The Senior Bowl game.
Granted, the Senior Bowl is not the best indicator of player performance in the NFL, but it and some practice tape are all I have for anybody I'm evaluating. Willis is no more disadvantaged by this then Bradley or Carriker is, I have the same resources to make my decision, poor though they may be. Be thankful I'm not going to be sitting at the Gillette draft table.
Yes, Willis was all over the field making plays, read that again, all over the field. If you want a sideline to sideline MLB he's a good choice, if you want a two-gap 3-4 defender who will be dealing with OL on nearly every play his performance in the Senior Bowl was sadly lacking as I saw it. I would not say he was the South's best LB, Taylor and Davis are ahead of him as I perceived the game. If I was to take one of the three it would be Taylor to replace Don Davis - I came away from the game thinking he would be a better choice for the Pats if they took a too small LB.
Willis had 11 tackles and led the south team vs Stewart Bradley who had 5 and led the North - the North ran 70 plays, the South 41. Willis had one or two more opportunities to make a play.
http://www.seniorbowl.com/2007/2007seniorbowlstats.htm
In that one All-Star game I would not categorize Willis as "very good at the point of attack," my impression was Willis usually went backward when meeting Mr. Hunt and Mr. Leonard. Below is the play-by-play listing Willis as tackler. If you throw out the 35 yd reverse as an anomoly, you get 5 run stops for 13 yds and an avg. of 2.6 yds, unfortunately two of those stops went for first downs. A decent run stopping performance on paper, but it doesn't account for plays like the 7 yd TD run where Beekman pancaked Willis or the 11 yd scamper to set up the last TD where Leonard blocked Willis and the OLB at the same time. The passing tackles went for an average of almost 11 yds, they do show Willis with good range.
From play-by-play: Here's Willis' 10 tackles (+1 STs)
1-5 at North45 Jason Hill rush reverse
for 35 yards to the SOUTH20,
1ST DOWN NORTH (Patrick Willis).
3-9 at South19 Troy Smith screen pass complete to Tony Hunt
for 7 yards to the SOUTH12 (Quentin Moses;Patrick Willis).
4-2 at South12 Brian Leonard rush over right tackle
for 5 yards to the SOUTH7,
1ST DOWN NORTH (Patrick Willis).
2-8 at North23 Drew Stanton middle pass complete to Scott Chandler
for 11 yards to the NORTH34,
1ST DOWN NORTH (Patrick Willis).
2-8 at North36 Kolby Smith rush draw play
for 2 yards to the NORTH38 (Patrick Willis;Tank Tyler).
3-6 at North38 Drew Stanton sideline pass complete to Paul Williams
for 12 yards to the 50 yardline,
1ST DOWN NORTH, out-of-bounds (Patrick Willis)
2-10 at North50 Thomas Clayton rush over right end
for 2 yards to the SOUTH48 (Patrick Willis).
1-10 at South12 Thomas Clayton rush over left end
for 1 yard to the SOUTH11 (Patrick Willis;Chase Pittman).
2-11 at South16 Tyler Palko middle pass complete to Thomas Clayton to the SOUTH3,
fumble forced by Patrick Willis, fumble by Thomas Clayton recovered by NORTH TEAM at SOUTH3,
1ST DOWN NORTH, out-of-bounds.
3-2 at North17 Thomas Clayton rush over left tackle
for 3 yards to the NORTH20,
1ST DOWN NORTH (Patrick Willis).
For comparison Bradley was the North's top tackler with 4 (+1 STs):
2-4 at South30 Lorenzo Booker rush up middle
for 1 yard to the SOUTH31 (Stewart Bradley).
1-10 at South45 Jordan Palmer sideline pass complete to J.L. Higgins
for 29 yards to the NORTH26,
1ST DOWN SOUTH (Stewart Bradley).
1-10 at South45 Kevin Kolb screen pass complete to Dallas Baker to the 50 yardline, fumble forced by Stewart Bradley, fumble by Dallas Baker recovered by SOUTH TEAM at 50 yardline, out-of-bounds.
2-7 at South32 Ken Darby rush over left tackle
for loss of 1 yard to the SOUTH31 (Stewart Bradley).
Bradley has two run stops for an avg of zero, and he showed some range with his stop on the Higgins' 29 yd reception. He flipped between WLB and SLB, Willis was mostly MLB with some SLB reps. Willis had more reps and played "mike" who generally has more tackles. 60% of Willis' tackles occured after a first down was achieved, 25% for Bradley. A poor sample I know, but it's all I've got with the write-ups on both players. On paper they both did okay, but watching the game, Bradley still looked like the more complete choice for 3-4 LB, in his case one who could play inside or out.
I know you like Willis and you saw his play differently as you watched the game, we'll have to agree to disagree. At the moment Willis is not on my board and Bradley is my #1 ILB target. For what it's worth, I actually lowered Carriker's value after re-watching the game. I thought Jay Moore did nearly as well and would be a very good value in the middle rounds. With Branch falling, Okoye may be the first off behind Adams who I don't get too excited about anyway.