Posts tagged 2012 NFL Draft

Pai Mei, Longtones, and Route Running: Lessons of Kung Fu, Jazz, and Football With Utah WR DeVonte Christopher

0 Comments read Players, Wide Receiver

[youtube=http://youtu.be/p8y9US7ajWo]

Football and music (and in this case, Kung Fu) continue to have a number of parallels for me. I played saxophone from the age of 8 until I stopped at 23.This is roughly the same career life span of most college football players. Those who continue playing beyond college and perform on the highest stage possess a mastery of fundamentals that require a willingness to enslave oneself to the development process: practice.

Practicing the craft of an instrument is the same as practicing the craft of playing a position. There are concepts of precision, timing, teamwork, and leadership that all musicians and football players have to learn about playing together. There are also things a player from both worlds has to refine on his own. Continue reading →

New York Times Fifth Down Series: No. 2 WR Justin Blackmon

0 Comments read Players, Wide Receiver

[youtube=http://youtu.be/voprccSVyz4]

2. Justin Blackmon, Oklahoma St. (6-0, 207) [Highlights above differ from article in NY Times.]

Blackmon plays a physical brand of football despite the fact that he is smaller and slower than he appears when featured in this wide-open Oklahoma State offense. The Cowboy offense gives Blackmon a lot of opportunities to approach defenders in space with the ball in his hands and heading downhill. While he will consistently be playing in tighter spaces at the N.F.L. level and he is not as explosive as other top prospects, Blackmon has the strength, hands and balance to become a reliable “plus” possession receiver (Anquan Boldin, Brandon Marshall) in the league.

Blackmon’s skill after the catch is what separates him from most prospects in this class. He is tough to bring down in the open field because he is a fluid runner with enough burst, strength and balance to run through hits and wraps. Blackmon’s strong hand-eye coordination and tendency to attack the ball from his breaks places him in an aggressive position to get the jump on defenders in open space.

If he develops better [Click here to read the rest]

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 →

2012 Post-Draft Skill Player Impressions Part-I

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
Find out why Browns WR Carlton Mitchell is potentially a beneficiary of the Browns draft. Photo by Hank.

I don’t believe in grading the draft. Many of my colleagues, ones I respect a great deal, will be providing draft grades this week. Some of them will say that they don’t believe a draft can be graded accurately for a few years, but two paragraphs later they are grading away like they’re teaching middle school. The reason is they believe they are giving readers what they want, and they’re right.

In this case, I don’t care. I’m not indulging in that practice. Although some may want to read it, perpetuating a practice that none of my writer brethren believe in but do it anyway is not something I have to do here. This is when I love having my own blog. I’m going to try something a little different and discuss what I think teams are trying to do with certain picks and whether I can see the logic. Continue reading →

Reads Listens Views-NFL Draft Day 1 Edition 4/27/2012

0 Comments read Reads Listens Views

[youtube=http://youtu.be/y9s85CjEexg]

If you can look at Irvin’s game through the lens that he can learn better technique to stay low, learn a change-up move, and learn to diagnose run plays with extra work, the physical talent is evident. Read more below.

Views

That was quick. And as someone who loves evaluating players and has less patience for waiting on picks, I loved how fast the first round flew by. I’m going to share some takes, but in case you’re new to this blog, here’s a list that includes seven first-round picks that I’ve analyzed in detail in recent months so I don’t have to rehash anything.

While I’m not a huge fan of Brandon Weeden, I see the logic Continue reading →

NY Times Fifth Down Series: Luck and Griffin

0 Comments read Players, Quarterback

[youtube=http://youtu.be/6pbgG1r-RFM]

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.

Walk on the Wildside: My Draft to Mock-Part II

0 Comments read Walk on the Wild Side
I guess tattoos are okay for the field hands, but not for the workers in the big house. Find out who passes Jerry Richardson’s eye-ball test in My Draft to Mock – Part II. Photo by PDA.Photo

After the response I got from last night’s Draft to Mock, apparently there’s a side to many of you that have also grown a little bored of mock drafts. So here’s Part II of My Draft to Mock. For those of you with the scanning virus, this is not a real mock.

Carolina Panthers select DT Fletcher Cox, Ole Mississippi: “Fletcher” is just a good, old-fashioned name. Continue reading →

No-Huddle Series: New Mexico State RB Kenny Turner

0 Comments read Players, Running Back

[youtube=http://youtu.be/MPmeFuy15_I]

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 →