SS/OLB, Auburn
Twitter handle: @Area_5one
Rankings: NFLDraftScout: 35th-ranked SS, #858 player overall, free-agent grade.
Scouts Inc: 81st-ranked OLB, rated as a free agent. Grade: 30, borderline draft prospect.
Biography/honors:
2012: Started all 12 games at OLB. 94 tackles (4th in SEC), 5.5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, one interception, 4 passes defended, one fumble recovery returned 62 yards for TD, complete with a wicked stiffarm.
2011: Started all 13 games at OLB. 104 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 9 QB hurries, one fumble recovery, one pass defended.
2010: Moved to outside linebacker due to injuries at the position. Played in 12 games, starting 9. 48 tackles, one tackle for loss, two forced fumbles, one interception, 5 QB hurries.
2009: Freshman all-SEC at free safety, where he started all 13 games. 70 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, one half-sack, one interception, one fumble recovery, 3 QB hurries, 2 passes defended.
Major: philosophy.
Injuries:
2010: Missed two-plus games due to an in-game right shoulder injury.
Pro day results: (NFL Combine safety averages in parentheses)
4.53 40 (would have been a top-5 time for safeties at the Combine. Average was 4.61)
1.65 10-yard split
33.5” vertical jump (Bottom five performance. Average was 36.25”)
9'9" broad jump (Also bottom five. Average was 10'3.5")
7.28 3-cone drill (worse than any safety who ran it by .21. Average was 6.87)
4.53 20-yard shuttle (worse than any safety who ran it by .09. Average was 4.19)
15 bench press (17)
Positives: Active tackler and hard hitter with skills to have a career on special teams. Good tackler with a good nose for the football. His tackling improved by leaps and bounds as his college career progressed. Safety is his natural position; there is plenty of opinion that Auburn coaches misused him and he was on track to be an all-America and high draft pick had he stayed at safety. Undersized for a linebacker but ideally built for a safety. Showed he still has the speed to play safety at Auburn's pro day. Got noticed for his coverage skills and hitting during Raycom All-Star Game practice week (but played LB in the game). Intense player and a hard worker.
Negatives: A tweener who doesn't have an ideal position in the pros. Plays too out-of-control at times and may be penalty-prone. Last played his prospective pro position three years ago. All most have seen of him as a defensive back was position drills at his pro day. Other than straight-line speed, his pro day performance was much more fitting a linebacker than a safety. Really lacks explosiveness.
Compares to: Jermale Hines.
Fun Facts: Daren's the first player I can recall to say the first thing he wants to buy with his first NFL paycheck will be... a dog. A Cane Corso mastiff, to be exact. His favorite player is Brian Dawkins.
RamView: Good grief, there are going to be more tweens at Rams Park this year than at a One Direction concert. Bates is going to try to do a reverse Ray Ray Armstrong (LB to S); like Armstrong, he flashed a lot of potential as a pro-quality safety early in his college career. You half think that potential could mean the Rams could coach him up and knock off the linebacker rust on the practice squad for a year, except NFL practice squads are rarely used like that, and it's rarely successful when they are. Bates will need to be hitting on all cylinders from the moment camp opens, and I just don't see the needed athleticism at safety to tell me he's going to do that.
Chance of making team: 20%.
Sources: NFLDraftScout, ESPN.com, Auburn University athletics, AL.com, Sports-Reference.com, Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer, Bleacher Report, NFLDraftZone
Photo: AL.com
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