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Boy, I really did NOT get a lot out of today's practice shows. Tuesday's North practice, NFL Network gave us great looks at the passing drills and pass protection drills, but has never come close since. And today's South practice started late because their team bus got blocked by a train, (what, is this 1950?) so those drills hadn't even started by the time the show went off the air.
* SpagWatch. Steve Spagnuolo was shown at both practices, hanging out with Mike Tomlin during the North practice and John Harbaugh during the South's.
* Upgrades/downgrades. Mike Mayock believes Brandon Graham and Daryl Washington have worked their way up into the late first round, calling Washington an ideal 4-3 WLB. He's a 6'2", 226-lb athletic playmaker, a sideline-to-sideline 3-down linebacker. The Rams have to have Washington and Sean Weatherspoon on their radar for their 2nd-round pick. Meanwhile, I'm surprised at the decline of Taylor Mays' draft stock, to the point where he's now being discussed as a second-round pick. Wasn't he considered a top-10 prospect not that long ago? Myron Rolle has shown well in Mobile and clearly stayed in shape while in England, but did I hear correctly that he had only one INT in college?
* The WRs strike back. Finally looked like the wide receivers had a good day today. I liked Deron Dickerson of Pitt. He burned SydQuan Thompson deep and showed good hands and nice footwork on the sideline. Thompson reportedly broke up a bunch of passes in team drills, but it's also starting to look like he can't keep up deep with anybody. Jacoby Ford smoked Kyle Wilson right off the line and burned him for a deep ball. After witnessing his ridiculous custom RV with a giant picture of himself painted on it, it seems Wilson could use several downward ego adjustments like that.
* Well, not all of them. Riley Cooper continued to have drop problems, but the anti-Allstate award belongs to Joe Webb, who appears to have wet soap for hands. He even dropped one of the long sideline lobs the QBs throw when they're just warming up, the football equivalent of dropping an infield popup.
* Living up to hype. Mike Iupati continues to dominate pass-blocking drills at guard. He looked like a wall today. I haven't seen Arizona State guard Shawn Lauvao get beaten yet. When those two worked together against d-line stunts, there wasn't a thing getting by them. Though I'd avoid Penn State players like the plague, Jared Odrick would have had a tackle-for-loss and a sack, in a dominating performance in 11-on-11. And nice deep balls thrown today by Dan LeFevour and...... Tim Tebow.
* More defense. Washington LB Donald Butler's had a solid week and would have had a TFL in 11-on-11. We got to see the South do some zone blitzing drills, and Troy DE Cameron Sheffield broke up a pass while covering a tight end. Got beaten by an out route the next time, though. Still impressive.
* It's a basketball school? I don't know how Kentucky sent anyone to this game. What I've seen from any of their players has been brutal. Mike Mayock seems to love CB Trevor Lindley, but all I've seen of him is that he can't cover anybody. And Sarah Connor would have blitz-protected better than John Conner. Then again, Sarah would have had several large guns and a smoking-hot cyborg chick backing her up.
* Pick-up lines. The highlight of the day was the South's blitz pickup drills. The LBs usually dominate this drill, but here the RBs gave as good as they got. Ben Tate excelled; Mayock described the 5'11, 214-lb Auburn back as a Shonn Greene-type of runner. Also looking good there: USC RB Stafon Johnson and Miami TE Jimmy Graham, who's not well-reputed as a blocker. Mayock likes Dexter McCluster as an I-formation tailback, but he better do better against the blitz than he did against Darryl Sharpton here. Roddrick Muckleroy's name hasn't popped up much this week, but he was dominant in this drill; so was Eric Norwood of South Carolina. I'd have to agree with Corey Chavous that Dekoda Watson's performance was a little disappointing, though.
Two more practices and the game to go.
Notes on the second day of Senior Bowl practices, and yes, I know the actual game is going on right now...
* Spags and Devaney in the house. They were pictured in the stands during the North practice, and Lindsay Soto interviewed Devaney during the South practice. (Billy, did you ask Lindsay if she got any of my letters?) Unfortunately the interview was Devaney saying a lot of nothing. They're knee-deep in the evaluation process with a long way to go. They have a lot of information still to gather, especially on the juniors coming out. At 1-15, the Rams have a lot of positions they need help at and have a lot of directions they can go. He's confident they've identified their major needs (not that he'll share those with anybody). And he wishes they didn't have the #1 pick. Yawn.
* Crowded QB pack. Meaning, no one's breaking away. None of the QBs really impresses me so far, other than Jarrett Brown's velocity. The Tebow excuse machine, ER, NFL Network, was quick to make a big point of the wind at the South practice, and that he checked into the hospital the night before with strep throat and a 103 fever. (OK, I'll cut him some slack for that.) They gushed about Tebow's long pass to Dexter McCluster despite it being clearly underthrown. No mention that some of Tebow's early passes today wobbled like tires about to come off of wheels, but he seemed to smooth that out later.
* Dynasty DE. Alex Carrington of Arkansas State was one of today's standouts. He's 6'5, 284 and considered athletic enough to play all over the defensive front. He destroyed Zane Beadles during pass protection drills, pancaking him once. Definitely keep an eye out for Carrington.
* Bumper DB crop. The excellent depth of this year's defensive back class continues to demonstrate itself. Kyle Wilson ate Danario Alexander alive in passing drills. Chris Cook, a big CB from Virginia and Devin McCourty continue to look good. Brandon Ghee broke up a deep pass. Myron Rolle held his own well against Joe Webb. You'd never notice he's been away from football for a year.
* Dumper WR crop. (which is a shame because the Rams need serious help) Nobody stepping forward in a big way at WR. The top exceptions: Shea Hodge of Mississippi burned Trevor Lindley for a deep ball. Mardy Gilyard bounced back from cramps yesterday to whip SydQuan Thompson off the line for a deep ball that was overthrown. Thompson may be the most physical DB in the draft, but his lack of explosive speed hurt him there. Joe Webb looked poor, dropping a couple of passes. Riley Cooper's play looked very sloppy. Where Rams fans are concerned, Drew Bennett is the wrong WR for a young player to remind people of.
* Future Ram DB. Lindley looks terrible to me. I haven't seen him make a play yet. Furthermore, as I was posting this, I had the actual game on, and there's Gilyard burning Lindley on an underthrown deep ball that Lindley never looked back for and never knew was coming. That's when I reached the sad realization that he'll fit right in with the Rams' secondary. Sigh.
* McCluster has luster. Dexter McCluster is a Darren Sproles clone, 5'8", 165. Teams will be able to use him a number of ways, WR, RB, returner. Drilling at WR, he had a drop but also smoked Javier Arenas with a double move and made a diving catch of a Tebow bomb. Nice and physical route-runner who gets off the line well.
* Spooning out punishment. Missouri LB Sean Weatherspoon, 6'1, 241, may not be the talk of camp but he is the talker of camp. He's best when he can flow to the ball, but there's concern that he struggles too much to get off of blocks. Very athletic, and a big plus, he's a three-down LB. Mike Mayock gives him a late first-early second round grade.
* Winning and losing line. Winners and losers based on today's pass pro drills and other news:
Winner: Mike Iupati at guard. Was strong against Purdue DT Mike Neal and flattened DeAnthony Smith twice.
Loser: Mike Iupati at tackle. Carrington flattened him out there and Tyson Alualu threw him down.
Winner: Carrington; see also above.
Winner: Vladimir Ducasse. Brandon Graham smoked him with an inside move but didn't get outside of him the 2nd time. Ducasse got some work inside but looked bad and uncomfortable at it. Best news, though, all his family in his home country of Haiti is OK.
Winner: Graham. Whipped Beadles twice, smoking him with a spin move the 2nd time, and drew with Ducasse at the worst.
Losers: Beadles and Eric Olsen, who gave up way too much push up the middle.
Winner: John Jerry, who pancaked the highly-regarded Dan Williams. Also, Geno Atkins looked good at DE; Ciron Black looked good at OT. Antonio Coleman smoked Chris Scott once but Scott locked him down the second time. Unfortunately, NFL Network really skimped us on the South practice line drills.
Winner: Terrence Cody, 370 pounds of bull rush. Ordinarily you won't expect him to get to the QB, but teams can't run on him without using two blockers.
Unfortunate loser: Wisconsin DE O'Brien Schofield tore his left ACL and you'd have to highly doubt now that he'll contribute in what should be his first NFL season. Damn the luck.
OK, two days of practices and the game itself to go.
"It's disheartening that I have to address any alleged allegations 10 months later, but I have read the accusations made by Supriya Harris, and they are untrue. The accusations are especially hurtful because those who truly know me know that those actions would be out of character for me. Miss Harris is the mother of my son, a son that I love and that I willingly support emotionally and financially. I will address this matter thoroughly through the appropriate avenues, but not through the media. "
There's a fair amount of speculation in this article, but Howard Balzer's no sensationalist reporter, either. There's a real threat someone's buying the Rams to move them out of town.
Winners and losers if that happens:
* Loser: Dave Checketts. The quoted $600 million Checketts offer is so much lower than the rumored lead offer, it doesn't even look serious. And now, instead of the Blues' owner, you're now the guy who failed to keep the Rams in town.
* Winners: Chip and Lucia. They can pay their inheritance taxes and get their $100s of millions out of something their hearts are not in. And they can say they tried to keep the team in town but they got lowballed and couldn't afford any other alternative.
* Loser: St. Louis, naturally. Me specifically. I enjoy the heck out of watching this team and writing about this team, even at 1-15. But I can't see supporting the second team to spurn my hometown, especially after we supported it far more vigorously than the first team.
* Big fat mother-freaking loser: E. Stanley Kroenke. The scenario is being painted here that he'd rather sell the team and let it move out of town than make any effort to keep it here. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he'll be as big a villain as Bidwill if he sits back and collects his $300 mil (Oh hooray, he can buy Arsenal now) and lets it happen.
* Winner: Los Angeles, if that's where the Rams are ultimately headed. If the Rams are destined to leave, at least let them return to their old place and give the many fans out there still rooting for them a chance to re-connect.
Christ, between Eugene Parker, the Jackson allegations and now this, I can't remember a worse day to be a (St. Louis) Rams fan.
Steven Jackson has been accused of beating his (ex-)girlfriend, nine months pregnant at the time, last March. TMZ broke the story; if it's legit, it's devastating.
I've defended Leonard Little after his fatal DUI because it felt to me a lot like a kid making a dumb mistake. A tragic mistake born from ignorance, not malice. His subsequent DWI in 2004 represented severe ignorance at best, but when the charge didn't stand up in court, we were all allowed to forget it anyway, whether or not we should have. Thankfully, it hasn't happened again. That we know of.
I've been against the idea of Michael Vick in a Rams uniform because of his past. Is it worse that he killed and abused a bunch of dogs than Little taking a human life? No, not in a million years. Little got 3 months in prison; Vick got 18. On one hand, the penalty of the crimes doesn't match the damage done. But a penal system with any humanity or morality has to account for intent. Little caused an accident in which he was negligent. But Vick didn't accidentally do any of the things he did. Whether some want to forgive him and welcome him to their team is their choice. For a team like the Rams, who have been very pointed in saying they're about building around players with character, I believe that would be a bad choice. Build around the Jason Browns and Oshiomogho Atogwes of the world, not the Michael Vicks.
Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable punched out one of his own assistant coaches last training camp, then a few months later, ESPN broadcast allegations by two of his ex-wives and an ex-girlfriend that he beat them. I've considered Cable unfit to be an NFL head coach ever since, though he's apparently coming back for a third season with the Raiders. The D.A. dropped the charges in the training camp incident, and nothing legally has come of the domestic abuse charges.
And now there's Jackson, the player Ram fans had the most reason to be proud of last season, the player who emerged as a team leader, the best "pillar" Steve Spagnuolo had to lean on last year and going into next, accused of beating a pregnant woman. That's worse than Vick abusing animals. That's worse than Little's vehicular homicide. You don't accidentally beat a pregnant woman.
There are some solaces here. Jackson isn't accused of a lifelong pattern of abuse like Cable is. Furthermore, this disclosure appears to be tied to a child-support dispute between Jackson and the girlfriend. It could be the kind of incident that a criminal court can't prosecute but that gets trumped up to help win a civil case. So as with Little's 2nd DWI, an ethical fog may roll in and cover this unpleasantness up. An alleged assault becomes a "misunderstanding". I'm sure stories about Jackson's girlfriend's gold-digging aspirations are being worked up on somebody's word processor right now. Maybe Jackson firmly asserts his innocence, and we find out later his girlfriend's batshit crazy. Without a guilty verdict at a trial, the NFL hasn't done anything to Cable; they can't touch Jackson, either. If Jackson's a heel and hasn't made good on supporting his child, he'd deserve the firestorm, but that would be far less than this allegation, if its main intent was to get him to make good.
I've called Vick a potential nightmare the Rams wouldn't need. But now, Jackson's situation presents the Rams a nightmare they don't need. About all they can do, about all we fans can do, is to denounce domestic violence and assert that Steven Jackson is innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
And hope either he can honestly do the same, or hope enough ethical fog rolls in to obscure the possibility that the Rams' on-the-field leader could be a truly detestable human being, let alone a "pillar".
Since about week 14 of the regular season, it's been a near-certainty in Rams Nation that the man to select with the #1 pick of the 2010 draft would be Nebraska DT Ndamukong Suh. This notion has been challenged by almost no one in the football media, where Suh's mentioned by some in the same breath as Reggie White.
There are a lot of parallels between this year's draft and the 1996 draft. The Rams picking first. The consensus top pick being a dominant lineman who won the Outland and Lombardi awards. And now, just like Orlando Pace did back then by signing with the Poston brothers, Ndamukong Suh has chosen an agent with a history of holdouts, Maximum Sports Management, starring Eugene Parker.
You'll remember Eugene Parker from such great summer hits as The Steven Jackson Holdout of 2008. Jackson held out all of training camp, dishonoring the final year of his old contract as leverage for his new one. Parker followed that up this past season with The Michael Crabtree Holdout, as the tenth pick overall held out into the regular season while demanding to be paid more than the WR drafted ahead of him. And, Ndamukong, you were getting $40 million guaranteed almost no matter what you did; why sign on with this lightning rod of an agent? Not to get screwed over for $43 million when you could have gotten $44 million?
(Disturbing point of reference: Matthew Stafford's contract: 6 years, $72 million (potentially $78 million with incentives), $41.7 million guaranteed. (only $17 million if his option is not picked up in 2014))
That's the bad news; the good news is that the Rams can start negotiating with their #1 pick in advance of the draft, and unlike 1996, it's now standard for the team drafting first to have that player already signed. I don't think it'll work if Eugene Parker tries to hold out on the Rams. Billy Devaney and Kevin Demoff should be able to take a quick temperature of the situation, and if it reads "holdout", they will be just as well off taking a QB #1 as they would drafting Parker's client only to have him waste his first season. Or they can pick Gerald McCoy; by all indications, he is his agent's first NFL client. He could be easier to sign, yet equally as good, the Walter Jones to Suh's Pace. (That's a borrowed analogy, but with apologies, I have forgotten whom to credit.)
The biggest risk the Rams could take would be to draft Ndamukong Suh without a contract. That would leave the possibility of a long holdout open. With this agent, Rams Nation will no doubt have an aggravating history of holdouts to look forward to (though who knows how the next labor agreement will affect things?). To be worth the trip down the multiple-holdout road that Suh appears willing to take with Parker, the road that Pace and the Postons took, Ndamukong Suh better damn sure be as good as Orlando Pace. And the Rams better not draft him unless they believe he is.
NFL Network started coverage of Senior Bowl practices yesterday with a 90-minute broadcast of the North team's first practice. Here's some observations from watching that, though I didn't start looking at it till after midnight, so some of it's bound to be foggy...
* Tebow's cons. They focused a lot on the Gators QB, and while acknowledging his storied college career, Mike Mayock indicated there's a lot to fix to get him up to par as a pro QB. His throwing motion has to be shortened significantly because he starts his windup from down by his thigh pad. His footwork and field-reading skills are raw as well. If the team that drafts him is going to use him, they may want to change their offense like the Titans did this year to suit Vince Young. At the end of the show, Lindsay Soto reported from the South practice (not televised) that Tebow also fumbled a bunch of exchanges from behind center, a big adjustment factor since he was a spread QB at UF.
Tebow grades out as a third-rounder as a QB but "intangibles" will very likely push him into the 2nd round. What I see so far, that sure isn't the Rams' second round pick.
* Coaching factor? Remember folks saying that Mike Martz ruined Andre Woodson's pro chances a couple of years ago when he coached QBs at the Senior Bowl? Does that mean all of the North players should be downgraded at least a round because they're being coached by Scott Linehan?
* Mays, maybe not. Taylor Mays of USC is 6'3, 231, has great range, great speed, and can tackle. He's built to be an NFL safety. He should be a top-15 pick. But why didn't the guy have more than 2 INTs his last three years in school? His stock could sink or rise on how much he shows up this week as a real playmaker at safety. There's some doubt out there.
* Tackling expert? Am I really listening to COREY CHAVOUS criticizing anybody's tackling?
* CB bull market. Some of the North corners turned in good work. Kyle Wilson of Boise State showed the best coverage skills and his name's been popping up a lot in draft conversations. He's one of the top corners coming out; I assume his 5'10" height isn't that big of a deal. Devin McCourty of Rutgers made some good plays and has added value as a special teams player. He can return kicks and he blocked a bunch of kicks in his college career. Mayock mentioned Perrish Cox as a great cover corner, but with bad hands. They also went over Syd'Quan Thompson of Cal, describing him as a terrific tackler but questioning his deep speed and his confidence staying with receivers deep. Still, throughout that rundown I thought of Thompson as Steve Spagnuolo's kind of CB.
* O-linemen to watch: Guard Mike Iupati of Idaho and tackle Vladimir Ducasse of UMass. Mayock is very high on both. Iupati should be the first guard drafted and has top-20 talent. Ducasse doesn't have a lot of experience but is a prototype LT who could really soar up the board.
* Downgrades. Like a lot of QBs coming out, Dan LeFevour ran a spread offense at Central Michigan, where 75% of his passes went 10 yards or less. Not thrilled to hear that... Cincinnati WR Mardy Gilyard had a bad case of the drops and weighed in at 179 (Rob Rang)... Bearcat QB Tony Pike came in at 212, (Rang) very light for his 6'6" frame. (Don't they feed their players in Cincinnati?) By means of comparison, Ben Roethlisberger is 6'5", 241... Meanwhile, the very definition of big, sloppy defensive tackle, Terrence Cody of Alabama came in at 370. Must be taking workout tips from Andre Smith. Down the board he goes...
* Your arms too short to block with God? Zane Beadles of Utah merits consideration for being a 4-year starter there, but his relatively short arms may limit him to RT at best. Illini guard Jon Asamoa was really downgraded for relatively short arms, and he came in at 300 lbs, 15 lbs lighter than expected. (Rang)
* Shocker of the night. I don't know if he just wants to be a contrarian, or wants Rams Nation to crap ourselves up until draft week, but Mike Mayock ranks Ndamukong Suh as the #2 defensive tackle, behind Oklahoma's Gerald McCoy.
Don't count on a daily report like this, but I'll review all the televised practices I can. I set the TiVo to get both practices today, supposedly for an hour apiece, but I'll bet they run long and I miss a bunch.
