Make A Case for Cooper

[brymatt94]

I don't have access to the all 22, but I would be very surprised if we ran more than 2 stretch plays a game. There is a drastic difference in what we ran last year versus a team like Houston. My wife could tell the difference.



Yeah, we had an all time low in rushing. Hardly a staple of the ZBS.


Also, Garrett's scheme is based on down the field principles, not West Coast. Callahan is more of a West Coast guy. To suggest that we are switching Garrett's fundamental playbook is asinine. He has been the OC since 2007. That is 5+ years of evidence that things aren't changing.

Okay, at the end of the day, EVERY NFL team has zone-blocked plays. When it comes to zone scheme vs gap scheme, its not so black and white. It's just a matter of what you run more. The Houston Texans the majority of the time uses a zone scheme, while the 49ers like a gap scheme more often. And zone running is not just a stretch play, there's an inside zone, there's stretch with a lead blocker (which the cowboys call "Press") and much more. I decided to watch all-22, and the Cowboys ran quite a bit of zone. Early on, there was some difficulty running it, especially with the interior guys. Still need to get through the rest of the season.

 

[jnday]

You might want to reconsider that comment.

I ranked Warford ahead of Cooper for power yet Warford had 28 reps compared to 35 for Cooper and they have similar arm length.

I was not using the bench reps as proof of anchor strength, it was provided to show that Cooper also has excellent upper body strength.

There is some correlation to upper body strength and anchor strength. Just look at Doug Free. He appears to have no anchor strength; however, the actual reason that he gets bull-rushed is because he can't keep defenders from getting into his body due to inadequate upper body strength.

I don't want to reconsider the comment. The bench press is not a solid indicator to measure how much power a player uses in blocking. It is a small part of upper body strength. Fluker and Frederick are good examples of power players with low bench reps. Free is a bad example for proving any point. He is just a weak player. I have seen too many workout warriors that couldn't transfer weight lifting strength to the football field. I know you like all these measurables and stats to grade a player. That is fine, but I trust his play on the field much more.

 

[TheSport78]

I don't want to reconsider the comment. The bench press is not a solid indicator to measure how much power a player uses in blocking. It is a small part of upper body strength. Fluker and Frederick are good examples of power players with low bench reps. Free is a bad example for proving any point. He is just a weak player. I have seen too many workout warriors that couldn't transfer weight lifting strength to the football field. I know you like all these measurables and stats to grade a player. That is fine, but I trust his play on the field much more.

Exactly. There's a huge difference between weight room strength/power and football strength/power. There's hardly a correlation.

 

[Fredd]

while I agree that the BP is just one measurement of a player's strength, how do you measure core/lower body strength? The combine doesn't provide anything along those lines....and, the eye ball test is no true measurement of how a player is going to do in the pros as virtually every player that you face is eqaual to or better than most of the schlubs that these guys see in college.

is there a true measurement of core/lower body? Just askin'

 

[tm1119]

I honestly think people get a little too enamored by Copper's athletic ability. Don't get me wrong, I really like Cooper and would be very happy if we drafted him at 18, but difference between him and Warmack is minimal if any. While Warmack definitely doesn't have the movement skills of Cooper I think he is definitely superior at the point of attack. I'd be very happy with either though and just really hope Jerry isn't too stubborn to go guard at 18.

 

[TheSport78]

while I agree that the BP is just one measurement of a player's strength, how do you measure core/lower body strength? The combine doesn't provide anything along those lines....and, the eye ball test is no true measurement of how a player is going to do in the pros as virtually every player that you face is eqaual to or better than most of the schlubs that these guys see in college.

is there a true measurement of core/lower body? Just askin'

Looking at a player's PR for squats could help, but that doesn't always correlate to the field. Just gotta stick with the tape.

 

[Eskimo]

I honestly think people get a little too enamored by Copper's athletic ability. Don't get me wrong, I really like Cooper and would be very happy if we drafted him at 18, but difference between him and Warmack is minimal if any. While Warmack definitely doesn't have the movement skills of Cooper I think he is definitely superior at the point of attack. I'd be very happy with either though and just really hope Jerry isn't too stubborn to go guard at 18.

I'm not as convinced about that. Cooper is still developing quite a bit and probably weighed only 290-5 lbs during the season. He has since beefied up to about 312 pounds but still had oodles of athleticism but was able to do 35 reps with 34 inch arms. He combines okay height which affords him great leverage when blocking, long arms and excellent strength (look at BP reps) and explosion (good vertical and broad jump) for someone his size.

The modern game has definitely moved to a game played in space. You want to be able to outflank your opponents by using misdirection and getting the ball to guys with RAC and outflanking your opponents with blockers who can hit moving targets. Having 3 elite athletic OL such as Costa, Cooper and Tyron lined up side by side will give us tremendous ability to attack defenses in space on stretches, pulling blockers, moving the pocket and running a variety of screens. If you can get those great athletes in space attacking smaller players in the open field like they can you are going to create a ton of big plays against the blitz. We will finally be able to counter the blitz effectively besides going deep against CBs who are faster than our WRs.

It will be settled in time on the field. I do think Chance has major weaknesses that Cooper does not. I worry that Chance isn't going to bulldoze NFL DTs and is going to struggle with quickness as a pass blocker. He'd do much better in a run dominant offense like Tennessee, Washington, Houston or Minnesota. I don't think he is as good a fit in a pass heavy offense.

Presently, I believe the tide has turned and there is very little chance Cooper is available. I think there is a decent chance that Warmack slides to us but I believe we will end up going DL in the first as we try to address the defense and bring in DL for Kiffen/Marinelli. We are shockingly thin at DE right now.

 

[xwalker]

I'm not as convinced about that. Cooper is still developing quite a bit and probably weighed only 290-5 lbs during the season. He has since beefied up to about 312 pounds but still had oodles of athleticism but was able to do 35 reps with 34 inch arms. He combines okay height which affords him great leverage when blocking, long arms and excellent strength (look at BP reps) and explosion (good vertical and broad jump) for someone his size.

The modern game has definitely moved to a game played in space. You want to be able to outflank your opponents by using misdirection and getting the ball to guys with RAC and outflanking your opponents with blockers who can hit moving targets. Having 3 elite athletic OL such as Costa, Cooper and Tyron lined up side by side will give us tremendous ability to attack defenses in space on stretches, pulling blockers, moving the pocket and running a variety of screens. If you can get those great athletes in space attacking smaller players in the open field like they can you are going to create a ton of big plays against the blitz. We will finally be able to counter the blitz effectively besides going deep against CBs who are faster than our WRs.

It will be settled in time on the field. I do think Chance has major weaknesses that Cooper does not. I worry that Chance isn't going to bulldoze NFL DTs and is going to struggle with quickness as a pass blocker. He'd do much better in a run dominant offense like Tennessee, Washington, Houston or Minnesota. I don't think he is as good a fit in a pass heavy offense.

Presently, I believe the tide has turned and there is very little chance Cooper is available. I think there is a decent chance that Warmack slides to us but I believe we will end up going DL in the first as we try to address the defense and bring in DL for Kiffen/Marinelli. We are shockingly thin at DE right now.

Good post and good explanation.

 

[xwalker]

I don't want to reconsider the comment. The bench press is not a solid indicator to measure how much power a player uses in blocking. It is a small part of upper body strength. Fluker and Frederick are good examples of power players with low bench reps. Free is a bad example for proving any point. He is just a weak player. I have seen too many workout warriors that couldn't transfer weight lifting strength to the football field. I know you like all these measurables and stats to grade a player. That is fine, but I trust his play on the field much more.

Exactly. There's a huge difference between weight room strength/power and football strength/power. There's hardly a correlation.

The point is that I never tried to correlate anchor strength to the bench press.

As I pointed out, I had Warford ranked ahead of Cooper despite the fact that Cooper has 35 reps compared to 28 for Warford.