib QB Syracuse
Excerpts from my profile written from film and just after the college season and before The firing of Chan Gaily and the hiring of Dan Marrone. Date of profile, December 2012.
“Ryan is a mentally tough, strong-armed quarterback who is just starting to reach his potential. He has good size and strength and reminds me a lot of Jim Kelly (former QB, Buffalo Bills). Ryan is smart and has the athletic talent, arm strength and accuracy to be used in any style of offensive system. He works out of a multiple formation offense that includes working from under center as well as shotgun. He is a power runner and will make the short yardage himself on third and fourth downs when needed. Every time I see this kid he improves — from year to year and from game to game. He understands down and distance and will throw the ball away inside the red zone to save a score. Not many young QB’s understand that part of the game, so it’s impressive that Ryan does. Ryan is pretty sharp inside the 20 yard line and is always looking to score. He has good, quick feet and throws well on the run. His throwing mechanics have improved from year to year, which speaks to his ability to understand how much more he has to learn. Ryan’s leadership skills are decent and will get better with experience. This is your sleeper QB in this draft and I suspect as we get closer to the draft you will be hearing more about him. He has starting potential right now and, if he continues to improve his passing like I believe he will, then the team that drafts Ryan will have their franchise quarterback also. Ryan is a quarterback who can open the running game up because of his passing”.
6. Sharrif Floyd DT Florida
Excerpt from Sharrif Floyd profile, “Sharrif is an excellent run stuffing defensive tackle. He uses really solid techniques, keeping his shoulders square to the line of scrimmage and keeping offensive linemen off of his body to shed and make tackles in the hole. He has the lateral agility that you look for in a defensive tackle for stopping the run, but don’t be fooled, he is quick off the snap and can play more than one position on the defensive line in multiple fronts. He has solid change of direction skills, which makes him more than just a “push the pocket” pass rusher for the next level. For his size, Sharrif shows decent foot quickness and will string out running plays easily to make a tackle behind the line of scrimmage on sweeps when playing on the outside in a 4-3 alignment. He has the overall athletic talent to play in both a 1-gap or 2-gap style of defense which is a big plus when looking for defensive lineman in a draft. He is as talented as Marcell Dareus when he came out in the draft…not as big and not as powerful, but he has the same type of talent”.
7. Eric Fisher LT Central Michigan
Eric is a very athletic offensive lineman. He shows great aggressiveness to get out in front of screen plays and has the speed and foot quickness to be used in a pulling offensive line system. Eric shows leadership skills through his play on the field and he works well with his left guard on stunts and blitzes. Eric has good football instincts and looks on film to be mentally tough. He has the athletic quickness and lateral agility to handle the speed pass rushes at the next level and he will be able to play left or right tackle in a spread offense or a traditional pro style offense. On film, Eric looks like he has the work ethic to improve dramatically in his first year of playing for the team that drafts him. He should be a good one. Is Eric the best offensive lineman in this draft? No, he is not… but he has the potential to be the best left tackle in this draft. Do your homework, interview this kid and then plan on drafting him for the left side of your offensive line. Eric needs some work, but just about every player in this draft needs to improve his technique.
8. Barrett Jones OL Alabama
This might surprise just about everyone. I know that Barrett will not sniff the first round in this draft. The reason is because Barrett is injured and not able to work out but remember, I do all my profiles from film work during the college season and Barrett was one of the best offensive lineman I have seen since Nick Mangold who I also rated as a top ten pick in the 2006[SUP]th[/SUP] draft. The following is an excerpt from my profile of Barrett.
“Barrett has the size, athletic talent, mental toughness and football intelligence to play multiple positions on the line of scrimmage at a Pro Bowl level. He shows excellent pass blocking skills because of his strong lateral agility and the job he does mirroring his opponent. He has the ability to anchor against the bull rush as well as the size and bulk to run block. He is very smart and quick and uses his hands very well. When Barrett is playing the tackle position, he has the foot speed and quickness to recover if he gets beat off the line of scrimmage. This ability is very unusual for a man his size. Barrett played the center position this year after playing left tackle last year and guard the year before. He shows excellent leadership skills and recognition of his and his teammates blocking assignments. He identifies when he is having problems blocking his opponent and will adjust his style to meet the challenge during the game. He is a quarterback in a offensive lineman’s body. He has the feet to be used in a pulling system and is athletic enough to get out in front for screens. Barrett understands that while he might be not as strong as the person he is blocking. He understands that and will adjust during a game and will use his opponents’ own strength and aggressiveness against them to dominate and make his blocks. You saw that in the Alabama-Georgia game. Late in the game, Alabama ran right up the middle of the Georgia defense. Barrett had the nose tackle (who was bigger and stronger) so frustrated in the 4th quarter because, Barrett was smart enough to adjust his style of blocking from the 1st quarter when those defensive tackles were making plays against him. That’s leadership. That’s a Pro Bowl offensive lineman. I call him Barrett (Bonus) Jones because he plays all of those positions with great proficiency”.
9. Lane Johnson LT Oklahoma
Excerpts from Lane’s profile, Let’s just start with this: Lane is one of the best pure left tackles in this draft. He has the most athletic talent at this position and plays the position effortlessly. He has excellent size, strength and quickness to play left tackle and his ability to learn and bring what he learns into the game as quickly as he has, is very unique. He has strong hands and is very smart. He can play more than one position on the offensive line for the team that drafts him. Lane has excellent lateral agility to mirror his man (if he has to) and the quick feet to recover if he gets beat. Lane does a very good job blocking for the run as well as the pass. He stays with his block through the whistle and shows excellent leadership skills through his play on the field. Lane is very proud and has that little bit of nasty streak that makes him mentally tough. He has excellent physical stamina and can play in any style of offensive line blocking scheme. Lane’s athleticism makes it easy for him to go to the second level and make his blocks. He can be used in a pulling system and has no problems getting out in front of sweeps and screens to make blocks down the field. This kid is hiding in plain sight and I’m not sure why no one seems to notice him, but you can bet after the Senior Bowl they will be talking about him big time. Lane is learning the left tackle position very fast, but still has some room for growth which I believe he will do with more repetitions.
10. Cordarrelle Patterson WR Tennessee
from my profile of Cordarrelle,
“Cordarrelle plays the game with a toughness and arrogance that you love to see in a potential #1 wide receiver. He has excellent size, strength and speed to play his position at a very high level for the team that drafts him. He loves being physical and wants to make the big play. You will not move this kid off his routes. He has very good hands to catch the ball and the ability to adjust to the ball in the air to make the acrobatic catch. He has the speed to go deep and the toughness and strength to make the catch over the middle and take the hit on crossing routes.
“ He is a special team’s nightmare for the opponent. Sometimes Cordarrelle is too confident and too arrogant. On deep balls when he beats his man, he has a tendency to nonchalant the ball and drop it. He will need to be more consistent running routes at the same speed he practices and bring that to the game so that timing issues do not become a problem. On special teams, he can return a kickoff 110 yards for a touchdown and, on the next kickoff, take the ball out of the end zone and get tackled on the two yard line. On any play from the line of scrimmage, he could catch the deep ball, run a reverse or catch the ball on a crossing route and take it all the way for six points. That’s just the way it is and you’re going to have to live with it because he is not going to change. It’s what makes him so impactful, so deal with it. I call him Cordarrelle (Deal With It) Patterson”.
That’s the Top Ten and here are five players who were close.
11. Tavon Austin WR West Virginia
12. Jamar Taylor CB Boise St
13. Jonathan Cooper OG North Carolina
14. Jonathan Banks CB Mississippi St
15 Kenny Vaccaro S Texas
Carp
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Steelers could take a quarterback in the draft
Posted by Josh Alper on April 22, 2013, 8:59 AM EDT
The Steelers haven’t taken a quarterback since drafting Dennis Dixon in the fifth round of the 2008 draft, but their streak of quarterback-less drafts could end this week.
Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert broke with recent trends and said the team was open to the possibility of drafting a quarterback at some point during the 2013 draft. Per Dulac, the team isn’t interested in finding someone with the intention of grooming a replacement for Ben Roethlisberger in the near future but could find a developmental prospect to develop over several years while Roethlisberger remains in charge of things on offense.
According to the report, the Steelers believe Tyler Bray of Tennessee is the most talented quarterback in this year’s class. The strong-armed early entry isn’t ready to play right now, although his potential may still push him into the second day of the draft and Dulac believes that’s earlier than the Steelers might like to pick a player with no immediate chance to play. E.J. Manuel of Florida State and Zac Dysert of Roethlisberger’s alma mater Miami of Ohio are also mentioned as quarterbacks who have caught the team’s eye over the last few months.
With Bruce Gradkowski signed to be a backup and John Parker Wilson also on the roster, the selection of a quarterback would likely bring an end to Charlie Batch’s run with the Steelers. That would make for quite a change in the “back in my day” stories told during position meetings since the quarterbacks mentioned above were just a couple of years out of diapers when Batch was getting ready for his own draft day.
Posted by Josh Alper on April 22, 2013, 8:59 AM EDT
The Steelers haven’t taken a quarterback since drafting Dennis Dixon in the fifth round of the 2008 draft, but their streak of quarterback-less drafts could end this week.
Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Steelers General Manager Kevin Colbert broke with recent trends and said the team was open to the possibility of drafting a quarterback at some point during the 2013 draft. Per Dulac, the team isn’t interested in finding someone with the intention of grooming a replacement for Ben Roethlisberger in the near future but could find a developmental prospect to develop over several years while Roethlisberger remains in charge of things on offense.
According to the report, the Steelers believe Tyler Bray of Tennessee is the most talented quarterback in this year’s class. The strong-armed early entry isn’t ready to play right now, although his potential may still push him into the second day of the draft and Dulac believes that’s earlier than the Steelers might like to pick a player with no immediate chance to play. E.J. Manuel of Florida State and Zac Dysert of Roethlisberger’s alma mater Miami of Ohio are also mentioned as quarterbacks who have caught the team’s eye over the last few months.
With Bruce Gradkowski signed to be a backup and John Parker Wilson also on the roster, the selection of a quarterback would likely bring an end to Charlie Batch’s run with the Steelers. That would make for quite a change in the “back in my day” stories told during position meetings since the quarterbacks mentioned above were just a couple of years out of diapers when Batch was getting ready for his own draft day.
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ESPN's Chris Mortensen reports Notre Dame TE Tyler Eifert is "definitely a player among the most targeted for trade-up possibilities" in the draft.
Eifert is the consensus top tight end in the draft, and he's expected to be the only one drafted in the first round. Teams like the Bills at No. 8 and Jets at Nos. 9 and 13 need a tight end. Clubs in the bottom half of the first round that could use Eifert are the Steelers, Giants, Texans, Falcons, and 49ers.
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My question is...why?
What is so special about this guy? The fact he had a better Combine than Ertz?
Eifert is the consensus top tight end in the draft, and he's expected to be the only one drafted in the first round. Teams like the Bills at No. 8 and Jets at Nos. 9 and 13 need a tight end. Clubs in the bottom half of the first round that could use Eifert are the Steelers, Giants, Texans, Falcons, and 49ers.
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My question is...why?
What is so special about this guy? The fact he had a better Combine than Ertz?
Bob Roberts
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He puts in a better Eifert in the film room.
Smitty
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Good lord.
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GForce78NJ
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gets me every time
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I think one day I will read a Bob Roberts pun and just suffer a stroke.
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NFL Announces Enhanced Security Screenings and Fan Guidelines for 2013 Draft at Radio City Music Hall
Security measures inside and outside Radio City Music Hall will be enhanced for the 2013 NFL Draft Thursday-Saturday, the NFL announced today.
Everyone entering Radio City will be subject to security screenings, including metal detectors, pat-downs, and other special security checks. Spectators choosing not to consent to the NFL’s security requirements will be refused admission.
Fans with tickets are encouraged to arrive early to avoid delays and expedite entry for everyone. The NFL will open the doors to fans earlier than normal for all rounds, including Thursday night beginning at 5:30 p.m. The NFL Draft is a free event. However, seating is very limited (see below for information for access to Radio City).
The NFL, Radio City and the New York Police Department strongly recommend that spectators minimize the number and size of all items carried into the stadium. Fans are urged to bring nothing larger than a very small purse. All items carried by fans will be carefully inspected. The NFL and Radio City will not hold prohibited or excluded items for spectators (see below for list of prohibited items).
“The NFL and its clubs have operated with a very high level of security since 9/11 for all of our games and events,” said Jeffrey Miller, NFL vice president and chief security officer. “With the help of the FBI, New York Police Department, Radio City and our private security partners, we will enhance our already comprehensive plans for the safety of our fans and other attendees.”
The NFL Draft begins with Round 1 slated for 8 p.m. ET on Thursday. Fans who pick up wristbands the night before will be able to enter the venue beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET. Rounds 2 and 3 will be held on Friday beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET. Rounds 4-7 will be held on Saturday, beginning at noon ET.
For the complete release, including information to access to Radio City Music Hall and a list of prohibited items, click here.
Security measures inside and outside Radio City Music Hall will be enhanced for the 2013 NFL Draft Thursday-Saturday, the NFL announced today.
Everyone entering Radio City will be subject to security screenings, including metal detectors, pat-downs, and other special security checks. Spectators choosing not to consent to the NFL’s security requirements will be refused admission.
Fans with tickets are encouraged to arrive early to avoid delays and expedite entry for everyone. The NFL will open the doors to fans earlier than normal for all rounds, including Thursday night beginning at 5:30 p.m. The NFL Draft is a free event. However, seating is very limited (see below for information for access to Radio City).
The NFL, Radio City and the New York Police Department strongly recommend that spectators minimize the number and size of all items carried into the stadium. Fans are urged to bring nothing larger than a very small purse. All items carried by fans will be carefully inspected. The NFL and Radio City will not hold prohibited or excluded items for spectators (see below for list of prohibited items).
“The NFL and its clubs have operated with a very high level of security since 9/11 for all of our games and events,” said Jeffrey Miller, NFL vice president and chief security officer. “With the help of the FBI, New York Police Department, Radio City and our private security partners, we will enhance our already comprehensive plans for the safety of our fans and other attendees.”
The NFL Draft begins with Round 1 slated for 8 p.m. ET on Thursday. Fans who pick up wristbands the night before will be able to enter the venue beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET. Rounds 2 and 3 will be held on Friday beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET. Rounds 4-7 will be held on Saturday, beginning at noon ET.
For the complete release, including information to access to Radio City Music Hall and a list of prohibited items, click here.
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Adam Schefter · 298,044 followers
about a minute ago via mobile ·
Alabama CB Dee Milliner has undergone five surgeries, some not as major as others. Milliner’s surgeries: right knee scope, sports hernia, right tibia stress fracture, left shoulder, right shoulder
about a minute ago via mobile ·
Alabama CB Dee Milliner has undergone five surgeries, some not as major as others. Milliner’s surgeries: right knee scope, sports hernia, right tibia stress fracture, left shoulder, right shoulder
Cujo
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The NFL Draft Decoded, Part III
POSTED: April 23, 5:35 PM ET
I woke up this Monday morning feeling almost like a little kid at Christmas – this is NFL Draft week, which means I get to do my annual NFL Draft Decoded column, probably my favorite thing to write. Every year I own up to a worsening obsession with the draft and plead to the decision-makers of any of the NFL's wayward franchises (I'm still talking to you, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan!) to take me on and hire me as an unpaid personnel advisor. Every year, I promise my future employer to sleep in the broom closet, live off tap water and Dinty Moore products, and emerge just once a year to guide the draft process.
The thing is, over many years of obsessing about the draft in my spare time, I've developed a (usually) rock-solid system that steers your theoretical team away from bust picks and toward higher-value selections.
In the past my system has predicted big things from mid-to-late-round players like Darren Sproles, Aaron Hernandez, Domata Peko, Austin Collie, Eric Decker and Jason Peters. But I have to admit, I had a down year last year. Not only did I pound the table for dubious picks like Steelers nose tackle Alameda Ta'amu and Buffalo corner Ron Brooks, I warned readers off two of last year's best value picks, Bengal linebacker Vontaze Burfict and Patriots corner Alfonzo Dennard (who violated Rule Number Two, Avoid Players Who Punch Cops in Bars Just Before the Draft).
But I still believe in the system. As bad as last year was, I still liked solid-performing picks like LaMichael James (Rule Number Three: take a chance on short), Janoris Jenkins (Rule Number One: draft the "weed guy"), and Nick Foles (Rule Number Five, take some kind of quarterback late every year), plus I recommended some other good players, like West Virginia pass-rusher Bruce Irvin (a "Jacoby Ford rule" pick who had eight sacks in his rookie year) and Oklahoma wideout Ryan Broyles (an "Injury Arbitrage" selection who was doing well with Detroit before, well, he got injured). So the system still produced, sort of, but like I said, it was a down year – so I went back to the drawing board and tweaked a few things, keeping the same basic rules but adding a few extras.
I love everything about the NFL draft. I love the 350-pound guys sweating bullets in the green room while they stretch the seams of the first suit they've ever bought, which is usually some amazing color like teal or cornflower (although Dre Kirpatrick's blazing red vest was the highlight of the first round last year). I love central-casting uptight corporate white guy Roger Goodell trying vainly to disengage from the too-long, lung-crushing onstage bear-hugs of still-weeping hulking black dudes like Marcel Dareus. And this year I really loved Rich Eisen whipping out a can of spray musk with a set of real antlers plastered to it before he ran his annual tie-flapping 6.03 at the combine.
And more than anything, I love watching Mel Kiper, Jr. seethe with each passing pick that doesn't match his latest 46-round mock, and I love imagining the Shakespearean murder plots that are clearly spinning behind his eyes by the end of day three, as he tries to think of how he can get rid of his younger-and-smarter future replacement, Todd McShay, without the authorities catching on. I keep waiting for him to just blurt it out some year during the late fifth or sixth round, when all the broadcasters start losing it from the fatigue.
Maybe it'll be this year: "Boom, I love the pick of Connecticut linebacker Sio Moore here . . . . Ran a 4.65 40 at the combine, had 196 tackles over two years, limited sack production but a serious upside play. And Boom, I think the key is to get Todd out on a boat in deep water, point overboard and say something like, ‘Look, a human arm!', then just push him off when he leans over to look, and motor away. There's no DNA there, Boom, and worst-case scenario, I pass it off as a fishing accident."
"Mel, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Guys, I'm talking about Sio Moore, outside linebacker from the University of Connecticut. Played with his hand in the dirt in college, but his natural position in the pros is going to be 3-4 outside linebacker. A great fit for the Chargers here, they need someone to replace Shaun Phillips."
Anyway, the draft is the funnest thing on TV and this year promises to be a great one. I've conducted the usual lunatic study of this year's entrants and here are the rules for 2013 success, with the new rules first:
EAT HAMS IN THE FIRST ROUND. Two things separate the good teams from the bad teams. Good teams consistently find contributing regulars in fourth round and beyond – that's what most of my rules are about. But the other thing, equally important, is that good teams do not fuck up their first round picks. The St. Louis Rams rode Orlando Pace, Grant Winstrom and Torry Holt to a dynasty in the late nineties, and then in the 2000s quickly threw it all away with a decade of full of abject-horror picks like Trung Canidate, Tye Hill, Jimmy Kennedy, Alex Barron and Jason Smith. The Raiders are even worse. I would put decent money down that right now, as I type this, an Oakland Raiders first-round pick from the last decade is getting arrested for something.
A few years ago, the Raiders started trading away their top picks (presumably to prevent JaMarcus Russell from eating them first) for established veterans in a not-so-subtle acknowledgement of their drafting failures, and they still ended up with guys who couldn't stick on the roster. Carson Palmer will be throwing back-breaking picks for Arizona next year, while Richard Seymour is sitting at home waiting for the ghost of Al Davis to reappear on earth and offer him $30 million for two years again. You just can't survive that kind of record and still hope to compete. They key is, you need to get guys in the first round who are at least passable starters. You don't have to hit a home run every time, but you need guys who at least play.
The mistake GMs make over and over again in the first round is that they fall in love with players, dreaming on their future stardom (a scout watching rifle-armed JaMarcus Russell in a scripted workout couldn't help but get aroused imagining him gunning 30-yard outs on Sundays), and end up humping the prospect's leg so feverishly that they ignore major red flags on draft day, like an arrest for driving stoned into the side of a retirement home, a history of weight problems, maybe a broken spine, who knows. But here's the thing: a first-rounder should HAVE NO RED FLAGS. He should be clean all the way around and able to pass what I call the HAMS test:
– Is the prospect HEALTHY? When you draft a running back in the first round who has chronic brain injuries before he even gets to the NFL, you're . . . well, you're the Detroit Lions.
– Is the prospect an ASSHOLE? Sometimes guys with scary college arrests and character red flags work out – just look at Terrell Suggs and Randy Moss and, lately, Dez Bryant. But particularly in the top 10, why bother reaching for someone who's had any trouble at all? It's not like there aren't other guys available. Just shelve that Lawrence Phillips crush and move on to Eddie George. You'll miss a star from time to time, but you won't end up eating millions in dead cap money while your top draft choice does community service for beating a stripper or pulling a B&E to steal pain pills. Especially if you're picking a quarterback, if you go to campus and hear that the guy is an hyper-entitled dweebum who spends more time worrying about his hair and the 15 cars he's going to buy after his first contract (Ryan Leaf admitted that his first move after getting drafted would be to go to Vegas and party) than he does about football, you've got to move on to someone else.
– Does the prospect have superior MEASURABLES? This is draft-geek stuff, but if you pick in the first round, your guy should be able to run much faster and jump much higher than the average player at that position. Every year the pundits remind us that Anquan Boldin ran a 4.7 and Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith both ran 4.6s and Lamarr Woodley was just as short in college at Michigan as he would be as a perennial Pro Bowl monster in the NFL. And then every year teams listen to those reminders and pick guys in the first round like Brandon Graham or Larry English and Mark Ingram who don't quite measure up athletically and have it show in the pros. I have no problem with players who are short (see below) or aren't combine all-stars, but not in the first round.
– Did your guy put up STATS in college? There are players with so-so stats in college who become stars in the pros (Mike Wallace had 56 career catches at Mississippi; Jason Pierre-Paul had 6.5 total sacks), but again, in the first round, you don't bet on potential, you bet on the surest thing you see. It's not like the choice is going to be between a lousy athlete with stats and a great athlete with no stats; in the first round, particularly the top of the first round, they're all great athletes, or should be. Again, the object here is not to pick a star, it's to avoid picking Darrius Heyward-Bey (two career touchdowns at Maryland) or even Jake Locker (completed 53 percent of his passes in his college career; he's at 55 percent in the pros).
If GMs spent more time just trying to get on base in the first round instead of hitting home runs, they'd be way better off. At the bottom of the draft, of course, the opposite dynamic comes into play – more on that in a bit. As far as this year goes, the system says that in the first round anyway, avoid guys like Cal receiver Keenan Allen (who's hurt and ran a 4.7), BYU pass-rusher Ziggy Ansah (played for like a year and had 4.5 sacks in his career) and linebacker Alec Ogletree (multiple discipline issues at Georgia and got a DWI a week before the combine, a huge red flag). They may all be great players ultimately, but why take the chance? Your first rounder should be so clean, you should be able to eat sushi off his glistening trapezius muscles.
IGNORE THE MEDIA. Most teams already do this, but occasionally you will see clubs passing on some stigmatized prospect who has been bashed by rival scouts or executives who use the media to throw other teams off the scent of the player they really want. Nobody, not even a political operative during a campaign season, lies as much as a "high-level team source" commenting on a prospect in the weeks before the draft. So if you see a major college star who may even have ripped up the combine getting savagely dumped upon by anonymous sources, you can be almost positive that's because someone's trying to kill his stock because they want to take him themselves.
Cam Newton was the ultimate example of this a few years ago, but there's more of it this year than I've ever seen before. It's particularly true with West Virginia star quarterback Geno Smith, who's being hammered for his "poor decision-making" – Merrill Hoge made Smith sound like a black Mark Sanchez – after a year in which he threw 42 touchdowns against 6 interceptions. I'm not a huge fan of drafting quarterbacks in the first round, but the anti-Smith campaign smells a lot like several QB-hungry top 10 teams all trying to smear him simultaneously.
Meanwhile some other prospects are quietly being knocked in the clumsiest conceivable fashion; the worst-kept secret in this draft is Tennessee wideout/A.J. Green lookalike Justin Hunter going high in the first round, despite an onslaught of whispered comments from would-be team sources complaining about his slight frame and his injury history and pegging him as maybe a low second-rounder. I smell a little of this with appealingly freakish Estonian D-end Margus Hunt, too, an Olympic-caliber athlete who may have had the best combine performance in history (6'8", 277 pounds, ran a 4-effing-6 in the forty) but for some reason is being mocked in the low second round most everywhere. Hunt falls a little short on the Health-Asshole-Measurables-Stats test (he didn't put up huge numbers in college) but he's exactly the sort of player you pick in the low first or second round – it's just hard to imagine him flat-out sucking, or getting fat and wrapping a Jag around a telephone pole or whatever.
Anyway, the point is, don't read any mock drafts if you can avoid it, just check the player out, make your own evaluation, and don't get spooked by late-breaking hype-fests. Guaranteed, some team Thursday will flip out and pick Syracuse QB Ryan Nassib a full round higher than they had him graded at least in part because they're reading press "whispers" about him suddenly being the top guy in this year's QB class, despite the fact that a lot of that Nassib hype is surely part of a campaign to depress Smith's stock. But enough of the geeky new stuff, here's a quick review of the old rules:
DRAFT THE WEED GUY. There's never been a more obvious year to capitalize on failed-drug-test draft fallers. Three big-time players fall into this category: ex-LSU corner Tyrann "Honey Badger" Mathieu, ex-Tennessee/Tennessee Tech receiver Da'Rick Rogers, and that California wideout Keenan Allen. Minus the drug issue, Rogers might have been the top wide receiver on the board this year – he was one of the best wideouts in college in 2011 and should have been first-team all-SEC that year over both LSU's Reuben Randle (who had a good rookie year in the NFL last fall) and Arkansas wideout Jarius Wright (who didn't). The guy is built like a young T.O., has great hands, and runs like the proverbial bowling ball covered with razor blades. But he's going in the second or third round, if not later, because he failed drug tests, got booted from Tennessee and had to spend this year getting triple-covered at Tennessee Tech.
Mathieu and Allen have other problems – Allen may be hurt and Mathieu only benched 4 reps at the combine, which is pathetic. You can pick any of the Kardashian girls at random, and she could probably do at least 5 reps. I'd still pick Mathieu if he was around after the third round because at the very least, he's going to be a top special-teamer and punt returner. Anyway, in general, it's a solid class of potsmokers. Mr. Khan, if you're listening, pick any of them if they're around late, a la Hernandez.
TAKE A CHANCE ON SMALL. The NFL for years has had a weird bias against explosive-but-small skill players on offense, despite an extraordinary track record of height-deficient stars who break out of the mid-to-lower rounds. From Wes Welker (who had the triple whammy of being height and speed deficient in addition to being white) to Maurice Jones-Drew to Leon Washington to Danny Woodhead to Sproles to quarterbacks like Drew Brees and last year's big miss, Russell Wilson, scouts routinely whiff on little guys who put up huge numbers in college, tested well athletically, but had barista size (Danny Woodhead's famous failed attempt to sell Danny Woodhead jerseys while undercover at Modell's – "too little for me," grumbled one customer – pretty much summed up what short athletes have to deal with).
The trend even extends a little bit to the defensive side, where players like Elvis Dumervil, James Harrison, Zach Thomas and Geno Atkins were seriously underdrafted because they failed the weigh-in centerfold test. This is a bit of a strange year because scouts everywhere are insisting that they're past that, that they realize the new NFL is all about quickly getting the ball in the hands of fast dudes in space, and we'll see the proof of the new attitude when mini-me West Virginia receiver Tavon Austin (all 5'8", 179 pounds of him) gets picked high in the first round.
Which is great and all, but while Austin will spend Thursday night getting ballwashed by Kiper and co. during the endless draft commentary shows, Michigan quarterback-turned-receiver Denard Robinson, who was only one of the five or six best offensive players in college the last few years, will be sitting at home staring glumly at his telephone. The obvious difference between Robinson and Austin is that Austin knows how to play wide receiver and Robinson doesn't yet, but athletically it's a wash -- Robinson's just as fast and if anything is a better pure runner. If you're in the late rounds and he's there, pick that guy and put him on the Julian Edelman plan, i.e. just grab the athlete and figure out what to do with him later. He might end up being Darren Sproles, he might end up being Devin Hester, he might be Antoine Randle-El, but he'll be something.
Another guy who'll be seriously underdrafted is South Carolina wide receiver Ace Sanders, who ruined his draft hopes by running slow in Indianapolis but was a major playmaker in college with good hands, awesome dreds and great return skills, though he's smaller even than Wes Welker. Speaking of Welker:
WHITE WIDE RECEIVERS ARE STILL A MARKET INEFFICIENCY. Despite year after year of underdrafted Welkers, Amendolas, Eric Deckers and Austin Collies, white skill-position guys are still a draft inefficiency and this year is no different. The scouting reports on Texas A&M wideout Ryan Swope before the combine are absolutely shameful to read now. "Not a true burner; relies on fakes and quickness to separate vertically," wrote the Lindy's guide, adding: "There are more athletic, explosive receivers in this draft . . .[he relies on] route-running efficiency, smarts and craftiness." Pro Football Weekly wrote this: "Tough, smart, crafty . . . Needs double moves to separate vertically."
You could cut and paste the scouting report for any white receiver in the past decade and it would read just like that: "tough," "smart," "crafty," a "good route runner" with "intangibles" who overcomes physical limitations with "effort" and "tape study." Meanwhile Swope only went to Indianapolis and graded out as the top athlete in the receiver class, even better than Austin, whom he tied in the 40-yard dash (they both ran 4.34s). This guy was a hugely productive player in college and blew up the combine and if he goes lower than the second round it'll be a joke – anyway, Mr. Khan, if he's there for you in the late rounds, I strongly recommend you take him.
DON'T SLEEP ON SAMOANS. Normally Samoans/Pacific Islanders are underdrafted for unknown reasons. This year, Manti Te'o will plunge in the draft because well, that was one seriously fucking weird story he was involved with last year. I'm not sure about him, but there are whispers that Haloti Ngata-esque tackle Star Lotulelei is falling, which would be a mistake. I would take that guy over almost anyone in the draft just purely on safeness/sure thing grounds, but don't be shocked if he slips out of the top 10.
TAKE A QUARTERBACK LATE EVERY YEAR. Again, the thesis here is that the first round is for picking offensive and defensive linemen and because quarterbacks are so hard to evaluate, your best shot at finding a good one is to do so by accident. So grab one every year in the mid-late rounds and hope like hell he turns into Tom Brady, Kurt Warner or Russell Wilson. I was going to suggest FSU's E.J. Manuel for this rule this year, but the media priests are on to him and he's going to go in the top two rounds for sure now.
The rest of the class is pretty uninspiring, but the rule says you have to pick one anyway. Miami of Ohio's Zac Dysert? He went to Ben Roethlisberger's school and has Fabio hair, so he's interesting. There's some biggish guy from Rensselaer named Mike Hermann who exists in several places on YouTube – he just beats out Sasquatch in terms of publicly-available video – maybe him? Aaron Rodgers's little brother Jordan is intriguing; he has the same crazy-quick release as his more famous relative and is only a little smaller, though the arm isn't nearly the same. Anyway, pick one. Lastly:
TAKE FLYERS LATE ON FREAK ATHLETES. Also known as the "Jacoby Ford Rule." Every year there are guys who test through the roof or at least exactly the same as the top guys at their positions, had good solid careers, and end up in the seventh round anyway for a variety of reasons.
Take these guys. If you look at every draft, there are first-round talents available in every round. A lot of them have serious red flags (Marcus Cannon had cancer a few years ago; Bryce Brown last year barely even played in college), but you've got to buy at least one lottery ticket or you'll hate yourself come Sunday. Especially very late, don't try to hit singles, go for homers.
This year has a bunch of these types. I get in trouble naming too many of them because they mostly don't pan out, but wide receiver Charles Johnson of Grand Valley State is this year's obvious low-round freak – standing 6'2" and weighing 215, he put up a 4.35 40 at his pro day while scouts from the Saints and the Bills pitched massive tents in front of bemused photographers. Similarly Sierra's Courtney Gardner is physically pretty much the same player as top-rated wideout Cordarrelle Patterson (they were both unknown-but-ass-kicking JUCO stars just a few years ago), the only major difference being that Patterson got into Tennessee and ripped up the SEC for a year, while Gardner somehow ballsed up a commitment to Oklahoma last fall and stayed at Sierra. Is he as good as Patterson? Lots of people thought so 12-15 months ago. Anyway, in the seventh round, it's all good anyway. Happy hunting and see you next year . . .
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/the-nfl-draft-decoded-part-iii-20130423#ixzz2RL7WvGp4
POSTED: April 23, 5:35 PM ET
I woke up this Monday morning feeling almost like a little kid at Christmas – this is NFL Draft week, which means I get to do my annual NFL Draft Decoded column, probably my favorite thing to write. Every year I own up to a worsening obsession with the draft and plead to the decision-makers of any of the NFL's wayward franchises (I'm still talking to you, Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan!) to take me on and hire me as an unpaid personnel advisor. Every year, I promise my future employer to sleep in the broom closet, live off tap water and Dinty Moore products, and emerge just once a year to guide the draft process.
The thing is, over many years of obsessing about the draft in my spare time, I've developed a (usually) rock-solid system that steers your theoretical team away from bust picks and toward higher-value selections.
In the past my system has predicted big things from mid-to-late-round players like Darren Sproles, Aaron Hernandez, Domata Peko, Austin Collie, Eric Decker and Jason Peters. But I have to admit, I had a down year last year. Not only did I pound the table for dubious picks like Steelers nose tackle Alameda Ta'amu and Buffalo corner Ron Brooks, I warned readers off two of last year's best value picks, Bengal linebacker Vontaze Burfict and Patriots corner Alfonzo Dennard (who violated Rule Number Two, Avoid Players Who Punch Cops in Bars Just Before the Draft).
But I still believe in the system. As bad as last year was, I still liked solid-performing picks like LaMichael James (Rule Number Three: take a chance on short), Janoris Jenkins (Rule Number One: draft the "weed guy"), and Nick Foles (Rule Number Five, take some kind of quarterback late every year), plus I recommended some other good players, like West Virginia pass-rusher Bruce Irvin (a "Jacoby Ford rule" pick who had eight sacks in his rookie year) and Oklahoma wideout Ryan Broyles (an "Injury Arbitrage" selection who was doing well with Detroit before, well, he got injured). So the system still produced, sort of, but like I said, it was a down year – so I went back to the drawing board and tweaked a few things, keeping the same basic rules but adding a few extras.
I love everything about the NFL draft. I love the 350-pound guys sweating bullets in the green room while they stretch the seams of the first suit they've ever bought, which is usually some amazing color like teal or cornflower (although Dre Kirpatrick's blazing red vest was the highlight of the first round last year). I love central-casting uptight corporate white guy Roger Goodell trying vainly to disengage from the too-long, lung-crushing onstage bear-hugs of still-weeping hulking black dudes like Marcel Dareus. And this year I really loved Rich Eisen whipping out a can of spray musk with a set of real antlers plastered to it before he ran his annual tie-flapping 6.03 at the combine.
And more than anything, I love watching Mel Kiper, Jr. seethe with each passing pick that doesn't match his latest 46-round mock, and I love imagining the Shakespearean murder plots that are clearly spinning behind his eyes by the end of day three, as he tries to think of how he can get rid of his younger-and-smarter future replacement, Todd McShay, without the authorities catching on. I keep waiting for him to just blurt it out some year during the late fifth or sixth round, when all the broadcasters start losing it from the fatigue.
Maybe it'll be this year: "Boom, I love the pick of Connecticut linebacker Sio Moore here . . . . Ran a 4.65 40 at the combine, had 196 tackles over two years, limited sack production but a serious upside play. And Boom, I think the key is to get Todd out on a boat in deep water, point overboard and say something like, ‘Look, a human arm!', then just push him off when he leans over to look, and motor away. There's no DNA there, Boom, and worst-case scenario, I pass it off as a fishing accident."
"Mel, what the hell are you talking about?"
"Guys, I'm talking about Sio Moore, outside linebacker from the University of Connecticut. Played with his hand in the dirt in college, but his natural position in the pros is going to be 3-4 outside linebacker. A great fit for the Chargers here, they need someone to replace Shaun Phillips."
Anyway, the draft is the funnest thing on TV and this year promises to be a great one. I've conducted the usual lunatic study of this year's entrants and here are the rules for 2013 success, with the new rules first:
EAT HAMS IN THE FIRST ROUND. Two things separate the good teams from the bad teams. Good teams consistently find contributing regulars in fourth round and beyond – that's what most of my rules are about. But the other thing, equally important, is that good teams do not fuck up their first round picks. The St. Louis Rams rode Orlando Pace, Grant Winstrom and Torry Holt to a dynasty in the late nineties, and then in the 2000s quickly threw it all away with a decade of full of abject-horror picks like Trung Canidate, Tye Hill, Jimmy Kennedy, Alex Barron and Jason Smith. The Raiders are even worse. I would put decent money down that right now, as I type this, an Oakland Raiders first-round pick from the last decade is getting arrested for something.
A few years ago, the Raiders started trading away their top picks (presumably to prevent JaMarcus Russell from eating them first) for established veterans in a not-so-subtle acknowledgement of their drafting failures, and they still ended up with guys who couldn't stick on the roster. Carson Palmer will be throwing back-breaking picks for Arizona next year, while Richard Seymour is sitting at home waiting for the ghost of Al Davis to reappear on earth and offer him $30 million for two years again. You just can't survive that kind of record and still hope to compete. They key is, you need to get guys in the first round who are at least passable starters. You don't have to hit a home run every time, but you need guys who at least play.
The mistake GMs make over and over again in the first round is that they fall in love with players, dreaming on their future stardom (a scout watching rifle-armed JaMarcus Russell in a scripted workout couldn't help but get aroused imagining him gunning 30-yard outs on Sundays), and end up humping the prospect's leg so feverishly that they ignore major red flags on draft day, like an arrest for driving stoned into the side of a retirement home, a history of weight problems, maybe a broken spine, who knows. But here's the thing: a first-rounder should HAVE NO RED FLAGS. He should be clean all the way around and able to pass what I call the HAMS test:
– Is the prospect HEALTHY? When you draft a running back in the first round who has chronic brain injuries before he even gets to the NFL, you're . . . well, you're the Detroit Lions.
– Is the prospect an ASSHOLE? Sometimes guys with scary college arrests and character red flags work out – just look at Terrell Suggs and Randy Moss and, lately, Dez Bryant. But particularly in the top 10, why bother reaching for someone who's had any trouble at all? It's not like there aren't other guys available. Just shelve that Lawrence Phillips crush and move on to Eddie George. You'll miss a star from time to time, but you won't end up eating millions in dead cap money while your top draft choice does community service for beating a stripper or pulling a B&E to steal pain pills. Especially if you're picking a quarterback, if you go to campus and hear that the guy is an hyper-entitled dweebum who spends more time worrying about his hair and the 15 cars he's going to buy after his first contract (Ryan Leaf admitted that his first move after getting drafted would be to go to Vegas and party) than he does about football, you've got to move on to someone else.
– Does the prospect have superior MEASURABLES? This is draft-geek stuff, but if you pick in the first round, your guy should be able to run much faster and jump much higher than the average player at that position. Every year the pundits remind us that Anquan Boldin ran a 4.7 and Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith both ran 4.6s and Lamarr Woodley was just as short in college at Michigan as he would be as a perennial Pro Bowl monster in the NFL. And then every year teams listen to those reminders and pick guys in the first round like Brandon Graham or Larry English and Mark Ingram who don't quite measure up athletically and have it show in the pros. I have no problem with players who are short (see below) or aren't combine all-stars, but not in the first round.
– Did your guy put up STATS in college? There are players with so-so stats in college who become stars in the pros (Mike Wallace had 56 career catches at Mississippi; Jason Pierre-Paul had 6.5 total sacks), but again, in the first round, you don't bet on potential, you bet on the surest thing you see. It's not like the choice is going to be between a lousy athlete with stats and a great athlete with no stats; in the first round, particularly the top of the first round, they're all great athletes, or should be. Again, the object here is not to pick a star, it's to avoid picking Darrius Heyward-Bey (two career touchdowns at Maryland) or even Jake Locker (completed 53 percent of his passes in his college career; he's at 55 percent in the pros).
If GMs spent more time just trying to get on base in the first round instead of hitting home runs, they'd be way better off. At the bottom of the draft, of course, the opposite dynamic comes into play – more on that in a bit. As far as this year goes, the system says that in the first round anyway, avoid guys like Cal receiver Keenan Allen (who's hurt and ran a 4.7), BYU pass-rusher Ziggy Ansah (played for like a year and had 4.5 sacks in his career) and linebacker Alec Ogletree (multiple discipline issues at Georgia and got a DWI a week before the combine, a huge red flag). They may all be great players ultimately, but why take the chance? Your first rounder should be so clean, you should be able to eat sushi off his glistening trapezius muscles.
IGNORE THE MEDIA. Most teams already do this, but occasionally you will see clubs passing on some stigmatized prospect who has been bashed by rival scouts or executives who use the media to throw other teams off the scent of the player they really want. Nobody, not even a political operative during a campaign season, lies as much as a "high-level team source" commenting on a prospect in the weeks before the draft. So if you see a major college star who may even have ripped up the combine getting savagely dumped upon by anonymous sources, you can be almost positive that's because someone's trying to kill his stock because they want to take him themselves.
Cam Newton was the ultimate example of this a few years ago, but there's more of it this year than I've ever seen before. It's particularly true with West Virginia star quarterback Geno Smith, who's being hammered for his "poor decision-making" – Merrill Hoge made Smith sound like a black Mark Sanchez – after a year in which he threw 42 touchdowns against 6 interceptions. I'm not a huge fan of drafting quarterbacks in the first round, but the anti-Smith campaign smells a lot like several QB-hungry top 10 teams all trying to smear him simultaneously.
Meanwhile some other prospects are quietly being knocked in the clumsiest conceivable fashion; the worst-kept secret in this draft is Tennessee wideout/A.J. Green lookalike Justin Hunter going high in the first round, despite an onslaught of whispered comments from would-be team sources complaining about his slight frame and his injury history and pegging him as maybe a low second-rounder. I smell a little of this with appealingly freakish Estonian D-end Margus Hunt, too, an Olympic-caliber athlete who may have had the best combine performance in history (6'8", 277 pounds, ran a 4-effing-6 in the forty) but for some reason is being mocked in the low second round most everywhere. Hunt falls a little short on the Health-Asshole-Measurables-Stats test (he didn't put up huge numbers in college) but he's exactly the sort of player you pick in the low first or second round – it's just hard to imagine him flat-out sucking, or getting fat and wrapping a Jag around a telephone pole or whatever.
Anyway, the point is, don't read any mock drafts if you can avoid it, just check the player out, make your own evaluation, and don't get spooked by late-breaking hype-fests. Guaranteed, some team Thursday will flip out and pick Syracuse QB Ryan Nassib a full round higher than they had him graded at least in part because they're reading press "whispers" about him suddenly being the top guy in this year's QB class, despite the fact that a lot of that Nassib hype is surely part of a campaign to depress Smith's stock. But enough of the geeky new stuff, here's a quick review of the old rules:
DRAFT THE WEED GUY. There's never been a more obvious year to capitalize on failed-drug-test draft fallers. Three big-time players fall into this category: ex-LSU corner Tyrann "Honey Badger" Mathieu, ex-Tennessee/Tennessee Tech receiver Da'Rick Rogers, and that California wideout Keenan Allen. Minus the drug issue, Rogers might have been the top wide receiver on the board this year – he was one of the best wideouts in college in 2011 and should have been first-team all-SEC that year over both LSU's Reuben Randle (who had a good rookie year in the NFL last fall) and Arkansas wideout Jarius Wright (who didn't). The guy is built like a young T.O., has great hands, and runs like the proverbial bowling ball covered with razor blades. But he's going in the second or third round, if not later, because he failed drug tests, got booted from Tennessee and had to spend this year getting triple-covered at Tennessee Tech.
Mathieu and Allen have other problems – Allen may be hurt and Mathieu only benched 4 reps at the combine, which is pathetic. You can pick any of the Kardashian girls at random, and she could probably do at least 5 reps. I'd still pick Mathieu if he was around after the third round because at the very least, he's going to be a top special-teamer and punt returner. Anyway, in general, it's a solid class of potsmokers. Mr. Khan, if you're listening, pick any of them if they're around late, a la Hernandez.
TAKE A CHANCE ON SMALL. The NFL for years has had a weird bias against explosive-but-small skill players on offense, despite an extraordinary track record of height-deficient stars who break out of the mid-to-lower rounds. From Wes Welker (who had the triple whammy of being height and speed deficient in addition to being white) to Maurice Jones-Drew to Leon Washington to Danny Woodhead to Sproles to quarterbacks like Drew Brees and last year's big miss, Russell Wilson, scouts routinely whiff on little guys who put up huge numbers in college, tested well athletically, but had barista size (Danny Woodhead's famous failed attempt to sell Danny Woodhead jerseys while undercover at Modell's – "too little for me," grumbled one customer – pretty much summed up what short athletes have to deal with).
The trend even extends a little bit to the defensive side, where players like Elvis Dumervil, James Harrison, Zach Thomas and Geno Atkins were seriously underdrafted because they failed the weigh-in centerfold test. This is a bit of a strange year because scouts everywhere are insisting that they're past that, that they realize the new NFL is all about quickly getting the ball in the hands of fast dudes in space, and we'll see the proof of the new attitude when mini-me West Virginia receiver Tavon Austin (all 5'8", 179 pounds of him) gets picked high in the first round.
Which is great and all, but while Austin will spend Thursday night getting ballwashed by Kiper and co. during the endless draft commentary shows, Michigan quarterback-turned-receiver Denard Robinson, who was only one of the five or six best offensive players in college the last few years, will be sitting at home staring glumly at his telephone. The obvious difference between Robinson and Austin is that Austin knows how to play wide receiver and Robinson doesn't yet, but athletically it's a wash -- Robinson's just as fast and if anything is a better pure runner. If you're in the late rounds and he's there, pick that guy and put him on the Julian Edelman plan, i.e. just grab the athlete and figure out what to do with him later. He might end up being Darren Sproles, he might end up being Devin Hester, he might be Antoine Randle-El, but he'll be something.
Another guy who'll be seriously underdrafted is South Carolina wide receiver Ace Sanders, who ruined his draft hopes by running slow in Indianapolis but was a major playmaker in college with good hands, awesome dreds and great return skills, though he's smaller even than Wes Welker. Speaking of Welker:
WHITE WIDE RECEIVERS ARE STILL A MARKET INEFFICIENCY. Despite year after year of underdrafted Welkers, Amendolas, Eric Deckers and Austin Collies, white skill-position guys are still a draft inefficiency and this year is no different. The scouting reports on Texas A&M wideout Ryan Swope before the combine are absolutely shameful to read now. "Not a true burner; relies on fakes and quickness to separate vertically," wrote the Lindy's guide, adding: "There are more athletic, explosive receivers in this draft . . .[he relies on] route-running efficiency, smarts and craftiness." Pro Football Weekly wrote this: "Tough, smart, crafty . . . Needs double moves to separate vertically."
You could cut and paste the scouting report for any white receiver in the past decade and it would read just like that: "tough," "smart," "crafty," a "good route runner" with "intangibles" who overcomes physical limitations with "effort" and "tape study." Meanwhile Swope only went to Indianapolis and graded out as the top athlete in the receiver class, even better than Austin, whom he tied in the 40-yard dash (they both ran 4.34s). This guy was a hugely productive player in college and blew up the combine and if he goes lower than the second round it'll be a joke – anyway, Mr. Khan, if he's there for you in the late rounds, I strongly recommend you take him.
DON'T SLEEP ON SAMOANS. Normally Samoans/Pacific Islanders are underdrafted for unknown reasons. This year, Manti Te'o will plunge in the draft because well, that was one seriously fucking weird story he was involved with last year. I'm not sure about him, but there are whispers that Haloti Ngata-esque tackle Star Lotulelei is falling, which would be a mistake. I would take that guy over almost anyone in the draft just purely on safeness/sure thing grounds, but don't be shocked if he slips out of the top 10.
TAKE A QUARTERBACK LATE EVERY YEAR. Again, the thesis here is that the first round is for picking offensive and defensive linemen and because quarterbacks are so hard to evaluate, your best shot at finding a good one is to do so by accident. So grab one every year in the mid-late rounds and hope like hell he turns into Tom Brady, Kurt Warner or Russell Wilson. I was going to suggest FSU's E.J. Manuel for this rule this year, but the media priests are on to him and he's going to go in the top two rounds for sure now.
The rest of the class is pretty uninspiring, but the rule says you have to pick one anyway. Miami of Ohio's Zac Dysert? He went to Ben Roethlisberger's school and has Fabio hair, so he's interesting. There's some biggish guy from Rensselaer named Mike Hermann who exists in several places on YouTube – he just beats out Sasquatch in terms of publicly-available video – maybe him? Aaron Rodgers's little brother Jordan is intriguing; he has the same crazy-quick release as his more famous relative and is only a little smaller, though the arm isn't nearly the same. Anyway, pick one. Lastly:
TAKE FLYERS LATE ON FREAK ATHLETES. Also known as the "Jacoby Ford Rule." Every year there are guys who test through the roof or at least exactly the same as the top guys at their positions, had good solid careers, and end up in the seventh round anyway for a variety of reasons.
Take these guys. If you look at every draft, there are first-round talents available in every round. A lot of them have serious red flags (Marcus Cannon had cancer a few years ago; Bryce Brown last year barely even played in college), but you've got to buy at least one lottery ticket or you'll hate yourself come Sunday. Especially very late, don't try to hit singles, go for homers.
This year has a bunch of these types. I get in trouble naming too many of them because they mostly don't pan out, but wide receiver Charles Johnson of Grand Valley State is this year's obvious low-round freak – standing 6'2" and weighing 215, he put up a 4.35 40 at his pro day while scouts from the Saints and the Bills pitched massive tents in front of bemused photographers. Similarly Sierra's Courtney Gardner is physically pretty much the same player as top-rated wideout Cordarrelle Patterson (they were both unknown-but-ass-kicking JUCO stars just a few years ago), the only major difference being that Patterson got into Tennessee and ripped up the SEC for a year, while Gardner somehow ballsed up a commitment to Oklahoma last fall and stayed at Sierra. Is he as good as Patterson? Lots of people thought so 12-15 months ago. Anyway, in the seventh round, it's all good anyway. Happy hunting and see you next year . . .
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/the-nfl-draft-decoded-part-iii-20130423#ixzz2RL7WvGp4
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2013 NFL Draft Week Rumors
Published April 19, 2013
By Charlie Campbell - @draftcampbell
From speaking to various NFL scouts and personnel men the past couple of days, I've compiled several interesting rumors for the 2013 NFL Draft:
• In the past week or so, there have been reports that the Oakland Raiders could consider taking an offensive tackle with the third-overall pick. For months that pick has been projected to be a defensive lineman. After speaking with sources, the Raiders are in fact discussing drafting an offensive tackle. However, they are still probably going with a defensive lineman. Their defensive line needs multiple new starters, while their offensive line is in better shape. Sources believe that the pick is probably going to be either Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd or Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei. Floyd remains the favorite.
• The Rams are interested in drafting Texas safety Kenny Vacarro in the first round, but he is unlikely to make it to their first selection at No. 16. Safety is a huge need for the Rams after losing both of their starters from last year. If St. Louis does look for a safety in the first round with Vaccaro off the board, sources indicate that LSU's Eric Reid is the most likely target. The Rams are said to not be very big fans of Florida International's Jonathan Cyprien, the consensus second-rated safety in the draft.
• Reid is an interesting player who is evoking a lot of love-hate responses. Scouts told WalterFootball.com that there are divides in their teams with some liking Reid a lot and others having no use for him. The ones that like him consider him to be a safe pick because he is big, smart, fast and clean off the field. The ones that don't like him see him as stiff, and that was why he was constantly burned in pass coverage in 2012.
• Scouts provided some more feedback regarding our mock drafts. They encouraged us to move Wisconsin running back Montee Ball into the second round. They said he could even go sooner. Those scouts aren't big fans of Ball, but they believe that his production has won him over a lot of fans. Scouts said Ball was a perfect fit for the Steelers. Other teams they said that could be interested in him include the Lions and Cowboys. They said if Ball falls to the third round, don't be surprised if he lands with the Colts.
• League contacts aren't buying the Jaguars being interested in an offensive tackle. They believe Jacksonville is locked into Dion Jordan with the second-overall pick. They think the Jaguars are just trying to generate a trade market.
• WalterFootball.com has heard the Browns desperately want to move down. In order for that to happen, they need one of the elite left tackles to be on the board.
• Sources believe the Jets will use the ninth pick on the best pass-rusher available. They think New York has a decent chance of trading down from pick 13. It is much cheaper for teams in the 20s to move to 13 rather than the ninth pick.
• Sources in Tampa Bay shared an interesting perspective on the no-guaranteed-money aspect of the Darrelle Revis trade. They said the belief is the Bucs owners, the Glazers, set no guaranteed money as a protection for the team's future. General manager Mark Dominik is on the hot seat, and if the Glazers decide to replace him after the 2013 season, they want the new general manager to have flexibility to not have to live too heavily under Dominik's decisions. They don't want a new general manager to be in a position like Reggie McKenzie, who landed with the Raiders where he inherited an impossible salary cap situation. If a new general manager decides he wants to use that money to sign three other starters, he would have the flexibility to cut Revis without dead money on the cap.
No guaranteed money is also misleading because Revis is going to get $16 million for 2013 and in all likelihood, $32 million for two years. There is no way the Bucs would trade a first-round pick and a 2014 mid-rounder to cut him before he played a season. With their big investment in Revis, they're going to give it time to produce a return.
• Agents and scouts both have expressed a lot of confidence in McKenzie and believe that he will turn the Raiders around if he's given time to do the job. They believe that McKenzie is a good talent evaluator and will build a good team for Oakland if ownership remains patient while he undoes the massive mess he inherited.
Sources also said the Raiders have a good coaching staff that will produce good results once they have some talent to work with. Oakland is still a year away before they can really start to make strides. Next year, they will have tons of cap space to be in position to spend big money in free agency. They also should have all of their early-round draft picks to work with, a novel concept for Oakland.
Published April 19, 2013
By Charlie Campbell - @draftcampbell
From speaking to various NFL scouts and personnel men the past couple of days, I've compiled several interesting rumors for the 2013 NFL Draft:
• In the past week or so, there have been reports that the Oakland Raiders could consider taking an offensive tackle with the third-overall pick. For months that pick has been projected to be a defensive lineman. After speaking with sources, the Raiders are in fact discussing drafting an offensive tackle. However, they are still probably going with a defensive lineman. Their defensive line needs multiple new starters, while their offensive line is in better shape. Sources believe that the pick is probably going to be either Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd or Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei. Floyd remains the favorite.
• The Rams are interested in drafting Texas safety Kenny Vacarro in the first round, but he is unlikely to make it to their first selection at No. 16. Safety is a huge need for the Rams after losing both of their starters from last year. If St. Louis does look for a safety in the first round with Vaccaro off the board, sources indicate that LSU's Eric Reid is the most likely target. The Rams are said to not be very big fans of Florida International's Jonathan Cyprien, the consensus second-rated safety in the draft.
• Reid is an interesting player who is evoking a lot of love-hate responses. Scouts told WalterFootball.com that there are divides in their teams with some liking Reid a lot and others having no use for him. The ones that like him consider him to be a safe pick because he is big, smart, fast and clean off the field. The ones that don't like him see him as stiff, and that was why he was constantly burned in pass coverage in 2012.
• Scouts provided some more feedback regarding our mock drafts. They encouraged us to move Wisconsin running back Montee Ball into the second round. They said he could even go sooner. Those scouts aren't big fans of Ball, but they believe that his production has won him over a lot of fans. Scouts said Ball was a perfect fit for the Steelers. Other teams they said that could be interested in him include the Lions and Cowboys. They said if Ball falls to the third round, don't be surprised if he lands with the Colts.
• League contacts aren't buying the Jaguars being interested in an offensive tackle. They believe Jacksonville is locked into Dion Jordan with the second-overall pick. They think the Jaguars are just trying to generate a trade market.
• WalterFootball.com has heard the Browns desperately want to move down. In order for that to happen, they need one of the elite left tackles to be on the board.
• Sources believe the Jets will use the ninth pick on the best pass-rusher available. They think New York has a decent chance of trading down from pick 13. It is much cheaper for teams in the 20s to move to 13 rather than the ninth pick.
• Sources in Tampa Bay shared an interesting perspective on the no-guaranteed-money aspect of the Darrelle Revis trade. They said the belief is the Bucs owners, the Glazers, set no guaranteed money as a protection for the team's future. General manager Mark Dominik is on the hot seat, and if the Glazers decide to replace him after the 2013 season, they want the new general manager to have flexibility to not have to live too heavily under Dominik's decisions. They don't want a new general manager to be in a position like Reggie McKenzie, who landed with the Raiders where he inherited an impossible salary cap situation. If a new general manager decides he wants to use that money to sign three other starters, he would have the flexibility to cut Revis without dead money on the cap.
No guaranteed money is also misleading because Revis is going to get $16 million for 2013 and in all likelihood, $32 million for two years. There is no way the Bucs would trade a first-round pick and a 2014 mid-rounder to cut him before he played a season. With their big investment in Revis, they're going to give it time to produce a return.
• Agents and scouts both have expressed a lot of confidence in McKenzie and believe that he will turn the Raiders around if he's given time to do the job. They believe that McKenzie is a good talent evaluator and will build a good team for Oakland if ownership remains patient while he undoes the massive mess he inherited.
Sources also said the Raiders have a good coaching staff that will produce good results once they have some talent to work with. Oakland is still a year away before they can really start to make strides. Next year, they will have tons of cap space to be in position to spend big money in free agency. They also should have all of their early-round draft picks to work with, a novel concept for Oakland.
Carp
DCC 4Life
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- Apr 7, 2013
- Messages
- 15,192
Potential impact undrafted free agents
It has been called the year of the no-name draft in the NFL, and is said to be devoid of true star power after 2012's high-profile, quarterback-rich proceedings. Maybe. But it's all relative.
Every year in the NFL there are prospects so off-the-radar they don't rate an invite to the league's 300-plus-player scouting combine or hear their name called at any point in the seven-round draft. And still, some of them make it to the NFL every season and make us sit up and take notice, just the way Arian Foster, Victor Cruz and Chris Ivory have done in recent years.
The plight of the undrafted player in the NFL is long and arduous, and the odds are never in his favor. But that challenge is met every year by a fortunate few, and the talents who might get overlooked are the impetus for our fifth annual Wes Welker Watch List, a compilation of 10 lesser-known prospects who have a shot to make it in the league even if they go undrafted or don't get selected until the later rounds. Like Welker himself, who didn't make the cut for a combine invitation or a draft slot back in 2004, some prospects will defy their collegiate labels and be productive pros.
Recent alumni on the WWWL include New England receiver-returner Julian Edelman, former Buffalo-turned-Cleveland receiver David Nelson and newly signed Colts cornerback Greg Toler, among others who still dot NFL rosters. Those stories of the unsung we now know. Here are 10 more we might soon learn:
Charles Johnson, WR, Grand Valley State
Johnson's recent pro-day 40 times of 4.38 and 4.39 vaulted him onto draft boards all over the league, and would have been good enough to earn him upper tier status at the combine if the league would have thought enough of his prospects to bring him to town. Johnson has good size (6-foot-2, 215) and his 39½-inch vertical jump and 11-foot-1 broad jump also caught the eye of NFL scouts at Grand Valley State's pro day.
Considered a solid third-day draft prospect, Johnson has an unusual resume that includes stints at Eastern Kentucky, Antelope Valley Community College in Calif., and a year away from football in 2009. But since 2010 he has been at Grand Valley State, where he hung up eye-popping statistics in 2012: 72 receptions for 1,199 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior. Johnson is one of the draft's most gifted athletes, and his blend of size and speed has scouts intrigued.
Gilbert Pena, DT, Mississippi
Every prospect has traveled his own unique path to get here, and Pena's includes turning down scholarship offers out of high school to help out his mom, who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Because of it, Pena will be a 26-year-old NFL rookie in 2013, and some teams will naturally shy away from him due to his shorter career shelf life. Once Pena got back to football, he was a two-year standout at ASA Junior College in New York, then transferred to Ole Miss, where he had to overcome a broken hand as a junior in 2011.
Pena finally cracked the Rebels' starting lineup for the final six games of 2012, and his run-stuffing prowess gained him immediate notice, as Mississippi's run defense improved from last in the SEC in 2011 to sixth in 2012. At 6-2, 330 pounds, Pena is a space eater who's thick enough to hold the point of attack, while also adding some disruptive playmaking skills from the interior of the defensive line. He finished with 45 tackles, 7½ tackles for loss and two sacks for the Rebels last season, and at least two NFL teams were reportedly interested enough to work him out privately this spring.
Kyle Juszczyk, FB, Harvard
If that's not a fullback's name, I don't know what is. I'm just hoping whoever winds up with Juszczyk has a Monday Night Football game or two this season, so we get the pleasure of Jon Gruden mangling his surname. Juszczyk had a strong week at the Senior Bowl, showing the athleticism to handle the fullback role in a West Coast offense, as well as catching the ball well and executing all blocking assignments.
Juszczyk (6-1, 248) played plenty of tight end and H-back at Harvard, so he's more than versatile enough to fit into a team's passing game in the NFL. With the Crimson, he led the Ivy League in touchdown catches (eight) and was his team's top receiver with 52 receptions for 706 yards. If he's drafted, he'll be the first Harvard prospect selected since the Rams took quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2005's fifth round.
Mike Catapano, DE, Princeton
Catapano has emerged as a big favorite of NFL coaches and scouts who have worked him out this spring, because he plays with non-stop hustle and intensity and has all the work ethic and leadership intangibles you could ever want as a three-year starter and two-time captain at Princeton. The 6-3, 270-pound Catapano needs to get bigger and stronger to win battles with NFL offensive tackles, but he's a developmental 4-3 defensive end prospect who has great pursuit skills and solid pass-rushing technique.
Hard to believe, but Catapano would be the first Princeton product drafted by the NFL since 2001 if some team invests a third-day pick in him. Though he wasn't deemed combine-worthy, he did have a nice week at the East-West Shrine Game and would best fit with a team that would not need to initially ask much more than special teams play and perhaps rotational defensive line duty. His calling card is his effort level, and while not as athletically gifted as some pass rushers, he's a coach's dream with a game that shows bountiful potential for improvement.
Jeremy Harris, CB, New Mexico State
Taller cornerbacks are still very much in demand in the NFL, and at 6-2, 189 pounds, Harris has the kind of length the league craves. The former hurdler is more athlete than natural cover man at this point in his development, but he put himself in play in the draft with a couple of 40s in the 4.48 and 4.49 range at the New Mexico State pro day, and teams like the Seahawks, Chiefs and Colts had him in for visits in the past month, while the Bears and Raiders privately worked him out.
Though he might rate a priority free agent, Harris could sneak into the later rounds based on New Mexico State's recent track record at cornerback. The long-downtrodden Aggies have had drafted corners the past two years (Green Bay's Davon House and Detroit's Jonte Green), and current Jacksonville secondary coach DeWayne Walker once was Harris' head coach at New Mexico State. Harris earned first-team All-WAC honors last season, and showed a willingness to play physically, with 56 tackles and a team-best 10 passes defensed.
Jasper Collins, WR, Mount Union
NFL scouts know where Mount Union (Ohio) is and what it's all about when it comes to churning out receiving prospects. Thanks to NFL starters Pierre Garcon and Cecil Shorts, both of whom are recent Mount Union products, Collins was given a ready-made platform to impress. He didn't waste it, catching 232 passes for 3,527 yards and 37 touchdown passes in his 52-game-starting career, making him the school's second-leading all-time receiver behind only Shorts. In addition, Collins is a punt return threat, with three career touchdowns at Mount Union in that role.
At 5-10, 183 pounds, Collins has the skill set of a likely slot receiver in the NFL. Though not a blazer, he knows how to separate from defenders and can exploit the empty spaces in a secondary. If he joins a team that runs a lot of spread sets with plenty of short to intermediate routes in the middle of the field, he could prove a handy and reliable target. While his punt returning is a plus, his blocking and ability to beat press coverage off the line isn't NFL ready yet.
Jahleel Addae, S, Central Michigan
The 49ers and Raiders are among the teams reportedly having visited with Addae, and we can only surmise that plenty of clubs noticed him when they watched game tape of Central Michigan offensive tackle Eric Fisher, an expected top-five pick. Addae is a former running back who switched to the secondary after his freshman year at CMU, and in three years at safety he developed into one of the best defenders in the Mid-American Conference.
Though great speed is not part of his game, he closes well on the ball, packs a punch when he arrives at the ballcarrier, and is superb at the pre-snap recognition that is required at the position. Addae led the MAC with four interceptions in 2012, adding 89 tackles with two sacks and seven tackles for loss to earn second-team all-conference honors. He did take part in the East-West Shrine Game, and is considered a smart, instinctive player who makes up for his lack of great size (5-10, 195) by covering a lot of ground and having a disciplined and dependable approach to tackling. A couple more inches of height and Addae would be a candidate to go in the third round.
Alex Gillett, WR, Eastern Michigan
Gillett is going to require some foresight and patience from whatever team he might wind up with, because he represents a significant conversion project. The 6-1, 217-pound former Eastern Michigan quarterback started 30 games for the Eagles under center, only switching to receiver for the final month of the 2012 season. Gillett's best hope to catch on in the NFL is his variety of skills as a passer, receiver, holder on kicks, and even punt returner. That kind of combination brings gadget-play possibilities and conjures up former collegiate quarterbacks-turned-receivers like Antwaan Randle El, Hines Ward and Julian Edelman.
His ability to handle a special teams role will likely be his path into the NFL, but Gillett is an honors student who should be able to assimilate into any offense, and his combination of reliable hands, good explosion and impressive size makes him an unusual and intriguing prospect.
Ryan Jensen, OG-OT, Colorado State University-Pueblo
NFL teams were all over Jensen this spring, and he could even climb into the middle rounds of the draft based on his superb combination of size (6-3½, 317 pounds), athleticism (5.23 in the 40, 25½ inch vertical jump) and strength (30 reps in the bench press). The Cardinals, Bengals, Vikings, Ravens, Seahawks and Patriots were among the teams reportedly planning to work him out or visit with him before a pro-day session. Jensen didn't allow a sack in 2012, and while he played left tackle at CSU-P, he projects at guard or center in the NFL due to arms that come up a bit short by league standards.
Jensen didn't earn an invitation to the East-West Shrine Game, Senior Bowl or the scouting combine, but reps from all 32 teams made it to campus last fall and scouts from at least 11 teams watched Jensen in action last season. His game is known for its versatility, high-motor effort and toughness, and he has a great chance to become the first player from CSU-P drafted since then-Southern Colorado University running back Herman Heard went in 1984's third round to Kansas City.
Steven Means, OLB, University at Buffalo
Means put up a 40 time in the 4.6s at Buffalo's pro day, and that helped NFL scouts project him to make the switch from undersized collegiate defensive end to outside linebacker. At 6-3, 257, Means has good speed off the edge and finished his collegiate career with 18½ sacks, including 11 tackles for loss and 6½ sacks as a senior in 2012. In addition, Means shows a penchant for kick blocking, with three to his credit for the Bulls last season, and five in his UB career.
After playing at end for Buffalo, Means proved this spring that he has the athleticism to drop into coverage, with good hands and fluid change-in-direction skills. He figures to garner interest in the late rounds, and could earn his NFL roster spot as a special team standout who can also develop into a quality reserve linebacker with nickel package responsibilities.
It has been called the year of the no-name draft in the NFL, and is said to be devoid of true star power after 2012's high-profile, quarterback-rich proceedings. Maybe. But it's all relative.
Every year in the NFL there are prospects so off-the-radar they don't rate an invite to the league's 300-plus-player scouting combine or hear their name called at any point in the seven-round draft. And still, some of them make it to the NFL every season and make us sit up and take notice, just the way Arian Foster, Victor Cruz and Chris Ivory have done in recent years.
The plight of the undrafted player in the NFL is long and arduous, and the odds are never in his favor. But that challenge is met every year by a fortunate few, and the talents who might get overlooked are the impetus for our fifth annual Wes Welker Watch List, a compilation of 10 lesser-known prospects who have a shot to make it in the league even if they go undrafted or don't get selected until the later rounds. Like Welker himself, who didn't make the cut for a combine invitation or a draft slot back in 2004, some prospects will defy their collegiate labels and be productive pros.
Recent alumni on the WWWL include New England receiver-returner Julian Edelman, former Buffalo-turned-Cleveland receiver David Nelson and newly signed Colts cornerback Greg Toler, among others who still dot NFL rosters. Those stories of the unsung we now know. Here are 10 more we might soon learn:
Charles Johnson, WR, Grand Valley State
Johnson's recent pro-day 40 times of 4.38 and 4.39 vaulted him onto draft boards all over the league, and would have been good enough to earn him upper tier status at the combine if the league would have thought enough of his prospects to bring him to town. Johnson has good size (6-foot-2, 215) and his 39½-inch vertical jump and 11-foot-1 broad jump also caught the eye of NFL scouts at Grand Valley State's pro day.
Considered a solid third-day draft prospect, Johnson has an unusual resume that includes stints at Eastern Kentucky, Antelope Valley Community College in Calif., and a year away from football in 2009. But since 2010 he has been at Grand Valley State, where he hung up eye-popping statistics in 2012: 72 receptions for 1,199 yards and 16 touchdowns as a senior. Johnson is one of the draft's most gifted athletes, and his blend of size and speed has scouts intrigued.
Gilbert Pena, DT, Mississippi
Every prospect has traveled his own unique path to get here, and Pena's includes turning down scholarship offers out of high school to help out his mom, who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Because of it, Pena will be a 26-year-old NFL rookie in 2013, and some teams will naturally shy away from him due to his shorter career shelf life. Once Pena got back to football, he was a two-year standout at ASA Junior College in New York, then transferred to Ole Miss, where he had to overcome a broken hand as a junior in 2011.
Pena finally cracked the Rebels' starting lineup for the final six games of 2012, and his run-stuffing prowess gained him immediate notice, as Mississippi's run defense improved from last in the SEC in 2011 to sixth in 2012. At 6-2, 330 pounds, Pena is a space eater who's thick enough to hold the point of attack, while also adding some disruptive playmaking skills from the interior of the defensive line. He finished with 45 tackles, 7½ tackles for loss and two sacks for the Rebels last season, and at least two NFL teams were reportedly interested enough to work him out privately this spring.
Kyle Juszczyk, FB, Harvard
If that's not a fullback's name, I don't know what is. I'm just hoping whoever winds up with Juszczyk has a Monday Night Football game or two this season, so we get the pleasure of Jon Gruden mangling his surname. Juszczyk had a strong week at the Senior Bowl, showing the athleticism to handle the fullback role in a West Coast offense, as well as catching the ball well and executing all blocking assignments.
Juszczyk (6-1, 248) played plenty of tight end and H-back at Harvard, so he's more than versatile enough to fit into a team's passing game in the NFL. With the Crimson, he led the Ivy League in touchdown catches (eight) and was his team's top receiver with 52 receptions for 706 yards. If he's drafted, he'll be the first Harvard prospect selected since the Rams took quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2005's fifth round.
Mike Catapano, DE, Princeton
Catapano has emerged as a big favorite of NFL coaches and scouts who have worked him out this spring, because he plays with non-stop hustle and intensity and has all the work ethic and leadership intangibles you could ever want as a three-year starter and two-time captain at Princeton. The 6-3, 270-pound Catapano needs to get bigger and stronger to win battles with NFL offensive tackles, but he's a developmental 4-3 defensive end prospect who has great pursuit skills and solid pass-rushing technique.
Hard to believe, but Catapano would be the first Princeton product drafted by the NFL since 2001 if some team invests a third-day pick in him. Though he wasn't deemed combine-worthy, he did have a nice week at the East-West Shrine Game and would best fit with a team that would not need to initially ask much more than special teams play and perhaps rotational defensive line duty. His calling card is his effort level, and while not as athletically gifted as some pass rushers, he's a coach's dream with a game that shows bountiful potential for improvement.
Jeremy Harris, CB, New Mexico State
Taller cornerbacks are still very much in demand in the NFL, and at 6-2, 189 pounds, Harris has the kind of length the league craves. The former hurdler is more athlete than natural cover man at this point in his development, but he put himself in play in the draft with a couple of 40s in the 4.48 and 4.49 range at the New Mexico State pro day, and teams like the Seahawks, Chiefs and Colts had him in for visits in the past month, while the Bears and Raiders privately worked him out.
Though he might rate a priority free agent, Harris could sneak into the later rounds based on New Mexico State's recent track record at cornerback. The long-downtrodden Aggies have had drafted corners the past two years (Green Bay's Davon House and Detroit's Jonte Green), and current Jacksonville secondary coach DeWayne Walker once was Harris' head coach at New Mexico State. Harris earned first-team All-WAC honors last season, and showed a willingness to play physically, with 56 tackles and a team-best 10 passes defensed.
Jasper Collins, WR, Mount Union
NFL scouts know where Mount Union (Ohio) is and what it's all about when it comes to churning out receiving prospects. Thanks to NFL starters Pierre Garcon and Cecil Shorts, both of whom are recent Mount Union products, Collins was given a ready-made platform to impress. He didn't waste it, catching 232 passes for 3,527 yards and 37 touchdown passes in his 52-game-starting career, making him the school's second-leading all-time receiver behind only Shorts. In addition, Collins is a punt return threat, with three career touchdowns at Mount Union in that role.
At 5-10, 183 pounds, Collins has the skill set of a likely slot receiver in the NFL. Though not a blazer, he knows how to separate from defenders and can exploit the empty spaces in a secondary. If he joins a team that runs a lot of spread sets with plenty of short to intermediate routes in the middle of the field, he could prove a handy and reliable target. While his punt returning is a plus, his blocking and ability to beat press coverage off the line isn't NFL ready yet.
Jahleel Addae, S, Central Michigan
The 49ers and Raiders are among the teams reportedly having visited with Addae, and we can only surmise that plenty of clubs noticed him when they watched game tape of Central Michigan offensive tackle Eric Fisher, an expected top-five pick. Addae is a former running back who switched to the secondary after his freshman year at CMU, and in three years at safety he developed into one of the best defenders in the Mid-American Conference.
Though great speed is not part of his game, he closes well on the ball, packs a punch when he arrives at the ballcarrier, and is superb at the pre-snap recognition that is required at the position. Addae led the MAC with four interceptions in 2012, adding 89 tackles with two sacks and seven tackles for loss to earn second-team all-conference honors. He did take part in the East-West Shrine Game, and is considered a smart, instinctive player who makes up for his lack of great size (5-10, 195) by covering a lot of ground and having a disciplined and dependable approach to tackling. A couple more inches of height and Addae would be a candidate to go in the third round.
Alex Gillett, WR, Eastern Michigan
Gillett is going to require some foresight and patience from whatever team he might wind up with, because he represents a significant conversion project. The 6-1, 217-pound former Eastern Michigan quarterback started 30 games for the Eagles under center, only switching to receiver for the final month of the 2012 season. Gillett's best hope to catch on in the NFL is his variety of skills as a passer, receiver, holder on kicks, and even punt returner. That kind of combination brings gadget-play possibilities and conjures up former collegiate quarterbacks-turned-receivers like Antwaan Randle El, Hines Ward and Julian Edelman.
His ability to handle a special teams role will likely be his path into the NFL, but Gillett is an honors student who should be able to assimilate into any offense, and his combination of reliable hands, good explosion and impressive size makes him an unusual and intriguing prospect.
Ryan Jensen, OG-OT, Colorado State University-Pueblo
NFL teams were all over Jensen this spring, and he could even climb into the middle rounds of the draft based on his superb combination of size (6-3½, 317 pounds), athleticism (5.23 in the 40, 25½ inch vertical jump) and strength (30 reps in the bench press). The Cardinals, Bengals, Vikings, Ravens, Seahawks and Patriots were among the teams reportedly planning to work him out or visit with him before a pro-day session. Jensen didn't allow a sack in 2012, and while he played left tackle at CSU-P, he projects at guard or center in the NFL due to arms that come up a bit short by league standards.
Jensen didn't earn an invitation to the East-West Shrine Game, Senior Bowl or the scouting combine, but reps from all 32 teams made it to campus last fall and scouts from at least 11 teams watched Jensen in action last season. His game is known for its versatility, high-motor effort and toughness, and he has a great chance to become the first player from CSU-P drafted since then-Southern Colorado University running back Herman Heard went in 1984's third round to Kansas City.
Steven Means, OLB, University at Buffalo
Means put up a 40 time in the 4.6s at Buffalo's pro day, and that helped NFL scouts project him to make the switch from undersized collegiate defensive end to outside linebacker. At 6-3, 257, Means has good speed off the edge and finished his collegiate career with 18½ sacks, including 11 tackles for loss and 6½ sacks as a senior in 2012. In addition, Means shows a penchant for kick blocking, with three to his credit for the Bulls last season, and five in his UB career.
After playing at end for Buffalo, Means proved this spring that he has the athleticism to drop into coverage, with good hands and fluid change-in-direction skills. He figures to garner interest in the late rounds, and could earn his NFL roster spot as a special team standout who can also develop into a quality reserve linebacker with nickel package responsibilities.
D
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Darius Slay has a torn meniscus. I wouldn't mind this making him slip a few rounds.
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Teh Acester
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