Daquan Bowers

[lostjumper]

I’m sure I could make him a lot better if he did exactly what I told him too, I think his issue is that he’s just not into football, apparently he’s always wanted to be a bodybuilder and just played football because it allowed him to cash in.

Who the hell are you lol? Are we getting NFL coaches posting on the message board now? Pepper Johnson, is that you?

I hope Bowers goes really high...and pushed Quinn down to the Pats!

 

[Off The Grid]

I think a lot of people misunderstand what it is that Da’Quan Bowers does and is asked to do at Clemson. He isn’t just a pass rushing DE that is consistently going after the QB. Most of what Bowers is asked to do at Clemson is to set the edge, and take on blocks with the option to disengage and make a play or allow his teammates to make plays. I think a lot of people misconstrue this as an inability to get off blocks when in reality he is doing his job. Seeing him hold his ground at the line of scrimmage consistently engaged with blockers makes it seem as if he has trouble disengaging and allows people to question his pass rush ability and motor, which really isn’t the case. He uses great arm extension to shed blocks and I see no reason to see why he can’t do this at the pro level. I believe people get excited by his numbers then when they watch him are disappointed because he’s not at the QB all the time and isn’t living in the backfield, but rather doing his job and playing within the system. This is why I believe he would be a great fit for the Pats because he already plays with great two-gap technique and is able to do what BB asks of OLB. I think people become enamored with athletic pass rushers like Clay Matthews that put up big numbers, when in reality the Pats system requires so much more from their OLB. As good as Clay Matthews has been so far in his career he just wouldn’t fit the Pats system and would really only be a situational pass rusher.

In terms of Bowers pass rushing abilities I believe he definitely has the speed and power moves to succeed at the NFL level. When he is asked to get after the QB there hasn’t been an OL that has been able to contain him yet. If he was one of the college DE that is just asked to rush the passer I have no doubt he would easily put up 20+ sacks. He does need some technique work but that’s what coaches are for. In regard to the argument that he gets his sacks by taking advantage of overmatched RTs, I just don’t buy that. He doesn’t just play LE, he moves around the entire Clemson DL and has consistently beaten all of the OL he has faced. He may never end up a 15 sack a year guy in the NFL, but why does he have to. The NFL isn’t about statistics it’s about performance. While Bowers might not put up huge sack totals in the NFL he will consistently put pressure on the QB, which we all saw in the Colts game is just as important.

One thing we know about BB is he likes to take 3-down players in the first round, and that is the reason he hasn’t taken any OLB in recent years. While there have been a bunch of guys that can rush the passer, there haven’t been any complete OLB to fit the system. I think Bowers is finally that guy. Their hasn’t been any player in recent years that has had the same ability to set the edge, play with sound two gap technique and get after the QB that Bowers has. His versatility to play a number of positions makes him a 3-down player and he is already doing what the Pats ask of their OLB.

The only real question mark about Bowers is his athleticism and possibly flexibility. None of us now for sure whether he has the athleticism just by watching his game tape. But I’m sure the Pats will do their due diligence to find out. If he excels in the private workouts I would absolutely do whatever it take to get him. If he shows during the private workouts that he doesn’t have the athleticism to play the position than I will concede that I was wrong about him. My personal opinion of him is that he does posses the athleticism to play OLB in the 3-4, and with specialized doctors and trainers in the NFL, he will be able to utilize his entire athletic potential playing at his optimum weight.

Sorry to go off course here, but...Crable is actually an argument in favor of paying attention to the key measurables: Vertical, broad jump, 10-yard split, cone, shuttle. His were all mediocre.

To Piggy Back on Brother Wilfork's EPIC post, and Sister PatChick's pithy and penetrating point...

I am highly looking forward, in particular, to how Bowers ~ and the rest'f'm ~ perform in the Vertical, the Shuttle, and the Cones.

I think that the Vertical tells us something about his Launch and his Anchoring ~ his Burst out'f the Blocks and his Gap Sticking.

I think the Shuttle and Cones tell us a bit about his Navigation: his Lateral Velocity and Mercuriality ~ my terms for Redirection and Elusiveness. Both of these would seem to be good tells about his ability to rapidly turn and pursue, which speak, of course, to the great mystery about Bowers and most prospective Flankers: their impact on Pass Coverage.

 

[Snake Eyes]

Who the hell are you lol? Are we getting NFL coaches posting on the message board now? Pepper Johnson, is that you?

I hope Bowers goes really high...and pushed Quinn down to the Pats!

Ha! No, I’m no football coach but I have studied plenty of martial arts as well as healing arts for several years. I know a bit about movement and how to enhance it, just by altering some things I’ve gotten people to punch MUCH harder within an hour and have helped others SIGNIFICANTLY improve their blocking skills. We had a couple of high school O-linemen take private lessons for a few months and they wound up getting full-scholarships.

Long story short, I’ve seen a lot of high-profile athletes move in very less-than-optimal ways because many of the coaches/trainers think within outdated paradigms. Take a look at Hard Knocks, you see plenty of guys working out on machines, which are horrible for functional strength, as they completely eliminate the stabilizer muscles that are used in real-world activity, this makes them vastly more injury prone because those muscles aren’t well integrated with the primary movers. Chad Johnson would be better off doing pushups on basketballs or gymnastic rings instead of machine flies.

Take another long standing myth: “you should stretch before you exercise”. While you should definitely warm up before strenuous exercise you should NOT stretch, that should be done afterwards. If one were to stretch a rubber band after keeping it in the freezer all night it would snap MUCH sooner than a rubber band left in the sun on a humid summer day, the same holds true for other elastic tissue like muscles. It seems obvious and self-evident when I explain it like that but because of the ingrained “common wisdom” you still see very highly paid athletes working against their interests by cold stretching and other flawed training strategies.

 

[Off The Grid]

Ha! No, I’m no football coach but I have studied plenty of martial arts as well as healing arts for several years. I know a bit about movement and how to enhance it, just by altering some things I’ve gotten people to punch MUCH harder within an hour and have helped others SIGNIFICANTLY improve their blocking skills. We had a couple of high school O-linemen take private lessons for a few months and they wound up getting full-scholarships.

Long story short, I’ve seen a lot of high-profile athletes move in very less-than-optimal ways because many of the coaches/trainers think within outdated paradigms. Take a look at Hard Knocks, you see plenty of guys working out on machines, which are horrible for functional strength, as they completely eliminate the stabilizer muscles that are used in real-world activity, this makes them vastly more injury prone because those muscles aren’t well integrated with the primary movers. Chad Johnson would be better off doing pushups on basketballs or gymnastic rings instead of machine flies.

Take another long standing myth: “you should stretch before you exercise”. While you should definitely warm up before strenuous exercise you should NOT stretch, that should be done afterwards. If one were to stretch a rubber band after keeping it in the freezer all night it would snap MUCH sooner than a rubber band left in the sun on a humid summer day, the same holds true for other elastic tissue like muscles. It seems obvious and self-evident when I explain it like that but because of the ingrained “common wisdom” you still see very highly paid athletes working against their interests by cold stretching and other flawed training strategies.

Magnificent.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

Ha! No, I’m no football coach but I have studied plenty of martial arts as well as healing arts for several years. I know a bit about movement and how to enhance it, just by altering some things I’ve gotten people to punch MUCH harder within an hour and have helped others SIGNIFICANTLY improve their blocking skills. We had a couple of high school O-linemen take private lessons for a few months and they wound up getting full-scholarships.

Long story short, I’ve seen a lot of high-profile athletes move in very less-than-optimal ways because many of the coaches/trainers think within outdated paradigms. Take a look at Hard Knocks, you see plenty of guys working out on machines, which are horrible for functional strength, as they completely eliminate the stabilizer muscles that are used in real-world activity, this makes them vastly more injury prone because those muscles aren’t well integrated with the primary movers. Chad Johnson would be better off doing pushups on basketballs or gymnastic rings instead of machine flies.

Take another long standing myth: “you should stretch before you exercise”. While you should definitely warm up before strenuous exercise you should NOT stretch, that should be done afterwards. If one were to stretch a rubber band after keeping it in the freezer all night it would snap MUCH sooner than a rubber band left in the sun on a humid summer day, the same holds true for other elastic tissue like muscles. It seems obvious and self-evident when I explain it like that but because of the ingrained “common wisdom” you still see very highly paid athletes working against their interests by cold stretching and other flawed training strategies.

Exactly!

Out in my backyard I have a pair of gymnastic rings hanging from the tree, a slackline set up between another set of trees, and a homemade pair of parallettes. I also train in parkour, gymnastics, rock climbing, martial arts, mime, dance, and physical theatre. I absolutely believe that a few weeks working with draft prospects would significantly improve their movement skills.

Here's a video of a kid I've helped train the past few years. He's only sixteen, and still learning, but he works really hard. I'm super proud of his progress: YouTube - Andrew Clocksin - Showreel 2010

 

[Snake Eyes]

Exactly!

Out in my backyard I have a pair of gymnastic rings hanging from the tree, a slackline set up between another set of trees, and a homemade pair of parallettes. I also train in parkour, gymnastics, rock climbing, martial arts, mime, dance, and physical theatre. I absolutely believe that a few weeks working with draft prospects would significantly improve their movement skills.

Here's a video of a kid I've helped train the past few years. He's only sixteen, and still learning, but he works really hard. I'm super proud of his progress: YouTube - Andrew Clocksin - Showreel 2010

The kid's very impressive, great job. Yeah, I bet you can bench press just fine if you want to but bench press junkies would probably have a difficult time on your rings.

 

[ahmed]

From the video posted here, this guy is no OLB, DE maybe. He gets held up at the line too easily, he has no burst and I did not seem him once try to get around his lineman.