Great article on Darryl "Swagg" Roberts

[Brady6]

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

http://www.providencejournal.com/article/20150717/SPORTS/150719320/13988?Start=2
The recent seventh-round draft pick looked like anything but a late-round selection during the Patriots organized team activities and minicamp. Roberts not only earned reps with the starters, but when he was going up against Tom Brady, he made several plays that flashed back to his college career.

Wasn't that similar to comments made about Butler last year during OTAs? we know how that turned out......

 

[patsinthesnow]

I echo other thoughts and wonder in today's passing NFL, how did he fall to round 7?

31 CBs drafted. A D1 CB with 99 percentile athletic traits, good height, and good film lasts to round 7, really. Marshall football isn't great,
but it's better than UCONN and they both face equally mediocre teams.

A combine snub shouldn't cause that big fall & gap between Roberts/Jones. If Roberts turns out to be a player, a great wonder will be why even BB valued a LS two rounds above him? He was clearly not valued that much even by BB.

Some gems going in round 7 make sense. Edelman was a small school D1 QB attempting to convert to WR. Dennard didn't have great athleticsm & punched a cop. I really do not understand Roberts.

 

[neuronet]

BB likes ****y corners...

 

[ctpatsfan77]

A combine snub shouldn't cause that big fall & gap between Roberts/Jones. If Roberts turns out to be a player, a great wonder will be why even BB valued a LS two rounds above him? He was clearly not valued that much even by BB.

Looking solely at the Cardona pick in a vacuum: the Pats needed a LS. Cardona is arguably the best one to be available in a while. He also has a unique circumstance (being from Navy). Some folks believe that BB needed to pick him this early (higher than any of the other three LSs drafted) to convince the Navy that this wasn't just a lark of some sort.

 

[n6249c]

Stats are nice, but difficult to quantify football ability and intelligence...

Stay tuned, could prove interesting..

Exactly. One of the things that stood out for me was Butler's numbers just weren't very good, compared to the others, but he had the intelligence to be coached up and the ability to make the biggest play of the season.

Also, I figure the numbers give a benchmark of what they've got to work with, but can't give a clue of what they will do with what they've got. Another thing that stood out for me is that Revis isn't a unique athletic talent, there are obviously quite a few other guys with very similar measurables. What puts him on an island by himself is how he works at his craft, studying the guys he goes against, viewing film, putting in the work to make all he can of what he has.

I'm hopeful that Revis' work ethic will be something Butler will copy, and maybe Logan Ryan as well. Might be that BB sees who is putting in that kind of effort and who isn't, and makes his personnel decisions about guys like Browner and Arrington and Dennard based on that. If that's it I'm okay with it, just another aspect of character and safeguarding the locker room against complacency.

I'm also hopeful that kind of work ethic carries over to Roberts and the newly added vets. Another reason it's important to prune the locker room of any player who won't be on that same page.

 

[jah]

I remember reading similar observations about another rookie #28 last year...

 

[PatsBoy12]

Stats are nice, but difficult to quantify football ability and intelligence...

Stay tuned, could prove interesting..

Very interesting read. I'll be watching him closely in training camp to see what carries over. Some are already seemingly making the case that he is the next coming of Revis and the like, but pump the breaks a bit. Let's get the pads on. For all the good that has come in the late rounds, especially for our team, let's not forget that they are still the exceptions and not the rule. Just saying that the kid still has an uphill climb that's a little steeper (again, based on draft) than most other higher picks presumably do and we've seen a lot of them go bye bye early.

Say what you want about Butler's measurables in comparison to Revis and Roberts, but the kid was ALWAYS around the ball and often a hair away from making the play. I'm not even going to talk about the SB play. Heck, even the play he made a few plays before the clincher was spectacular, but the WR just made an even more spectacular catch, unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess). Like DarrylS pointed out, you still have to make plays on the field, and Butler made them or was always close to making them. I liked how he played a heck of a lot more than Logan Ryan last season (and I'm a big Ryan fan). Butler's limitation at this point in his career and going forward will presumably be his top end speed. Other than that, he's shown good instincts, is usually in good to great position, and plays the ball at its high point. Those are all things every good corner possesses and can do.

 

[n6249c]

....
Say what you want about Butler's measurables in comparison to Revis and Roberts, but the kid was ALWAYS around the ball and often a hair away from making the play. I'm not even going to talk about the SB play. Heck, even the play he made a few plays before the clincher was spectacular, but the WR just made an even more spectacular catch, unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess). Like DarrylS pointed out, you still have to make plays on the field, and Butler made them or was always close to making them. I liked how he played a heck of a lot more than Logan Ryan last season (and I'm a big Ryan fan). Butler's limitation at this point in his career and going forward will presumably be his top end speed. Other than that, he's shown good instincts, is usually in good to great position, and plays the ball at its high point. Those are all things every good corner possesses and can do.

Coming down the stretch at the end of the Super Bowl Butler made something like four or five very good plays. It's like they kept trying to pick on the rookie and he was having none of it.

 

[PatsBoy12]

Coming down the stretch at the end of the Super Bowl Butler made something like four or five very good plays. It's like they kept trying to pick on the rookie and he was having none of it.

That is very true! I didn't want to make my post too much about the SB, choosing to focus on his play all season. He was in games while they were still being decided at times, and he always held his own. He outplayed Ryan and Dennard, though the latter did not play down the stretch (IRed). But you're right, he made so many plays in the second half of the SB, especially that fourth quarter.

 

[manxman2601]

I have not but I watched a lot of his tape prior to the draft. He was a better prospect than Byron Jones in my opinion.

Ignored. Dumbest statement ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Seriously though, Jones could well be the best CB to come out of the draft whereas Roberts needs to add some weight to be a genuine potential #1 CB - he can get too easily bullied by the stronger WRs.

 

[manxman2601]

A while ago I linked to a segment from Daniel Jeremiah where he shares what BB looks for from his secondary (this comes from Jeremiah's time as a scout).

http://www.patsfans.com/new-england...s-for-when-scouting-dbs.1113456/#post-3982393

Reading the OP, getting your hands on the ball (Marshall had 17 PBUs) and having the "swag" to bounce back were specifically mentioned by Jeremiah as traits BB looks for:

• There are no humble corners

• A good barometer for a corner is how often does he get his hands on the ball. Not just INTs but break ups too.

 

[RobertWeathers]

He outplayed Ryan and Dennard, though the latter did not play down the stretch (IRed).

When Dennard was healthy in TC and in parts of the season, Butler outplayed him.

I think Ryan has ok ball skills but just isn't as "sticky" as Butler in man to man coverage.

 

[Sicilian]

When Dennard was healthy in TC and in parts of the season, Butler outplayed him.

I think Ryan has ok ball skills but just isn't as "sticky" as Butler in man to man coverage.

I re-watched the Super Bowl yesterday, and as bad as Ryan looked on the TD pass to Matthews, he made some good plays in that game, including a textbook bit of man coverage on Kearse in the 1st quarter. I agree he doesn't quite have that "it" factor that I think Butler could have, but I'm hopeful he's just waiting to put it all together this year. He could be a solid #2 corner if he does.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I re-watched the Super Bowl yesterday, and as bad as Ryan looked on the TD pass to Matthews, he made some good plays in that game, including a textbook bit of man coverage on Kearse in the 1st quarter. I agree he doesn't quite have that "it" factor that I think Butler could have, but I'm hopeful he's just waiting to put it all together this year. He could be a solid #2 corner if he does.

He didn't get as killed as Arrington but the play on Matthews was poor. Needs to find a way to get better position on those players.

 

[PatsBoy12]

He didn't get as killed as Arrington but the play on Matthews was poor. Needs to find a way to get better position on those players.

I kind of laugh and get irritated about the Arrington hate. The guy was giving up almost five inches to the man he was covering. He should have never been asked to do that in the first place. Once they put Browner out there things changed. Arrington filled his role on the team and is an excellent slot corner. I never could understand why he gets so much flack on this board. He was a bit overmatched on the outside, yes. But he played extremely well in the slot.

 

[ViperGTS]

I kind of laugh and get irritated about the Arrington hate. The guy was giving up almost five inches to the man he was covering. He should have never been asked to do that in the first place. Once they put Browner out there things changed. Arrington filled his role on the team and is an excellent slot corner. I never could understand why he gets so much flack on this board. He was a bit overmatched on the outside, yes. But he played extremely well in the slot.

That's my only fear letting Browner go. If there was a rematch who would cover Mathews? Or any recievers of his size.

 

[sieglo]

That's my only fear letting Browner go. If there was a rematch who would cover Mathews? Or any recievers of his size.

Roberts.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I kind of laugh and get irritated about the Arrington hate. The guy was giving up almost five inches to the man he was covering. He should have never been asked to do that in the first place. Once they put Browner out there things changed. Arrington filled his role on the team and is an excellent slot corner. I never could understand why he gets so much flack on this board. He was a bit overmatched on the outside, yes. But he played extremely well in the slot.

I agree that Arrington is a very good slot DB and in his time here has received a ton of unfair flack on this board but let's be honest here.... Arrington was just plain bad in SB49. Neither one of the long Matthews catches on Arrington were jump-balls per se. One was due to Matthews having a free release on the weave and KA picking him up and trailing him in the slot and the second long on was just plain bad ball awareness. Let's also remember the bad break (and facemask) on the Lockette catch.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Roberts.

Roberts is nowhere close to Browner's size and physicality.