Revisiting the Marcus Cannon draft pick

[lamafist]

Like everyone here, I love the way Vollmer's been playing this year, but I think you can pretty much bank on him being gone next season. A team with a viable, let alone promising, replacement for a position will pretty much always be outbid by a team with serious need there, and there are plenty of teams without a single tackle worth his salt.

Vollmer's likely chronic back problems will further widen the gap because a team with desperate need for a tackle is much more likely to take the risk of offering a big contract to a guy with health concerns.

 

[cstjohn17]

Nuts. If that were true, that a player of NFL starting caliber at one, if not two positions were a just a little above average for a 5th round draft pick, there would be no veterans left in the league.

Maybe, I see him as a below average starter but an pretty good backup.

 

[patsfaninpa]

Marcus isn't your average 5th round pick either. Prior to the cancer being discovered. Marcus was considered a late 1st/early 2nd round pick. He played LT on an outstanding TCU team that threw the ball with Andy Dalton at qb. And beat JJ Watt and Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl too by the way.

Found a PFW link and added that. They had him at 53.

http://www.profootballweekly.com/2011/04/08/top-100-draft-prospects-regardless-of-position-2

 

[VJCPatriot]

Not a home run but most 5th rounders washout so I grade a C+ or B-

How can you grade based on just one start? I'd like to see Cannon get more playing time before handing out a grade. Looks like because of the injury bug, he will get his chances to shine.

Marcus isn't your average 5th round pick either. Prior to the cancer being discovered. Marcus was considered a late 1st/early 2nd round pick. He played LT on an outstanding TCU team that threw the ball with Andy Dalton at qb. And beat JJ Watt and Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl too by the way.

Found a PFW link and added that. They had him at 53.

http://www.profootballweekly.com/2011/04/08/top-100-draft-prospects-regardless-of-position-2

Like the Cannon pick! Really wish we could have a do-over on the Dowling pick however!

 

[ausbacker]

How can you grade based on just one start? I'd like to see Cannon get more playing time before handing out a grade. Looks like because of the injury bug, he will get his chances to shine.



Like the Cannon pick! Really wish we could have a do-over on the Dowling pick however!

C'mon VJC. You've seen everything you need to see after one start.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

How can you grade based on just one start? I'd like to see Cannon get more playing time before handing out a grade. Looks like because of the injury bug, he will get his chances to shine.



Like the Cannon pick! Really wish we could have a do-over on the Dowling pick however!

You obviously did not get the memo from the media. One good game, two good games tops! is all you need to be great.

 

[supafly]

I see both the Cannon and Dennard picks as having incredible value obviously in the late rounds, but I also see something else...other teams who seemed to immediately take them off their boards due to an overreaction or lack of sufficient background information.

I am not meaning to sound insensitive by saying this but I didn't see either Cannon's issue or Dennard's issue as being serious enough NOT to warrant the gamble of a late round pick, due to the extremely high rate of success for Cannon's specific medical issue, and Dennard's first time offense in a bar fight.

Neither situation should have been enough to take them off of their boards altogether (well, Cannon through round 5) and that seems to be what a lot of teams did. Kudos for Belichick and his scouting staff on these two picks.

It also goes to show that lower round picks can be just as effective, even if they don't get all of the media hype and attn that the "top 100" players do. I just wish that Pryor's story could have turned out better too.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

I see both the Cannon and Dennard picks as having incredible value obviously in the late rounds, but I also see something else...other teams who seemed to immediately take them off their boards due to an overreaction or lack of sufficient background information.

I am not meaning to sound insensitive by saying this but I didn't see either Cannon's issue or Dennard's issue as being serious enough NOT to warrant the gamble of a late round pick, due to the extremely high rate of success for Cannon's specific medical issue, and Dennard's first time offense in a bar fight.

Neither situation should have been enough to take them off of their boards altogether (well, Cannon through round 5) and that seems to be what a lot of teams did. Kudos for Belichick and his scouting staff on these two picks.

It also goes to show that lower round picks can be just as effective, even if they don't get all of the media hype and attn that the "top 100" players do. I just wish that Pryor's story could have turned out better too.

Good point. It is the overreaction that makes them value picks.
I don't know anything about Dennard's issue - it was only a bar fight? A young guy who is a bit too well known as compared to the other guys in the bar getting into a fight? That seems a severe overreaction to drop him that many rounds in the draft.....but also a thing of beauty if he pans out for us

 

[mayoclinic]

Good point. It is the overreaction that makes them value picks.
I don't know anything about Dennard's issue - it was only a bar fight? A young guy who is a bit too well known as compared to the other guys in the bar getting into a fight? That seems a severe overreaction to drop him that many rounds in the draft.....but also a thing of beauty if he pans out for us

The overreaction to Dennard's incident was influenced by (1) the fact that he threw a punch at a cop, with charges being filed, and (2) the fact that it occurred the weekend before the draft. If it had occurred earlier more teams would have had time to do their homework on the kid. But a lot just dropped him altogether. The Pats supposedly looked into the incident and Dennard's background carefully - it was a calculated risk, like most of their moves.

 

[SEA_Pat]

I see both the Cannon and Dennard picks as having incredible value obviously in the late rounds, but I also see something else...other teams who seemed to immediately take them off their boards due to an overreaction or lack of sufficient background information.

I am not meaning to sound insensitive by saying this but I didn't see either Cannon's issue or Dennard's issue as being serious enough NOT to warrant the gamble of a late round pick, due to the extremely high rate of success for Cannon's specific medical issue, and Dennard's first time offense in a bar fight.

Neither situation should have been enough to take them off of their boards altogether (well, Cannon through round 5) and that seems to be what a lot of teams did. Kudos for Belichick and his scouting staff on these two picks.

It also goes to show that lower round picks can be just as effective, even if they don't get all of the media hype and attn that the "top 100" players do. I just wish that Pryor's story could have turned out better too.

There's another thing at play as well - the Patriots stockpile picks so that they can take gambles like this, whereas the cost is higher for other teams that only have a limited number of picks to spend. All the trading down on draft day that drives everyone crazy may have some benefits after all. Who knew?

 

[woolster22]

Wasn't the cop in question in street clothes (dennard), in a red state where things get handled very differently than they do here? I seem to remember many people here suggesting the whole incident was blown out of proportion and hoping BB would give the kid a shot if he fell into the mid rounds, let alone the seventh.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[cstjohn17]

How can you grade based on just one start? I'd like to see Cannon get more playing time before handing out a grade. Looks like because of the injury bug, he will get his chances to shine.



Like the Cannon pick! Really wish we could have a do-over on the Dowling pick however!

My grade is based on a comparison to a typical 5th rounder, most 5th, 6th, 7th round drafts picks don't play in the NFL at all. Starting one game is a big accomplishment for a 5th rounder.

http://www.nfl.com/draft/history/fulldraft?teamId=3200&type=team

2011 Cannon
2011 Lee Smith, TE
2010 Zoltan Mesko <-- HOME RUN
2009 George Bussey, T
2008 Matt Slater <-- HOME RUN
2007 Clint Oldenburg, T <-- lets not talk about that draft...
2006 Ryan O'Callaghan, T
2005 Ryan Claridge, LB
2004 P.K. Sam, WR
2003 Dan Koppen <-- GRAND SLAM
2001 Hakim Akbar

 

[supafly]

Wasn't the cop in question in street clothes (dennard), in a red state where things get handled very differently than they do here? I seem to remember many people here suggesting the whole incident was blown out of proportion and hoping BB would give the kid a shot if he fell into the mid rounds, let alone the seventh.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

I believe it was blown out of proportion. Then again, any kind of assault on an officer is obviously never a good situation.

We've seen many instances with players who were threatened with long prison stays etc (most recently the Jets pick), but it never comes to a fraction of what is predicted.

Since plea bargains are offered in 80% of all criminal cases, I would imagine that Dennard will plea down to a significantly lesser charge, end up with either a suspended sentence or probation, and possibly get a small 1-2 game suspension from the league (if they have that right, which is in question due to it happening prior to him being an NFL player).

Either way, I don't imagine that it will amount to much of anything and even if he somehow had to serve a smaller jail sentence it would be handled in the offseason like we've seen before with others.

It certainly was worth the gamble in my opinion.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

I believe it was blown out of proportion. Then again, any kind of assault on an officer is obviously never a good situation.

We've seen many instances with players who were threatened with long prison stays etc (most recently the Jets pick), but it never comes to a fraction of what is predicted.

Since plea bargains are offered in 80% of all criminal cases, I would imagine that Dennard will plea down to a significantly lesser charge, end up with either a suspended sentence or probation, and possibly get a small 1-2 game suspension from the league (if they have that right, which is in question due to it happening prior to him being an NFL player).

Either way, I don't imagine that it will amount to much of anything and even if he somehow had to serve a smaller jail sentence it would be handled in the offseason like we've seen before with others.

It certainly was worth the gamble in my opinion.

A 7th round pick for a guy with projected starting ability that had a single incident that appears to be blown, to some extent, out of proportion? I agree it was worth the gamble