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2027 Watch List

Manx:

Figure out how the Pats can get Sammy Brown + Chris Cole + Jelani McDonald + Demello Jones + either Peter Clarke, Benjamin Brahmer or Andrew Rappleyea.
 
I thought I'd found a linebacker to talk about - Nicholas Rodriguez of Missouri. He has excellent grades in run defense and coverage grade and I was surprised to see no real draft discussion. And then I checked his size. 6', 211lbs. That'll be why.
 
Manx:

Figure out how the Pats can get Sammy Brown + Chris Cole + Jelani McDonald + Demello Jones + either Peter Clarke, Benjamin Brahmer or Andrew Rappleyea.
Don't forget DJ Vonnahme.

There are two issues with this class for me.

1. The underclassmen issue which I've already discussed.

2. The fact that the CB class isn't locked in yet, a position which could well be our biggest need. There needs to be progress from any CB not named Moore and Robinson to be a 1st round lock.

Three other thoughts.

1. The Dane Brugler top 50 announcement will be big in providing early clarity on how these guys are viewed.

2. Why do I still have to wait nearly 3 months still for some actual football. I want it now!

3. In answer to your post, mocks are going to be so much fun this year. Declarations aside, I struggle to see how we don't get a really good footballer available to us in the first round. And the good part is, we've still got the Mesidors, Striblings et al still to come. The guys no-one is talking about but will perform in season.
 
I thought I'd found a linebacker to talk about - Nicholas Rodriguez of Missouri. He has excellent grades in run defense and coverage grade and I was surprised to see no real draft discussion. And then I checked his size. 6', 211lbs. That'll be why.
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I thought I'd found a linebacker to talk about - Nicholas Rodriguez of Missouri. He has excellent grades in run defense and coverage grade and I was surprised to see no real draft discussion. And then I checked his size. 6', 211lbs. That'll be why.
 
The nice thing about having no college football team to support is that I can just go where the talent is. Last year it was Miami and Texas Tech because of their defenses. It's starting to look like Georgia's defense this year early doors.
 

Rolijah Hardy, LB, Indiana

He's undersized at 5'11", 229 and a true junior so not one to get too excited about, but I was looking at pass rush/blitzing from linebackers and Hardy had more pressures than any other linebacker in this class. He also had 8 sacks. He also comes with a 90.7 run defense grade and only a 5.8% missed tackle grade. the less said about his coverage grade the better.





 
I could easily see Whit Weeks being 'The Vrabel Guy' of this draft. Plug and play Spillane replacement, big school, team leader.

 
Rolijah Hardy, LB, Indiana

He's undersized at 5'11", 229 and a true junior so not one to get too excited about, but I was looking at pass rush/blitzing from linebackers and Hardy had more pressures than any other linebacker in this class. He also had 8 sacks. He also comes with a 90.7 run defense grade and only a 5.8% missed tackle grade. the less said about his coverage grade the better.






Cignetti gets more out of guys than anyone I can recall in recent memory.
 
Cignetti gets more out of guys than anyone I can recall in recent memory.
Agreed. It would have been interesting to see how far he could have taken James Madison.
 
Ethan Wesloski, LB, Oklahoma State (formerly N Texas)
6'1", 234lbs


He was ranked the 10th best returning linebacker by the Preferred Walk-on guys (formerly PFF guys).



Check out these grades.

Run Defense - 86.2
Tackling - 82.8 (9.1% missed tackle rate)
Coverage - 91.2 (the joint best coverage grade in class)

Only Jacob Rodriguez and Red Murdock graded higher overall last year (barely).

There's not a lot of scouting info on him so I don't know how transferable his skills are to the NFL but it's a name to keep an eye on and another reason to watch Oklahoma State.
 
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