Shinywalrus
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Things I liked:
Our Mid-Late-Round OLs: I was very pleasantly surprised by both Nagy and Arkin. They are both nasty, both have a nice punch and both did a surprisingly nice job on mirroring and 1v1 drills. Both of these guys need time in the weight room – they are not going to anchor like Montrae or Gurode – but from a technique perspective, I think we may have something here, especially with Arkin.
Victor Butler: Others have been saying it, but Butler and Williams look like they are for real. Quick, good use of hands, learning some very nice pass rush techniques. We didn’t have the A-team on tackle, but Butler has been a man among boys in several practices.
Felix Jones: With apologies to 88, Felix Jones has been the best offensive player on the field the last couple practices. Vision, shiftiness and wheels are all firing on all cylinders. Lonyae and Tanner looked surprisingly good as well, but it was clear that when Felix had the ball, things were going to happen. Don’t sleep on Uncle Felix this season.
Jay Ratliff: Practices like an animal. Literally a ball of screaming and violence every time the whistle blows. Arkin and Costa got up in his face at one point. It was nice to see this early in camp.
Olshansky: I dislike the guy, I hate his schtick, but in all fairness, Igor was the most dominant player on the inside in each of the practices I attended. Part of that was who he was up against – remember that Gurode and Kosier aren’t on the field yet – but it was extreme.
Newman/Jenkins: Newman looked, at least in these practices, more like ’05 vintage Newman and less like ’10 vintage. Suddenness in change of direction and vision both looked impressive. Jenkins is playing aggressively, making good judgments jumping routes and interrupting receivers. I liked it.
Phil Costa: Get to know him if you haven’t. Barring any FA pickups, this is your starting RG.
Things I didn’t:
The UDFA receivers: Just based on what they looked like in college, I thought the UDFA pickups at the receiver position would be solid. I thought Radway (86) was way out of his depth. He has some serious wheels, but looked very clumsy in his routes, was easily redirected and looked to me like the weakest receiver on the field. Saw him in the elevator and he seemed like a nice, classy guy, though. Receiver 87 (I can’t find who this actually is, but I’m assuming it is Leong, so replace Leong with whoever it actually is if I’ve assigned jerseys wrong) may have had better days, but I thought his routes were horrendous. It was striking to watch Johnson (15) or Bryant run crisp, hard routes, and then watch 87 round them off Roy Williams style. Some drops too. Young receivers take a while – so these guys may have a ton of potential – but based on what I saw, I can’t see either of them stepping on the field for our team and making an impact for a while.
Buehler’s Frustration: Buehler continued to miss a lot, and looks to be losing this competition. He was the first to show up and the last to leave, but is a bit of a lone wolf. 5 is already attached at the hip to McBriar and LP. Feels like the writing’s on the wall, but don’t want to overjudge this after a couple practices…
Ogletree’s Effort: I saw two players consistently loafing on the field: Ogletree and Rucker. I saw two that looked visibly out of shape: Ogletree and Holland. Ogletree has looked pretty good on the field, so I don’t want to oversell this, but I found it personally frustrating to see a guy with this much potential not putting 100% into it.
Safety Play: Probably goes without saying, but the safeties on the field were consistently out of position and slow to react. It’s early, it’s just practice and these guys are learning a huge playbook (looked like two 5” binders when I saw players on the elevator), so don’t want to overreact.
Other Observations:
Others have said that they liked Chapas. From what I saw, the gap between Gronk and Chapas was huge. Gronkowski is far more polished, runs better routes, doesn’t overextend on blocks, delivers a better hit, and has better ball handling skills. Chapas looked sloppy, couldn’t hang on to the ball and ran very unwieldy routes that visibly annoyed McGee and Eskridge. It’s very early and games will be a huge part, but Gronk > Chapas thus far.
Don’t be surprised if Tyron struggles this season. He’s got a ton of potential, but has a lot of adjusting to do. It wasn’t just Ware beating him – he got beat by Geathers, Butler, Williams and 52 (who is this – isn’t Leon Williams gone?) several times and was really bad about overextending and overanticipating in OL drills. God does he have some wings, though, and he uses them like a club. Acuna was holding pads for him in OL-only and mirroring drills, and every punch looked like it gave him whiplash. If he puts it together, he’s going to be an animal, especially run-blocking, but don’t lose your mind if 2011 is a tough start. Be patient.
Holland looks really fat and really sloppy. He is easily the strongest guard we have and is a tough out once he gets his mitts on you, and for that reason alone could be the starter, but this is a one-and-done for him if so. He’s going to get beat in the same ways 70 did.
Sam Young’s development has, I think, been overstated. I want to caveat this by saying a lot of his reps were at LT (I think they wanted to get 77 as many reps as possible at RT), where he is very much out of position. But Young’s stance right now is higher than Flo or Davis – he literally has no lateral burst as a result. His body is very strange – almost no lower body, but terrific upper body strength. Young got beat more than anyone on all of the drills and play I saw. But again, these were primarily LT reps. He may be an up-and-comer at RT but his use was limited there.
The other UDFAs and scrubs at OL weren’t as impressive as the drafted ones. Acuna in particular was way out of his depth. 60 (is this Kowalski?) seemed more passable, but was noticeably worse than Costa. Jermey Parnell should not be on an NFL roster.
Montrae Holland may end up getting the nod, but I think that Phil Costa is currently the best bet for starting RG, barring a FA pickup. He has a seriously low center of gravity (Arkin too) and plays meaner than I’d remembered. He will run you into the ground.
Ogletree is very sudden. His change-of-direction skills are probably second only to 88’s. He made some terrific catches in these practices – if his work ethic could catch up, KO would be a sure shot at the 3rd WR spot.
As it is, I think the competition for 3rd WR is 1.) KO 2.) M. Johnson 3.) Harris. Johnson has dropped some balls but also put together some serious practices. He’ll have to prove it in the games, but he’s got some polish on him that KO and Harris don’t. Probably lacks some of KO’s upside, though.
We are really good at drafting tight ends. Martellus and Phillips are both beasts.
Young DID level Lissemore in 1v1 drills. It was an “OHHHHH!” moment in the stands
Olshansky got payback for his backup by faking the outside speed rush and pulling off a pretty sweet spin move to the inside. Young was completely off balance and had to hold to keep 99 off the QB.
If Tyron gets hold of you, it’s over. He rode Geathers for at least 10 yards on one block.
Nagy looks OK in general but is still slow to react to anything out of the ordinary, blitzes or different pass rush combos. He’s also out of his depth in 1v1 – he got dominated by several rushers in those drills.
Harris made a number of nice grabs in traffic – I would say that he’s caught more passes in traffic than anyone. Now, whether that’s a good thing (hands) or a bad thing (separation) I can’t quite parse out.
Josh Thomas has had a mixed camp early – has made some good reads, shows blitz very well. Does some of the small things very well. Should make the roster.
Eskridge has some wheels!
Parnell was a whipping boy in 1v1 drills. Butler made him look absolutely silly.
For a guy we drafted for being “tough”, D. Harris didn’t endear himself to the coaching staff with his performance in the ball security drills. Garrett lit into him.
Free and Kosier walked around in shorts/t-shirts and were working directly with the tackles and interior guys, respectively. These guys have the respect of the coaches and teammates – it was very obvious.
Watching Ware on Sam Young in 12v12 was pure comedy.
I don’t care what anyone says – Spencer is an animal in 1v1. He abused both Costa and Arkin.
If Ogletree had to line up against Newman the whole TC, he wouldn’t make the team. Newman was Velcro on him all practice.
Our Mid-Late-Round OLs: I was very pleasantly surprised by both Nagy and Arkin. They are both nasty, both have a nice punch and both did a surprisingly nice job on mirroring and 1v1 drills. Both of these guys need time in the weight room – they are not going to anchor like Montrae or Gurode – but from a technique perspective, I think we may have something here, especially with Arkin.
Victor Butler: Others have been saying it, but Butler and Williams look like they are for real. Quick, good use of hands, learning some very nice pass rush techniques. We didn’t have the A-team on tackle, but Butler has been a man among boys in several practices.
Felix Jones: With apologies to 88, Felix Jones has been the best offensive player on the field the last couple practices. Vision, shiftiness and wheels are all firing on all cylinders. Lonyae and Tanner looked surprisingly good as well, but it was clear that when Felix had the ball, things were going to happen. Don’t sleep on Uncle Felix this season.
Jay Ratliff: Practices like an animal. Literally a ball of screaming and violence every time the whistle blows. Arkin and Costa got up in his face at one point. It was nice to see this early in camp.
Olshansky: I dislike the guy, I hate his schtick, but in all fairness, Igor was the most dominant player on the inside in each of the practices I attended. Part of that was who he was up against – remember that Gurode and Kosier aren’t on the field yet – but it was extreme.
Newman/Jenkins: Newman looked, at least in these practices, more like ’05 vintage Newman and less like ’10 vintage. Suddenness in change of direction and vision both looked impressive. Jenkins is playing aggressively, making good judgments jumping routes and interrupting receivers. I liked it.
Phil Costa: Get to know him if you haven’t. Barring any FA pickups, this is your starting RG.
Things I didn’t:
The UDFA receivers: Just based on what they looked like in college, I thought the UDFA pickups at the receiver position would be solid. I thought Radway (86) was way out of his depth. He has some serious wheels, but looked very clumsy in his routes, was easily redirected and looked to me like the weakest receiver on the field. Saw him in the elevator and he seemed like a nice, classy guy, though. Receiver 87 (I can’t find who this actually is, but I’m assuming it is Leong, so replace Leong with whoever it actually is if I’ve assigned jerseys wrong) may have had better days, but I thought his routes were horrendous. It was striking to watch Johnson (15) or Bryant run crisp, hard routes, and then watch 87 round them off Roy Williams style. Some drops too. Young receivers take a while – so these guys may have a ton of potential – but based on what I saw, I can’t see either of them stepping on the field for our team and making an impact for a while.
Buehler’s Frustration: Buehler continued to miss a lot, and looks to be losing this competition. He was the first to show up and the last to leave, but is a bit of a lone wolf. 5 is already attached at the hip to McBriar and LP. Feels like the writing’s on the wall, but don’t want to overjudge this after a couple practices…
Ogletree’s Effort: I saw two players consistently loafing on the field: Ogletree and Rucker. I saw two that looked visibly out of shape: Ogletree and Holland. Ogletree has looked pretty good on the field, so I don’t want to oversell this, but I found it personally frustrating to see a guy with this much potential not putting 100% into it.
Safety Play: Probably goes without saying, but the safeties on the field were consistently out of position and slow to react. It’s early, it’s just practice and these guys are learning a huge playbook (looked like two 5” binders when I saw players on the elevator), so don’t want to overreact.
Other Observations:
Others have said that they liked Chapas. From what I saw, the gap between Gronk and Chapas was huge. Gronkowski is far more polished, runs better routes, doesn’t overextend on blocks, delivers a better hit, and has better ball handling skills. Chapas looked sloppy, couldn’t hang on to the ball and ran very unwieldy routes that visibly annoyed McGee and Eskridge. It’s very early and games will be a huge part, but Gronk > Chapas thus far.
Don’t be surprised if Tyron struggles this season. He’s got a ton of potential, but has a lot of adjusting to do. It wasn’t just Ware beating him – he got beat by Geathers, Butler, Williams and 52 (who is this – isn’t Leon Williams gone?) several times and was really bad about overextending and overanticipating in OL drills. God does he have some wings, though, and he uses them like a club. Acuna was holding pads for him in OL-only and mirroring drills, and every punch looked like it gave him whiplash. If he puts it together, he’s going to be an animal, especially run-blocking, but don’t lose your mind if 2011 is a tough start. Be patient.
Holland looks really fat and really sloppy. He is easily the strongest guard we have and is a tough out once he gets his mitts on you, and for that reason alone could be the starter, but this is a one-and-done for him if so. He’s going to get beat in the same ways 70 did.
Sam Young’s development has, I think, been overstated. I want to caveat this by saying a lot of his reps were at LT (I think they wanted to get 77 as many reps as possible at RT), where he is very much out of position. But Young’s stance right now is higher than Flo or Davis – he literally has no lateral burst as a result. His body is very strange – almost no lower body, but terrific upper body strength. Young got beat more than anyone on all of the drills and play I saw. But again, these were primarily LT reps. He may be an up-and-comer at RT but his use was limited there.
The other UDFAs and scrubs at OL weren’t as impressive as the drafted ones. Acuna in particular was way out of his depth. 60 (is this Kowalski?) seemed more passable, but was noticeably worse than Costa. Jermey Parnell should not be on an NFL roster.
Montrae Holland may end up getting the nod, but I think that Phil Costa is currently the best bet for starting RG, barring a FA pickup. He has a seriously low center of gravity (Arkin too) and plays meaner than I’d remembered. He will run you into the ground.
Ogletree is very sudden. His change-of-direction skills are probably second only to 88’s. He made some terrific catches in these practices – if his work ethic could catch up, KO would be a sure shot at the 3rd WR spot.
As it is, I think the competition for 3rd WR is 1.) KO 2.) M. Johnson 3.) Harris. Johnson has dropped some balls but also put together some serious practices. He’ll have to prove it in the games, but he’s got some polish on him that KO and Harris don’t. Probably lacks some of KO’s upside, though.
We are really good at drafting tight ends. Martellus and Phillips are both beasts.
Young DID level Lissemore in 1v1 drills. It was an “OHHHHH!” moment in the stands
Olshansky got payback for his backup by faking the outside speed rush and pulling off a pretty sweet spin move to the inside. Young was completely off balance and had to hold to keep 99 off the QB.
If Tyron gets hold of you, it’s over. He rode Geathers for at least 10 yards on one block.
Nagy looks OK in general but is still slow to react to anything out of the ordinary, blitzes or different pass rush combos. He’s also out of his depth in 1v1 – he got dominated by several rushers in those drills.
Harris made a number of nice grabs in traffic – I would say that he’s caught more passes in traffic than anyone. Now, whether that’s a good thing (hands) or a bad thing (separation) I can’t quite parse out.
Josh Thomas has had a mixed camp early – has made some good reads, shows blitz very well. Does some of the small things very well. Should make the roster.
Eskridge has some wheels!
Parnell was a whipping boy in 1v1 drills. Butler made him look absolutely silly.
For a guy we drafted for being “tough”, D. Harris didn’t endear himself to the coaching staff with his performance in the ball security drills. Garrett lit into him.
Free and Kosier walked around in shorts/t-shirts and were working directly with the tackles and interior guys, respectively. These guys have the respect of the coaches and teammates – it was very obvious.
Watching Ware on Sam Young in 12v12 was pure comedy.
I don’t care what anyone says – Spencer is an animal in 1v1. He abused both Costa and Arkin.
If Ogletree had to line up against Newman the whole TC, he wouldn’t make the team. Newman was Velcro on him all practice.
