walterfootball.com analysis (weaknesses) of Gronkowski pre-draft

[PushnPencils]

Weaknesses:
Very serious durability concerns (back)
Doesn't maximize Y.A.C.
Lacks some running vision in open field
Doesn't have top-end athleticism or agility
Run blocking technique a little inconsistent
Might have some rust as a rookie (didn't play football in 2009)

Summary: Gronkowski is a very well-rounded tight end prospect and will likely come off the board in the second round, but if team doctors have very serious concerns with his back (and some certainly should) then he could really fall in the 2010 NFL Draft. Back issues are probably the worst kind of injury for an athlete and generally these athletes have injury problems throughout their careers. Gronkowski will never be an elite tight end in the NFL, but if he stays healthy he should certainly be a productive contributor and starter.

Player Comparison: Kevin Boss. Boss and Gronkowski have similar frames, athleticism and receiving skills.

 

[Mark12]

On the words of Tom Brady, "what the hell do these people know."

 

[resdubwhite]

Football scouting Comical Ali style.

 

[GoWhalers]

Ha -- nice find.

They got them all wrong except for the injury concern, which in my mind was (and maybe still is?) pretty legit.

Whose to say the Pats haven't been extremely lucky that Gronk hasn't re-injured himself? There is a long list of could've-been-great players whose bodies gave out long before their talent did.

 

[patchick]

Everybody should have a pretty hearty laugh at that idiocy*.








*(Providing, of course, that you've NEVER talked about how Ras-I Dowling was an obviously terrible draft pick, that BB should know better than to take a risk on a 1st-round talent who fell to the 2nd because of injury concerns.)

 

[Sciz]

I still don't know why people take that site seriously. Sure, it's full of a ton of information. But how much of it is actually good?

 

[Nitro]

who is walter? and why should his opinion on anything matter?

 

[patchick]

I still don't know why people take that site seriously. Sure, it's full of a ton of information. But how much of it is actually good?

That site is at least average, IMO. FWIW, here's their take on some other members of that draft class:

WalterFootball.com: 2010 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Brandon Spikes
WalterFootball.com: 2010 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Aaron Hernandez

 

[TheComeback]

Pretty funny scouting report. Especially because he's nothing like Kevin Boss.

 

[RayClay]

To be fair, in Mcmullen's Globe feature, gronk mentioned how he had no spring for a while after his injury while playing. Plus, he was a second rounder.

You've got to take these things with a grain of salt, they have to quick evaluate hundreds of players i'm sure, regardless of the situation, injury etc.

 

[IcyPatriot]

Lacks some running vision in open field

... a bit true as he tends to just bowl people over sometimes instead of looking for openings.

 

[Daigle]

Didnt seem totally out of line but of course you cant get every player correctly evaluated. Otherwise they probably would have been scouting as a NFL scout, but not even they are 100 percent.

 

[SirApropos]

Also to be fair all of those analysis were written by a guy named Matt McGuire who was let go from the site about a year and a half ago because of his poor skills at evaluating draft picks.

The new guy Charlie Campbell that does the evals now is pretty good.

 

[BaltimorePatsFan]

Ah...a good old write up from Matt McGuire, I see. He doesn't write for Walterfootball anymore because he claims he wants to finish his degree from Western Kentucky or some school like that and become a teacher, but in reality he was a loser who taped and watched ESPN games but argued on the forum that he was viewing "game film."

He also said that Jimmy Clausen would be much better than Sam Bradford (LOL) and that Andre Woodson was a great prospect, among other things.