Nolan Nawrocki Draft Guide

Alexander

Alexander

What's it going to be then, eh?
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stilltheguru88 said:
I guarantee you everyone on this board will say we reached for Basham at 28. I wouldn't necessarily be one of them though even though I'd rather trade down and take him at 30 something. He's going to be a nice player quickly. If he played at LSU nobody would hate the pick at 28.
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Taking Basham at 28 would take a lot of guts. It would break our "big school" mantra with McClay and really send a lot of people scrambling after they said "who?".
 
Plankton

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Alexander said:
If he didn't write "glass eater" once, he wrote it at least a dozen times.
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It's the benefit of living in Illinois to get it quicker.

The book is good, though. Nawrocki compiles information well.
 
Alexander

Alexander

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Plankton said:
The book is good, though. Nawrocki compiles information well.
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It is very thorough. Goes through the production and background pieces nicely. Many guides just try to wear you out with technical football analysis. His stuff does go into the off the field things and gets a little bit into what makes some tick. You don't read it and not come away with things you did not know.
 
Alexander

Alexander

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Gaede said:
Frederick was a reach too
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A lot of what people were on about then was the fact he was a center and you never, ever, pick a center in the first round.

Teams reach on pass rushers all the time. But Basham would be a pretty significant one.

I wish there was a solid productive one other than Garrett and to a much lesser degree, Burnett, that I was completely comfortable with.

There isn't one. Then I start looking at other things like traits, injuries, upside and intangibles.

Once you do that, you are in no man's land and have to think broader.
 
Doomsdayblitz

Doomsdayblitz

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Gaede said:
Frederick was a reach too
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Not to me. Not at the bottom of the 1st round. I studied him relentlessly his senior season. I had been impressed in how well he had played well at every position Wisconsin played him at. (Being a Buckeyes fan, I saw a lot of Wisconsin). His senior year, he came into his own. He was so technique sound, I had him at the top of the 2nd, even though most "experts" had him projected as a 3rd-4th round player. I was ecstatic when we took him.
 
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Doomsdayblitz

Doomsdayblitz

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I think Obi is still figuring things out, but he's a bright, humble kid with rare athleticism. I have faith that our staff can take him & turn him into a Pro Bowl player for years to come. At 6-4, 225, 4.40 with a 44" vertical, he's the safety of the future. He has great position flex by being big & fast enough to cover tight ends & big WRs, or put in the box to stop the run or blitz the QB. You just can't teach the triangle numbers this guy has. (He DID have two picks at the Senior Bowl, by the way).
 

tyke1doe

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Alexander said:
Picked up the Kindle download of his guide. If anyone doesn't recall him, he is the guy who slammed Cam Newton a few years ago. Nawrocki used to be the Pro Football Weekly draft writer who followed Joel Buchsbaum. Now he just publishes his own book.

Couple of notes he has on players who are likely on our radar:

Takkarist McKinley
Scout’s take: “He is stiff, stiff, stiff. He’s a straight-line speed guy that falls down when he tries to bend. Two-thirds of his production comes when he is unblocked vs. bad competition. He will get way overdrafted."

DeMarcus Walker
Scout’s take: “How he got all those sacks baffles me. I didn’t think he was a very good player.”

Derek Barnett
Scout’s take: “(Barnett) is really, really good. I think you can put 20 pounds on him and make him a helluva three-technique. He has not even begun to fill out his body. He looks fleshy when you see him up close… . He’s a stiff, strong, straight-line burst guy. I think those qualities play better inside.”

Obi Melifonwu
Scout’s take: “(Melifonwu) looks like Tarzan and plays like Jane. He’s tall and lanky and not necessarily soft, but he does not look like a safety moving around. Now, if you were handing out sticks to a track team, I would draft him first. Someone needs to show me the tape where he plays 4.4 though. I have not seen any yet, and I’ve spent a lot of time (tracking) him.”

T.J. Watt
Scout’s take: “T.J. Watt has some upside. I just left Wisconsin. He’s probably a third (rounder) for us. He reminds me of (Commanders’ 2014 second-round pick [47th] Trent Murphy). (Watt) is another better-football-player-than-athlete type. He has to be a 3-4 rush (linebacker).”

Taco Charlton
Scout’s take: “Taco didn’t wow me at the Combine, and he didn’t wow me on tape. You hear prognosticators and even people in our own building talking about him as a great defensive end — I just haven’t bought in. He’ll (be drafted) highly just off his sheer physical traits. I will stand by my grade (in the third round) and see how his career plays out. I know what I saw, and I can only grade what I see.”

Jabrill Peppers
Scout’s take: “I know there are (scouts) that graded him as a running back. I didn’t see enough of that to say it. If you are going to draft him early, you need to have a conviction about where to play him and run with it. I think he is a great athlete and will go somewhere in the first (round). I was not fired up with what I saw of him as a safety.”

Tre'Davious White
Scout’s take: “He is not flashy or twitchy. He is big, fast and dependable and returns punts, but he’s not special (as a returner). He’s so big that he can get hit and knocked back five yards and keep his feet and convert.”

Charles Harris
Scout’s take: “I was surprised he didn’t test better (at the Combine). He didn’t run or jump particularly well. I was expecting to see a more explosive athlete based on the way he plays.”

If anyone wants other notes or player report, let me know and I will post.
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Outside Barnett, he doesn't seem to think anyone should go in the first round. :laugh:
 

tyke1doe

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Risen Star said:
Let me unload my liver for second, these draft guides come out later ever year. This one just went to print yesterday. I'm still waiting for Coyle to get his completely done. He lets you download by position as he completes them. You used to get these things a month before the draft. Now we're getting towards two weeks.

I like to digest a draft guide completely before the draft. It's getting tougher to do every year.
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I think the big thing is the NFL Combine. I think a lot of the publications wait until after the combine is over. A few of them release information pre-combine, and they really look stupid.

There's one publication I saw in the store that ranked all the players pre-combine. It had Juju Schuster as the No. 1 ranked receiver. :rolleyes:
 

tyke1doe

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Gaede said:
I think Basham has the qualities we're looking for. With a good coach, I think he'll be a very productive pass rusher. I like him at 28. But I also think Harris is being overanalyzed and is a safe bet for us.
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Maybe we can get one at 28 and one at 60?
 
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