Could Pat Watkins set the bar?

[the kid 05]

And because he still has questions about him.

Let's not annoint Watkins as the next coming of Lott yet.

we're not , we already have that in roy - the lott coverage ability

 

[ghst187]

he may set the bar on the high jump....

 

[the kid 05]

Would you rate him higher than KO,Blue or Bing?

bing is now playing LB for the raiders

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Would you rate him higher than KO,Blue or Bing?

Ourlad's did.

 

[THUMPER]

He kind of reminds me of Cornell Green when we first brought him in. He was a basketball player, 6'4" and maybe 200 lbs. but he played very well for us at corner and safety for a lot of years. Another one of our underrated players.

 

[The Realist]

Would you rate him higher than KO,Blue or Bing?

To answer your question Bing wears #59 now in Oakland, Blue plays FS like a SS/LB and KO was dinged for real or perceived mental/intelligence issues (prop 42, etc).

6-5/211, 4.42, 41 VJ.

Taller, faster, more explosive than all of the above and arguably played/practiced vs better comp the than the rest.

Like BP said the other day.....defensive guys who come from that school and start for a couple years are well coached and are usually ready to play.

On top of all that I believe both his parents have Phd's if that means anything.

 

[dwmyers]

Ourlad's did.

Ourlads ratings on these 4:

Darnell Bing 8.87 (SS)
Ko Simpson 8.83 (FS)
Pat Watkins 8.74 (FS)
Greg Blue 6.43 (SS)

 

[Hiero]

So why wasn't this freak of nature taken in say the 2nd or 3rd round?

honestly I thought for sure he was a 3rd rder. why he dropped so much I have no idea but thank god. I am thinking some people were turned off by his height

 

[scottsp]

Despite the 6-5 frame and sub 4.5 speed, what prolly gets this kid on the field quicker than anything is his ability to find and play the ball. There are big, rangy guys who can play the position in the collegiate ranks, but the biggest sticking point for young DBs coming into the league is typically their ball skills. Seems this kid has it.

Now, if he can grasp the different coverages and - prolly more importantly - identify offensive formations as to how the defense should counter, this kid will have a serious shot at starting free safety come the opener in Jacksonville.

 

[TheEnigma]

Despite the 6-5 frame and sub 4.5 speed, what prolly gets this kid on the field quicker than anything is his ability to find and play the ball. There are big, rangy guys who can play the position in the collegiate ranks, but the biggest sticking point for young DBs coming into the league is typically their ball skills. Seems this kid has it.

Now, if he can grasp the different coverages and - prolly more importantly - identify offensive formations as to how the defense should counter, this kid will have a serious shot at starting free safety come the opener in Jacksonville.

I think it was mentioned somewhere, maybe in more than one spot, that he was picking up the coverage schemes very quickly, and that he was a smart football player.

 

[Dale]

Crown Royal nailed this topic.

This reminds me a little bit of the Randy Moss debate. Moss enters the league, and suddenly everyone wants a tall, fast receiver like that. Ugh....they're not exactly easy to find. Especially good ones.

Now, I don't know if Watkins will ever amount to anything other than a training camp body. But in terms of pure size/speed ratio -- and NOT NFL talent, since we can't yet judge that -- I'd imagine it'd be difficult to find free safeties like him.

Yeah, it's a copy-cat league, but if he does ever become productive, how do you replicate players like him physically?

 

[groo]

The comments I read after the draft all centered on his height and how quickly he could turn his hips cause he was so tall and that he couldn't play near the LOS, etc. again because of his height.

I was at camp this morning and the defensive backs were doing drills right in front of us. Watkins is hard to miss because he's a half-helmet taller than the others and his legs are like bean poles. During the drills, he is quite sluggish in his back pedaling because his legs are so long. So he would be in trouble if he has to cover a WR near the line where you have to do lots of backpedaling then turn and run. That's one thing that I can see maybe why other scouts didn't rate him highly.