Date Archives January 2014

Aspire For The Catch, Settle For The Trap

0 Comments read 2014 NFL Draft, Players, Wide Receiver
Marqise Lee demonstrates why good technique matters. Photo by James Santelli.
Marqise Lee demonstrates why good technique matters. Photo by James Santelli.

Marqise Lee, Gator Hoskins, and Draftbreakdown.com, provide good examples why extending the arms to catch the ball is important.

Draft Breakdown.com is a wonderful source for viewing cut-ups of games. When I don’t have a game I need from my own growing library of recorded games (probably in the thousands by now) this site filled with YouTube cut-ups is an excellent resource.  Aaron Aloysius and the fellas at Draft Breakdown.com are worth your eyeballs and minds.

I encourage anyone still using soundtrack heavy highlight videos for a “serious” understanding of a player’s game to end that practice and head to Draft Breakdown.com for videos that are often as brief as the “fan boy tributes”, but show the good, the bad, and the ugly of prospects within the proper context of that game.

Periodically, I’ll be accumulating these tips to place on page on my site. Here’s the first.

Tip No.1 – Aspire For The Catch, Settle For The Trap

The number of NFL receivers who trap the ball to their bodies as their primary method of catching that ball who have produced in starting lineups since the 1980s is tiny. The ones I can recall since I began studying players with the RSP’s formal process is even small. I can name most of them without looking at my database: Golden Tate, Early Doucet, Robert Meachem, and Darius Heyward-Bey.

Only Golden Tate looks like he might emerge from career statistical mediocrity and that’s no guarantee. One of the reasons is Tate – like Doucet – actually can use his hands as a reliable resource to catch the football. When watching DraftBreakdown.com’s  library of cut-ups on receiver and tight end prospects, this 3rd-and-15 pass on a crossing route to Marshall tight end/receiver hybrid Gator Hoskins is a visual example of why trapping the football is not the ideal way to secure a pass in most situations.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMswzIC9sr4&start=13&w=560&h=315]

Hoskins finds the open middle in the zone as the inside trips receiver on the right side of this formation after working outside the linebacker and under the safety. The ball arrives on time for Hoskins to make the catch at the left hash at the first down marker.

Ideally Hoskins should turn his pads to the quarterback’s throw and extend his arms towards the ball. The reason behind this is to attack the ball at the earliest window of arrival. The earlier a receiver can make contact with the ball on its flight to the receiver, the more chances he can create to make the catch.

We all say that the ball bounces funny as an excuse for plays that don’t work out. It’s often true. However, the techniques I’m showing you also lower the incidence of the “Oblong Ball Factor”.

Squaring the pads and extending the arms to the ball provides a three-sided environment for the ball that helps a receiver herd the ball into his body if his hands fail him. If he isn’t square to the ball, the ball sails away from his frame and gives his opponent a greater opportunity to make the play.

If he doesn’t extend his arms to meet the ball early, then his choices are limited if he doesn’t catch the ball on the first try. Here’s a great example of what I’m talking about with Marqise Lee on a two-point conversion against Stanford this year. Watch the replays.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWIL_futp44&start=87&w=560&h=315]

Lee whiffs on the ball at its earliest window, passing between his hands. But the framework he establishes with his arms and chest gives him a second chance to trap the ball as he’s leaning towards the boundary. This is an excellent catch and good technique that serves as a redundancy when the attempt to catch the ball at the earliest window goes awry – and it does for even top receivers.

For analysis of skill players in this year’s draft class, download the 2013 Rookie Scouting Portfolio.The 2014 RSP will available April 1 and if you pre-order before February 10, you get a 10 percent discount. Better yet, if you’re a fantasy owner the 56-page Post-Draft Add-on comes with the 2012 – 2014 RSPs at no additional charge and available for download within a week after the NFL Draft. Best, yet, 10 percent of every sale is donated to Darkness to Light to combat sexual abuse. You can purchase past editions of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio for just $9.95 apiece.

Futures: Fresno State QB Derek Carr

0 Comments read 2014 NFL Draft, Players, Quarterback

Footwork

Want a glimpse into a quarterback’s mind? Watch his feet. Derek Carr’s reveal initiative and impulsivity.

Futures: Fresno State QB Derek Carr

by Matt Waldman

Want a glimpse into a quarterback’s mind? Watch his feet.

If there’s a minimal amount of footwork before a throw, the passer is making quick decisions. If there are hitches after the initial drop, the decision process is taking longer.

If the footwork in either instance is precise, there’s a greater chance the quarterback has a mental command of his environment and the resulting passes will be accurate. If the steps and stance are sloppy and off balanced, chaos – in the pocket or in the passer’s mind – is often afoot.

One of the pervading concerns about individuals from this spread generation of NFL quarterback prospects is their ability to transition from a shotgun attack to dropping from center and reading more advanced defensive concepts on the retreat. Even as the NFL has adopted the spread, these are concerns that place Fresno State’s Derek Carr front and center among this crop of quarterback prospects.

A first-round prospect on many analysts’ draft boards heading into the pre-draft madness, Carr runs an offense that uses a lot of screens and slants. This is nothing new. Cam Newton, Robert Griffin, Brandon Weeden, Geno Smith, Blaine Gabbert and Nick Foles all came from spread-heavy attacks.

However, there’s a perception among many analysts based on conversations with scouts that prospects from spread-heavy offenses have more to prove when it comes to selling a team on their ability to transition to the NFL. It’s among the reasons why there was a much more grounded, confident mood around the selection of players like Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill, Christian Ponder, Mike Glennon, and Sam Bradford – even if the returns have been equally mixed.

This week’s Futures examines Carr’s game with footwork as an underlying focus. David Carr’s younger brother has all the physical tools to become a productive NFL starter. The question is – as it is for more prospects at the top half of the draft – does he possess the mental acumen to integrate these skills into the complexities of leading an NFL offense?

Carr’s spread offense doesn’t provide definitive answers, but it does offer worthwhile clues about his future transition. These indicators tell me Carr is not an instant star, but give him two to three years and he can be the quarterback a team can build around.

Read the rest at Football Outsiders.

2014 RSP Early Bird Discount

0 Comments read RSP Publication
You picked this guy high despite a nagging injury if you followed the 2013 RSP. Photo by John Martinez-Paviliga
You picked this guy high despite a nagging knee injury as a senior if you followed the 2013 RSP. Photo by John Martinez-Paviliga

Pre-order the 2014 Rookie Scouting Portfolio Until February 10 for $17.95!

“Best thing I’ll buy this year . . .”

                 -Bob Harris, Fantasy Football Hall Fame inductee and editor of Fantasy Sports Publications, Inc.

For the past three years, I’ve had readers ask me to make the RSP available for pre-order. My first thought three years ago was Why? It’s not like I’m going to run out of virtual copies. My next thought was Hey Stupid, if your readers like the RSP so much that they’re willing to pay and wait until April 1, take it as a compliment! 

Although you have gladly paid $19.95 to pre-order the RSP last year, I want to reward my die-hard readers for paying upfront and waiting until April 1. So this year, I’m giving a 10 percent early bird discount for the 2014 RSP until February 10. You can pre-pay here.

So you know, I already have over 153 prospects completed for the 2014 RSP. Typically, previous editions of the RSP total  150-175 players, so I’m well ahead of schedule with my research. You can view the running tally of players completed on this page.

Remember your purchase also entitles you to the free post-draft update (in publication since 2012), which is available for download with your purchased login a week after the NFL Draft.  Fantasy owners love the Post-Draft edition and it’s worth the cost of what you pay for the pre-draft publication:

  • Analysis and commentary on depth charts, team fit, and each player’s long-term outlook.
  • Rankings overall, by position, and tiered for fantasy drafts.
  • Draft selection data for dynasty leagues, including ADP and my own value scores to help you use my rankings to maximize your draft value.
  • Overrated/Underrated players.

New to the RSP? Find out why it has a dedicated following and how the RSP gives back to the community. Past issues (2006-2013 are available for $9.95)

Remember, pre-pay today through February 10 and the RSP and the post-draft is $17.95. From February 11 through March 31,  you can still reserve your login and get one of the most comprehensive analysis of skill position players available for $19.95.

Even at $19.95, it’s like the Seahawks picking Russell Wilson in the third round – a steal. At $17.95? We’re talking Tom Brady . . .

Simple? Hopefully. If you need help, contact me at mattwaldmanrsp@gmail.com. I can typically respond within 24 hours of your email.

Boiler Room: Penn State WR Allen Robinson

0 Comments read 2014 NFL Draft, Players, RSP Boiler Room Videos (Short Form), Wide Receiver
Photo by Penn State News.
Photo by Penn State News.

Most believe Allen Robinson is a good prospect, so why show a positive play in the Boiler Room?

The Boiler Room Series is my attempt to capture the state of an NFL prospect’s development into a single play. This is an impossible task, but what if you have a limited number of plays to state your case about a prospect to the leadership team within your organization? If you’ve researched enough about this player, a cut-up of choice plays with a short presentation can provide a decent assessment of strengths, weaknesses, and potential fit for the team. You can read the rest of my Boiler Room Series here.

Penn State junior Allen Robinson is tall, quick, strong, and adjusts well to the football. There are times he looks like a player in the mold of the Marc Trestman’s outside receivers in Chicago. I could show you plays that make Robinson’s fan boys write me and respond with “great read,” but it’s pointless. If I were contributing to a cut-up of Robinson’s play that would inform a coaching staff what they have to address with Robinson early in his career, the play I’d choose is a crossing route against Nebraska.

It’s a simple play, Robinson is the single receiver in a 3×1 receiver 10 personnel shotgun set with the cornerback playing tight to the ling of scrimmage with a slight outside shade with 0:55 in the half at the 29 of Penn State. The receiver does a solid job of using an outside-in release with his footwork and he doesn’t encounter any resistance from the corner. The free release inside gives Robinson some cushion to accelerate and then break inside on a cross.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XjPVcKDF00&start=178&w=560&h=315]

The ball arrives and Robinson makes the catch, takes a hit in the back, and is dropped a couple of yards inside the catch point. No yards are gained on after the catch. Good route, good catch, what’s there to say?

No yards gained after the catch.

One of the best things about a crossing route is that it gives the receiver a chance to earn yards after the catch. Robinson failed to do so on this play not because of the coverage or the throw. He left his feet.

A common mistake young receivers make on crossing routes thrown at chest level and above is to leap for the target. Sometimes it’s difficult to gauge the trajectory of the ball and receivers would rather err on making the catch than not earning yards after contact. However, the best receivers track the ball well enough to make the reception on the move with their hands away from their bodies.

If Robinson can fix this one area of his game, and it’s a correctable flaw, he becomes a more productive player immediately.

For analysis of skill players in this year’s draft class, download the 2013 Rookie Scouting Portfolio.The 2014 RSP will available April 1 and if you pre-order before February 10, you get a 10 percent discount. Better yet, if you’re a fantasy owner the 56-page Post-Draft Add-on comes with the 2012 – 2014 RSPs at no additional charge and available for download within a week after the NFL Draft. Best, yet, 10 percent of every sale is donated to Darkness to Light to combat sexual abuse. You can purchase past editions of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio for just $9.95 apiece.

RSP Rorschach No.2: WR Davante Adams

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
This installment of RSP Rorschach features a beautiful, but failed adjustment on a deep post by Davante Adams.
This installment of RSP Rorschach features a beautiful, but failed adjustment on a deep post by Davante Adams.

Some plays are like Rorschach inkblots because there’s no definitive answer to why they unfold the way they do. This new series examines plays that have more than one viable explanation and may be too difficult to draw a single conclusion. The fun part is that you have a voice in it.

RSP Rorschach No.2: Davante Adams

The play below is an incomplete pass on 3rd and 5 with 0:49 in the first quarter from the Fresno State-Boise State rivalry. This is a deep post that Adams runs from the left flat. Fresno State quarterback  David Carr delivers a play fake, rolls left, turns down field, and hitches twice before delivering the ball from the Fresno 34 to the Boise State 4.

The part of the play that may have multiple explanations is where Adams comes into the play.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUD7A7YXX0s&start=172&w=420&h=315]

Despite not making the grab, Adams makes an impressive adjustment to leap at the seven, turn his body towards the sideline and cut off the safety’s angle on the ball with the hope of snaring the ball over his outside shoulder. 

When I first watched his play, I wondered if Adams made these adjustment because Carr’s throw was to the wrong shoulder and didn’t lead the receiver far enough inside. Yet after another viewing, there’s a real possibility that the throw was accurate based on the landing spot of the football. If that’s the case, did Adams over to the position of the safety and try to attack the ball before the safety had a chance only to make the target more difficult?

Or, was the throw accurate and the safety’s position was good enough that Adams had to adjust his play on the ball to prevent the defender from cutting off the target?

What do you think?

[polldaddy poll=7695664]

Got another take? Comment below.

For analysis of skill players in this year’s draft class, download the 2013 Rookie Scouting Portfolio.The 2014 RSP will available April 1 and if you pre-order before February 10, you get a 10 percent discount. Better yet, if you’re a fantasy owner the 56-page Post-Draft Add-on comes with the 2012 – 2014 RSPs at no additional charge and available for download within a week after the NFL Draft. Best, yet, 10 percent of every sale is donated to Darkness to Light to combat sexual abuse. You can purchase past editions of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio for just $9.95 apiece.

Reads Listens Views 1/3/2014

0 Comments read Reads Listens Views
Black Eyed Joe’s Collards wish you a Happy New Year. Photo by Joe Bryant.

This week at RLV: Frahm, Kluwe, Farrar, Collard Greens, and Yemeni Blues.

Listens – This Is My Kind of Joint . . .

[youtube=http://youtu.be/SDoQIF1erLo]

Views – The Most Spectacular Abandoned Places In The World

miranda

Click Here For The Rest

Welcome

If you’re new to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio blog, welcome. Every Friday, I post links to things I’m checking out when I’m online. You may not like everything listed here, but you’re bound to like something. It’s also my chance to thank you for reading my work and encourage you to follow the RSP blog and buy the Rookie Scouting Portfolio publication.

For those of you new to the Rookie Scouting Portfolio, the publication is available every April 1. You can learn more about the RSP here. If you want to see samples of the play-by-play notes I take to write the analysis, you can find them here. And to download past versions of the publication (2006-2012), go here.

Remember, 10 percent of each sale is donated to Darkness to Light, a non-profit devoted to preventing and addressing sexual abuse through community training in schools, religious groups, and a variety of civic groups across the U.S. Here is what the RSP donated to D2L this year. According to D2L, the RSP’s 2013 donation amount was enough to train 250 adults in communities across the country.  I will have an announcement about the 2014 RSP next week. Stay tuned.

In Case You Missed It/What’s Ahead at The RSP Blog

  • Boiler Room: Ole Miss RB/KR Jeff Scott– A dynamic space player.
  • Isaiah Crowell – Why he might be the most talented back in this `14 class and why talent isn’t everything.
  • Futures: TE Jace Amaro
  • Coming Soon: Discerning starter and superstar vision and agility in a running back.
  • Coming Soon: RSPWP#1 – Looking back at the teams two years later.
  • Coming Soon: No-Huddle Series – Cal TE Richard Rodgers
  • Coming Soon: Senior Bowl Reports (late January) – I decided to apply for media credentials as the RSP rather than do joint work with other groups. You’ll find most of my takes and practice reports here.

Reads (Non-Football)

Views – The Incredible Versatility of Photographer John Dominis

If you are within 10 years of my age (43) you probably have seen Dominis’ photo of a leopard poised to kill a baboon in the sand, but didn’t know who it was that took it. Click the link above to see subject that span the range of everyone and everything. Incredible work.

Listens – This Is Also My Kind of Joint . . .

[youtube=http://youtu.be/Z2soF1Me81c]

Reads (Football)

Boiler Room: Ole Miss RB/PR Jeff Scott

0 Comments read 2014 NFL Draft, Players, RSP Boiler Room Videos (Short Form), Running Back, Wide Receiver
Photo by Lukeamotion.
Photo by Lukeamotion.

Curling into the fetal position was a highlight I considered, but it wouldn’t be fair to a dynamic player.

The Boiler Room Series is my attempt to capture the state of an NFL prospect’s development into a single play. This is an impossible task, but what if you have a limited number of plays to state your case about a prospect to the leadership team within your organization? If you’ve researched enough about this player, a cut-up of choice plays with a short presentation can provide a decent assessment of strengths, weaknesses, and potential fit for the team. You can read the rest of my Boiler Room Series here.

If I were to present one play to an NFL team on Jeff Scott, the Rebels’ fine running back and return specialist, it would be of him turning the corner on a sweep only to drop to his knees and curl into the fetal position at the feet of a defensive back and linebacker. This does not sound like a complimentary depiction of Scott, but it’s more of a reality check to a potential investor.

Truth be told, this is not disparaging commentary on the 5-7, 168-pound running back’s game. If Scott wasn’t tough enough, he wouldn’t be the team’s starting running back in the Southeastern Conference.

One upon a time, friends of mine had an impromptu backyard game in Athens. Most of these guys playing were in the range of 6-1 to 6-4 and 200-240 pounds. They were decent shape for former high school football players. They were the type of 20-something dudes who would think, “I could tackle Jeff Scott.”

One of those guys playing that day was Mark Maxwell, a local guitarist and recording studio owner (scroll down to bottom of link) who is known in town for producing an album of lullabies that have sold 100,000 copies. The local hospital even gave them to newborn parents (buy them here). Mark was a skinny, long-haired musician with glasses.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/edTBdfd1ABI]

He also played college football at Georgia Tech for Bill Curry.

Maxwell was a running back and returned kicks for the Yellow Jackets. According to my friends, when Maxwell fielded the kickoff he left everyone on the ground holding a body part in well under seven seconds.

That skinny, long-haired musician ran through everyone like a hot knife through butter and he did it wearing a pair of sandals. I don’t know if this is accurate, but legend has it this was the day they nicknamed Maxwell “Sandals.”

Like Maxwell – and even more so, considering that Maxwell quit football and transferred to Georgia to study music – Scott’s game is built on speed and agility. He’s a space player on the lightest end of the spectrum of running backs.

Scott knows his limits and testing his mettle on plays that aren’t vital to the outcome of the game isn’t smart of him if he wants to help his team with more touches.   Showing a play of Scott curling into the fetal position at the end of a run would be my reminder that he’s a space player and not a traditional running back.

Like Scott, Dexter McCluster is plenty tough, but well under 200 lbs., he's not a 200-lb. guy you run between the tackles. Photo by Tennessee Journalist Wade Rackley.
Like Scott, Dexter McCluster is plenty tough, but well under 200 lbs., he’s not a guy you run between the tackles. Photo by Tennessee Journalist Wade Rackley.

Develop him as a hybrid or a slot receiver if you see something about his skills that fit into the current offensive scheme.  Just remember that you’re seeking chunk plays from Scott.

How he’ll do that first – and best – is on special teams. Therefore, the Boiler Room play for Scott is a punt return with 32 second in the third quarter versus Texas.

It’s a high, booming punt that Scott tracks to the right hash at the Ole Miss 27. He bounces it a few yards to his right and then uses his terrific agility to reverse field and make three defenders miss good angles to him. Not only does he reverse field, but he layers a second move into that series of steps to beat that third defender and access a lane under a block.

Is this all planned? Of course not, but it’s a demonstration that his open field game unfolds with greater control than his peers.

Scott isn’t big, but give him space and momentum and he’s a tough player to take down. Not long after beating these first three defenders on the return, Scott reaches the 40 and runs through a wrap to his outside leg.

Scott regains his balance and turns down hill bending the run behind a blocker at the 45, avoiding a defender just inside the left hash. At this point, Scott has the advantage with a blocker in the left flat and a swath of open turf ahead at the 45.

He gains another 20 yards up the left flat, picks up a block, and has a convoy of five teammate for the final procession to the end zone – a 73-yard touchdown. Here’s the return.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGtAkNYUqOc&start=230&w=420&h=315]

That’s a play that can make the collective psyche of the opposition curl into the fetal position.

For analysis of skill players in this year’s draft class, download the 2013 Rookie Scouting Portfolio.The 2014 RSP will available April 1 and if you pre-order before February 10, you get a 10 percent discount. Better yet, if you’re a fantasy owner the 56-page Post-Draft Add-on comes with the 2012 – 2014 RSPs at no additional charge and available for download within a week after the NFL Draft. Best, yet, 10 percent of every sale is donated to Darkness to Light to combat sexual abuse. You can purchase past editions of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio for just $9.95 apiece.