Path to the Draft, 3/20

The 3/19 show was postponed for NFL Network coverage of Peyton Manning's signing with the Broncos. Well, who wouldn't rather start their week on a Tuesday anyway?

Appearing: Paul Burmeister, Jamie Dukes, Charlie Casserly, Michael Lombardi, Charles Davis, Bucky Brooks

Team news:
Denver: Now that they have Manning, Denver's first temptation may be to draft offensive weapons for him, but what they really need to do is upgrade their secondary, which is really aging and got sliced to ribbons by Tom Brady in the playoffs. Their defense is already designed to get after the passer; fixing the secondary, plus Peyton's ability to put points on the board, is going to put a lot of pressure on opposing offenses.

Cleveland: Talk's increasing about Ryan Tannehill going as high as #4, but no one on the panel recommends it. Dukes liked Trent Richardson; Casserly thinks he would go with Justin Blackmon.




Player news:
Lots of QB talk on this show, Luck, Griffin, Manning, Tebow, Alex Smith re-signing with the 49ers. Amount of interest here? Little to none.

Casserly says he likes Tannehill better than Jake Locker, Christian Ponder, Josh Freeman (!) OR Joe Flacco coming out. But still wouldn't use a top-10 pick on him. Davis also says he'd have a problem justifying Tannehill at #4 to Cleveland, or even at #8 to Miami.

Casserly does not see Baylor WR Kendall Wright as a first-round player, thinks he's just a slot receiver. Gets good separation on breaks but struggles to separate on deep routes as an outside receiver. You'd think that would make him pretty useless to the Rams, then, unless Jeff Fisher decides he needs a seventh slot receiver. Wright's hands are inconsistent, too. Casserly liked Santonio Holmes and Percy Harvin far better when they came out.

Coby Fleener: big, tall, knows how to run routes, gets in and out of breaks well, uses his body well to shield defenders from the pass. Average blocker, positions himself well. Should be a nice pass-catcher in the NFL but there aren't any tight ends who grade in the first round this year. At least there weren't before Stanford's pro day.

Jonathan Martin: Casserly believes Martin's a top-10 player who will get drafted in the 20s, the #3 tackle this year. Will be a good pass protector. He slides well and has quick hands. Would like to see him play with more intensity, and more consistency as a run-blocker.

David DeCastro: excellent movement skills, good pull-blocker, good trap-blocker. Picks his target while pull-blocking without hesitating and usually gets to the second level. Physical power run blocker and aggressive pass protector. Could go as high as 12 to Seattle.

Pro days:
North Carolina: Quinton Coples had a strong workout per UNC alumnus Brooks (Does anyone ever have a bad workout? Maybe Da'Quan Bowers last year). Brooks says Coples is more like Mario Williams than Julius Peppers (to whom he's usually compared). Fluid, nimble, explosive first step, excellent movement. Expects him to be a dominant, 8-10 sacks-per-season LDE. Questions continue to be his motor and consistency. Pro day left little doubt about his physical tools. Casserly says Robert Quinn was better coming out. Sees many flaws in Coples' play. Plays high, doesn't always play hard,  slow to shed blocks. Says Coples is that scary kind of player that coaches think they're going to motivate and coach up and get the best out of but never do. Like RamView, Casserly wouldn't take Coples with a top ten pick, even as it occurs to me that Casserly may only have six guys in his top ten.

Zach Brown also had, guess what, an impressive workout. Explosive athlete, timed at the 40 in the mid 4.4s. Looked good in drills. Brooks vaguely said "he still has some work to do" but should be drafted in the Mayock Zone.

-$-

My laptop doesn't want to read my DVD of the 3/16 show, I may have to run it back through my burner and try again tomorrow.