Posts tagged Rookie Scouting Portfolio

Quarterback Techniques Part II (Not Safe for Work)

0 Comments read Players, Quarterback
Aaron Rodgers is the total package and a standard setter when it comes to the arm quality of a quarterback. Photo by Elvis Kennedy. Not to be confused with Malcolm Gaye

Warning: This blog post isn’t for the corporate mindset. It’s safe to read at work except for the first link you come across. However, if you’re the kind of idiot (and I use the term affectionately – we all act like idiots from time to time. It’s part of the human condition) that feels the need to share everything with co-workers because you think you know their sense of humor better than you actually do, then it’s not safe for work. In fact, if you’re that kind of idiot don’t read this post until you get home.

If you get canned it’s because your listening skills suck. Continue reading →

RSP Flashback: Bills WR Naaman Roosevelt

0 Comments read Players, Quarterback
University of Kansas head coach and former Nebraska QB Turner Gill played some good poker with two prospects he recruited at the University of Bufalo because there were no losers. Photo by GoingStuckey.

Buffalo wide receiver Naaman Roosevelt lost a bet that eventually earned him a job. When Turner Gil arrived at the University of Buffalo he recruited two terrific athletes who played quarterback and wanted to remain quarterbacks. Gil made a deal with them. Win the starting job and remain a quarterback. Lose the job and change positions to help the team win.

Roosevelt’s competition: James Starks and Drew Willy. Continue reading →

Best of the Q&A Mail Bag

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
Time to answer some mail (although mine arrived on a screen). Photo by Kris Krug

Questions came this morning on Twitter and the names in parenthesis are Twitter accounts.

Q (Dave Larkin): Is this the day Mark Ingram breaks out?

A: I think this five-week stretch with Carolina, Tampa (twice), Indianapolis, and Saint Louis is the time that Mark Ingram is going to either build steam or become a wait-til-next year guy. Either way, I don’t think Mark Ingram has shown anything counter to his standing as a top-tier draft prospect at his position. Carolina has the best chance to maintain a points pace with the Saints offense, but the next four opponents will struggle offensively and I think Ingram will then see more game-sealing opportunities.

Q(Haydn239): How close are Landry Jones and Andrew Luck in talent?

A: I think it’s Luck and not even close. Cam Newton might have a better statistical year this year than Luck next year because Newton has the great athleticism combined with smarts and an offensive system that really has been tailored well for him, but I think Luck’s demonstration of how to change plays at the line of scrimmage and manage a game is rare.

Luck runs a west coast offense that is very close to what we see in the NFL and his ability to manipulate a defense before the snap is very much like Manning or Brady. I just watched him against UCLA last week on a 99-yard drive where he consistently moved around his personnel to the optimal run or pass play after getting the defense to reveal its base shell. This isn’t something that we see very often with college football quarterbacks and it is not that noticeably impressive to the casual fan because it doesn’t involve athleticism.

Landry Jones is a nice physical talent with the type of skills to have been a top-tier guy in other drafts. He still is a top-tier QB prospect. However, Luck is in another realm because he is given the conceptual keys to the offense that few quarterbacks his age are.

Q(Baxinpin): Thoughts on Jahvid Best the rest of the way?

A: Best is a terrific receiver from the backfield and I think the Lions are a smart enough group to make offensive adjustments to exploit defensive weaknesses that will generate big plays in the next 6-8 weeks. However, I don’t think the Lions have enough evidence to change their minds about Best and use him as a 15-20 carry back.

I think it will take injuries to other offensive pieces in the passing game and Best to show he can handle a higher workload to prove to the Lions that he can be more of a Marshall Faulk or a Tiki Barber in terms of role. It might evolve for Best over a course of years. However, I don’t think we’ll see it this year. Maybe some big runs this year, but the Lions are a pass-first team and the addition of Mikel LeShoure in the draft was an attempt to develop a power running game that they lack.

 

12th Round

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
Forget Sports Illustrated, back in the pre-digital cable era you know you made it when you were on the TV Guide. Keenan McCardell may have been a 12th-round pick, but he was one-half of one of the better receiving duos of the `90s. Photo by Jim Ellwanger.

 

If you want evidence that the talent gap among NFL prospects is extremely small, consider that just 19 years ago there were 12 rounds in the NFL Draft. We’re talking about nearly twice the draft pool than the present day. Some may argue that fewer starters emerge from the late rounds and free agency than those drafted during the first day.

That is only a theory that hasn’t been proven in a pseudo-scientific manner. I have another theory. The talent gap is small, but how an organization handles these early round picks compared to its late round picks artificially induces a wider gap than what should be there. The reason is the heavy financial subsidization of early picks.  It exerts an indirect, but strong pressure on coaches to give these high-paid players more opportunities than its late-round picks and free agents. Continue reading →

Crossing the Divide: Titans WR Damian Williams

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
Damian Williams has the ability to become a primary WR in the NFL, but does he have the mindset? Photo by Nathan Rupert.

Last week, I wrote about the great emotional divide that NFL prospects must cross in order to transition from college talent to productive pro player. A player currently attempting to cross this divide is Titans wide receiver Damian Williams, a third-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft currently starting in place of the injured Kenny Britt. Williams epitomizes a player balancing precariously on the line separating a breakthrough and a breakdown. Continue reading →

Maryland RB Davin Meggett

0 Comments read Players, Running Back
Davin Meggett (No.8) comes from good NFL bloodlines. But does he have NFL game? Photo by John Martinez Pavliga.

I finished studying Maryland RB Davin Meggett’s performance against the Miami Hurricanes and I discovered that someone posted all of Meggett’s touches from this game. So I’m providing my analysis of Meggett’s performance with these highlights.

When it comes to the son of the former New York Giants star, four things stand out:

  1. Meggett has enough burst to generate positive plays as a runner.
  2. Change of direction is a talent this runner uses to a fault.
  3. He has the makings of a sound pass protector.
  4. What holds him back the most is his lack of maturity with his decision-making at the end of runs.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/OuUX4QwgAFw]

0:05 – Meggett’s first target came on this 1st and 10 with 14:40 in the first quarter as the single back flanking the QB’s left in the shotgun Continue reading →

Talent and Production: The Great Emotional Divide

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
Brandon Marshall epitomizes the unpredictability of determining the mental-emotional makeup of a player making a successful transition to professional football. Photo by Geoffrey Beall.

This is my seventh year studying the on-field performance of football players. I can say unequivocally that I know more about the techniques and strategy of the game than I knew when I began. I’m also beginning to realize that I have learned just as much about player evaluation during the four months I have spent creating content for this blog. However, much of what I have learned from my interviews of colleagues has less to do with technique, strategy, or what to physically seek from a player and more to do with what none of us know.

Things that even NFL GMs and personnel directors will never know for sure:

How a player will manage the great emotional divide that must be crossed in order to transition from college talent to productive pro.

The process is something that my friend and colleague Sigmund Bloom describes as trying to gain a complete view of a scene when the vantage point is through a keyhole. We only have clues that help us determine whether a player is equipped to cross this break. Continue reading →

Travelle Gaines: API Director of Elite Athlete Development

0 Comments read Matt Waldman
Cowboys DB is among the myriad of NFL veterans that participate in offseason training with Travelle Gaines at API. Photo by Travelle Gaines.

Travelle Gaines gets people to do things they never thought they could. Considering that most of these people are elite college and pro football athletes makes his job fascinating. Gaines lacks the formal education of a trainer (kinesiology, physical therapy, etc.). His educational process was more old school: apprenticeship and experience. A former college football player and workout warrior, Gaines credits legendary LSU strength and conditioning coaches Tommy Moffitt and Gayle Hatch for what he’s learned about training.

Gaines has clearly taken these lessons and added his own perspective to develop a clientele that includes some of the best football players in the world: Chris Johnson, LeSean McCoy, Percy Harvin, Bob Sanders, Jon Beason, Matt Hasselbeck, Ryan Mathews, Marcus Trufant, and over 100 others. Gaines is now the director of Pro Training at Athletes’ Performance Institute. He agreed to take some time to have a conversation about his career, his role and process with training football players, and the transition required to go from college to pro football.
Continue reading →

RSP Flashback-NFL Fastforward: QB Mike Kafka

0 Comments read Players, Quarterback
What is QB Mike Kafka's game about? Find out below. Photo by MikeFive.

Marty Mornhinweg said 2010 rookie quarterback Mike Kafka is the best first-year passer he’s seen pick up an offense in over 15 years. In training camp this year, the only question about Kafka has been his arm strength. Last Sunday when Mike Vick collided with his own lineman and suffered a concussion and Vince Young was unable to go with a bad hamstring, Kafka was put into the lineup. The second-year quarterback went 7 for 9 for 72 yards and demonstrated good poise and decision-making.

Who is Mike Kafka and is he just a warm body or another Brian Hoyer-Matt Flynn with a Matt Schaub-like future?

I think Kafka has to flash the arm strength and accuracy in the intermediate and deep passing game to warrant the Hoyer-Flynn comparisons. At the same time, the rest of his game shows a lot of promise. Based on my college analysis of Kafka, I think it makes complete sense that he’s in an Andy Reid style offense.

If he starts in Vick’s place I think we’re going to see a lot of plays that fit Kafka’s strengths:

  • Crossing routes and wide receiver screens
  • Play action on early downs
  • Boot legs

Think of Reid and Mornhingweg taking the “Jeff Garcia” chapter from their play book.

Below is my analysis of Mike Kafka against the Ohio State Buckeyes from the 2010 Rookie Scouting Portfolio. Continue reading →

The Pats Two-TE Sets: A Long Time Coming?

0 Comments read Tight End
Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is not the joker Aaron Hernandez is, but is production will still be as serious as a heart attack. Photo by WBUR

 

Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski combined for 13 receptions, 189 yards, and 2 touchdowns against the Dolphins on Monday night. Yesterday they combined for 11 receptions, 143 yards, and 3 touchdowns against the Chargers. If you’ve been reading this blog throughout the summer then you know the hybrid position has been a common theme.

While I’m not certain the Patriots intended to incorporate two tight end sets immediately into their base offense when they drafted Hernandez and Gronkowski in 2010, I think they envisioned it. These are two very different types of players so redundancy wasn’t the intent. Continue reading →