I received a few PM and @'s asking my thoughts and some questions so I'll try to provide both here. Mostly what I would have done and what I think. Tough one bc I liked all the prospects just not where we grabbed them but I'm over that for the most part and just trying to look at what they can do. I would have went in different directions in some cases but we stuck to our board and have conviction. Sometimes it's a bad thing, sometimes good but we give 0 ****s about what so & so thinks.
Sometimes in life you have to take a gamble and that's exactly what we did here. When you swing, swing for the fences. No one cares about singles and although doubles and triples are cool home runs change the game instantly. That's what we're hoping on here. Mostly with Strange and TT. We clearly think both can / will be top tier players at their position(s) from the draft capital we spent. Typical NEP draft class even though I might don't have picked them where they were selected.
How I grade prospects?
Simplest answer is that in 3-5-8 years I want look back and say "he should have went there" more or less. I watch film and get a grade. You can buy A22 and a lot of people trade film too. I watched over 500 games between buying, mostly people giving or trading with me. As well as some broadcast. I get a grade from that. I'll use different results from testing (40, 3C, shuttles & jumps) for different positions and get a grade that way. I'll average the two, tinker with the result and come out with one final grade. I've had some success and had a few people look into them. Always like when I get feedback.
2011-2022
PTP Board hit on 4 picks. A little disappointed bc I should of had the two Jones picks early on. Sometimes it's obvious, not so obvious. Sometimes I'll take someone off or add for a big reason, others not that much. It's a lot of feeling. I'm at home with 1% of the info the big shots have. I wish I had one of the old draftniks to join forces with concerning the PTP board.
Anyway guys like Steele ended up on there the day of or day before. Devin Lloyd and Marcus Jones were late late adds. Jack Jones was off/on in my head but I could never pull the trigger bc I thought we'd have gone elsewhere. Instead we went for two undersized aggressive corners with some versatility. We tend to go for those types (small quick fast with big verts) > size at CB
Ultimately disappointed but that's almost 30 (around 26-28) in 5 years including udfa guys. Need to do better next year, no way around it.
What would I have done?????
This was asked by more than a few people.
Simplest answer is go by my grades (above) but let's play through a few scenarios here ...
Trade back more - I might have disappointed fans even more by trading back into the 2nd RD all together at this point. I know a few guys I love will be there so give me extra picks. Either with Minnesota like GB did or we know GB wanted to trade back into the 1st for five years of Watson but couldn't so I might have seriously considered 53, 59 and a 3rd/4th for 29 or a 2023 3rd. Let's pretend this happened.
I would be targeting Booth, Hall, Ebiketie, Gordon, Mafe. My grades are above I could be miss. I'm flexible if it's close. Ive said and shown that but like sticking to my grades. Utimately I'd target one of them off the top of my head but my grades are above if I'm missing / forgetting someone graded higher. Let's say we get Booth, Ebiketie, Brisker or Gordon with 53. I'll go with Booth but I'd be happy with any of those when you factor in talent / need / value.
Now we have 54 and 59 to deal with.
Looking at the board and I'm smiling. We needed a WR, obviously drafted one. Who went 53 & 54?? Pierce and Moore. Both were in the same athletic testing spots Harry and Nixon were in, top 5 in terms of fits. So in terms of talent / need / value and fits both checked all boxes. I had a 2nd on both and think both will be very good so I'm happy with either here.
Again I might have someone higher that I'm forgetting but looking at how the board played out. This is a path I would have taken for sure.
At 59 we have we have Travis Jones, Ab Lucas, Muma, Raimann, Leal or even Tolbert. We just took a WR and have solid corp. Are we happy with our tackles guys? We have potential L/R replacements at good value here. If answers are "all set" which they seemed to be it's between Jones & Leal. Again I'm kind if doing this off the top of my head I could have someone rated higher but let's stuck with how the board played out / what's in front of me. I'm going Jones! I love Leal been following him since HS and had them graded similar but we need a 0/1t if we're running old school okie 34 so why not get a guy that graded out in the 2nd. Very athletic fatty that graded out higher than almost anyone in the IDL athletic testing. It was Leal, Jones, Booker, Hall, Hinton for my scores in terms of top 5 fits. So it's Jones or Leal. Again I love both, graded almost identical. Let's go with Jones.
So that's Andrew Booth, A Pierce/S Moore and Travis Jones. For our first three picks. Take your pick between Moore & Pierce (Top WR fits in terms if athletic testing - Austin, Pierce, Weston, Nailor, Melton)
I won't go through anymore rn bc I'm happy with guys like Strong, Zappe, Marcus Jones. I'll go through everyone at some point but if we ended up with Booth, Pierce/Moore, Jones, Marcus Jones, Pierre Strong and Zappe I'd be ecstatic.
Let's get in into the picks ...
Cole Strange: Why did we draft him???
Looks like an ideal Thuney replacement. We definitely have a type for each spot and we love smart, tough, versatile, athletic OL in general. Strange is literally one of the more athletic OL in the last 3 decades ... consider he would have hit a 10 if he jumped another inch or two. You can't get much more athletic and I can tell you it shows up on tape. Along his awareness and FBI.
More evidence on his overall athleticism. Each coach has their preference and type and Tom Cable is no different. In particular he likes guys that hit a 31 Vert or better, Broad Jump 9 or better and a bench of at least 27. A "TEF" score was created by a Seahawks writer and the results are very interesting.
"Confirmed 2022 TEF scores
Cole Strange — 3.42
Bernhard Raimann — 3.37
Zion Johnson — 3.33
Nick Zakelj — 2.98
Alec Lindstrom — 2.95
Marcus McKethan — 2.94
Dawson Deaton — 2.82
Abraham Lucas — 2.73
Cordell Volson — 2.63
Zach Thomas — 2.48
Kenyon Green — 2.46
Obinna Eze — 24.5
Bill Dunkle — 2.45
Projected 2022 TEF scores
Zach Tom — 3.33
Sean Rhyan — 3.10
Matt Waletzko — 3.08
Logan Bruss — 3.08
Kellen Diesch — 3.07
Luke Wattenburg — 3.06
Dohnovan West — 2.96
Trevor Penning — 2.95
Chasen Hines — 2.95
Ja’Tyre Carter — 2.93
Charles Cross — 2.92
Austin Deculus — 2.91
Ickey Ekonwu — 2.90
Blaise Andries — 2.89
Chris Paul — 2.86
Andrew Rupcich — 2.85
Dylan Parham — 2.82
Joshua Ezeudu — 2.80
Braxton Jones — 2.79
Spencer Burford — 2.77
Justin Shaffer — 2.76
Tyler Smith — 2.73
Max Mitchell — 2.71
Luke Tenuta — 2.69
Cade Mays — 2.64
Nicholas Petit-Frere — 2.62
Luke Fortner — 2.58
Andrew Steuber — 2.57
Thayer Munford — 2.57
Marquis Hayes — 2.56
Vederian Lowe — 2.56
Darian Kinnard — 2.54
Tyrese Robinson — 2.48
Ed Ingram — 2.47
Myron Cunningham — 2.36
How does this compare to previous combines?
Players scoring a 3.00 or more:
2016 — 6
2017 — 3
2018 — 7
2019 — 8
2020 — 8
2021 — No combine
2022 — 9 (projection)
Players scoring at least a 2.85:
2016 — 9
2017 — 8
2018 — 8
2019 — 15
2020 — 15
2021 — No combine
2022 — 22 (projection)
Is it an explosive offensive line class?
Provided the projections hold up, then yes it’s a more explosive O-line class than previous years.
In particular — Cole Strange, Bernhard Raimann and Zion Johnson should see their draft stock significantly benefit from their scores. Players who test as well as they have today generally gain a significant boost in terms of stock. Raimann’s short arms (sub-33 inches) are a concern but he has shown a top-level testing profile at the combine.
Here’s the combined top-10 testers from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 (in bold) for comparisons sake:
Iosua Opeta — 3.62
Jason Spriggs — 3.54
Braden Smith — 3.52
Tristan Wirfs — 3.47
Cole Strange — 3.42
Bernhard Raimann — 3.37
Zion Johnson — 3.33
Zach Tom — 3.33 (p)
Kolton Miller — 3.31
Connor McGovern: 3.29
Hakeem Adeniji — 3.27
Cesar Ruiz — 3.25
Forrest Lamp — 3.23
Phil Haynes — 3.22
Wyatt Teller — 3.22
However, for the sake of comparison, here’s last years ‘top testers’ compared to the 2022 group (in bold):
Brady Christensen — 3.72
Sam Cosmi — 3.57
Cole Strange — 3.42
Kendrick Green — 3.42
Rashawn Slater — 3.37
Bernhard Raimann — 3.37
Spencer Brown — 3.36
Quinn Meinerz — 3.34
Zion Johnson — 3.33
Zach Tom — 3.33 (p)
Teven Jenkins — 3.33
Alijah Vera-Tucker — 3.31
Drew Dalman — 3.31
Trey Smith — 3.30
Sadarius Hutcherson — 3.29
Creed Humphrey — 3.25
Landon Young — 3.24
Alex Leatherwood — 3.16
Sean Rhyan — 3.10 (p)
Dan Moore — 3.08
Matt Waletzko — 3.08 (p)
Logan Bruss — 3.08 (p)
Kellen Diesch — 3.07 (p)
Luke Wattenburg — 3.07 (p)
Penei Sewell — 3.04
Dillon Radunz — 3.04
Brendan Jaimes — 3.03
Liam Eichenburg — 3.00
As noted in our combine preview, TEF is not an attempt to determine who is a good or bad offensive linemen. It’s merely a calculation to judge explosive traits.
Here are the top-10 wTEF scores from 2016-2022 combined:
Tristan Wirfs — 111.0
Braden Smith — 110.9
Iousa Opeta — 109.0
Cole Strange — 105.0
Spriggs, Jason —- 104.9
Phil Haynes — 103.7
Isaiah Wilson — 103.6
Zion Johnson — 103.4
Austin Jackson — 103.4
John Simpson — 102.7
Kolton Miller — 102.3
Bernhard Raimann — 102.1
Scott Quessenberry — 101.4
McGovern, Conner —- 101.4
Zach Tom — 101.2 (p)
Marcus McKethan — 100.0
Cesar Ruiz — 99.8
Forrest Lamp —- 99.8
Nico Siragusa —- 99.8
Quenton Nelson — 99.8
Sean Rhyan — 99.5 (p)
Will Hernandez — 99.4
Hakeem Adeniji — 98.8
Andre Dillard — 98.6
Ezra Cleveland — 98.3
Matt Peart — 98.0
Chris Lindstrom — 97.9
Damien Lewis — 97.1
Teller Wyatt — 96.9
Chasen Hines — 96.5 (p)
Garrett Bradbury — 96.4
Ifedi, Germain —- 96.1
Matt Waletzko — 96.1 (p)
Trevor Penning — 95.9 (p)
Kaleb McGary — 95.7
Isaac Asiata —- 95.6
John Molchon — 95.5
Logan Bruss — 95.2 (p)
Max Scharping — 94.8
Shell, Brandon —- 94.4
Connor Williams — 94.1
Nick Zakelj — 94.1
Vaitai, Halapoulivaati —- 93.8
Nembot, Stephane —- 93.6
Austin Deculus — 93.4 (p)
Elgton Jenkins — 93.3
Michael Jordan — 93.3
Dahl, Joe —- 93.2
Joe Haeg —- 93.0
Erik McCoy — 92.4
Kellen Diesch — 92.4 (p)
Chris Paul — 92.4 (p)
Thuney, Joe —- 91.6
Robertson, Dominique —- 91.5
Luke Wattenburg — 91.5 (p)
Taylor Moton —- 91.2
Ja’Tyre Carter — 91.1 (p)"
You can read more here's the link ...
seahawksdraftblog.com
So it's rather obvious why we drafted him. Dude is super athletic, smart, tough with a little versatility. He's a G 100% but he's got some versatility in a pinch. He ended up OG6 or 7 I believe just missing out on a 2nd from me. And in terms of feeling the market, one guard was taken between 21-58 I believe and that was Strange. So we played that part correctly. I'm guessing most had 2nd/3rd on Strange, like me. And a few, let's say 6-10 teams had a 1st or 1st/2nd on Strange. We'll see real results you can judge in a 2-4 years, hopefully right away. I think most of the feedback, 60-70% is no one knowing who he is and the rest arguing positional value or that he didn’t warrant a 1st.
what I had to say ..
"one of the more aware and reactive players i watched. Showed good patience but was always quick to ID pressure, handle manipulated pressure / pick up rushers. Whether it's pre snap or delayed he's very heady and again quick to react. Heads always moving but well aware of his original assignment. Never lost in space or under pressure.
plays with and maintains great technique on zone runs. Great job gaining position through contact or with his athleticism. Very quick to initiate contact and use his plus body control. Initiating first contact is always key in the trenches and he's great at punching first. Plus grip strength. Quick choppy feet are a plus here. Isn't the strongest guy in terms of core / raw strength.
Always brings the energy and fight.
Very efficient player in his movements and steps. Looks like an athlete but is a step ahead mentally most of the time in where he wants to go.
Big time potential with his lateral movement on stretch, screen, 2nd/3rd level. Quick, can move, locate. Great job working the best angles to get where he wants to go. This could be a sign we're moving to more zone stuff. He excels there.
Has to get stronger. Has to gain some core strength.
Possible C in a pinch.
Great job moving / pulling, locating targets, climbing to the second level. Can move vertically and laterally. He's textbook on combos same foot/hip/shoulder.
Definitely could be a little more nuanced in some areas but that's experience. He's a quick learner.
Has experience at T & C
Had a 3rd (just missed a 2nd) on him so this was a surprise for sure. Love the prospect but definitely a lot earlier than expected. He was on my PTP Board. Actually just brought him up. He tested out very highly, top 5 for what we like at IOL."
Conclusion - Although I wouldn't have selected him, Strange should be given the benefit of the doubt by fans. The Pats love power on the right side and athleticism on the left. If Thuney and Mankins had a baby it would be Strange. I had a grade of 7.73 on Thuney, 7.80 on Strange. If you look at Mockdraftable's website one of the comps to Strange is Thuney. He was on the PTP Board. Uber-athletic high floor player that fits us to a T.
I get the fact that it's not an exciting pick to some. I get what happened with Shaq and that situation. I understand the optics around the pick. All that acknowledged Strange is a Pat now, a damm good prospect and deserves our support. He didn't draft himself. We'll have plenty of time to dissect other prospects around that pick, how they've done in the years to come.
Sometimes in life you have to take a gamble and that's exactly what we did here. When you swing, swing for the fences. No one cares about singles and although doubles and triples are cool home runs change the game instantly. That's what we're hoping on here. Mostly with Strange and TT. We clearly think both can / will be top tier players at their position(s) from the draft capital we spent. Typical NEP draft class even though I might don't have picked them where they were selected.
How I grade prospects?
Simplest answer is that in 3-5-8 years I want look back and say "he should have went there" more or less. I watch film and get a grade. You can buy A22 and a lot of people trade film too. I watched over 500 games between buying, mostly people giving or trading with me. As well as some broadcast. I get a grade from that. I'll use different results from testing (40, 3C, shuttles & jumps) for different positions and get a grade that way. I'll average the two, tinker with the result and come out with one final grade. I've had some success and had a few people look into them. Always like when I get feedback.
2011-2022
PTP Board hit on 4 picks. A little disappointed bc I should of had the two Jones picks early on. Sometimes it's obvious, not so obvious. Sometimes I'll take someone off or add for a big reason, others not that much. It's a lot of feeling. I'm at home with 1% of the info the big shots have. I wish I had one of the old draftniks to join forces with concerning the PTP board.
Anyway guys like Steele ended up on there the day of or day before. Devin Lloyd and Marcus Jones were late late adds. Jack Jones was off/on in my head but I could never pull the trigger bc I thought we'd have gone elsewhere. Instead we went for two undersized aggressive corners with some versatility. We tend to go for those types (small quick fast with big verts) > size at CB
Ultimately disappointed but that's almost 30 (around 26-28) in 5 years including udfa guys. Need to do better next year, no way around it.
What would I have done?????
This was asked by more than a few people.
Simplest answer is go by my grades (above) but let's play through a few scenarios here ...
Trade back more - I might have disappointed fans even more by trading back into the 2nd RD all together at this point. I know a few guys I love will be there so give me extra picks. Either with Minnesota like GB did or we know GB wanted to trade back into the 1st for five years of Watson but couldn't so I might have seriously considered 53, 59 and a 3rd/4th for 29 or a 2023 3rd. Let's pretend this happened.
I would be targeting Booth, Hall, Ebiketie, Gordon, Mafe. My grades are above I could be miss. I'm flexible if it's close. Ive said and shown that but like sticking to my grades. Utimately I'd target one of them off the top of my head but my grades are above if I'm missing / forgetting someone graded higher. Let's say we get Booth, Ebiketie, Brisker or Gordon with 53. I'll go with Booth but I'd be happy with any of those when you factor in talent / need / value.
Now we have 54 and 59 to deal with.
Looking at the board and I'm smiling. We needed a WR, obviously drafted one. Who went 53 & 54?? Pierce and Moore. Both were in the same athletic testing spots Harry and Nixon were in, top 5 in terms of fits. So in terms of talent / need / value and fits both checked all boxes. I had a 2nd on both and think both will be very good so I'm happy with either here.
Again I might have someone higher that I'm forgetting but looking at how the board played out. This is a path I would have taken for sure.
At 59 we have we have Travis Jones, Ab Lucas, Muma, Raimann, Leal or even Tolbert. We just took a WR and have solid corp. Are we happy with our tackles guys? We have potential L/R replacements at good value here. If answers are "all set" which they seemed to be it's between Jones & Leal. Again I'm kind if doing this off the top of my head I could have someone rated higher but let's stuck with how the board played out / what's in front of me. I'm going Jones! I love Leal been following him since HS and had them graded similar but we need a 0/1t if we're running old school okie 34 so why not get a guy that graded out in the 2nd. Very athletic fatty that graded out higher than almost anyone in the IDL athletic testing. It was Leal, Jones, Booker, Hall, Hinton for my scores in terms of top 5 fits. So it's Jones or Leal. Again I love both, graded almost identical. Let's go with Jones.
So that's Andrew Booth, A Pierce/S Moore and Travis Jones. For our first three picks. Take your pick between Moore & Pierce (Top WR fits in terms if athletic testing - Austin, Pierce, Weston, Nailor, Melton)
I won't go through anymore rn bc I'm happy with guys like Strong, Zappe, Marcus Jones. I'll go through everyone at some point but if we ended up with Booth, Pierce/Moore, Jones, Marcus Jones, Pierre Strong and Zappe I'd be ecstatic.
Let's get in into the picks ...
Cole Strange: Why did we draft him???
Looks like an ideal Thuney replacement. We definitely have a type for each spot and we love smart, tough, versatile, athletic OL in general. Strange is literally one of the more athletic OL in the last 3 decades ... consider he would have hit a 10 if he jumped another inch or two. You can't get much more athletic and I can tell you it shows up on tape. Along his awareness and FBI.
More evidence on his overall athleticism. Each coach has their preference and type and Tom Cable is no different. In particular he likes guys that hit a 31 Vert or better, Broad Jump 9 or better and a bench of at least 27. A "TEF" score was created by a Seahawks writer and the results are very interesting.
"Confirmed 2022 TEF scores
Cole Strange — 3.42
Bernhard Raimann — 3.37
Zion Johnson — 3.33
Nick Zakelj — 2.98
Alec Lindstrom — 2.95
Marcus McKethan — 2.94
Dawson Deaton — 2.82
Abraham Lucas — 2.73
Cordell Volson — 2.63
Zach Thomas — 2.48
Kenyon Green — 2.46
Obinna Eze — 24.5
Bill Dunkle — 2.45
Projected 2022 TEF scores
Zach Tom — 3.33
Sean Rhyan — 3.10
Matt Waletzko — 3.08
Logan Bruss — 3.08
Kellen Diesch — 3.07
Luke Wattenburg — 3.06
Dohnovan West — 2.96
Trevor Penning — 2.95
Chasen Hines — 2.95
Ja’Tyre Carter — 2.93
Charles Cross — 2.92
Austin Deculus — 2.91
Ickey Ekonwu — 2.90
Blaise Andries — 2.89
Chris Paul — 2.86
Andrew Rupcich — 2.85
Dylan Parham — 2.82
Joshua Ezeudu — 2.80
Braxton Jones — 2.79
Spencer Burford — 2.77
Justin Shaffer — 2.76
Tyler Smith — 2.73
Max Mitchell — 2.71
Luke Tenuta — 2.69
Cade Mays — 2.64
Nicholas Petit-Frere — 2.62
Luke Fortner — 2.58
Andrew Steuber — 2.57
Thayer Munford — 2.57
Marquis Hayes — 2.56
Vederian Lowe — 2.56
Darian Kinnard — 2.54
Tyrese Robinson — 2.48
Ed Ingram — 2.47
Myron Cunningham — 2.36
How does this compare to previous combines?
Players scoring a 3.00 or more:
2016 — 6
2017 — 3
2018 — 7
2019 — 8
2020 — 8
2021 — No combine
2022 — 9 (projection)
Players scoring at least a 2.85:
2016 — 9
2017 — 8
2018 — 8
2019 — 15
2020 — 15
2021 — No combine
2022 — 22 (projection)
Is it an explosive offensive line class?
Provided the projections hold up, then yes it’s a more explosive O-line class than previous years.
In particular — Cole Strange, Bernhard Raimann and Zion Johnson should see their draft stock significantly benefit from their scores. Players who test as well as they have today generally gain a significant boost in terms of stock. Raimann’s short arms (sub-33 inches) are a concern but he has shown a top-level testing profile at the combine.
Here’s the combined top-10 testers from 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022 (in bold) for comparisons sake:
Iosua Opeta — 3.62
Jason Spriggs — 3.54
Braden Smith — 3.52
Tristan Wirfs — 3.47
Cole Strange — 3.42
Bernhard Raimann — 3.37
Zion Johnson — 3.33
Zach Tom — 3.33 (p)
Kolton Miller — 3.31
Connor McGovern: 3.29
Hakeem Adeniji — 3.27
Cesar Ruiz — 3.25
Forrest Lamp — 3.23
Phil Haynes — 3.22
Wyatt Teller — 3.22
However, for the sake of comparison, here’s last years ‘top testers’ compared to the 2022 group (in bold):
Brady Christensen — 3.72
Sam Cosmi — 3.57
Cole Strange — 3.42
Kendrick Green — 3.42
Rashawn Slater — 3.37
Bernhard Raimann — 3.37
Spencer Brown — 3.36
Quinn Meinerz — 3.34
Zion Johnson — 3.33
Zach Tom — 3.33 (p)
Teven Jenkins — 3.33
Alijah Vera-Tucker — 3.31
Drew Dalman — 3.31
Trey Smith — 3.30
Sadarius Hutcherson — 3.29
Creed Humphrey — 3.25
Landon Young — 3.24
Alex Leatherwood — 3.16
Sean Rhyan — 3.10 (p)
Dan Moore — 3.08
Matt Waletzko — 3.08 (p)
Logan Bruss — 3.08 (p)
Kellen Diesch — 3.07 (p)
Luke Wattenburg — 3.07 (p)
Penei Sewell — 3.04
Dillon Radunz — 3.04
Brendan Jaimes — 3.03
Liam Eichenburg — 3.00
As noted in our combine preview, TEF is not an attempt to determine who is a good or bad offensive linemen. It’s merely a calculation to judge explosive traits.
Here are the top-10 wTEF scores from 2016-2022 combined:
Tristan Wirfs — 111.0
Braden Smith — 110.9
Iousa Opeta — 109.0
Cole Strange — 105.0
Spriggs, Jason —- 104.9
Phil Haynes — 103.7
Isaiah Wilson — 103.6
Zion Johnson — 103.4
Austin Jackson — 103.4
John Simpson — 102.7
Kolton Miller — 102.3
Bernhard Raimann — 102.1
Scott Quessenberry — 101.4
McGovern, Conner —- 101.4
Zach Tom — 101.2 (p)
Marcus McKethan — 100.0
Cesar Ruiz — 99.8
Forrest Lamp —- 99.8
Nico Siragusa —- 99.8
Quenton Nelson — 99.8
Sean Rhyan — 99.5 (p)
Will Hernandez — 99.4
Hakeem Adeniji — 98.8
Andre Dillard — 98.6
Ezra Cleveland — 98.3
Matt Peart — 98.0
Chris Lindstrom — 97.9
Damien Lewis — 97.1
Teller Wyatt — 96.9
Chasen Hines — 96.5 (p)
Garrett Bradbury — 96.4
Ifedi, Germain —- 96.1
Matt Waletzko — 96.1 (p)
Trevor Penning — 95.9 (p)
Kaleb McGary — 95.7
Isaac Asiata —- 95.6
John Molchon — 95.5
Logan Bruss — 95.2 (p)
Max Scharping — 94.8
Shell, Brandon —- 94.4
Connor Williams — 94.1
Nick Zakelj — 94.1
Vaitai, Halapoulivaati —- 93.8
Nembot, Stephane —- 93.6
Austin Deculus — 93.4 (p)
Elgton Jenkins — 93.3
Michael Jordan — 93.3
Dahl, Joe —- 93.2
Joe Haeg —- 93.0
Erik McCoy — 92.4
Kellen Diesch — 92.4 (p)
Chris Paul — 92.4 (p)
Thuney, Joe —- 91.6
Robertson, Dominique —- 91.5
Luke Wattenburg — 91.5 (p)
Taylor Moton —- 91.2
Ja’Tyre Carter — 91.1 (p)"
You can read more here's the link ...
Combine Day Two recap: TEF scores & RB targets « Seahawks Draft Blog
seahawksdraftblog.com
So it's rather obvious why we drafted him. Dude is super athletic, smart, tough with a little versatility. He's a G 100% but he's got some versatility in a pinch. He ended up OG6 or 7 I believe just missing out on a 2nd from me. And in terms of feeling the market, one guard was taken between 21-58 I believe and that was Strange. So we played that part correctly. I'm guessing most had 2nd/3rd on Strange, like me. And a few, let's say 6-10 teams had a 1st or 1st/2nd on Strange. We'll see real results you can judge in a 2-4 years, hopefully right away. I think most of the feedback, 60-70% is no one knowing who he is and the rest arguing positional value or that he didn’t warrant a 1st.
what I had to say ..
"one of the more aware and reactive players i watched. Showed good patience but was always quick to ID pressure, handle manipulated pressure / pick up rushers. Whether it's pre snap or delayed he's very heady and again quick to react. Heads always moving but well aware of his original assignment. Never lost in space or under pressure.
plays with and maintains great technique on zone runs. Great job gaining position through contact or with his athleticism. Very quick to initiate contact and use his plus body control. Initiating first contact is always key in the trenches and he's great at punching first. Plus grip strength. Quick choppy feet are a plus here. Isn't the strongest guy in terms of core / raw strength.
Always brings the energy and fight.
Very efficient player in his movements and steps. Looks like an athlete but is a step ahead mentally most of the time in where he wants to go.
Big time potential with his lateral movement on stretch, screen, 2nd/3rd level. Quick, can move, locate. Great job working the best angles to get where he wants to go. This could be a sign we're moving to more zone stuff. He excels there.
Has to get stronger. Has to gain some core strength.
Possible C in a pinch.
Great job moving / pulling, locating targets, climbing to the second level. Can move vertically and laterally. He's textbook on combos same foot/hip/shoulder.
Definitely could be a little more nuanced in some areas but that's experience. He's a quick learner.
Has experience at T & C
Had a 3rd (just missed a 2nd) on him so this was a surprise for sure. Love the prospect but definitely a lot earlier than expected. He was on my PTP Board. Actually just brought him up. He tested out very highly, top 5 for what we like at IOL."
Conclusion - Although I wouldn't have selected him, Strange should be given the benefit of the doubt by fans. The Pats love power on the right side and athleticism on the left. If Thuney and Mankins had a baby it would be Strange. I had a grade of 7.73 on Thuney, 7.80 on Strange. If you look at Mockdraftable's website one of the comps to Strange is Thuney. He was on the PTP Board. Uber-athletic high floor player that fits us to a T.
I get the fact that it's not an exciting pick to some. I get what happened with Shaq and that situation. I understand the optics around the pick. All that acknowledged Strange is a Pat now, a damm good prospect and deserves our support. He didn't draft himself. We'll have plenty of time to dissect other prospects around that pick, how they've done in the years to come.
