DanTheMan 2015 Draft Film Review

[dantheman41]

I never said anything of the sort, you said Suggs was far and away the better athlete which simply isn't true. I think Lawrence will hit double digit sacks multiple times in his career, will he have Suggs career? Probably not, but Suggs best year was 2011 with 14 sacks and 70 tackles as a olb, his longevity is impressive but he isn't Reggie White. Btw, I don't think Suggs has the same career in the 4-3 as an end.

Football speed and timed speeds are completely different things. Obviously scouts know that because Suggs was top 10 pick and Lawrence was a second rounder. I never said Suggs is most athletic DE and I'm not even a huge fan of his, but he has far more football speed and quickness then Lawrence

 

[dantheman41]

Arik Armstead (DT) Oregon 6'8 290

Positives: When using proper technique a very powerful man, especially his lower body. Rare size for a football player. Really good swim move. Athleticism is really good. Disruptive football player even against the best competition. Moved all around on Oregon's line, has position flex. Really big ceiling, still figuring out how to use his body. Uses his long arms really well, especially in run game.

Negatives: Doesn't seem to have great motor, takes plays off. Not explosive. Gets stuck on way too much blocks, and washed out in running game a lot! At times he plays with strength, other times he looks to be seriously overmatched. Inconsistent player. Question his football shape, looks like completely different player after 1st quarter. Been injured throughout his college career. Inconsistent with his technique, gets lazy.

Comparison and Where He Fits on Our Team: Going to be really interesting where scouts see at next level because of his rare size. He's either a 3 tech or a 3-4 DE with his size. No doubt he's a good player, but I don't believe he is worth the risk. Others I like a lot better.

 

[TonyRomo17]

Football speed and timed speeds are completely different things. Obviously scouts know that because Suggs was top 10 pick and Lawrence was a second rounder. I never said Suggs is most athletic DE and I'm not even a huge fan of his, but he has far more football speed and quickness then Lawrence

Lawrence was a 2nd rounder on a really stacked draft, he would probably be a 1st rounder this year

 

[dantheman41]

Lawrence was a 2nd rounder on a really stacked draft, he would probably be a 1st rounder this year

Thats debatable. I've heard a lot of draft guys, scouts say that Lawrence was a bit of reach as early as Cowboys took him last year. You guys are all expecting the moon from Lawrence. Keep your expectations realistic, and have a back up plan. That's all I'm saying

 

[dantheman41]

Leonard Williams DT (USC) 6'5 300

Positives: Solid all around football player against the run and generating some pass rush. Excellent size and length. Really good hand use. Doesn't look like he's moving fast but somehow he manages to disrupt a lot of plays. Uses a wide variety of moves on the line. Can play all over. Can play 3-4 DE or 3 tech DT. When he is moving, very very hard to stop. Plays with a lot of power. Nasty football player that plays after the whistle.

Negatives: Not GREAT at any one thing. Not overly explosive with a very slow get off. Almost a finished product, do not see him getting much better. Don't see Suh or McCoy. Little over aggressive at times with a fair amount of personal foul penalties.

Comparison and Where He Fits on Our Team: Would be a 3 tech here. Really good player. Don't see him falling to us, nor would I trade up to get him. Don't see as a game changer for our defense, but certainly a really solid player with virtually a guaranteed level of success. Personally I would rather have Fowler over him by a fairly decent margin for our defense.

 

[dantheman41]

Danny Shelton DT (Washington) 6'1 340

Positives: Moves outstanding for a guy his size. Generates really good pass rush from the nose tackle position. Will eat up blockers in a 1 on 1 situation. Really good motor for a guy his size. Takes on double teams almost every play. Plays really violent especially with his hands.

Negatives: Slow reaction time, worry about his awareness. Difficult time getting off blocks and disengaging in run game. Gets washed out of too many run plays for a guy his size. Really struggles against angle or chop blocks. Gets fooled on a lot of option type plays.

Comparison and Where He Fits on Our Team: One of best pass rushing nose tackles I've ever seen. Could be a huge upgrade inside from Nick Hayden for us. Really like the player, but have a feeling he is going to be far our of our reach. A 3-4 team is going to grab him top 15 picks.

 

[dantheman41]

Carl Davis DT (Iowa) 6'4 320

Positives: Outstanding first step explosion, and times the snap count really well. Excellent length. Uses his body nicely in batting down passes. Does really good job running stunts. Really nice spin move.

Negatives: If he doesn't beat you with his first step, he has real difficulty getting off blocks. His side to side speed chasing down QB's and RB's leaves something to be desired. Not consistent on tape, flashes. Worry about his motor. Not overly powerful, does not drive lineman backwards. Makes very little plays in the run game.

Comparison and Where He Fits on Our Team: Really frustrating player. I really want to like him, but way too inconsistent for me. He flashes and WOWs me at times, then disappears the other 90% of the time. Rare first step quickness and explosiveness for a DT. To me, I actually think he is a 3 tech even though his size says 1 tech. Not powerful, or space eating enough for a 1 tech. I worry he is going to be another Terrell McClain. Decent player who has 'some' position flex, but not great at either.

 

[xwalker]

Carl Davis DT (Iowa) 6'4 320

Positives: Outstanding first step explosion, and times the snap count really well. Excellent length. Uses his body nicely in batting down passes. Does really good job running stunts. Really nice spin move.

Negatives: If he doesn't beat you with his first step, he has real difficulty getting off blocks. His side to side speed chasing down QB's and RB's leaves something to be desired. Not consistent on tape, flashes. Worry about his motor. Not overly powerful, does not drive lineman backwards. Makes very little plays in the run game.

Comparison and Where He Fits on Our Team: Really frustrating player. I really want to like him, but way too inconsistent for me. He flashes and WOWs me at times, then disappears the other 90% of the time. Rare first step quickness and explosiveness for a DT. To me, I actually think he is a 3 tech even though his size says 1 tech. Not powerful, or space eating enough for a 1 tech. I worry he is going to be another Terrell McClain. Decent player who has 'some' position flex, but not great at either.

This is a guy that I would like to see in Mariinelli's scheme but I don't know how high of a pick I would give to get that opportunity.

 

[dantheman41]

This is a guy that I would like to see in Mariinelli's scheme but I don't know how high of a pick I would give to get that opportunity.

Yeah... I REALLY wanted to like him based off things I heard from senior bowl. I saw a few flashes that I loved. But in reality, the other 90% of the time he was stuck on blocks not doing anything

 

[dantheman41]

Eli Harold (Edge Rusher) Virginia 6'4 240

Positives: So disruptive! Stat sheet doesn't show how many plays he truly affect. Really really explosive. Can play as a RDE or an outside linebacker, and does a little of both. His speed rush and ability to turn the edge is unblockable at times, reminds me of Robert Quinn. Much better in run game then his size would suggest. Converts speed to power really well.

Negatives: His weight at combine is going to be huge. Some websites say he is 250, others I see 240. He looks very lean, ala Jason Taylor.

Comparison and Where He Fits on Our Team: I feel a lot of teams are going to have him pegged as a 3-4 linebacker, I hope we aren't one of them. I feel he can play both REALLY well. He played standing up and hands in the ground in college. He is so explosive. Would love to see him and Lawrence fight it out for the starting RDE spot. Move Mincey to LDE. This guy is my pet cat. Watch the Louisville game, blew me away.

 

[xwalker]

Eli Harold (Edge Rusher) Virginia 6'4 240

Positives: So disruptive! Stat sheet doesn't show how many plays he truly affect. Really really explosive. Can play as a RDE or an outside linebacker, and does a little of both. His speed rush and ability to turn the edge is unblockable at times, reminds me of Robert Quinn. Much better in run game then his size would suggest. Converts speed to power really well.
Negatives: His weight at combine is going to be huge. Some websites say he is 250, others I see 240. He looks very lean, ala Jason Taylor.
Comparison and Where He Fits on Our Team: I feel a lot of teams are going to have him pegged as a 3-4 linebacker, I hope we aren't one of them. I feel he can play both REALLY well. He played standing up and hands in the ground in college. He is so explosive. Would love to see him and Lawrence fight it out for the starting RDE spot. Move Mincey to LDE. This guy is my pet cat. Watch the Louisville game, blew me away.

Harold is an interesting player, but that Louisville OT (Ryan Mack) was terrible. Mack was benched mid season and has now transferred to another school.

The odd part of the Louisville games was that Harold was often winning by powering past the OT. They had a TE block him a couple of times and was more effective than the OT. NFLDS has him listed at 235. At 6-4 it seems that he should be able to get bigger.

I agree that he can play DE and shouldn't just be limited to a being a 3-4 OLB.

It appears that he didn't play in an all star game. It would have been good to see him in the Shrine game.

 

[dantheman41]

Harold is an interesting player, but that Louisville OT (Ryan Mack) was terrible. Mack was benched mid season and has now transferred to another school.

The odd part of the Louisville games was that Harold was often winning by powering past the OT. They had a TE block him a couple of times and was more effective than the OT. NFLDS has him listed at 235. At 6-4 it seems that he should be able to get bigger.

I agree that he can play DE and shouldn't just be limited to a being a 3-4 OLB.

It appears that he didn't play in an all star game. It would have been good to see him in the Shrine game.

Good points.... 2 other games I watched of him were very very impressive too. Stats don't do him justice. So disruptive and effects so many plays. His weight at combine is huge. If he is close to 250, I think that will put a lot more teams on radar

 

[dantheman41]

Mario Edwards (Edge Rusher) Florida St 6'2 280

Positives: Battler, really physical player. Fights through blocks, relentlessly. Best defensive end I've seen against the run. Better then average explosiveness. Very aware player, always around the ball. Makes a lot of tackles for defensive lineman.
Negatives: Injury history throughout his career. Not elite athleticism. His height is a little worrisome. No pass rush moves or ability to generate any kind of pressure. Fluctuates weight a lot, needs to find a position and stick to it. Gets stuck on WAY too many blocks.
Comparison and Where He Fits on Our Team: Really want to like this player, but his inability to get off any blocks rushing the passer scares me. In this scheme, he would be a perfect LDE if he could develop some pass rush ability. The thing is he has tools to work with, I feel he can get better. But it is risky. Plus his injury concerns.. Very dicey. Hard player for me to pick one way or another with him, because certain aspects I love. Really good football player.

 

[DuDa]

Excellent work as always. You do Lorenzo Mauldin yet? The dude is surging up the draft boards.

 

[tm1119]

Mario Edwards (Edge Rusher) Florida St 6'2 280

Positives: Battler, really physical player. Fights through blocks, relentlessly. Best defensive end I've seen against the run. Better then average explosiveness. Very aware player, always around the ball. Makes a lot of tackles for defensive lineman.
Negatives: Injury history throughout his career. Not elite athleticism. His height is a little worrisome. No pass rush moves or ability to generate any kind of pressure. Fluctuates weight a lot, needs to find a position and stick to it. Gets stuck on WAY too many blocks.
Comparison and Where He Fits on Our Team: Really want to like this player, but his inability to get off any blocks rushing the passer scares me. In this scheme, he would be a perfect LDE if he could develop some pass rush ability. The thing is he has tools to work with, I feel he can get better. But it is risky. Plus his injury concerns.. Very dicey. Hard player for me to pick one way or another with him, because certain aspects I love. Really good football player.

You wouldn't view Mario as a 3 tech in our scheme?

 

[Brooksey]

Football speed and timed speeds are completely different things. Obviously scouts know that because Suggs was top 10 pick and Lawrence was a second rounder. I never said Suggs is most athletic DE and I'm not even a huge fan of his, but he has far more football speed and quickness then Lawrence

Lawrence has good speed and great bend. Lawrence will be our RDE in 2015 especially after flashing like he did in the playoffs. I think were good with Crawford and Lawrence. Question is what do we have with Brent, Spencer and Gardner with a full camp?

 

[Wood]

few I would like to hear about:

Marcus Peters
Quinten Rollins
Steven Nelson

All CBs.

 

[xwalker]

Excellent work as always. You do Lorenzo Mauldin yet? The dude is surging up the draft boards.

I like Mauldin. When I first noticed him he was ranked as a 4th rounder and I thought he was underrated. Now, I've seen 1 draft analyst rank him as a possible 1st rounder. I see him as a mid-late 2nd at this point.

He looks good in game footage with very good first step and a good burst. His movements are not the smoothest. He doesn't really bend the edge like some people like to see but he is effective with more of what I call a jump cut type style. He holds up against the run OK. He stalls out somewhat in his pass rush when doesn't win with his initial quickness, but I think he can learn better hand fighting technique and needs to get stronger in the upper body to combat OLinemen.

 

[xwalker]

few I would like to hear about:

Marcus Peters
Quinten Rollins
Steven Nelson

All CBs.

Steven Nelson looks like Scandrick to me. More the current Scandrick than Scandrick as a rookie. He's not tall and does not have good arm length, but he has really good footwork and quickness.

 

[DuDa]

I like Mauldin. When I first noticed him he was ranked as a 4th rounder and I thought he was underrated. Now, I've seen 1 draft analyst rank him as a possible 1st rounder. I see him as a mid-late 2nd at this point.

He looks good in game footage with very good first step and a good burst. His movements are not the smoothest. He doesn't really bend the edge like some people like to see but he is effective with more of what I call a jump cut type style. He holds up against the run OK. He stalls out somewhat in his pass rush when doesn't win with his initial quickness, but I think he can learn better hand fighting technique and needs to get stronger in the upper body to combat OLinemen.

You pretty much nailed it. He's got some real explosiveness to him. His hand usage is not perfect but I like how he really tries to win the battle with his hands.