Category Players

A Route Lesson for Panthers WR Joe Adams From Wes Welker

0 Comments read Players, Wide Receiver
Whether he runs a 4.55, 4.42, or a 4.24, Joe Adams has the raw tools to get separation in the NFL. Wes Welker gives a lesson on technique that I’m sure he’ll be watching on cutups.

Carolina Panthers rookie receiver Joe Adams has dynamite skills after the catch. I also like his ability to catch the football. However, one thing I consistently saw at Senior Bowl practices was difficulty getting early separation against press coverage.

On at least five down field routes, I saw Adams still fighting for separation against the defensive back 10 yards past the line of scrimmage. On each of these routes he was at least a step shy of a well thrown pass. This had nothing to do with speed. Adams has plenty of it. But route running isn’t about straight-line speed. Continue reading →

Lesson One of a Route Clinic From Wes Welker

0 Comments read Players, Wide Receiver
Video of Wes Welker running routes in practice is like the MGs giving a clinic on the Stax sound. Photo by Brian J. McDermott

I believe the best way to prepare to watch college players is to study the pros. The reason is that if I’m trying to project a prospect’s potential at the NFL level then I need to have good reference points of what works in the NFL. I also have to understand the differences between the college and NFL games when it comes to execution.

I can tell you that the process is ongoing and I’m still learning. This week, Coach Rob Paschall, PR director for the site Coach Huey, tweeted a link to a video titled, “Wide Receiver Technique Release Drills.” I expected an  instructional video.

However, if my eyes aren’t betraying me – and they might be – it was something a lot better. Continue reading →

Russell Wilson, Drew Brees, Prince, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix and the Difficulty of Comparisons

0 Comments read Players, Quarterback
Russell Wilson is short by NFL QB standards but matched with the right offense, there is a place for him in the league. Photo by Seth Youngblood.

Russell Wilson to Compete for Seahawks Starting Gig Now

Apparently, I was wrong about Russell Wilson. I thought he’d compete for the starting job next year – not right now.

I’ve been talking about Wilson’s potential as a future starter before the draft at FootballOutsiders.com in my Futures column. Wilson had an off-the-charts Lewin Career Forecast score (highest ever as an indicator of potential success in the NFL), which my colleagues at Outsiders consequently labeled with an asterisk because history accurately demonstrated that quarterbacks with Wilson’s height aren’t drafted in the first three rounds as potential starters. I decided to take a bit of the different approach and “Study the Asterisk.” Click the link above and learn why Pete Carroll and the Seahawks saw Wilson as a future starter, why his game translates, and why the comparisons to Drew Brees aren’t silly.

The Nature of Player Comps

Speaking of player comparisons, I think it is important to talk about them. There are a lot of opinions about the value of comparisons. When done well, Continue reading →

RSP No-Huddle Series: Eagles RB Bryce Brown

0 Comments read Players, Running Back
Last we really saw Bryce Brown on the filed, he was a freshman with great promise. Can he make an impact in the NFL? Photo by Wade Rackley.

For more analysis of skill players like the post below, download the 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio. Better yet, if you’re a fantasy owner the 56-page Post-Draft Add-on comes with the 2012 RSP at no additional charge. Best, yet, 10 percent of every sale is donated to Darkness to Light to combat sexual abuse. Here’s an update on my pledge.

Bryce Brown was the top-rated running back entering college football in 2009 – over Trent Richardson.The Eagles made him a seventh-round pick to ensure no other team could sign him. Ability-wise, Brown is nowhere near a seventh-round grade: he’s a big back with soft hands, good burst, long speed, and finishing power.

The reason he dropped so far in the draft is past history:he left the Tennessee Volunteers after one year, sat out a year to comply with NCAA rules, and then only carried the ball three times at Kansas State before leaving the team and then entering the NFL Draft. There’s very little to see with Brown in college action. However, what’s available is filled with impressive moments. Continue reading →

RSP No-Huddle Series: Cowboys WR Danny Coale

0 Comments read Players, Wide Receiver
I resume the No-Huddle series with Cowboys receiver Danny Coale, a good, but underrated bet to make an impact as a rookie. Photo by Techsports.

Announcements

The RSP blog has experienced a wave of new viewers during NFL Draft season – thank you for checking it out. And thanks to those of you who post links to my work. It’s amazing how much this blog has grown in less than a year, and I have no plans on stopping.

Here are some exciting projects on the horizon:

  • The RSP Football Writers Project: Over two dozen respected football writers, analysts, and former scouts will each build a team under the structure of a salary cap. I’ll post each team here and interview the writers for further analysis. Originally scheduled to debut in May, I pushed back the schedule so we could undertake this project after the draft.
  • Grinding Tape of Ray Rice with Steelers RB Chad Spann: I’ve been super fortunate to continue talking with Spann, who is training this offseason to earn a shot at contributing to the Steelers’ roster this fall. Spann has agreed to watch a game with me. I’ll break down what I learn here.
  • The 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio Post-Draft Add-on (Downloadable May 6): Tonight I finished my post-draft rankings, tiered fantasy cheat sheet, and average pick data analysis. I have also formulated an “Over/Under/Par” rating that should help dynasty league owners have a shorthand method of gauging how I value a player relative to rookie drafts that I had access to study. I have more analysis to write and format into an Adobe document and I’ll email all RSP readers when it will be ready to download. Remember, this is part of the package you get this year for buying the 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio.

No-Huddle Series: Danny Coale

Note: I don’t claim these single-play analysis to be scouting reports that give an overall take of a player. I tag the phrase “scouting report” in my posts because this is how readers look for information on players that isn’t even as in-depth as I’m providing. While one play can tell a lot about a player, it can also be misleading. The plays I select are generally indicative of what I saw from the player overall.

Coale is one of those players that at first glance gets his yardage Continue reading →

NY Times Fifth Down Series: Luck and Griffin

0 Comments read Players, Quarterback

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Can a team really go wrong with Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin? Of course they can, history shows that top quarterback prospects bomb year after year. Do I think they can go wrong with either one? Not unless something horrific happens.

Trent Richardson, Luck and Griffin are a great trio at the top of this draft class and arguably its three best players. While hard to predict whether Richardson will burst onto the scene like Adrian Peterson or Luck or Griffin will match Cam Newton’s first season, all three are within the same hemisphere of talent and potential. Here’s hoping they fulfill that promise.

Here’s the link to my thoughts on Griffin as published by the New York Times Fifth Down blog. Here’s some of my thoughts on luck with a link to the rest of the piece at the bottom.

1.    Andrew Luck, Stanford (6-3, 234)

I have no problem with anyone ranking Robert Griffin III of Baylor as the top prospect in this quarterback class. (See my scouting report here.) Griffin has great athleticism, intelligence and charisma to pair with good technique at the position. I wouldn’t be surprised, for example, if he has a better fantasy season as a rookie than Andrew Luck. But for the long haul, I still give the edge to Luck.

Luck has one of the most refined, polished games I have seen from a college quarterback entering the N.F.L.

It begins with his strong internal clock for pressure. He consistently does a good job of adjusting his location in the pocket at the right time so he can avoid the rush, keep his eyes down the field and get rid of the ball. Because he’s adept at using his eyes to manipulate coverage and displays an understanding of how to adjust his formations to get a mismatch before the snap, he’s well ahead of the game as an  N.F.L.  prospect. The fact that he does this in a pro-style offense is a bonus.

The ability to manipulate a defense extends to his play fakes, ball fakes and bootlegs to create open windows, and he does all of it with fantastic rhythm and timing for a young player. He’s smooth and controlled, and he throws off a defense before delivering the football on time and with great location to his receivers. He has a highly nuanced underneath game, and when defenses try to stop it, he can throw the deep ball as the counterpunch. [Read the rest here]

While listening to talking heads tell you about the draft is sometimes enjoyable, own the document that gives you the literal book on the skill positions that matter to your fantasy league. Get the 2012 Rookie Scouting Portfolio today and then get the May 6 update at no extra charge. If you listen to my readers it’s money well-spent.

No-Huddle Series: New Mexico State RB Kenny Turner

0 Comments read Players, Running Back

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I came home from work today and watched an E:60 segment about Titans running back Chris Johnson and his best friend Kenny Turner. If you haven’t seen the segment, you can read the full story about their friendship and the events that transpired that led to a felony conviction and five years in jail. If you ask Johnson or neighborhood friend Mike-Sims Walker, Turner was the best football player in the neighborhood.

Turner played for the New Mexico State Aggies and, like his best friend, was switched from running back to receiver, back to running back. I only had a chance to watch a half of a game tonight against Georgia, but here are three notable plays the reveal some good things about his game. All of them Continue reading →

No-Huddle Series: Iowa State WR Darius Reynolds

0 Comments read Players, Wide Receiver
Learn why Darius Reynolds has a chance to develop into a quietly formidable player in the NFL.

As Jon Gruden said during his QB Camp episode with Brandon Weeden, Iowa State is “a pretty good football team. Quietly, they’ve become formidable.” You don’t become that quietly formidable without some quietly formidable players. I think that pair of words fits wide receiver Darius Reynolds.

The Cyclones receiver ran a 4.54-40, bench pressed 225 lbs. 23 times, delivered a 6.77 three-cone drill, and posted a 35-inch vertical leap at nearly 6’2″ and 206 pounds. His three-cone time would have been third-best at the NFL Combine and his bench press reps would have topped Marvin Jones’ 22 reps as the best overall. To give you a little more perspective, all of those numbers beat Justin Blackmon’s workouts. Continue reading →

No-Huddle Series: RB Bobby Rainey, Western Kentucky

0 Comments read Players, Running Back
Bobby Rainey gets the next play in my No-Huddle series.

The first person who tipped me off to Bobby Rainey was NFL.com writer and researcher Chad Reuter, who worked at CBS Sportsline and NFL Draft Scout. Like many of the great tape grinders out there, I don’t get a chance to talk with them often or at great length because they are busy doing what I’m doing – working long hours. If this blog hasn’t helped you figure it out, the community of tape grinders who aren’t current NFL scouts is a cool group of people. If they recognize you as one of them, you learn that on the whole, they are hard-working, generous people with an abundance of humility.

Reuter is definitely one of these people. So it was a pleasant surprise last fall when he saw Rainey play, liked him, and Continue reading →

No-Huddle Series: RB Chris Polk, Washington

0 Comments read Players, Running Back
Chris Polk may need to keeping working to attain that Photo Shop build most current NFL runners have, but he has a good Football IQ.

I lied to you.

The RSP No-Huddle Series was something I initially created to write about prospects likely to get drafted in the late rounds, if at all. I’m still going to do more of those players, but sometimes there are plays you remember that you want to share with people.

One of these plays is a pass involving Chris Polk that reveals more to his game than usually meets the eye and continues an observation I had about the play I profiled yesterday of NIU’s Chandler Harnish.

If you don’t live in the Pacific Northwest, then you probably don’t realize that Chris Polk was a wide receiver in high school. It’s not common to see a player switch from wide receiver to running back when he transitions from high school to college. Usually it’s the other way around: Hines Ward, Jeremy Ross, and Marvin Jones are all good examples. The last time I saw a college receiver transitioned running back it was when Lou Holtz did it with Ricky Watters, who I though was one of the best short-yardage running backs in the league because of fantastic footwork in tight spaces.

This play below is what separates the 5’10”, 215-pound Polk from many of his peers. It begins Continue reading →