Content Post Words on things I watched, read & heard II

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Nagy has a good record of calling our picks

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

There's a thread in the DF about this and it should be a convo here. What if one of of both, Levis and AR15 are available at 14??? Convo at least.

BTW DJ has us taken Gonzalez at 14 in his latest mock. Theres a thread for those in the DF too.

 

[Uptown]

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Sad to hear. Unfortunately this is the case with many of these guys. They're hobbled by 40 and only getting worse. Some will have some money leftover but most spend it as fast as they make it. I knew he wasn't the same guy but that's tough to hear from a guy that was as athletic as they come. I know he had a lot of fans here predraft.

 

[captain stone]

IDL


Karl Brooks was a two-time captain with a plus first step. Comes at you in sync, full force. He's not a top gapper rn and maybe never will be consistently but he could be nice little project behind Barmore. Like traits. Like the production. Like the potential versatility to play 3T - end in odd fronts. I wouldn't mind adding one of Ika or Smith. Whoever falls, if they fall into the 3rd. Athletic, strong af and both have good play recognition. Smith's strength is legendary and I have Ika slightly higher rn. Either one would be a nice add after the 2nd. Young and Dex look like patriot guys. Ika is 6'5 355 and he's not Vea he's a good athlete with a nice burst off the line. He'll never be a pass rusher but he can occasionally make a play and push a pocket. Good job gaining a little position with that quickness and making himself immovable from the los. Plus grip strength that just controls lineman when he gets inside hands. He does a great job getting skinny and reducing his massive surface. He's a day one 0-1 tech. Both him and Smith are natural two gappers. Ika could improve on keeping his head and eyes up but both are NFL ready bully.



RD 1

Carter


RD 2 - 3

Bryan Bresee PTP


Siaki Ika PTP







Mazi Smith PTP





Calijah Kancey


RD 3

Karl Brooks PTP


RD 3-4

Gervon Dexter PTP


Jaquelin Roy


Byron Young PTP


RD 4-5

Zacch Pickens


Keondre Coburn


Keeanu Benton


Cam Young

Have you had a chance to look at fellow Dot Rat Jerrod Clark from my wife's oldest nephew's alma mater Coastal Carolina?

 

[Uptown]

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

*****Thursday, March 2: Defensive line and linebackers (3 p.m. ET)
Friday, March 3: Defensive backs and special teams (3 p.m. ET)
Saturday, March 4: Quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends (1 p.m. ET)
Sunday, March 5: Offensive line and running backs (1 p.m. ET)*****

• I don’t think most understand how much Kentucky’s Will Levis was affected by a left foot injury over the second half of the 2022 season. (He missed only one game and would get shots to manage the pain upon his return.) Receiving a clean bill of health from team doctors will be an important step

Achane has posted impressive numbers as a track star, too. In high school, he won a state championship in the 200-meter dash with a time of 20.46 seconds (fastest in the country in 2019). At Texas A&M, he ran a blazing 20.20 in the outdoor 200 meters in April 2022 and was named an All-American in multiple events. To put those 200-meter times in perspective, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifying number in that event was 20.24.

The 60-meter dash is a great indicator for 40-yard-dash performance, and Syracuse’s Sean Tucker clocked an elite number (6.88 seconds) in the former event in high school. When he has a clear track on the field, Tucker’s speed is impressive.

East Carolina’s Keaton Mitchell is small (185-ish pounds), but his speed and agility times should turn heads. He ran a sub-11-second 100-meter dash in high school and was timed at 4.28 in the short shuttle last offseason, according to Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List.

A high school running back, Scott ranked top 10 nationally in the 60 meters (6.77) and 200 meters (21.39) as a senior. And that speed absolutely translates to the football field — Scott had eight catches of 30-plus yards in 2022. The No. 47 prospect on my board, Scott is listed at 5-11 and 185 pounds, so it will be good to get “official” height-weight-length numbers.

• A lot of eyes will be on Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who missed almost all of the 2022 season with a hamstring injury. First and foremost, the medical feedback will be crucial. Secondly, will he be healthy enough to run in Indianapolis? If so, NFL teams will be watching his 40-yard dash closely. On film, Smith-Njigba’s speed is more average than above average, and evaluators will be hoping to see him stay under 4.55 seconds. This might be a situation similar to that of Drake London, who didn’t do any timed drills before last year’s draft but was still the first receiver taken.

TCU’s Quentin Johnston is one of the most physically impressive athletes in the class and the testing numbers should reflect that. Given his speed and leaping skills on tape (along with his track background), he should eclipse 40 inches in the vertical, 11 feet in the broad jump and run sub-4.45 in the 40.

• Another potential first-rounder, Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt is one of the top receivers in the class because of his speed. He clocked a 10.46-second 100 meters and a 21.14-second 200 meters in high school. The 40-yard dash should be a chance for him to flex.

LSU’s Kayshon Boutte is one of the wild cards of the 2023 NFL Draft. I expect him to test very well (6.90 indoor 60 meters in high school), and he should impress athletically. But more important will be his medicals — he’s undergone multiple surgeries on his right ankle — and interviews. The combine will be Boutte’s chance to change his narrative during face-to-face conversations with NFL general managers.

There are dozens of other receivers with track backgrounds who should shine during their on-field testing, including Cincinnati’s Tre Tucker, Nebraska’s Trey Palmer and TCU’s Derius Davis.

@Jim Beankie u got a list of track guys and their #'s?

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Bruce Feldman's 2022 college football Freaks List: Michigan's Mazi Smith is No. 1

One hundred players who showcase jaw-dropping physical traits at their respective programs.

theathletic.com

The 6-foot-3, 337-pound senior has rare power and agility. So rare, in fact, it’s hard to find the right superlative to begin with. But let’s start with this: Smith does 22 reps on the bench press, but that’s with 325 (not 225). He close-grip benched 550 pounds. He vertical-jumps 33 inches. He broad-jumped 9-4 1/2. Smith, who had 37 tackles last season, has clocked a 4.41 shuttle time, which would’ve tied the best by any defensive tackle at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine, and it would’ve been better than any defensive tackle weighing 310 pounds or more in the past decade. His 6.95 3-cone time would’ve been by far the fastest among defensive tackles in Indianapolis. The fastest was 7.33. Smith’s 60-yard shuttle time is 11.90.
The Wolverines do a reactive plyo stairs test, which is a series of seven 26-inch high stairs that players attempt to jump up as fast as possible. The team record is 2.21 seconds. Smith did it in 2.82. To better gauge just how impressive that is, Hutchinson, some 60 pounds lighter than Smith, did it in 2.57.Even more remarkable: The Wolverines also do a workout on their combo-twist machine, which is designed to show a player’s ability to rotate an opponent but also their ability to resist being rotated in the trenches. Smith had the machine completely tapped out. There was only enough room for 300 pounds on each side of the machine for a 600-pound max.

“For Mazi, it wasn’t even challenging,” says one of the Wolverine strength coaches. A staffer called the manufacturer to see if there was a way to extend it, then ultimately contacted a private company to build custom extenders for the combo-twist, which made it capable of loading up to 800 pounds to accommodate Smith.

Murphy made 43 tackles, a team-high 14.0 tackles for loss, and a team-best seven sacks in 2021. The 6-5, 275-pound junior is viewed by NFL scouts as a “significantly better player” than former Tiger Clelin Ferrell, who went fourth overall in the 2019 draft. Murphy bench-presses 405 pounds, power-cleans 335 and deadlifts 505. He also has vertical-jumped 35 inches, broad-jumped 10 feet and consistently clocked in the high 4.5s in the 40, according to Clemson coaches.

“He’s an elite athlete who can do backflips standing still and has videos jumping over cars. All of that along with sacking the QB,” Cyclones coach Matt Campbell said of the 6-3, 236-pound edge rusher. Campbell expects McDonald will vertical-jump 42 or 43 inches when he goes to the combine and should broad jump around 11 feet.

He’s made 165 tackles and six sacks in his career for the Tigers, and he’s determined to bounce back from missing part of last season and the spring with a leg injury. Folks inside the Auburn program say he is aptly nicknamed “The Freak.” The 6-1, 225-pounder bench-presses 435 pound and has been clocked in the 40 at 4.32.

One of the best players in the Ivy League also is one of the top track athletes in the country. On the field, the 6-3, 205-pound Hawaiian — his name is pronounced “Yoshi-vas” — had 41 catches for 703 yards. In track, he finished fourth in the country in the heptathlon and ran the fastest 60 in NCAA heptathlon history (6.71). Iosivas bench pressed 370 pounds this month and has vertical-jumped 39 inches. His 60-yard dash time would, by his own estimation, translate into a 4.2-something 40, but he points out that it was also out of the blocks and on a track, so maybe not. His position coach, Brian Flinn, predicts when Iosivas goes through the draft process and performs those tests he will “destroy them all. He trains year-around on how to start and sprint.” Iosivas bought a Jugs machine when he was quarantined during COVID to keep honing his skills.

 

[Uptown]

 

[Jim Beankie]

*****Thursday, March 2: Defensive line and linebackers (3 p.m. ET)
Friday, March 3: Defensive backs and special teams (3 p.m. ET)
Saturday, March 4: Quarterbacks, wide receivers and tight ends (1 p.m. ET)
Sunday, March 5: Offensive line and running backs (1 p.m. ET)*****

• I don’t think most understand how much Kentucky’s Will Levis was affected by a left foot injury over the second half of the 2022 season. (He missed only one game and would get shots to manage the pain upon his return.) Receiving a clean bill of health from team doctors will be an important step

Achane has posted impressive numbers as a track star, too. In high school, he won a state championship in the 200-meter dash with a time of 20.46 seconds (fastest in the country in 2019). At Texas A&M, he ran a blazing 20.20 in the outdoor 200 meters in April 2022 and was named an All-American in multiple events. To put those 200-meter times in perspective, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics qualifying number in that event was 20.24.

The 60-meter dash is a great indicator for 40-yard-dash performance, and Syracuse’s Sean Tucker clocked an elite number (6.88 seconds) in the former event in high school. When he has a clear track on the field, Tucker’s speed is impressive.

East Carolina’s Keaton Mitchell is small (185-ish pounds), but his speed and agility times should turn heads. He ran a sub-11-second 100-meter dash in high school and was timed at 4.28 in the short shuttle last offseason, according to Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List.

A high school running back, Scott ranked top 10 nationally in the 60 meters (6.77) and 200 meters (21.39) as a senior. And that speed absolutely translates to the football field — Scott had eight catches of 30-plus yards in 2022. The No. 47 prospect on my board, Scott is listed at 5-11 and 185 pounds, so it will be good to get “official” height-weight-length numbers.

• A lot of eyes will be on Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who missed almost all of the 2022 season with a hamstring injury. First and foremost, the medical feedback will be crucial. Secondly, will he be healthy enough to run in Indianapolis? If so, NFL teams will be watching his 40-yard dash closely. On film, Smith-Njigba’s speed is more average than above average, and evaluators will be hoping to see him stay under 4.55 seconds. This might be a situation similar to that of Drake London, who didn’t do any timed drills before last year’s draft but was still the first receiver taken.

TCU’s Quentin Johnston is one of the most physically impressive athletes in the class and the testing numbers should reflect that. Given his speed and leaping skills on tape (along with his track background), he should eclipse 40 inches in the vertical, 11 feet in the broad jump and run sub-4.45 in the 40.

• Another potential first-rounder, Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt is one of the top receivers in the class because of his speed. He clocked a 10.46-second 100 meters and a 21.14-second 200 meters in high school. The 40-yard dash should be a chance for him to flex.

LSU’s Kayshon Boutte is one of the wild cards of the 2023 NFL Draft. I expect him to test very well (6.90 indoor 60 meters in high school), and he should impress athletically. But more important will be his medicals — he’s undergone multiple surgeries on his right ankle — and interviews. The combine will be Boutte’s chance to change his narrative during face-to-face conversations with NFL general managers.

There are dozens of other receivers with track backgrounds who should shine during their on-field testing, including Cincinnati’s Tre Tucker, Nebraska’s Trey Palmer and TCU’s Derius Davis.

@Jim Beankie u got a list of track guys and their #'s?

Just what's in the 2023 PTP WR thread. For the below, a lot of good stuff can be found, but I had previously found almost all of the numbers (except stuff like Derius Davis's 400) on my own.

https://twitter.com/TrckFootball

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Yes it matters to NFL teams

 

[Jim Beankie]

A lot of the good stuff was way earlier:

 

[DaBruinz]

I wonder if Kyu Kelly would be the type of player to move to FS?? With that sort of speed, He could play deep CF and not be lost out there provided he's got the instincts.

 

[SlowGettingUp]

Some of this looks pretty weird:

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ras.football

 

[BaconGrundleCandy]

Athletic testing matters. A lot.

Tape for traits that translate + Athletic testing + stats/production usually equal to good things. Some people brush this stuff off though but teams value it as much, I'd say more in some cases than tape.

 

[rochrist]

Some of this looks pretty weird:

View attachment 50214

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ras.football

Yes, like that he's apparently a fullback with very poor speed ? His explosion is great though, so...

 

[Water Boy]

As the league runs more and more passing plays the labels that we all have in our minds about FS, SS and LB have become very blurred. I see them become less and less distinct positions than they have in the past. Duggar is that SS construct we have in our minds, while DMac in his prime was exactly what we wanted in the ideal FS, which was CB speed and agility with a super high football IQ who made sure that the secondary was in the correct position pre-snap, and could cover deep side line to side line. He also had to be tough enough to be a sure and effective tackler as he WAS the last line of defense.

Dmac was ALWAYS a great ballhawk with a nose for the ball. He excelled as a zone boundary corner, but was less effective in press man. So the move to FS was win win for the team and probably extended his career by about 5 years. I hope he comes back. I assume all DBs are fast and quick, so if I had to think of the skill set that will make a great FS in today's game, I would think its how fast he can process what he sees at the snap of the ball, so he can ANTICIPATE where the ball is likely to go and can get there.

Formations, motions and position groupings will all give clues about what is going to happen before the snap, what he sees after that snap are the beginnings of route combinations. How fast he can read these is critical To be effective you have to both decisive AND right. Size and length are always an advantage, but mean nothing without the IQ and anticipation.

I believe that the Pats currently have 2 guys who can potentially fill this role in Phillips and Mills. Mills has the experience with Philly, and Phillips is thought by many to be strictly a "box safety", but he's played the position before in this defense and has the speed and I believe the instinct to play it well. I don't know Bledsoe's game well enough to know if he could do it, but who knows. Peppers and Duggar should be your "box safeties/TE defenders" assuming they resign Peppers.

We have too many other positions that REALLY need priority over S in the draft AND FA. I'd want to see a CB. OT, LB, DT (now that it looks like the WFT are going to franchise Payne) WR, TE and C before we add a FS type. Just sayin

That said if the safety Branch from Alabama there at 14, it might be hard to pass up.