Three Patriots makes Football Outsider's top 25 prospects

[Rob0729]

Here they are:

5. Stevan Ridley, RB, New England Patriots
Ridley has good lower-body control and balance with a powerful stride, although he's not the fastest back out there. (He has a speed score of 95.4, where 100 is generally average). The Pats really started to use him in the last five weeks of the regular season, when he had 5.2 yards per carry and a 57 percent success rate. He needs work on blocking and receiving, which limits his ability to play on third downs but also makes him a nice complement to Shane Vereen and Danny Woodhead. Of course, he also needs work on his hands after fumbling in back-to-back games near the end of his rookie season, which put him on the bench for most of the playoffs. But he didn't have fumble problems at LSU, and there's a good chance that the back-to-back fumbles were just random chance, not evidence of a real issue.

16. Ryan Mallett, QB, Patriots
Even though Mallett didn't step on the field during the regular season, everything that scouts said about him a year ago is still true. He's still a tall, classic pocket passer with elite arm strength who can drop the deep ball in with a beautiful touch pass. He also can't throw well on the run and will take a ton of sacks. He's had a year under the tutelage of Bill O'Brien and Tom Brady, and hopefully they helped him work on improving his decision-making skills, both on and off the field. Mallett is still likely to earn a job as an NFL starter someday, and it's still likely to be somewhere other than New England.

19. Marcus Cannon, OL, Patriots
Cannon was a flat-out steal for the Patriots. He's a huge guy with quick feet, and draftniks expected him to go as early as the second round before he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma before the draft. The Pats were perfectly happy to take him in the fifth round and wait for him to complete chemotherapy, and by Week 11 he was getting snaps in a regular-season game. Cannon was a right tackle at TCU and could spell Sebastian Vollmer in a pinch if necessary, but he's much better suited for guard in the pros because he has trouble with bull rushers. He will likely replace Brian Waters at right guard whenever Waters decides he feels like retiring.

NFL - Ranking the NFL's top prospects - ESPN

 

[Simple Jack's Brother]

Appreciate the post since i don't have "insider content". Really interested to see if the pats can get back to effectively running with Ridley and Vereen in the fold now. Ridley really looked good in the opportunities he got, hitting the hole with authority and good burst.

 

[brdmaverick]

Yes, I found Ridley's 'lack of speed' to be an interesting comment. He looked plenty fast using the eye test last year, but of course he probalby just looked fast in comparison to the other Pats backs (not much competition there).

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Yes, I found Ridley's 'lack of speed' to be an interesting comment. He looked plenty fast using the eye test last year, but of course he probalby just looked fast in comparison to the other Pats backs (not much competition there).

Danny Woodhead had a 4.33 40.

 

[Kontradiction]

Yes, I found Ridley's 'lack of speed' to be an interesting comment. He looked plenty fast using the eye test last year, but of course he probalby just looked fast in comparison to the other Pats backs (not much competition there).

Game speed is different than combine speed. Ridley had plenty of burst. While I found the fumbling issues to be overblown on here, he does have to do a better job, regardless, of holding onto the ball. Looking forward to seeing what the Wol-Vereen (trademarking that nickname now in case he kills it when he gets more time) can do in our offense as well. As for Mallett, I think he's the quarterback of the future for us. He has good stature in the pocket. He's not mobile outside of it but is mobile within it (much like The Franchise) and has a cannon for an arm. He needs to work on his accuracy a bit, but the receivers that he'd be working with here are better than what he had at Arkansas. As for Cannon, I'd much rather see Waters manning the RG position as of right now and hope to not see the day when he plays RT. I'm not low on him at all, but he is susceptible to bull rushers, as the article has pointed out. That's why he's best suited to play guard. When Waters decides that he's going to join us, he'll be the much better option at that spot.

 

[randomk1]

They trippin' on Ridley's speed man.

 

[Shockt327]

Wait, huh?

I thought the best aspect of Ridley's game was his ability to beat the D to the sidline and then turn the corner. Takes speed to do that.