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Here's ESPN's rundown.
Here's the Washington Post's. Note that stltoday, you know, the on-line publication from the town where Bradford's likely to be playing in 6 months, doesn't really have a decent article about it.
Here's the Bleacher Report. Again, far more, and better, work than the main St. Louis on-line media outlet bothered to put in.
And here's Gil Brandt soiling himself. (Also soiling themselves: the Tampa Bay Bucs. They've gone from being willing to trade up for Ndamukong Suh to having him fall in their laps.)
Chris Mortensen's reporting the Rams will still wait until after Bradford's private workout here April 19th before making a final decision. As that would be three days before the draft begins, that idea sounds dubious at best. The Rams better damn sure have whomever they're going to draft locked up in advance, so at a minimum, Billy Devaney and Kevin Demoff had best have some black coffee, Red Bull, 5-Hour Energy, Mountain Dew and No-Doz on hand that week.
And save some joe for Sam. Coffee is for closers.
(Posted 4/8/10) Notes from Path to the Draft for the week of March 22-26:
* WR talk. This is particularly timely talk because it feels more and more to me like the Rams' 2nd round pick is going to be a receiver. At this point Dez Bryant was still the #1 guy, but this was before he had a poor private workout. Two years ago he looked like the best young WR in years, then Deion Sanders got him suspended this season and he put on 15 pounds. Demaryius Thomas still hasn't worked out due to foot injury and won't be likely to work out before the draft. Big, physical, great runner after the catch but not great running routes. (In other words, a bigger Donnie Avery.) 46 catches last year in an option offense at Georgia Tech, 9 longer than 50 yards, 4 longer than 70 yards. Definitely a big play WR. But I do not see how the Rams can afford to draft such a risky pick at WR in the 2nd round after already taking a major risk on Sam Bradford in the 1st round. Pick #33 better be a safe one. Mike Mayock calls Golden Tate from Notre Dame a solid 2nd round pick, reminiscent of Carolina's Steve Smith. Excellent playmaker, excellent after the catch, dynamic in space. (I'm not saying he's the safe pick, though. I did not like his Combine workout.) The panel also lists a couple of their favorite sleeper WRs: Carlton Mitchell of South Florida and Eric Decker of Minnesota. They frequently compare the 6'3" 215 Mitchell to Vincent Jackson. 4.48 40, 40 catches last year, 8 over 25 yards, 4 over 50.
* TE talk. Rams could easily be looking to take a TE at #33 as well. Jermaine Gresham is still the top prospect. Explosive, smooth, major red zone threat. May not get past Bengals at 21, though. Rod Gronkowski of Arizona is a first-round talent for side, speed and hands but may have serious back issues. Mayock mentions rumors he has spinal stenosis. Bucky Brooks adds there's questions about his dedication to the game. Jimmy Graham, Miami, will likely get drafted higher than he should because of his athletic ability. Second round likely. Doren Dickerson, Pitt, is too big to put a corner on but too fast to put a safety on. Charles Davis mostly wastes our time by making fun of the Illinois TE's last names and giving a scouting report on Penn State's Andrew Quarles that makes him look so bad he shouldn't be drafted. Mayock lists Brody Eldridge and Naye Byham as the top blocking TEs, and they can catch a little to boot. 5th-6th rounders.
* RB talk. Injuries could affect where teams draft RBs. Ryan Mathews missed half of 2008 due to a knee injury. Jahvid Best has had a ton of injuries besides this year's neck/concussion issue. Guy was never healthy enough to attend Cal spring practice! Toby Gerhart - knee surgery in 08. Joe McKnight - finger, toe, elbow issues. Dexter McCluster - history of shoulder injuries. Montario Hardesty - knee problems and microsurgery.
C.J. Spiller could fall outside the top 10 because there aren't teams that will commit to getting him the ball in space. They should, though. 5 career special teams TDs in 31 touches, 52, career TDs, 21 of them over 50 yards. Mathews may be more of an every-down back than Spiller. Ben Tate got a lot of carries even though Auburn ran a spread offense. Has a chip on his shoulder because he's not getting enough love from draft pundits. Gerhart can run between the tackles and break tackles. McCluster did run a couple of sub-4.5s at his pro day and caught everything. A durable battler who had impressive numbers in the SEC. Like Spiller, he should be used as a 3-phase RB (special teams/runner/receiver). Hardesty is big and physical, runs and catches well, potentially a potent weapon.
* DT talk. Lack of quality NTs in this year's draft is improving some players' prospects. Cam Thomas of UNC looks like a 2nd-rounder now. Great physical attributes, but they don't show in his play on the field. Oddly, this panel praises Cam Thomas for that and criticizes Carlos Dunlap for it. Sleeper: Torell Troup, Central Florida. 6'3" 314, long arms, stout at point of attack, takes on double-teams and gets big in the hole.
* Team needs. Packers at 23: Beat writer says Atari Bigby hasn't played to his potential, a surprise to me, and says he's intrigued with Taylor Mays. Despite his issues, Anthony Davis could also be a consideration here. To replace Aaron Kampmann, Mayock nominates Sergio Kindle. Kyle Wilson also comes up because of GB's age at corner. And of course, it wouldn't be a day of Path to the Draft if they didn't recommend EVERY team draft Jared Odrick or Patrick Robinson.
Patriots at 22: Team magazine editor says #1 priority is to improve their pass rush and Sergio Kindle would be ideal. Also Brandon Graham, who I'm first learning has had back-to-back 10-sack seasons. Mayock argues later that Graham and Jerry Hughes are not the type of DE Belichick likes. So guess who gets recommended again. ODRICK, because the Pats have a history of taking 5-techniques early. With their THREE 2nd-round picks, expect them to look at TEs and WRs.
Bengals at 21: They don't even ask a Cincinnati insider for the Bengals' needs; Brooks and Mayock pretty much just say they should take Gresham. This is a team that has Chase Coffman and barely ever throws to its TEs, btw. And since Mayock is apparently Earl Thomas' agent, he gets mentioned like he does FOR EVERY TEAM.
Texans at 20: They forgo an insider again and ask Solly Wilcots who Houston should take. With Dunta Robinson gone, he proposes Kyle Wilson and Devin McCourty, with the edge going to Wilson. Says both will be starters week 1 in the NFL. Wilson's pro day went very well, with mid-4.4 40s and 25 benches. Scott Kennedy makes sure the daily mandatory mention of Earl Thomas gets in and also proposes Taylor Mays. Mayock thinks they should go RB in the 2nd-3rd round, Gerhart or Tate, who he thinks will still be on the board at pick #81, which I find ludicrous. Did you not see his Combine? Tate is top 60, minimum.
Falcons at 19: Their beat writer says Sean Weatherspoon would be a natural fit. Also cites Brandon Graham. Expects the pick to be defense. They could go with Pouncey if there's no defensive player they like. Mayock seconds the Graham motion and also nominates Demaryius Thomas. Brooks suggests Jason Pierre-Paul could fall to them. Good team analysis by the show for a change.
* Upgrades/downgrades. Mayock moved Toby Gerhart into his top 5 RBs and now has Odrick as #4 at defensive -end-. Thinks he'll go late first as a 3-4 DE. Carlos Dunlap dropped out of his top 5 because he doesn't have a consistent motor. (Wonder if the Rams have interest in Dunlap at 33.) Nate Allen and Major Wright now crack the top 5 at safety. Mount Cody now up to #4 DT. Sleeper: MTSU OLB/DE Chris McCoy. 6'3" 251, 7 sacks last season. Had good workout at his pro day in front of 22 teams. Thumbs down for Chris Cook, who did not follow up his good Senior Bowl and Combine performances at his pro day. Reportedly he was getting winded during workouts. At Central Michigan's pro day, Dan LeFevour was just kind of average and looked like a 4th-5th round pick. Average arm and accuracy, passes wobbled, he doesn't throw a tight spiral.
* Position changes, aka situations the Rams better avoid. Eric Berry is the top safety but has the physical skillset for corner. Zane Beadles was an extremely durable LT for Utah but his arm length dictates moving him to guard or center. QB Armani Edwards threw well at the Combine, says Mayock (who apparently wasn't WATCHING, the guy looked awful), but will be drafted as a Wildcat or a WR. Mayock also says UAB QB-now-WR prospect Joe Webb should have been invited to the Combine (even though he dropped practically everything thrown to him Senior Bowl week). Mike Iupati may be kicked outside to tackle but is best-suited for guard. Rodger Safford played tackle at Indiana, was being considered as a guard, but now is being evaluated as a tackle again.
* Assorted wisdom / idiocy. Relevant to the Rams was the panel's discussion of players who will be late first round values. Relevant since some of these guys can drop to the top of the 2nd round. But it's a pretty familiar list. Gresham, Maurkice Pouncey, Demaryius Thomas, Jerry Hughes, Earl Thomas. Then, like a complete idiot, Mayock says he'd rather draft 20th-30th this year instead of in the top 10. If that's true, then why aren't you recommending the Rams or Lions draft one of these guys first? I really do NOT get Mike Mayock this year, something I really did not expect to happen. Later in the week, Mayock ruled the Rams out of the Donovan McNabb trade chase because they didn't have a line good enough to put him behind. McNabb would never extend his contract to stay there. And he criticized the Rams for it.
YET THAT LINE YOU JUST CRITICIZED THE RAMS FOR IS GOOD ENOUGH TO PUT SAM BRADFORD BEHIND?!?!? YET YOU CAN CRITICIZE THE LINE AND ALSO CRITICIZE THE RAMS FOR NOT DRAFTING A QB HIGH THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS? WHEN YOU NEVER RECOMMENDED IT ANYWAY? I really, really, really don't know why I'm recapping this show any more.
Later in the week they ran down players who would be good 2nd-round value picks: Tyson Alualu, Sean Lee, Daryl Washington.
Pete Carroll says Tim Tebow is a first-round pick. The panel says that's him trying to talk a random team into drafting Tebow and leaving Seattle a better player with one of their picks. Or maybe Carroll is just a poor judge of QBs? They did just pay a pretty price for Charlie Freaking Whitehurst.
Charles Davis has a great gig. He doesn't even have to show up in the studio this week. He sits at home wearing a sweater vest, answers a couple of questions from Paul Burmeister and clocks out. Hell, he doesn't even have to make sense half the time. Great gig if you can get it.
* Reason #1 I could crap my pants on draft day. In his mock draft, Bucky Brooks has the Seahawks taking, with the sixth pick overall....
Ndamukong Suh.
Part of that is because he's not a hypocrite and says the Lions should take Russell Okung instead of Suh. Unlike Mayock, who says Suh is WAY too good for the Lions to pass up at #2.
THEN WHY ISN'T SUH TOO GOOD FOR THE RAMS TO PASS UP AT #1?!??!??!
My God, I don't like Mike Mayock this year.
Burmeister pronounces there's now momentum in Detroit for drafting Okung, based on two NFL Network analysts mock drafting that now.
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing that. I do feel like the more of Path to the Draft I watch, I actually learn less.
(Posted 4/7/10) Notes from Path to the Draft for the week of March 15-19:
* Pro days. Georgia Tech - Derrick Morgan worked at both DE positions and looked much more fluid at OLB than he did at the Combine. Should be drafted as a 4-3 DE in the mid-first round. Has a great motor. Jonathan Dwyer blamed his poor Combine performance on an injured toe. Ran in the 4.5s at pro day. Also looked better as a receiver. Note that he was an option fullback last season. Demaryius Thomas still sidelined with a broken foot; plans private workout in mid-April. Despite him NEVER working out, Mike Mayock has jumped him up to #2 on his receiver board. Averaged 25 ypc last year.
Florida - VERY mixed reviews on Tim Tebow. Mike Mayock raved, while Charles Davis, Charlie Casserly and Scott Kennedy all played his pro day down. Mayock was impressed Tebow improved his footwork, shortened up his throwing motion, tightened everything up, did all the drops. Davis called him a first rounder, then the next day, said his workout didn't affect his stock much. HUNH? Kennedy also blew off the pro day as a performance "against air" and says what's attracting teams to Tebow is his overall athleticism and work ethic. Getting round-the-clock (literally?) attention from a pro-QB coach, Tebow can improve by leaps and bounds and has every intangible you want at the position. Casserly's concerned with his decision-making and questionable accuracy. Joe Haden ran 4.41 and 4.45 and should secure a top-15 pick. Carlos Dunlap ran 4.59 and 4.69, crazy speed for a DE. Brandon Spikes ran a FIVE POINT ONE. Riley Cooper caught everything. Aaron Hernandez caught everything, ran 4.58 and 4.63, and did 30 benches. A pretty big outing - I'd now have to consider him at the top of the TE prospects, but he has off-field issues, though I have never heard anything specific.
Tennessee - Eric Berry sprained a toe and couldn't do much as a result. Montario Hardesty drilled mostly on receiving. Dan Williams drilled and should be the 3rd DT off the board unless teams are scared that he's a 1-year wonder.
Illinois - Arrelious Benn ran 4.36 and 4.42 at 218 lbs, on the same surface they run on at the Combine. Yet Mayock downgraded him for "lack of explosion".
Penn State - PTTD favorite Sean Lee ran 4.6.
California - SydQuan Thompson's proving to be a fatal combination of small and slow.
Clemson - Ricky Sapp ran in the 4.6s, looks good as a 3-4 OLB.
Maryland - Safety Terrell Skinner ran in the 4.7s on what's considered a fast surface. Don't wait by the phone draft weekend.
Rutgers - ILB Ryan D'Imperio ran in the 4.6s and also caught the ball well working out at fullback.
LSU - "Physical" safety prospect Chad Jones improved his bench to 11 reps from 8. Or, 9 behind 172-pound Dexter McCluster. RB Charles Scott ran a 4.53. 232-lb, one-cut, downhill runner.
* Team needs. Dallas at 27 - Almost all of their first round picks recently have been on defense, and their beat writer projects Earl Thomas to them. Offensive line will also be a consideration, so they mention Maurkice Pouncey and Mike Iupati, also Charles Brown because Dallas likes huge tackles. The show panel also mentions Taylor Mays because Dallas needs a playmaker, even though THEY'VE BEEN QUESTIONING MAYS' PLAYMAKING ABILITY ALL MONTH.
Big Dead at 26 - Jamie Dukes analyzes a team's needs without trying to push Michael Vick on them. Lots of needs, especially on defense. Could use Brandon Graham to replace Bert Berry and Chike Okeafor. Could use Sean Weatherspoon to replace Karlos Dansby. Could use Charles Brown at LT. Show panel also recommends Jerry Hughes.
Baltimore at 25 - Rod Woodson is tabbed to review their needs, and guess what, he says cornerback. Likes Patrick Robinson or Kyle Wilson. Believes they can get Mount Cody with their second round pick. Panel nominates Jermaine Gresham, and also, of course, Earl Thomas and Jared Odrick.
Philly at 24 - Their beat writer whiffs badly in ranking Vick as the most likely Eggle QB to be traded. Projects Everson Griffen as their pick even though they just got Darryl Tapp from Seattle. Dukes says they NEED a MLB. Good call. He speculates Weatherspoon or Sergio Kindle. And as he does for EVERY TEAM, Charles Davis recommends Earl Thomas.
* Suh vs. McCoy. Charlie Casserly convinces me he's never actually seen Ndamukong Suh play when he calls Gerald McCoy better than Suh IN EVERY CATEGORY. HUNH? Compares McCoy to Tommie Harris. COMPLETELY misses the point that Suh made more plays than McCoy in every aspect while playing as a read-and-react lineman, instead CRITICIZING that Suh was a read-and-react lineman who'll be a better player when he won't have to be that in the pros. Bucky Brooks and Charles Davis argue for Suh, with Davis likening him to Kevin Williams.
* Sleeper picks. Georgia Tech safety Morgan Burnett, a big, rangy free safety with 14 career INTS; Iowa OT Kyle Calloway, a road-grader.
* Why I hate this show. I'm pretty sure I've said this before. Mike Mayock and Charles Davis have REPEATEDLY criticized the Rams for not drafting Matt Ryan or Mark Sanchez the last two years. Even though Marc Bulger was a Pro Bowler in 2006. They should have drafted Ryan when they had a Pro Bowl QB? Even though neither Mayock nor Davis have ever peeled themselves off Chris Long's jock. Are they declaring Long a bust after just two seasons? The argument in 2008 was NEVER Long vs. Ryan, it was Long vs. Glenn Dorsey. And neither Mayock, nor Davis, nor anyone I can think of outside of Bernie Miklasz, EVER recommended the Rams draft Ryan. Or Dorsey. But now, it's all Sam Bradford, all the time. By all means. Let's jump off the idea of building from the lines out. Let's draft QBs who are only destined to get battered. Do the Rams have a foundation today from which a rookie QB can succeed? No, maybe that's why we have a DEFENSIVE-minded head coach who's trying to build a BALL CONTROL OFFENSE THAT DEPENDS ON THE RUNNING BACK.
Oh, fuck it; I know by now we're drafting Bradford anyway.
* RB talk. Jahvid Best is potentially the best RB in the draft. An explosive runner with dynamic quickness and vision. Was best runner in college before his concussion. He's getting penalized too much for that when it was much more the school wanting to play it safe with him. Ryan Matthews led the nation in rushing and had 11 100-yard games and 8 20-carry games, so don't question his durability. Not every team will consider C.J. Spiller a full-time back because he's under 200 pounds and most teams need big backs. His best asset's as an outside runner, but he's no Chris Johnson. Furthermore, 5 of his 11 career 100-yard games were in his freshman year. Why doesn't his production match his explosiveness? Dexter McCluster's smaller and slower than ideal, though he was the first SEC player to rush for 1000 and receive for 500 the same season. Casserly said he's best used as a slot receiver and gimmick player out of the backfield. Don't draft him if you don't have a special offensive plan for him.
* Sam Bradford talk. The panel called Bradford one of the most accurate QBs you're ever going to see and compared him to last year's #1 Matthew Stafford. Stafford has by far the more powerful, elite arm, but Bradford's taller, a good runner, and a little better an athlete. They'd have been 1a and 1b had they been coming out the same year. Bradford won't be a bust like Alex Smith or Brady Quinn because he (supposedly) ran a lot of different offenses, is much more accurate, went from unheralded recruit to the Heisman Trophy, and, flying in the face of all analysis I've seen and heard, was called on to read the defense a lot more than Smith and had more options on every play. In other words, he had to think more.
* Assorted wisdom. Earl Thomas is projecting now only to safety. The idea of converting him to corner is fading away. (Probably because of slow Combine times these guys never mention.) In the billionth hour of Tim Tebow discussion on this show, Mayock calls him as qualified a QB as Vince Young was, and he was a top-5 pick. He thinks Tebow will be a starter in several years because of his athletic ability. Casserly says Tebow won't beat defenses running with the ball and will have to rely on his accuracy and decision-making, both of which Casserly has doubts about. Mayock and Casserly argue whether Demaryious Thomas is a first-rounder. Mayock says yes; Casserly no. Not sure of his speed and explosion, and he didn't run much of a route tree. They then inconclusively compare Thomas to Crabtree, who had much more extensive and impressive game tape.
Path to the Draft closes the week by calling Fordham QB John Skelton as good as any of the QBs who threw at the Combine and mock the ones who didn't throw at the Combine. Of course, they've been insisting for a month that the Rams have to draft one of those guys they just got done mocking first overall.
(Posted 4/7/10) Since I'm almost a month behind on Path to the Draft recaps, and the show's getting pretty damn repetitive anyway, (how many teams have they NOT recommend draft Earl Thomas or Jared Odrick?) it's time for the condensed version.
Path to the Draft notes for the March 10 - March 12 shows:
* Pro days: Alabama - Rolando McClain (who didn't participate at the Combine) ran in the 4.6s, looked natural and fast in drills. Revealed he has Crohn's disease. Should still go at the top of the first round. Terrance Cody weighed in at 348, 22 less than his Senior Bowl weight, 6 less than his Combine weight. Shooting for 340 by the draft. OG Mike Johnson had a strong showing. Javier Arenas still unable to work out due to hamstring.
Oklahoma State - Russell Okung did the full set of drills and looked flawless. Should be a serious consideration for Detroit's second pick overall.
Cincinnati - Mardy Gilyard ran faster than he did at the Combine. Scouts were more impressed with Tony Pike today than they were at the Combine. Has to improve velocity on his passes and drive the football better.
Nebraska - not much news. Suh didn't run. Scott Kennedy opined he needs a better, quicker punch. He gets stood up a lot but makes up for it with athleticism, running the play down from behind.
Clemson - also not much news. Spiller skipped his 40, not that speed is a concern with him.
Ohio State - Thaddeus Gibson improved his 40 time to 4.59. Third round prospect. Akwasi Owosu-Ansah, a corner from Indiana Pa., ran two sub-4.4 40s at 207 lbs. He's a terrific returner with 3rd-round talent who will probably go in the 4th or 5th.
* Team needs: Vikings at 30 - their radio play-by-play man suggested they will mostly draft for depth. Likes Devin McCourty for his special teams dimension, plus they have injury problems in their secondary.
Jets at 29 - the publisher of Jets Confidential expects them to draft defense, mentions Jared Odrick and McCourty. LaDainian Tomlinson will be a good fit and they don't expect a team to ante up the picks for Leon Washington. They like their young receivers. Show panel tosses out Golden Tate, Everson Griffen and Jerry Hughes as additional possibilities.
Chargers at 28 - Hank Bauer says they need NT, CB and absolutely RB, though he would be surprised if they took a RB early because of their success with late-round RBs Sproles and Turner. Recommends they take Mount Cody. Mike Mayock tosses out Ryan Matthews, Earl Thomas and Brandon Graham, though he says no way Graham is still on the board by that point.
* Top inside linebackers (after McClain): Sean Weatherspoon - Showed he can play ILB at the Senior Bowl, and he wants to play there because that's where the action is. Showed coverage ability at the Combine.
Brandon Spikes (who I don't like) - He's a football player. Smart, instinctive, does the dirty work and has a nasty disposition. Ignore the workout numbers with Spikes.
Apparently a Penn State booster, Michael Lombardi recommends all 3 Nittany Lion linebackers. Sean Lee's coming off an ACL injury and has his best football ahead of him. Navarro Bowman's the best of the 3 overall. Josh Hull had one of the best shuttle times in the draft, should help a team out on special teams and has an awesome pornstache.
* Miscellaneous wisdom. Jason Pierre-Paul, Taylor Mays and Virginia safety Kam Chancellor were named the top boom-or-bust players. Could be big hits, could be significant busts. Mays and Chancellor both have the size to be credibly converted into WLBs. Pierre-Paul has all of 7 career starts. Maurkice Pouncey, Eric Berry and Joe Haden were named the most pro-ready players, despite significant concerns raised about Haden's speed at the Combine. Pouncey missed 1 game his whole college career. Lombardi mock drafted Sam Bradford to the Rams and Jimmy Clausen 4th to the Redskins, comparing Clausen favorably to Mark Sanchez while parroting well-known concerns about his leadership and work ethic. Mayock moved Trent Williams up to his #3 OT. Off-field issues are causing Anthony Davis to slip. Four tackles could go in the top 9. Though probably not registered sex offender Tony Washington of Abilene Christian. Though note: ACU's in the Lone Star Conference, which has already supplied the Rams with K.C. Asiodu and Keith Null. Finally, Denver is reportedly looking at every QB in the draft and can be expected to draft one somewhere.
Notes from NFL Network Combine coverage of March 1: (post back-dated to 3/18)
NFL Network's coverage of this year's Combine workouts for defensive backs was a complete fiasco. As usual with large position groups, they only put the second group on TV, and at least in the 2-hour package that I got to view, there was NO review of what went on in the first group. We didn't see any and the announcers didn't tell us any.
Perhaps they were trying how to figure out how to use a god damn stopwatch. Coverage opened with a report of Taylor Mays running a stunning 4.24 40. That seemed to be a draft-transforming moment right there, until Mays' official time came out later, at 4.43. Yes, NFL Network somehow blew the time by a whopping two-tenths of a second. How are they coming up with their times, by counting one-Mississippi? Just ridiculous. The most accurate reports we had were for Kyle Wilson and SydQuan Thompson. They didn't run.
Maybe NFL Network should have just had Deion Sanders guess each runner's time. Seriously. When they clocked Mays at 4.24, Prime Time was the only one questioning the time. Mays didn't look that fast to him. But he did look faster than the official 4.43. Riiiight, Prime. Except when the video crew overlaid Mays' run with Trindon Holliday's run at the start of the week, Mays ran faster. And Holliday was an official 4.34. So Mays should have been somewhere between 4.30 and 4.33.
In any event, if the NFL is going to rely SO heavily on 40 times for its player evaluation and news reporting, the league and its network better get their freaking acts together so they report consistent, official times in a timely manner. I don't know why this should be so hard or create as much confusion as it did this week.
* (Semi)official gym class results:
Brandon Ghee 4.45; Eric Berry 4.47 with a 43-inch vertical leap; Devin McCourty 4.48; Chris Cook 4.46 with an 11-foot broad jump; Perrish Cox 4.53; workout warrior A.J. Jefferson 44-inch vertical; Javier Arenas 4.52.
* Heavy on safety. Berry and Earl Thomas both came in “significantly” heavier than expected. NFL Net timed Thomas' 40 at 4.53, which means he really ran about 4.7. That to me is a red flag for a guy Mike Mayock et al. have done nothing but gush about for two months. Have to red flag Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle, too. He was timed by NFL Net at 4.68.
* Offshore drilling. Coverage featured two drills. One had the players drop back and flip their hips three times, then slant deep and catch a long throw at its highest point. I'll call that the “flip your hips” drill. The other had the players drop, come forward, then drop back again and cover a deep pass. I'll call that the “closing speed” drill. It seems designed to see how well the player can recover from getting pump-faked and trying to jump a short route that wasn't thrown.
Mays looked good at flip-your-hips the first time but messed up the drill the second time and broke deep before he was supposed to. Rolle was said to look good here. His change of direction did look quite good later. SydQuan Thompson performed this drill and butchered the deep catch. He also had a drop in the closing speed drill. His stock's falling as fast as most balls he tries to intercept. Sanders didn't like Thomas' drill, though I thought he looked fine. He played too high in the closing speed drill and also dropped the pass.
* Thumbs up/down. This downgrade's mine, because the NFL Net analysts love them some Patrick Robinson. Not like Deion's going to criticize a fellow Seminole. But his 4.42 was network-timed, so he really ran somewhere in the mid-4.5's, far from special cornerback speed. His hips looked really stiff in the first drill and he didn't move all that fluidly in the second drill, either. Stiff hips, I tell you, stiff hips!
Joe Haden's 4.57 40 was the biggest disappointment of the day, though Mayock refused to come off his call that Haden is this draft's best corner.
Everything about McCourty looked good. He should be at worst a second-rounder. Me talking again.
David Pender of Purdue “popped” (so you know Mayock said it) as one of the better prospects. Good speed, good athleticism, looked good in all of the drills.
* Punch lines. Seriously? All of the National Football League put their defensive back evaluation process in the hands of Peter Giunta?
Rich Eisen unofficially got his 40 time down to 6.25 this year. I say unofficially since it was timed by NFL Network, so it was probably really an 8.25.
Also, we can tell Eisen has never worked for the Philadelphia Eagles, or the Rams would have signed him already.
That's it for RamView's 2010 NFL Combine coverage. Good week for C.J. Spiller, Ben Tate, the inevitable Bruce Campbell, Trent Williams, Jermaine Gresham, Ryan Matthews, and certainly Ndamukong Suh. Not so good, for various reasons, for Gerald McCoy imo, along with Dan LeFevour (for not working out), Colt McCoy (for not working out and measuring 6'1"), Joe Haden or SydQuan Thompson.
On to pro days.
Notes from NFL Combine coverage of February 28: (post back-dated to 3/17)
* Suh vs. McCoy. Mike Mayock says he would take Gerald McCoy over Ndamukong Suh because McCoy “is more disruptive in the pass game”. That really doesn't explain to me why Suh has ten more career sacks than McCoy, when McCoy's scheme allowed him to go more aggressively after the QB.
As far as their gym class numbers, they ran similar 40s – McCoy 4.96, Suh 4.98. Suh outbenched McCoy 32-23, though. So McCoy did 3 more benches than 172-pound Dexter McCluster. Red flag much? McCoy completely butchered his first attempt at the 3-cone drill, but ran a nice time on the retake, faster than the average end ran last year. Suh looked much more fluid in change of direction drills, though, and I don't know why teams wouldn't have him significantly ahead of the defensive line pack at this point.
Not Mayock, though, who tries to talk down Suh's stats this year as “inflated” because of what he did against an “overrated” Texas offensive line in the Big 12 championship game. Of course, McCoy played against Texas, too, also in a very big-game atmosphere; he NEVER mentions that game. Probably because it doesn't help his argument, either. Suh had 10 tackles, 2 assists and 4.5 sacks against Texas. McCoy? 3 tackles, no sacks, or 2 tackles more than Colt McCoy had in the very same game.
In other words, shut up, Mayock.
Suh and McCoy do compare well in terms of fun facts. Ndamukong means “house of spears”. His father's from Cameroon; his mother's from Jamaica. He's named for his grandfather. WHO IS SEVEN FOOT THREE. McCoy, otoh, had one team ask him during a Combine interview whether he prefers to wear a jockstrap or a g-string on game days.
* Cut back on the ham. Sean Weatherspoon of Mizzou is supposed to be one of the top defensive players in the draft. He's expected to go as early as the tail end of the first round. The Rams need LBs, and he can credibly play any of the LB positions.
And after watching his antics at the Combine, I couldn't be less interested in having the guy in a Rams uniform. His look-at-me white bodysuit made him the only guy I saw to deviate from the Combine's official gym uniform. He hot dogged during drills and mugged for the cameras incessantly. And this is during the Combine. What's he going to do during a real game? I consider the guy a major attitude issue for the team that drafts him. NOT interested in a LB who wants to be the next Dorkocinco.
* Gym class results.
DE:
Bradon Graham: 4.69 40, 31 benches. He got to 31 in a lot better shape than Suh got to 32.
Sergio Kindle: 4.65
Carlos Dunlap: 4.66
Jason Pierre-Paul: 4.64 with 19 presses. Impressive he ran almost as fast as McCluster; not so impressive he only outlifted him by two.
Brian Price of UCLA did 34. As the best DT after the big two, maybe that gets him on more radars.
Linval Joseph of East Carolina did 39.
That was followed by Jeff Owens of Georgia doing 44, AT LEAST ONE QUARTER OF WHICH should not have counted. Those were the bench press equivalents of girls' high-school P.E. pushups. Come on!
LB:
Navarro Bowman: 4.72
Roddrick Muckleroy: 4.73
Eric Norwood: 4.67
Daryl Washington: 4.57.
Dekota Watson: 4.53
Weatherspoon: 4.53, 34 benches. (More than Suh!) So the good news is, he can back up his non-stop mouth.
Rolando McClain benched 24 times but did not run.
Donald Butler: 35 benches, did not run.
Brandon Spikes also did not run.
Bowman fell over during the change-of-direction drill and looked entirely awkward doing it. Spikes looked way too high when he ran it. Muckelroy botched his drill.
George Selvie looked pretty good dropping back in coverage. Seems more likely to be a 3-4 OLB at this point.
Jerry Hughes and Koa Misi showed terrific footwork but whiffed on the pass during the “interception return” drill. Kindle and Greg Middleton also had drops during the drill.
As you might expect, Terrence Cody running the 40 was one of the ugliest looking things you have ever seen. Unlike former teammate Andre Smith, though, he at least had the common decency to run with his shirt on.
* Upgrades/downgrades.
Tyson Alualu of Cal continuing to draw attention as an -inside- lineman. I still like him on the outside.
Mayock called Ole Miss DE Greg Hardy “a shadow of his former self” due to injuries.
Mayock also called Sergio Kindle -better- this year than Brian Orakpo was last year.
Surprising stat because I didn't know it: Greg Middleton had -16- sacks for Indiana in his sophomore year, 2007. So is he that good, or is he Ian Campbell?
Suprising stat because Mayock completely butchered it: Antonio Coleman is a two-time team sack leader at Auburn. Mayock made it sound like he led the whole SEC for two years.
Danny Gorrer got a $35,785 "performance bonus"?
Now I -have- heard everything.
Tim Carter got over $8,000 and I think he played one game.
Randy McMichael $16,123, roughly $500 for every dropped pass.
Alex Barron $25,889, a dollar for every time he false started.
Samkon Gado got a $34,000 BONUS. He had 51 total yards last year! He averaged 1.9 yards a carry! His 2009 SEASON wasn't worth $34,000!
K.C. Asiodu got a $55,467 bonus. He had eight tackles! I'm pretty sure they were all on special teams!
Larry Grant got a bonus of over $100,000. For what?
David Roach got a bonus of nearly $125,000. For what?
Danny Amendola got the biggest bonus on the team, $176,427.
The ludicrously-named performance pay system is no longer in effect as of 2010's uncapped season, but keep this kind of silly money in the back of your mind when the players start complaining about their pay as the Great Lockout of 2011 looms.
Notes from NFL Combine coverage of February 27th:
Again NFL Network's focus on what's unimportant is the biggest impression left from a Combine session. Why such incessant coverage on the running back broad jump? (And how come none of the RBs can ever stick the landing with both feet when every single offensive lineman could?) Then when there's something you want to see, like the RBs running their second 40s, NFL Net won't even cover it because they're busy interviewing Tim Tebow. Here's what I could make of what we did get to see.
- Most impressive number of the Combine so far: 172-pound Dexter McCluster doing 20 bench presses of a bar that outweighs him by 53 pounds. McCluster's believed to be hurt by his 4.58 40 time. That is a disappointing time for a guy projected to play some wide receiver. I thought he stumbled on one of his runs but that doesn't account for that being his best time. He also had a drop in what I'll call the flare route drill.
- Jahvid Best ran the best time at the position with 4.35. C.J. Spiller got credit for 4.37 after NFL Network timed him at 4.27. He didn't hurt himself in any event. I don't know about Spiller, but Best is also a track athlete, so you would expect him to run well.
- Ben Tate had a big day. 4.43 40 and 26 bench reps. He and Joe McKnight (4.49) are fast, but you have to run the right direction, too. They both ran the wrong way on the drill that's supposed to show how explosive a back is out of his cuts. Rashawn Jackson's reaction time looked especially slow in this drill, and Charles Scott's drill was a disaster. Balancing that off, Scott had the fastest 3-cone drill time.
- Anthony Dixon came in at 4.67, but he's a name to watch where the Rams are concerned. I'd call him a Shonn Greene-type. Sylvester Croom coached him at Mississippi State a couple of years and knows he broke 100 yards against several of the SEC's top teams.
- Toby Gerhart was timed at 4.53 and protected the ball with both hands during the pitchout/5-cone drill even though the coach's instructions were not to do that. I still like that. Stafon Johnson switched the ball to the proper arm during this drill though the instructions were not to do that, either. And I still like that. I want my players protecting the ball. It was a little disturbing seeing all the receivers running down the sideline this weekend with the ball in the wrong arm.
- It doesn't sound like Dixon or Gerhart caught many passes in college, though. Same for Jonathan Dwyer, though NFL Net led us to think otherwise on him.
- Though a big back, Tate delivered the third-fastest RB time, and big back Ryan Matthews was right behind him with a 4.45. Joe McKnight turned in a 4.49. Montario Hardesty had an unofficial 4.49 and was probably in the low 4.5s.
- Unimpressive 40s: LeGarrette Blount, 4.62; Stafon Johnson, 4.66. Had to have some admiration for Johnson, though, bouncing back from a near-fatal weightlifting accident to do 13 reps at the Combine.
Spiller was the star of the group. By demonstrating speed and size, Tate and Matthews took significant strides up the board with their Combines. On the other hand, McCluster's 40 time didn't help his evaluation any. The good value players appear to have moved ahead of the Rams' 3rd-round pick and I doubt there'll be good value at that position again until the later rounds.
Notes from NFL Combine coverage of February 27th:
- Mike Mayock apologized at one point during today's coverage on behalf of everyone who got far too carried away about Bruce Campbell's workout yesterday. Good on Mayock, but it turns out he apologized for his network too soon. Quarterback coverage was an atrocious Tim Tebow-fest, breathless coverage of a quarterback who didn't even come to the Combine to throw. I could give a crap how fast a QB runs 40 yards, and I could give two craps about their vertical leap. NFL Net, naturally, couldn't shut up about Tebow's 38.5” mark in that event. How much vertical leaping do quarterbacks do, anyway? I'd rather see the RBs running their 40s the second time, a drill that's much more important to that position. No, NFL Net showed almost none of that.... so they could interview Tebow.
The only number about the openly-religious Tebow that I found remotely interesting was his time in the 3-cone drill. 6.66. Figured he'd reject the mark and rerun it, but no.
- There were some awful QBs throwing some of the WR drills. Armanti Edwards of Appalachian State's out routes looked like they were being thrown by Rick Ankiel. Max Hall of BYU similarly stunk at it. Sean Canfield of Oregon State wasn't a whole lot better.
- Given that NONE of the big names, and even some of the just-middling names, like Dan LeFevour, opted not to throw at all, the QB drills were much more of an undercard than a main event. The QB who stood out the most was one I've previously thought should be avoided like the plague: interception machine Jevan Snead of Ole Miss. He has nice size, looks like he can make all the throws and looked pretty darn strong in the deep-throw drills. Of course, the drills are all run without defenders on the field. In this format, though, I think Snead was the QB who helped himself the most.
- Tony Pike looked good on the shorter throws but came up pretty short with his deep passes, and consistently.
- Other QBs who stood out with good throwing: John Skelton of Fordham, Thaddeus Lewis of Duke.
- For inaccurate throwing: Zac Robinson of Oklahoma State, Riley Skinner of Wake Forest.
For a team potentially looking to take a quarterback with the first overall pick, this year's Combine was essentially useless. No Bradford, no Jimmy Clausen. The two things that stood out to me were Snead's performance and NFL Network's fawning coverage of Tim Tebow before he's set foot in an NFL camp.
Tim Tebow is an eminently likeable person and worthy role model, NFL Net. Don't overexpose him the way everyone's done with Favre and make everyone sick of him before he even takes his first snap.
Notes from NFL Combine coverage of February 27th:
NFL Network was more of a hindrance this weekend than a help. The 40 times they initially reported for many players ended up significantly off from their official total to the point it became a real fiasco. The NFL holds releasing the official times until everyone has run at the position. I guess that nullifies a competitive advantage for names at the end of the alphabet. But surely they can get the official times to NFL Network without tipping off the players. And even if they do, I think that's much less of a problem than the NFL Net intern or whoever getting CJ Spiller's time wrong by a tenth of a second.
I believe all the times I will mention are the official times but I can't swear to them in court. Amazingly, the NFL's website isn't even listing players' Combine 40 times. That is decidedly unhelpful, people.
* Wide receivers.
- Golden Tate got a ton of buzz when NFL Net timed his 40 at 4.34. The real time, 4.42, ain't half bad, either. He as AWFUL in the gauntlet drill, though. Mike Mayock did describe him as the best run-after-catch WR in the draft. Little question the Rams need that factor. However, you have to catch the ball in order to run after the catch.
- Dez Bryant, who Michael Irvin mistakenly called “Antonio” at least once, did not participate in anything due to a hamstring problem. Yeah, that's not helping anybody figure out how good a guy who was suspended most of last season is.
- With their first pick in the NFL draft, the Oakland Raiders select Clemson WR Jacoby Ford, this year's fastest 40 runner at 4.28.
- Riley Cooper helped his stock, at least with me. His 40 time was 4.52 and in one of the upsets of the weekend, he caught everything I saw thrown to him.
- Regis Benn fell on his butt on one drill but caught well. He also ran well, with a 4.48.
- Antonio Brown ran in the 4.5's and caught well. Unofficially 4.50.
- Damian Williams had a couple of EASY drops in the first gauntlet run but was much better the second time through. Ran a 4.53.
- Mardy Gilyard caught well but may have hurt his stock with a 4.56 40.
- Jordan Shipley didn't look terribly coordinated, knocking cones over and falling down during drills. 4.57 40 didn't help him, either.
- Brandon LaFell's 40 was a disappointing 4.6.
- Chris Bell struggled in the deep route drill and had one of the few drops.
- Brandon Banks of K-State is an interesting prospect. He ran a 4.43 and caught everything in sight. Probably had one of the best sets of hands there. He weighed in at 149 POUNDS, though. I think I weighed that in 8th grade.
- I'm not sure why Dezmon Briscoe came to the Combine. His 4.61 40 and NINE bench presses weren't even good results for a punter.
- Some other sleepers, or guys I didn't know that much about before, at least:
- Nyan Boateng of Cal looked very smooth and caught everything. That performance flies in the face of his scouting report, though. I would think teams would take a second look at him, though.
- Blair White of Michigan State appeared to have good hands and good speed. Again, one of those players who just seemed to pop up all the time doing something good.
In the end, I don't think the Rams have a lot of help coming at WR in the draft based on today's performances. Tate has to show MUCH better hands than he did to merit the 2nd-round pick. Bryant's turned into the Sam Bradford of WRs in giving us little recent play to go on. It would? should? be inconceivable to draft him and Bradford.
Valuewise, the WR position can wait until at least the 3rd round, and possibly later.
Path to the Draft – Tuesday, March 9
Notes:
* Oklahoma pro day. Gerald McCoy had breakfast with Steve Spagnuolo. His workout went very well. So did Trent Williams'. He improved his 40 and 3-cone drill times noticeably.
Jermaine Gresham did not run the 40 but will at OU's 2nd workout day. Mike Mayock described him as a faster and better receiver than last year's first TE taken, Brandon Pettigrew, but not as good a blocker.
Since the start of the Combine, Mayock has nominated about 100 players to be drafted in the first two rounds; add CB Dominique Franks (no relation) to that list, despite an underwhelming endorsement. He looks small, needs to improve his ball skills, and doesn't trust what he sees on the field. Mmm-kay.
The Sooners could have three players go in the top 10 (McCoy, Williams, Bradford). Mayock moved Williams into the top 10 and ahead of Rutgers T Anthony Davis (this was before Davis didn't show up for his pro day). His outstanding Combine and even better Pro Day have supposedly shed him of his underachiever reputation. Again, more overemphasis by NFL Network on a glorified gym class. Williams is right there with Brian Bulaga of Iowa. Bulaga has no discernable weaknesses other than his arm length is right at the limit of being shorter than you'd like to have at the position.
Lindsay Soto interviewed McCoy later. He stressed his technique and mobility while saying he's still trying to improve his bench press. So you can see where he's trying to distinguish himself from Ndamukong Suh.
* If the Rams draft DT first, should they take McCoy or Suh?
Bucky Brooks pretty much gave a non-answer. Take McCoy if he fits your scheme. Charles Davis, the analyst who makes the most sense to me so far this year, pointed out Suh's overwhelming numbers.
In case I forget to bring this up during my overdue Combine review, I'm going to do it now. Mayock actually criticized Suh's numbers during the Combine as being overinflated by the Texas game. Texas' o-line isn't really any good; nobody on it is a threat to be drafted; Suh's 4.5 sacks in the Big 12 championship game are dismissable.
Mayock got away with this without anyone ever mentioning that Oklahoma played Texas, too. So what did McCoy do against that awful Longhorn offensive line?
3 tackles, 1 sack.
Shut up, Mayock.
* Colts at 31. The first bit of news was that the Colts released G Ryan Lilja and CB Marlin Jackson. Both have injury issues, so I will cut the Rams some slack for not going after either player. (The Eagles signed Jackson Wednesday; he's coming off a knee injury that cost him last season). Michael Lombardi then did an awful job projecting players the Colts would be after. He clearly didn't do his homework. He believes they'll go after a big lineman, but then named Bulaga, who the panel just said would be a top 10 player. He also named Jared Odrick while saying he wouldn't fall to 31, either. Thanks for your hard work, Lombardi, go pick up your paycheck. Brooks was more helpful in mentioning Florida guard Maurkice Pouncey and Florida State CB Patrick Robinson.
* DT talk. Tyson Alualu of Cal's been playing 3-4 DE but Mayock projects him as a 3-techique DT. Sure looked fast enough at the Senior Bowl to be a 4-3 DE to me. Brooks pushed Tennessee's Dan Williams as a big-time run stuffer. Davis pushed Arthur Jones of Syracuse, with Mayock jumping in to call him the 101st player that will be drafted in the first two rounds. Good pursuit DT but with medical (knee) issues. Cam Thomas of North Carolina was also brought up. For reasons I cannot explain and the panel did not explain, he was not productive in college but is now getting buzz as being an ideal DT. Huh? I really do not understand these guys sometimes.
44 days till the draft.
Path to the Draft – Monday, March 8
Notes:
* Mike Mayock believes the new three-day format of the draft will help bad-drafting teams re-stack their boards.
* Nominations for most impressive player at the Combine:
- Charles Davis picked Eric Berry. The Tennessee safety has cornerback speed.
- Mayock picked Fresno State RB Ryan Matthews. Big back, athletically explosive, ran a 4.45.
Also named workout warrior/TE Clay Harbor, who he described as a potential 4th rounder.
- Bucky Brooks named Oklahoma T Trent Williams and Lamar Houston.
In general, these guys were focusing WAY too much on players' 40 times.
* Who hurt themselves the most at the Combine?
- Mayock: Joe Haden, for a slow 40 time, of course. Then Mayock turns around and says he plays faster than he runs and is still the #1 corner. How much did he hurt himself, then?
- Davis' pick, Brandon LaFell, made more sense. He did mention his 40 time was over 4.6, but he also emphasized the LaFell showed inconsistent hands.
- Brooks also made more sense in picking Jonathan Dwyer, who he said looked soft physically and didn't run or drill well.
* Should the Rams draft Sam Bradford? All three said yes, campus workout unseen.
- Brooks said you have to take a franchise QB when you can get one but offered little proof Bradford will be a franchise QB. Mentioned he interviewed very well. Now there's a great reason to spend tens of millions on a guy. He interviews well. Jerry Seinfeld interviews well, let's draft him!
- Mayock criticized the Rams for passing on Matt Ryan and Mark Sanchez without ever peeling himself off of Chris Long's jock. Mayock's losing a lot of stock with me these days. He at least mentioned that while Bradford's built like Matt Ryan, he didn't have to take the hits Ryan did at BC (or survive the ones he did take, I might add) or bring the team from behind as many times as Ryan did.
- Davis, short and sweet, made the most sense. Bradford is a big risk because he missed most of last year with the shoulder problem, but the Rams should take him IF he checks out medically. Called Bradford as accurate a thrower as Aaron Rodgers.
* Saints at 32. The Saints beat writer projects them to take a pass rusher or front seven playmaker. They could go for a tight end. Names thrown out included Carlos Dunlap, Ricky Sapp, Sean Weatherspoon, Darryl Washington, Everson Griffen and Taylor Mays. Mays came up because they discussed that the Saints aren't going to overpay for Darren Sharper.
* God forbid we get through a show without talking about Tim Tebow. Mayock believes Tebow's campus workout won't really matter that much. Teams either like him already or they don't.
* Stock report. Jacoby Ford down. He only has straight-line speed. Ben Tate and Montario Hardesty up. RB coaches around the league love them.
45 days till the draft!
Free agency has opened in the NFL with a pretty loud bang.
The Bears are signing Julius Peppers to a NINETY million dollar deal.
Badly in need of wide receivers, the Ravens have made a deal for Anquan Boldin.
The Jets also made a huge trade, acquiring Antonio Cromartie to complete what should be the NFL's best defensive backfield.
Karlos Dansby has signed with Miami for $22 million guaranteed.
After the Big Dead cut him, the Giants made Antrell Rolle the highest paid safety of all time.
The Lions quickly snapped up my top UFA WR, Nate Burleson, to a 5-year deal, and picked up a needed pass rusher in Kyle Vanden Bosch.
Other teams smartly signed their own guys. Indy keeps Gary Brackett and Cleveland makes Josh Cribbs happy after two years of complaining about his contract. The Patriots re-upped Vince Wilfork to a huge deal.
The Falcons are reportedly signing Dunta Robinson. The Seahawks are making a play for Brandon Marshall.
The Rams?
They signed A.J. Feeley, who is 32 and hasn't been a starter since 2004. And he only started then because Miami made an awful trade with the Eagles after Feeley's 4-1 run at the end of 2002 helped Philly get into the playoffs. His last start was a 4-INT game against Seattle. He didn't have a job last year before Carolina picked him up to replace an injured Josh McCown. Yes, the Rams have signed a QB who last year was seen fit, at best, to back up Jake Delhomme. For God's sake, is it possible for a team with Kyle Boller to get worse at a position?
PAT SHURMUR KNOWS HIM, THOUGH. Thrillsville. Aren't you supposed to use free agency to -improve- your team?
(The silver lining: between Athletica goaltender Hope Solo and Feeley's wife Heather Mitts, St. Louis can stake a claim as America's best-looking soccer city.)
The Rams did sign Craig Dahl, a backup safety, to a three-year deal. Dahl's a nice player, but that contract is surprisingly long. Then again, add that to the team's apparent determination to screw Oshiomogho Atogwe. They gamed this year's CBA by tendering him for $5 million less than he made last year. If they don't match an offer sheet for him, they don't even get compensation. Yeah, that's a great idea, drive off your only defensive playmaker. Atogwe's about the only guy on this defense who ever forces a turnover. But let's lowball him and get him pissed off at the team after he came to camp last year and practiced without a contract. Yeah, that's how you want to do business. But Steve Spagnuolo knows Craig Dahl, I guess. You'd think Spagnuolo would know him well enough, then, to know:
- Other than hitting, Dahl doesn't do anything as well as Atogwe does. Spags should have been able to see that even in only one season here.
- You'd especially think he knows Dahl's been injured most of his career. Torn both ACLs since 2007.
I hope I'm misreading what they're doing at safety, because if it's Dahl in and Atogwe out, there's another position at which they've gotten worse and less physically sound.
I'd better be misreading this whole thing. So far in free agency, a bunch of teams have taken off down the track, and the Rams are still in the starting gate.
Taking a dump.
Quick updates to account for recent player moves that occurred after position recaps:
RB changed a lot: 1) Brian Westbrook 2) Darren Sproles 3) Thomas Jones 4) LaDainian Tomlinson 5) Willie Parker
Sadly, though he was recently cut by the Bears, I'm not sure Orlando Pace would crack my top 5 OTs available.
So what would I do if I were Rams GM?
1) On the d-line, I'm hoping to talk Leonard Little back for one last season, and it sounds like he's at least leaning toward playing vs. retiring. Might have to sweeten the pot to keep him from talking to Haslett, though. I'm checking out Fred Robbins for the DT rotation and definitely burning the phone lines to New York to see what they'd want for Osi Umenyiora, whom they're not trying very hard not to piss off these days. Aaron Kampman should be Plan B; nobody seems to think his last season-ending knee injury will be a big concern. Defensive line is the area of the team the Rams have to be the most active in this offseason, in free agency, and the draft, where I'm still selecting Ndamukong Suh with the first pick overall, a notion that once would have been called a no-brainer.
2) Offensive priority number one in free agency is tight end. I'd pretty much have the Rammobile parked outside Ben Watson's house with a trunkful of cash. Should that fail, hopefully Randy McMichael would act like nothing happened. He could actually be the 2nd-best FA TE available.
3) I'm still not enthralled with the LB situation, and yes, I'm looking to the Giants yet again (and I'm not even Spagnuolo!). I strongly expect the Rams to end up with Antonio Pierce if he's healthy, and I'd also take a look at Danny Clark. Bryan Scott would have starting potential here as well, as would a lot of mid-round draft picks. Got to improve on at least one of the starting OLB positions.
4) I'm probably drafting a QB in the second round. I highly doubt Mr. Khan is going to want to pay Marc Bulger $8.5 mil based on his recent output. David Carr's a high-character player who obviously has experience being a very-highly-drafted QB. I'd try to bring him in to mentor the new kid, wherever I draft one, and be the stopgap starter. He'd be a lot cheaper than Bulger. Sounds like Chad Pennington's willing to give Miami the hometown discount, and he's still very uncertain medically.
5) On the o-line, quit teasing me, Rams! They're trying to put Alex Barron on the market by only tendering him for a second-round pick. Quit giving us hope; we all know we're going to get stuck with him. At least bench him heading into camp and make him (try to) win the (RT) job from Goldberg. I would try to sneak Kevin Boothe away from the G-Men (again with the Giants?!?!) to boost the interior depth.
6) My WR strategy has fallen completely apart. The Giants backup receivers I was going to go after were NOT unrestricted free agents (thanx, Rotoworld), so my sleeper options are gone. Burleson and Chambers seem pretty determined to stay with their current teams. Kevin Walter's going to have a lot of teams bidding. Sounds like some #2-quality WRs are about to get overpaid, and I'm going to be stuck holding a bag full of mediocre Rams WRs, though I'd at least try to make Burleson a decent offer.
7) I'm not anticipating a big move in the secondary. As I have said, I am (perhaps irrationally) intrigued with Bryan Scott of the Bills and would be looking at him for safety and linebacker depth.
8) The Rams are going to have difficulty signing any RB who actually wants playing time. Fortunately, there's been a lot of shakeout at the position in free agency. I will not be surprised at all to see the Rams pick their #2 RB for 2010 off the waiver wire. No need to rush into anything here.
Valuable resources for this year's free agent preview capsules:
(a/k/a who I'm blaming when I get something badly wrong)
Rotoworld
SBNation
StLouisRams.com
KFFL
FootballsFuture.com
NFL.com
NFLLabor.com
Pro Football Reference
Ah, youth, 'tis a blessing and a curse. Had yours truly had more of it, maybe these free agency capsules would have been out a lot quicker (and been a lot better). There was no lack of youth in the Ram secondary last season. Too often, though, there was a lack of pass coverage. And even with all their youth, the Ram DBs were still frequent victims of the injury bug. That mitigating factor makes it very likely that the Rams are going to be comfortable bringing back most of last year's contingent. A veteran free agent here would mostly get in the way of a young player, so I'm not looking for the Rams to make much of a move for one.
So the DB rundown should go pretty quick.
Defensive backs
Rams current depth chart:
Corner: Ron Bartell, Bradley Fletcher, Justin King, Quincy Butler, Danny Gorrer, Jonathan Wade, Cord Parks, Marcus Brown
Safety: Free: Oshiomogho Atogwe, Craig Dahl, David Roach, Classy Eric Bassey
Strong: James Butler, Clinton Hart
Notes: The current CBA reverts Atogwe to restricted free agent status for 2010.
Bassey, Dahl and Wade are all standard RFAs. Hart is unrestricted.
Analysis: Bartell signed a long-term contract with the Rams after turning down a chance to join the Saints, and both sides of the transaction regretted their 2009 ROI. Bartell was one of the season's biggest disappointments. Some weeks it looked like he couldn't cover anybody at all. He got beaten deep far too often and kept Fakhir Brown's legacy alive with failures to turn his head to find the ball in the air. Heck, even Torry Holt had his way with Bartell last year. Since he was said to be playing most of the season with injuries, while still breaking up a fair share of passes, I'll give Bartell a mulligan, if a multi-million dollar one, for 2009. He sure played much better in 2008. Rookie Fletcher had taken over as the #2 CB by midseason, and was flashing some shutdown form until the Dome FieldTurf attempted to turn his knee into pop art during the Colts game. Let's hope his rehab stays ahead of schedule and he comes back 100%. As a virtual rookie, King made plenty of youthful mistakes, and his play could use a stronger physical edge, but he seems to be rounding into nice form at nickel. Quincy Butler at times showed nice range, big-play ability and willingness in run support. If he strengthens his physical play some more, the Rams could have quite a foursome. Wade spent 2009 in the new coaching staff's doghouse for reasons no one still can determine, and the Rams unsurprisingly let it out this morning that they're not bringing him back. And I'll stay puzzled. Wade's young, has speed, is a willing tackler; he should have been worth something around here. It was ridiculous that Gorrer spent any time ahead of Wade on the depth chart last year. He makes Tye Hill look like Aeneas Williams. It's embarrassing, and frankly, a bit disturbing, to still see him on the current Rams roster. It's highly embarrassing and deeply disturbing that Rams cornerbacks combined for ZERO interceptions last year. That's one less than Johnny Jolly, the Packers' 325-lb backup nose tackle! Pick off some passes next season, people!
Injuries plagued the whole Ram secondary. Oshiomogho Atogwe was back to his old tricks, forcing 5 turnovers through 11 games, but missed the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury. James Butler led the team with 3 INTs, but I make little secret of my opinion that he was awful and another big disappointment of the season, just ok in run support, bad in tackling, bad in coverage. I feel pretty sure he played more banged-up all season than anyone really let on, though, so here's another multi-million dollar mulligan. Dahl was fine in a backup role. Hart's a former Charger starter and might not be a bad bringback if he's not too expensive. Roach vs. Bassey could be a good training camp battle. Bassey's rebounding from a knee injury and Roach made some special teams plays.
Free agency
Top 5 UFA CBs: 1) Leigh Bodden 2) Dunta Robinson 3) Nick Harper 4) Brian Williams 5) Will James
Top 5 UFA safeties: 1) Darren Sharper 2) Ryan Clark 3) Bryan Scott 4) Mike Brown 5) John Wendling
Sleepers: Bryan Scott, Walt Harris, Rod Hood, Nathan Jones
Thanks, we'll get back to you: Ralph Brown, Tyrone Carter, Nick Ferguson, Vernon Fox, Corey Ivy, Todd Johnson, Sean Jones, Kevin Kaesviharn, Ty Law, Ken Lucas, Marquand Manuel, Hank Poteat, Pierson Prioleau, Mark Roman, Brian Russell, Benny Sapp, Deshea Townsend, Matt Ware, Dante Wesley
Gawd no: Dre Bly, Anthony Henry, Frank Walker, Jermaine Phillips, Roy Williams
Viewing the field: At corner, Bodden's phone should be ringing a lot come March 5th. He had five INTs and played 80% of the snaps in New England. He has great size and is just 28. I'm not sure Robinson's ever lived up to his rookie hype. (I blame his parents for not knowing how to spell "Dante".) He's got youth on his side at 27, though, and being all the way back from a torn ACL back in 2008, he should improve on his no-pick season last year. Age and injuries are catching up to Harper, who I think would help a secondary more as a steadying veteran influence. You wouldn't want to expose him to a lot of man-to-man. Williams has been very steady everywhere he's played and can step up as a #1 corner when a team needs him to. James flashed some big-play ability last season and has the Giants/Eagles pedigree that would make him attractive to the Rams' current leadership.
Sharper was the league's defensive MVP last season. Even at 34, it's surprising the Saints didn't franchise him. FS Clark had 3 INTs and 110 tackles in Pittsburgh last year and is the kind of hitter many secondaries need. Wendling made it in mostly for being only 26 and being one of the best players on Buffalo's excellent special teams units, and DO NOT get me started on who their coach was. 32-year-old Brown had a respectable 3 INTs and nearly 100 tackles in K.C. last year, and has actually survived two straight seasons now without a catastrophic injury. Betting on a third might be risky.
My interest in Scott, another former Bill, comes from him converting from safety to linebacker in midseason and coming away with 81 tackles, 2 sacks and an INT in only 9 games. At 28, he seems like a versatile player who would help a team's defensive depth. Harris is 35 and missed 2009 because of an ACL injury. Would be a shame if that ends his career, because few were playing better at the time when he was injured. The Rams flirted last offseason with the idea of signing Hood, who ended up playing only 4 games last year in Tennessee. He had three INTs and a TD return in those games, though, as a sub for Harper. Jones is another good special teamer, and he beat former first-round pick Jason Allen out in Miami at nickel, before getting beat out there by a couple of rookies himself.
You want your young players to learn from the veterans. In Dre Bly's case, I don't want our players learning how to get stripped from behind while showboating like an idiot 5 yards into an interception return and giving the ball back. Maybe it's bad luck, I don't know, but Henry and Walker have never looked remotely good in any game of theirs I have ever watched. I'm talking Danny Gorrer-bad. Jermaine Phillips was arrested in January on the oddly-specific charge of "domestic battery by strangulation". Not accused, arrested. And thanks to Roy Williams for inventing the horse-collar penalty. You can retire now. What, he's just 29?
RamView's move: I'm intrigued by Scott and think he'd be helpful here as linebacker and safety depth. I'd also make sure to keep Dahl for depth. I would have given Wade an honest shot at nickel in training camp. Hopefully the current players will change their play a lot instead of the front office having to change a lot of the players. They're close to being good in a lot of ways.
Prediction: If I had posted this last night, I could have bragged that I correctly predicted the Rams wouldn't even bother to make Wade a RFA offer. I think I see Jim Haslett in D.C. waving at Jonathan right now. Something I should have mentioned by now was how little help the secondary got last year from the pass rush. Optimistically, that will get better and help the DBs out. They'll improve by playing healthy, and that'll improve them by letting them play together as a unit. And by Gorrer going back to the Home Depot and never again setting foot on an NFL field. All the improvement coming without the front office really making a move.
Fingers crossed.
Everybody knows a dollar doesn't buy what it used to, and it's easily demonstrated at the linebacker position in the NFL. Dick Butkus' first contract, in 1965, was for 5 years and $204,000. Total. He's in the Hall of Fame and went to 8 Pro Bowls. Lawrence Taylor's rookie contract in 1981 paid him $250,000 a year. In 1990, he held out for $2 million a year. He's in the Hall of Fame, went to 10 Pro Bowls and has 2 Super Bowl rings. Karlos Dansby, who would have cost the Big Dead $16 million to franchise for this season, is said to be after $30 million guaranteed in his next contract. No Pro Bowls, no championships.
Well, maybe Dansby's a lot like LT or Butkus and you're just paying inflation? No. Here's the list of players whose careers Pro Football Reference says are most like Dansby's to this point: Derrick O. Johnson, Kirk Morrison, Darren Hambrick, LeRoy Hill, David Griggs, Michael Boley, Stan Blinka, Jim Files, Channing Crowder, D.J. Williams. Granted, this is inexact science, but how many of those would you pay $30 million for if you were a GM?
I should probably be quiet about my "spidey-sense," but Dansby makes it tingle. My guess is either Dansby or Adewale Ogunleye, who's going to get paid for producing mainly against bad teams, will be the bust of 2010's free agent class.
Linebacker
Rams current depth chart:
MLB: James Laurinaitis, Dominic Douglas
WLB: Paris Lenon, Chris Chamberlain
SLB: David Vobora, Larry Grant, K.C. Asiodu
Notes: Lenon is an unrestricted free agent.
Analysis:
Laurinaitis was the easy winner for Rams Rookie of the Year, registering 120 tackles and looking a lot of the time like the man who'll anchor this defense for the next decade. He's not a complete linebacker yet - he'll have to take a good leap in pass coverage skills to get there, and also not chomp on play-fakes so much - but it's taken him little time at all to become one of the stars and leaders of the team, and it looks like he has a high ceiling. The Rams traded Will Witherspoon to Philadelphia for Brandon Gibson before the season barely got started, and abruptly dumped now-34-year-old Chris Draft before the season actually did start. They ended up with Lions refugee Lenon, no youngster himself at 32, manning the weakside. I actually liked Lenon as a free agent last year. He totaled 42 tackles in 13 games in '09 and forced 3 fumbles, more than any Ram besides Oshiomogho Atogwe. I think he's a guy you could go with into a season as a starter but still don't see him as an upgrade over Draft or Witherspoon. And whatever the plan was at strongside LB, it didn't work. Let's face it, what did they expect? The competition for starter was between two 2008 seventh-round draft picks: Mr. Irrelevant Vobora and 49ers practice squadder Grant. Vobora made some plays, but got blocked out of many, many, more, and never really seized the job thanks to injuries and a 4-week PED suspension. Grant seemed to be out of position a lot of the time and didn't play anywhere close to the promise he showed in preseason. Similarly 7th-rounders and rookie free agents, Chamberlain, Asiodu and Douglas were mainly special teams players, where Chamberlain shows some promise; not as much, though, when he's been called upon to take the field with the defense. Lenon aside, the Ram linebacker corps is hurting badly for experience (maybe if they didn't get rid of all they had!), speed, hitting, physical presence, and any ability whatsoever to cover tight ends. Other than that, they're fine!
Free agency
Top 5 UFA MLBs: 1) Gary Brackett 2) Karlos Dansby 3) Larry Foote 4) Antonio Pierce (INJ) 5) Matt Wilhelm
Top 5 UFA OLBs: 1) Tully Banta-Cain 2) Scott Fujita 3) Keith Bulluck (INJ) 4) Danny Clark 5) Chris Draft
Sleepers: Rocky Boiman
Thanks, we'll get back to you: Cato June, Ryan Fowler, Matt Wilhelm, Monty Beisel, Larry To The Izzo, Senior Seau, Tony Gilbert, Jeremiah Trotter, Josh Stamer, Darrell McClover, Vinny Ciurciu, Sam Williams, Tracy White, D.D. Lewis, Khary Campbell, Justin Rogers, Mike Vrabel
The doctor will see you now: Keith Bulluck, Antonio Pierce, Angelo Crowell, Chaun Thompson, Nick Greisen, and, of course, Pisa Tinoisamoa
Gawd no: Odell Thurman, last with, naturally, the Bengals, is under indefinite suspension by the league for substance abuse violations. (I wonder if indefinite suspension is anything like double-secret probation.) His defensive coordinator for the UFL's Orlando Tuskers, though, says he played "lights-out" there. Wait a minute, wasn't mass-marijuana consumer Claude Wroten also on that Tuskers team? Who's the genius who put those two guys together? Bless you, Jim Haslett.
Viewing the field: A pass-rushing linebacker for Bill Belichick, Banta-Cain is one of those guys who always manages to make a lot of plays. And with 9.5 sacks last year, he trailed only Julius Peppers among 2010 free agents. That's impressive enough to make me wonder how he'd look in a 4-3, anyway. Fujita's been a reliable 80-90 tackle guy for the Saints and has been an underrated playmaker his whole career. Bulluck is a tackling machine and has anchored the Titan defense for a decade, but you'd be getting him this year off a torn ACL. Clark was the Giants' best LB against the run last year. Hmm, Giants, Spagnuolo... Draft racked up 59 tackles in Buffalo after his rude dismissal here right before the season opener. He was the smart, leader-type and "pillar" you'd have thought Spagnuolo would have wanted to keep around. That bridge, though, is probably burned. Boiman was one of my sleeper players last year, then played only 6 games in Pittsburgh and had just 6 tackles. I don't have an explanation for that, but I'll double down on Rocky anyway. He had 166 tackles the previous two seasons. He's got a good nose for the ball. He's a good special-teams player. He's just 29. What's the deal, NFL?
Brackett was the vastly-overlooked key to the Colt defense last year, especially their running game. Over 700 tackles the last five years. Good grief. The Big Dead can't afford to franchise Dansby again, but few other teams are going to be able to afford what he thinks he's worth. It may be especially tough to pay Dansby big money when he had one sack last season. You could sign Larry Foote, just a year older, considerably more cheaply and get most of Dansby's production. If he can pass the physical, Pierce knows and lives and breathes Spagnuolo's system and could hit the ground here running, and would have the football IQ, speed and range to adjust to an outside role. Don't ask me about anybody after Pierce. The linebacker free agent market is so filled with aging veterans and guys who mainly play special teams, I nearly rated Bobby Boucher 5th.
RamView's move: I hate to use a draft pick on LB when the Rams have so many other prominent position needs. Put another way, the Rams are too broken to fix with only one year of drafting and free agency. The pass rush is too weak not to at least consider Banta-Cain as a specialist, but he won't come cheap and I don't believe would really be a good fit in Steve Spagnuolo's system. Clark has experience and is a run-stopper, two things the Rams need a lot. They need to bring in veterans who can play and can step in right away. They may have to get creative, but the Rams need to make significant moves here, and I suspect free agency would be the best way.
Prediction: It's very easy to see the Rams drafting a linebacker in the second or third round, especially if they don't make a significant move in free agency (which they won't) or draft a QB first overall (which they may). That could really put someone like Mizzou's Sean Weatherspoon in play. The draft pick will eventually beat out Lenon for one of the starters flanking Laurinaitis, with FOSS Pierce manning the other flank.
