Plankton
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https://www.si.com/nfl/2017/10/24/2...patrick-derwin-james-arden-key-quenton-nelson
Saquon Barkley stuck his right foot in the ground about three yards shy of the line of scrimmage and broke left, effectively turning the second offensive play of Penn State’s win over Michigan into a track meet. That’s a race that Barkley won’t often lose—this time he went 69 yards untouched. As he left Michigan’s sixth-ranked run defense in his wake, he might as well have been metaphorically pulling away from the pack of 2018 NFL draft prospects.
We mentioned two weeks ago that this year’s class is different than last year’s, in that there’s a lack of true franchise players among the non-quarterbacks. It doesn’t look like there will be much separation from the top to the middle of the first round, or from the middle of the first round to the top of the second. It’s a scouts’ draft in that most of the top guys have holes in their game and incomplete résumés. Barkley is the one exception. Quarterbacks are scouted, drafted and paid differently than everyone else; it’s impossible to compare their value to those at other positions. So once you remove Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen from the equation, it becomes Barkley, then everyone else.
That’s who we’re going to address this week: everyone else. Specifically, we’ll examine whether or not there are guys in this year’s class with a chance to make a leap into the elite tier that Barkley has already reached. Here are six names to pay attention to . . .
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One note on what Breer wrote within this. Equanimeous St. Brown is an intriguing guy, but he's not a Top 10 pick or even a potential one. He struggles big time getting off of press coverage because of how thin he is, and doesn't run much of a route tree at all. He has been a non-factor for most of the schedule this year, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that Brandon Wimbush isn't the most accurate thrower in the world. St. Brown needs to come back for his senior season.
Saquon Barkley stuck his right foot in the ground about three yards shy of the line of scrimmage and broke left, effectively turning the second offensive play of Penn State’s win over Michigan into a track meet. That’s a race that Barkley won’t often lose—this time he went 69 yards untouched. As he left Michigan’s sixth-ranked run defense in his wake, he might as well have been metaphorically pulling away from the pack of 2018 NFL draft prospects.
We mentioned two weeks ago that this year’s class is different than last year’s, in that there’s a lack of true franchise players among the non-quarterbacks. It doesn’t look like there will be much separation from the top to the middle of the first round, or from the middle of the first round to the top of the second. It’s a scouts’ draft in that most of the top guys have holes in their game and incomplete résumés. Barkley is the one exception. Quarterbacks are scouted, drafted and paid differently than everyone else; it’s impossible to compare their value to those at other positions. So once you remove Sam Darnold and Josh Rosen from the equation, it becomes Barkley, then everyone else.
That’s who we’re going to address this week: everyone else. Specifically, we’ll examine whether or not there are guys in this year’s class with a chance to make a leap into the elite tier that Barkley has already reached. Here are six names to pay attention to . . .
_________________________________________________________________________________
One note on what Breer wrote within this. Equanimeous St. Brown is an intriguing guy, but he's not a Top 10 pick or even a potential one. He struggles big time getting off of press coverage because of how thin he is, and doesn't run much of a route tree at all. He has been a non-factor for most of the schedule this year, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that Brandon Wimbush isn't the most accurate thrower in the world. St. Brown needs to come back for his senior season.