SCOUT has us taking--

[DaBruinz]

My thoughts on Smith would be to use him at FS at first. Also use him matched up on teh tall recievers in teh red zone.

I think that would give us a good combo with Meriweather. What I don't know about Smith is how he is in run support and is he a willing hitter. But as of now he is a very interesting prospect that most have rated at the top of the 2nd round.

Smith supposedly has several things going for him that most tall CBs don't. One is that he has fluid hips. Meaning he can make his transitions relatively easily. This leads to the second thing, which is his agility. From what I saw, he's got very good agility. How good is the bigger question. A third thing that Smith has going for him is that he's not a long strider. Meaning he gets up to speed quickly. He seems adequate in run support and he knows how to tackle. Meaning that he wraps up and just doesn't hit with his shoulder and hope the guy goes down.

I actually had Smith on a mock as being taken with the SD pick and saying that it would shock everyone because of his height and that he'd be a CORNER and not a safety.

 

[patchick]

Quite true about "reaches" . We have no idea where the Patriots rate a player on their board using their method of rating. If they can trade down and still get their man, great. But the main thing is that they get their man.

Yeah, I learned my lesson with Logan Mankins. At the time I thought he was perfect to fit the Pats' LG vacancy, but I convinced myself they'd try to trade up for him in the 2nd because #32 was "too early." Luckily the Pats brass wasn't as foolish as I was, and understood that the draft isn't a game where you rack up points for taking players at the "right" point according to Kiper et al. So they got their instant Pro-Bowl caliber starter at the point where he was gettable.

Smith supposedly has several things going for him that most tall CBs don't. One is that he has fluid hips. Meaning he can make his transitions relatively easily. This leads to the second thing, which is his agility. From what I saw, he's got very good agility. How good is the bigger question. A third thing that Smith has going for him is that he's not a long strider. Meaning he gets up to speed quickly. He seems adequate in run support and he knows how to tackle. Meaning that he wraps up and just doesn't hit with his shoulder and hope the guy goes down.

I actually had Smith on a mock as being taken with the SD pick and saying that it would shock everyone because of his height and that he'd be a CORNER and not a safety.

Agreed, I'm very curious to see Smith's cone and shuttle times. If he really does have the agility to play Pats-style CB, so much the better.

 

[BradyManny]

I see him listed as FS in a lot of places despite having played CB in college - sometimes those projections the draft niks make don't come to fruition.

That said, the bigger need on this team is going to be safety, even if we re-sign Sanders, depth is thin at the position and Belichick was using 3 safeties when he had em all healthy last year.

 

[mayoclinic]

I actually had Smith on a mock as being taken with the SD pick and saying that it would shock everyone because of his height and that he'd be a CORNER and not a safety.

If Smith shows quick hips and good agility there is no way he falls to #47; we should only hope he falls to #23. Nnamdi Asomugha (6-2 210#), Antonio Cromartie (6-2 203#) and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (6-2 182#) have made the big CB a hot commodity. I find it somewhat humorous that many people question us drafting a 6'3" CB but desperately wanted DRC last year.

 

[patchick]

I find it somewhat humorous that many people question us drafting a 6'3" CB but desperately wanted DRC last year.

It's a fair bet that they're not the same people.

As I've said before, I think we'd all love nothing more than a big CB with the quickness and agility of a small CB, they're just rare birds. So I totally agree with you on this:

If Smith shows quick hips and good agility there is no way he falls to #47

 

[mayoclinic]

I also think it is a bit of a myth that the Pats only go for small, fast-twitch "smurf" type CBs, much like the myths about never drafting OG or LB in the 1st round. The Pats reportedly liked DRC very much last year, and seriously considered him. BB has used Lewis Sanders (6'1", 210#) at CB some this year in addition to S. And he said that he would have taken Zack Bowman in the 5th round last year.

Clearly the Pats value CBs with fluid hips and rapid reaction times. I just think that big CBs with this attributes are, as you say, rare birds, particularly later on in the draft. It's easier to find 5'9" CBs with these attributes in the late 2nd-4th rounds since their lack of height often causes them to drop a bit.

 

[Ochmed Jones]

I also think it is a bit of a myth that the Pats only go for small, fast-twitch "smurf" type CBs, much like the myths about never drafting OG or LB in the 1st round. The Pats reportedly liked DRC very much last year, and seriously considered him. BB has used Lewis Sanders (6'1", 210#) at CB some this year in addition to S. And he said that he would have taken Zack Bowman in the 5th round last year.

Clearly the Pats value CBs with fluid hips and rapid reaction times. I just think that big CBs with this attributes are, as you say, rare birds, particularly later on in the draft. It's easier to find 5'9" CBs with these attributes in the late 2nd-4th rounds since their lack of height often causes them to drop a bit.

Have you not been paying attention to BB's drafting record? Samuel, Hobbs, Brock Williams, Wheatley, (check out Wheatley's 3 cone time from the combine last year against all the other CB's last year) Wilhite, etc. BB believes in quick twitch and BALL SKILLS in the secondary. I do not think he discriminates against tall, short, fat, skinny CB's as long as they are quick twitch with excellent BALL SKILLS.

BB does not care about fluid hips. Samuel is a perfect example, he does not have great hips, but exceled in our defense as a quick twitch gambling machine. Flipping the hips and quick twitch are not one in the same, nor are the matually excludable. You can terrible hips, but still have excellent quick twitch.

The only reason he used Sanders at CB last season was because he HAD to. The rest of the guys were on the trainging table or IR. And he used Sanders more as a FS in his soft zone defense than as a man to man corner.

 

[patchick]

I also think it is a bit of a myth that the Pats only go for small, fast-twitch "smurf" type CBs, much like the myths about never drafting OG or LB in the 1st round. The Pats reportedly liked DRC very much last year, and seriously considered him.

Mayo, if you see DRC as an exception to the Pats' past CB tendencies, you may be focusing too much on height. IMO DRC fit the Pats quick-twitch, ball-skill CB profile perfectly.

In fact, two CBs tied for the fastest 3-cone times at the combine last year, and each of those two had racked up an impressive 11 interceptions in college. Their names: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and...Terrence Wheatley.

 

[mayoclinic]

Mayo, if you see DRC as an exception to the Pats' past CB tendencies, you may be focusing too much on height. IMO DRC fit the Pats quick-twitch, ball-skill CB profile perfectly.

In fact, two CBs tied for the fastest 3-cone times at the combine last year, and each of those two had racked up an impressive 11 interceptions in college. Their names: Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and...Terrence Wheatley.

No, I don't see him as an exception. My point was that tall CBs who meet BB's other criteria are few and far between, as you noted, and would probably go early. Drafting CBs in the late 2nd-4th rounds preferentially favors smaller CBs who have those characteristics but who fall a bit because of size.

Ochmed, I totally agree with you about ball skills, and should have mentioned it.

My early and limited impression of Sean Smith is that he has strong ball skills and excellent agility for a man his size. Whether he ends up proving as agile as the smaller CBs (like DJ Moore and Alphonso Smith) and whether he truly fits BB's mold remains to be seen.

 

[captain stone]

...BB believes in quick twitch and BALL SKILLS in the secondary. I do not think he discriminates against tall, short, fat, skinny CB's as long as they are quick twitch with excellent BALL SKILLS...

Then why did he draft lil' Johnny Wilhite instead of Orlando Scandrick?

And thanks for reminding me of Brock Williams, a horrible, horrible pick and the beginning of the end of the 2-man 2001 draft.