cowboyjoe
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Breaking down the draft, Week II: The Shrine Bowl
> Posted by Dave Hyde on February 2, 2010 03:14 PM
Last year, London draftnik Simon Clancy wrote the longest, most in-depth posts available examining the Dolphins needs leading into the NFL draft. This year, Simon will take turns with his cohorts at UniversalDraft.com , Richard Lines and Chris Kouffman.
i poste d this because as you know, some of our scouts were trained by detail to look for things that parcells liked in players etc and by jeff ireland, so we might be interested in them too since we play a 3-4 defense too and our offense is similar in some aspects;
Today, Chris gives an in-depth report on the East-West Shrine Bowl. Did I say in-depth? It's Tolstoy covering the Shrine game. You won't get more Dolphins-centric coverage anywhere
Last week, many a football fan tested out their home draft kits by breaking out the DVR, tuning into the NFL Network’s Senior Bowl coverage, and listening to Mike Mayock talk about draft prospects while the TV cameras set footage of Tim Terrific’s awful throw mechanics on loop, like some warped Holiday Yule Log channel straight out of a Tebow-phile’s worst nightmares. Not me. We’ll get to the Senior Bowl in due time, but I spent last week wading through a sea of data gathered from time spent the previous week in Orlando observing East-West Shrine practices, as well as the game itself, firsthand.
Hi, my name is Chris, and I have a problem.
Though the Senior Bowl gets more acclaim, to go along with sponsorship deals and television coverage, I have always enjoyed the East-West Shrine Game more. Not just because of the philanthropic nature of the venture (which is organized to help raise money for Shriners Hospitals for Children), but because I have always enjoyed trying my hand (or eyes) at uncovering some of the diamonds in the rough that one finds every year at the middling of the three remaining All Star games (Texas vs. the Nation has survived, while the Hula Bowl has perished).
Last week, Simon primed you up on some of the names to consider at the #12 overall pick in the draft. Consider this week a primer on some names that the Miami Dolphins might consider later in the draft, as they try and find the next Marques Colston, Brandon Marshall, and the like.
QUARTERBACK
Do the Dolphins need another passer? Obviously they have Chad Henne and there is very little doubt, despite a rocky finish, that he is the quarterback of the present and future. Among other things, his ability to perform in the clutch moments of comeback attempts has earned him that much. However, despite conventional wisdom telling us not to conclude draft experiments so soon, the Miami brass can’t be thrilled about Pat White’s progress as an undersized option quarterback. Prior to the season, many fair-minded individuals warned about the idea of taking a 180 pound bean pole and trying to have him run option plays against NFL-sized defenders. I am sure they quietly shook their heads as they saw Pat get knocked out by a cornerback. There are some General Managers out there that believe that you roll the dice on a low-risk passer pretty much every year, because the rewards are too high to ignore. While I can’t pretend that I know whether Jeff Ireland believes in that philosophy, I can say with certainty that prior to the 2009 NCAA season, the Dolphins were sending scouts out to a lot of smaller programs with a clear pattern. Those programs either had a significant Defensive End prospect, or a significant Quarterback prospect, or both
Six passers were invited to Orlando. In my humble opinion, only one emerged as a truly viable NFL prospect at the position. That one was Mike Kafka out of Northwestern. Before I get to him, I will talk about the others. The East invited a rocket-armed 6’5” and 244 pound monstrosity out of Fordham by the name of John Skelton. This is the guy that was set to draw the onlookers. Meanwhile, the East also invited the highly experienced and savvy winner Daryll Clark out of Penn State. Coming in at just under 6’2” and 238 pounds himself, he also looked the part. The West came to battle with the prolific Max Hall of BYU, the diminutive Todd Reesing of Kansas, and the unknown Matt Nichols of Eastern Washington.
If Miami is looking for a new Wildcat QB experiment, they should probably pass on Daryll Clark despite his solid build and supposed 4.6 speed. Though I was told during the week that Todd McShay of ESPN was pimping him as his most impressive prospect at the Shrine practices, those of us that were actually AT the practices generally have no clue what he was talking about. Daryll definitely has excellent and consistent throwing mechanics. His delivery is over-the-top, quick and uniform. From there, the story broke apart quickly. Though he possesses the biceps of a body builder, he lacks significant arm strength and ability to drive his passes.
There are theories out there that may or may not hold water that claim that arms that are too built up and too well defined lack explosion on quick snap motions such as a throw or a punch. It sounds funny to think about, but maybe Daryll ought to think about letting some air out of that tire because throughout the week of practice he was turfing throws up the seam and floating throws to the sidelines. Below the waist, he was a tragedy. His foot work lacked quickness or fluidity, it most certainly lacked any kind of consistency, he did not show ability in drills to slide with pressure, and at various points he had trouble just getting out from under Center without tripping on himself, dropping the ball, or fumbling the hand-off. It did not help that during scrimmages he routinely hesitated under pressure with a faltering pocket, being allowed to continue scrambling to find a target and still not being able to find one even after having been given multiple get-out-of-sack free cards by the practice rules. He showed some of that same hesitation during the game itself.
Now, on the other hand, if the Dolphins are looking for a lower tier passer in the mold of a Tim Hiller of Western Michigan or Billy Cundiff of Ashbury, both of whom the Dolphins visited with prior to the 2009 season, then there may be some interesting prospects among the remaining five. Todd Reesing, unfortunately, was even more of a mess than Daryll Clark during the week of practice. Too often, he made Daryll Clark’s arm look like Jamarcus Russell’s. Though he showed a gritty toughness and improvisational ability during the game itself, he showed none of that during the week of practices. That leaves Kafka, Nichols, Skelton and Hall. I will try not to go too far in depth on these guys. Suffice it to say, each had their warts. Max Hall of BYU showed up to Shrine week measuring no taller than Drew Brees. That is generally a problem unless your name IS Drew Brees.
John Skelton has great size and a monster gun on his shoulders, but he is very slow, deliberate and mechanical below the waist, not possessing the ability to slide or improvise, not showing a range of angles on his delivery, and the ball generally comes out one-speed and one-trajectory. His accuracy during the week was scattershot. At times you wondered if he was trying to deliver the football, or if he was just trying to wing a fast one for the audience a la Rex Grossman. Matt Nichols was interesting prospect during the week. He got better as the week wore on, and showed some ability to lead the offense and deliver the football. He has not been invited to the Combine yet, to my knowledge, and we will see if they bring him up as an extra arm.
The guy that really got me as the week went on, and especially as the week finished, was Mike Kafka. What you had to appreciate about Kafka during the week was that his footwork was the most fluid and consistent, his backfield mechanics as far as snap exchange and hand-offs were generally flawless (a simple thing to think about, until you see miscommunications on exchange points and sloppy drawbacks taking timing away from the execution of the simplest plays), he showed the most ability to vary his angles and platforms according to the integrity of the pocket, and perhaps most importantly he showed the most consistent ability to deliver the ball before the receivers came out of their breaks. There is something about Kafka’s motion and his ability to drive the football hot up the seam and to the edge of the field that reminds me of a young Tom Brady. You may remember that Brady was not always a guy that was known for having a top notch arm. And when you see Kafka during a game running for his life and turfing a ball from some impossible body position that other hot shots might be able to gun by arm alone, the temptation will be to view Kafka as a weaker armed guy as well. But when you watch him get his feet under him and drive the ball high and hot (well placed when your target is the 6’5” Pat Simonds out of Colgate) from the middle hash of his own 45 yard line to the sidelines of the opposing 30 yard line, a 35 yard throw as the crow flies, you’ll probably see that he has the same type of tools to work with as either of the two premium passers about to square off this weekend in the Super Bowl.
RUNNING BACK
With Patrick Cobbs coming back from an ACL injury, Ronnie Brown’s status looking more clear now that even Roger Goodell is admitting that an uncapped year seems inevitable, and both Ricky Williams and Lex Hilliard remaining under contract, I would say the Dolphins are probably not in for a mid-round running back prospect.
Miami may be in for a very late prospect at the position, or an undrafted free agent. Unfortunately, the running back position did not get me going during the week of practices and I am starting to doubt that the Dolphins will target any of the backs featured in Orlando. I came into the week with lukewarm feelings about Tulane’s Andre Anderson, Miami’s Javarris James and Arizona State’s Dimitri Nance, and the week of practices did nothing to warm me up to them anymore than I had already been. Anderson and Nance may have intriguing power, particularly Nance whose legs kept churning and moving the pile throughout the week, and Javarris James may have a gift for finding the cutback lane, but none of the players were intriguing as all-around players at the position.
The most consistent players during the week were actually the skinny Andre Dixon (who measured at above 6’0” height but only 200 pounds of weight) and the unknown FCS prospect Pat Paschall from North Dakota State. Paschall is the most intriguing, having racked up a ton of yards at the FCS level with I believe a whopping 6.7 yards per carry, and having shown the consistent speed and vision to get the ball outside of the defense, as well as the versatility to gain some hard and needed first down yards on the inside. Dixon, on the other hand, flashed the best ability all week long to make guys miss in the open field, which is not surprising given his history at Connecticut.
Neither player shows the ability to block at the next level, and that will be an absolute key for Miami’s front office. Dixon has always lacked power on that long and skinny frame when it comes to blocking and powering up the middle, and though Paschall came in nicely an inch shorter and 6 pounds heavier than Andre, when he was asked to help with the blocking effort during the game and during practice, it was ugly.
TIGHT END
I did not come into the week feeling like I would find a future tight end for the Miami Dolphins. I was intrigued a little with the idea of seeing Nathan Overbay in person, since I don’t have much opportunity to watch Eastern Washington in action nowadays. And, of course, it’s always entertaining to take a look at 6’9” and 277 pound prospect that moved from offensive tackle directly to wide receiver in Army’s triple-option attack.
Ali Villanueva may not be eligible for use by NFL teams for another two or three years at the least due to his military obligations, but I figured he would be fun to watch nonetheless. I had seen Dennis Pitta play a fair amount and while his skills for the passing game could not be denied, I always came away believing that he was too one-dimensional for a Parcellsian regime which notoriously appreciates tight ends that can block.
(Intermission: You will not hear me obsess or openly ponder whether Parcells would do this or Parcells would do that when it comes to the Miami Dolphins and their draft strategy. Bill Parcells does not run the Miami Dolphins’ drafting, Jeff Ireland does. At best you’ll hear me use cutesy concepts like a ‘Parcellsian regime’ which is supposed to communicate that the Dolphins are a Parcells-influenced team, not a Parcells-run team. Over the last two years, the WWPD (What Would Parcells Do) method of predicting Miami’s draft and free agent/trade strategies have had the accuracy of an astrology calendar. That is to say, significantly less accurate than a simple coin flip or a blindfolded dart throw.
Lest we forget, Parcells doesn’t take offensive linemen in the first round, a fact which was proven by his having traded out of picks where he could have selected Orlando Pace or Walter Jones, in order to take a linebacker.
Oh, did I mention that Parcells never stands for a corner to be taken above the third round, unless Jerry Jones and Larry Lacewell wine and dine him first and calmly let him know that they are overruling his choice of defensive tackle Kevin Williams in favor of Terrence Newman? So, Vontae Davis in the first round? Not in a million years. And of course, a 180 pound option quarterback in the second round? Not while Parcells is alive! Ok, intermission over ,,,.)
What I found during the week in Orlando was that I may have found not one, but two tight ends that could potentially impact the Dolphins’ offense in 2010. Andrew Quarless of Penn State and the aforementioned Dennis Pitta were nothing if not hugely impressive all during the week of practice, and especially during the game itself.
I walked into the week having a general distaste for Dennis Pitta as a pro prospect. Not unlike John Beck, he spent two years on Latter Day Saints mission, and as a result he is two years older than your typical senior prospect. I have always found that argument to be awful greedy. It’s hard enough to find a mid-round prospect that you think can play for you period, without getting nitpicky about whether he’ll play 8 years for your team or 10 years.
What he showed me in Orlando is that not only was he easily the most fluid pass catcher at Shrine practices, but probably the most fluid pass catching tight end in the entire draft. This is a minor point of contention between myself and my friend and colleague Simon, whom you heard from last week praising the hands of Jermaine Gresham, but I do not think Gresham has elite hands. I have seen him drop and juggle too many passes to come away thinking his hands are elite. I can think of several examples off the top of my head against Oklahoma State and Texas from a year ago. Pitta’s hands, on the other hand, are generally golden.
During the week of practice I saw him running like a wide receiver during drills and adjusting to the over-the-shoulder catch better than most receivers I’ve seen. He runs smooth, catches the low ball, and catches high with a basketballer’s grace. Ultra-productive coming from not only a pass-happy BYU offense, but a tight end-happy BYU offense, he has a keen understanding of his role in the passing game, how to adjust his routes for man and zone coverage, how to veer, flatten or sharpen his routes in order to help his quarterback.
This isn’t just coming from me. I spoke at length with the West’s tight ends/special teams Coach Mike Stock, specifically about Pitta. He called him a great combination player, pointed out how smart he is in the passing game thanks to that BYU system. He repeated the word “great” in order to emphasize the quality of his hands.
Stock, who could easily be confused for a brother of Miami Offensive Coordinator Dan Henning, even tossed in that Pitta was surprisingly strong in a weight room sense and a very good blocker. Of course, overlooked that comment a little, figuring it was just the praise of a guy that was in Dennis’ corner. Well, I *did* overlook those last comments from the gruff Coach Stock, until I took a closer look at what Pitta was doing from a blocking standpoint in practices and eventually in the game.
Would you believe me if I told you that Dennis Pitta was caught on tape neutralizing defensive end conversions to linebacker like Middle Tennessee State’s Chris McCoy (6’3”, 251 lbs) and O’Brien Schofield (6’2”, 242 lbs) in run blocking? You might believe that. They’re about his size. What if I told you that he added insult to injury (no pun intended, sorry O’Brien) by pancaking Schofield to the ground on one run block? That sounds a bit harder to believe.
What if I told you that Pitta neutralized the likes of Defensive End Willie Young (6’4”, 251 lbs) and Defensive End Lindsey Witten (6’4”, 248 lbs)? Or how about taking on the 279 lbs, genuine first round talented Greg Hardy one-on-one in run blocking, and holding him at bay? He did all of these things during the game itself, in the 10 snaps I recorded where he was on the field during a run play. He kept a nice base, extended his arms, moved his feet, showed tenacity and even strength.
I recorded him as having lost one blocking matchup, and after his man got by him instead of standing around like you see a lot of players doing on those occasions, he found other work. It is all enough to make me wonder if he could accept the blocking responsibilities that a David Martin had in Miami’s system in 2008, especially if Pitta goes through a Parcellsian (there’s that term again) weight training regimen.Even Dennis Pitta was outshined during the game by his East counterpart, Andrew Quarless. During the week Andrew showed fluid movement in his routes, a natural feel for using his body to create opportunity with the ball, good hands and genuine athleticism. His coordination and focus was very good: he was able to execute chip blocks on his way out to a route, haul in the ball and keep his feet under him for some run after the catch.
Quarless regularly lined up for the East at a genuine Wide Receiver position, both in practice and during the games. He did not necessarily run like a great wide receiver, but he did run routes like a mediocre one, which is saying something for a 6’4” and 248 lbs man. During the game he made one of the more impressive one-handed catches you’ll see this year, stabbing the ball only a foot off the ground from an awkward body position and hauling it in. It was not Kafka’s most accurate ball placement, but Quarless bailed him out. Then, on an option route during the final seconds of the game,
Quarless got in the back of the end zone and high-pointed a perfectly thrown ball over the head of linebacker Reggie Carter, to give the East the winning score. The reason I don’t necessarily gush about him? He has a history, one that I am not sure how Jeff Ireland will view. He was suspended games in 2007 for underage drinking, then cited again for underage drinking in 2008…in addition to marijuana possession, DUI and failure to obey traffic signals.
WIDE RECEIVER
I came into the week having a fair idea on the things I might see out of guys like the 6’3” and 211 lbs Seyi Ajirotutu out of Fresno State, and the 6’0” and 212 lbs Freddie Barns out of Bowling Green. Barnes has exceptional hands, an inconsistent route running history and serious questions about his long speed. Seyi, on the other hand, plays like a basketball player and is a threat for the circus catch, but does not possess consistent hands.
Both guys displayed much of what I suspected they would, though Barnes came in a little sharper at creating separation versus man coverage than I might have suspected, and one thing I hadn’t come to appreciate about Seyi until I was literally standing on the sideline in his way is the power that you can feel coming off him when he runs with the ball in his hand.
The big surprise of the week was Blair White of Michigan State. The 6’2” and 205 pounder was an unknown quantity to me, mainly because I had not gotten round to watching him much. Make no mistake, he was the most impressive and talented wide receiver in Orlando that week, not counting of course the brief appearance that Brandon Marshall made on the sidelines during Monday practice.
What originally caught my eye about Blair was his ability to focus on his footwork during drills, getting it right, while not really focusing 100 percent of his attention on it. Other players keep their heads way down, focusing on their feet. He kept his head level, and shaded his eyes down just a little bit. It sounds insignificant, but it spoke to me of body sense, balance and coordination.
I soon discovered that not only did my observations bear out in other ways, but that he had the strongest hands among the wide receivers on the Shrine roster, even stronger than Freddie Barnes’. The body sense and coordination were regularly on display when he ran his routes. Keep his feet under him and flat as he runs, he is able to cut quicker. He was also able to make a number of low catches that were very impressive.
As the practice week chewed up the field, players began losing their footing, and Blair was no exception. But what he did that other players did not is find a way to regain his balance just long enough to haul in the ball, showing that the ball is his no matter what happens. He showed an ability to consistently get open because of his ability to focus on his footwork, and use his head, eyes and shoulders in order to sell the defender. He doesn’t have a looseness to his body that speaks of speed, but his being wound tight works especially well when it comes to fooling cornerbacks.
Don’t ask me, ask East cornerback Patrick Stoudamire, who in a conversation with me specifically cited Blair as being the hardest receiver to cover in practice. All that said, it’s good to note that White is not really a vertical threat, and on the fade attempts I saw he did not necessarily display the same strong, attacking hands as he did on underneath routes. As a Miami Dolphins fan, one would have to wonder whether Blair is a little too much of what the team already has. Then again, having seen enough incompetence at the position over the last two years, it would be hard for me to say no to a guy that gets open and catches the ball, depending on the round.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Despite best efforts, the Dolphins need to solidify the offensive line…again. Signing Jake Grove turned out to be a coup from a talent standpoint but he came with just as much injury risk as advertised. Justin Smiley, on the other hand, came with even more injury risk than originally thought. In both seasons, the injuries mounted and took their toll on the group’s overall cohesion. There is something to be said for taking a durable player like Vernon Carey, and sliding him over next to his best pal Jake Long at left guard, while the team finds another right tackle to bookend with Jake for many years to come.
With that in mind, Indiana tackle Rodger Saffold proved to be, by a fair margin, the best overall lineman in the Shrine practices. He proved it every day in practice, and proved it again during the game itself. He consistently showed the best and most balanced stance during drills, as well as some of the most active hands, and the strongest back. He does not fall to waist-bending, as he bends naturally at the knees. He was equally adept at anchoring in pass protection as he was firing out low, aggressive and balanced in his run blocking efforts.
The problem for him is that he measured in at about 6’4.5” and 312 lbs, with arms just over 33 inches long and hands only a little over 9 inches wide. Though he consistently showed left tackle ability against the players in the East practice, as well as his competition during the game, a lot of NFL personnel executives will be convinced that he can’t do this at the next level and may have to move either to left guard or right tackle.
Let me just say that if I were the Miami Dolphins, I would be all too happy to take him on. He is easily one of the most disciplined and quick to recover players that I have seen on the offensive line this year.
Other guys that caught my attention included Hawaii Center John Estes, Texas Tech Guard Brandon Carter and Iowa Tackle Kyle Callaway. Estes, though undersized at 6’2” and 295 lbs with about 30 inch arms, showed anchor during the practices against much bigger, NFL-sized defensive tackles. What he showed that was even more important were the quickest hands of anyone in Orlando, excepting perhaps the defensive tackle Mike Neal of Purdue.
Carter, on the other hand is a massive player at well over 6’5” and 326 lbs, nearly 11 inch hands and over 33 inch arms. He played from an up position at Texas Tech and so he has to get used to putting his hand on the ground. I did not see that as being a significant problem for him. A bigger problem is that he does not seem to be a natural knee bender or very balanced player on the line.
A natural right guard, he is vicious and explosive with his upper body but needs to rein in a little bit and move his feet more in order to prevent lunging. Now, I’m not saying he was one of “those” guys at the practices, those guys were evident and they tend to be the ones that you cast aside pretty quickly. Carter was just a little bit off where he needed to be.
As for Kyle Callaway, he is absolutely a technician. He is not quite as technically sound as Rodger Saffold, but probably more powerful, especially as a run blocker, and he tends to keep his head up and knees low when anchoring in pass protection. When I have seen Kyle make mistakes, it tends to be in the depth of his kick slide. During the game itself he had excellent battles with a guy that I am very high on, Defensive End Jeff Fitzgerald of Kansas State. There was a lot of give-and-take between the two.
DEFENSIVE LINE:
One thing I had to constantly remind myself about the defensive line prospects in Orlando was the quality of the offensive linemen that they were generally facing in practice and during the game. Pit drills are generally geared to advantage the defensive players, but there were days especially in the West practices where you got the feeling that the offensive line couldn’t buy a win. Jaron Baston of Missouri has caught my attention on tape before, but when I see the likes of Reggie Stephens struggling with him in practice, or Ben Staggs during the game, I can’t help but wonder exactly how much Jaron is showing me.
That said, there were a few interesting defensive line prospects out there. The ones that caught my eye most were defensive end Greg Hardy of Ole Miss, defensive end Jeff Fitzgerald of Kansas State, defensive tackle Mike Neal of Purdue, Torell Troup and defensive tackle Martin Tevaseu of UNLV. All are players that the Dolphins should have their eye on, for different reasons.
Greg Hardy has been on radar for a long time, for being the most productive sacker in the SEC. He could have chosen to come out a year ago, and regardless of where he goes when all is said and done, he has the pure talent to go very, very high in the NFL Draft. A former basketball player that has caught touchdown passes in his history at Ole Miss, he came in at over 6’4” and 279 lbs, with 34 inch arms.
During the practice week, I thought he was easily the most physically gifted of the East’s defensive linemen, which put him high up there for most physically gifted among all Shrine players. Consider that his measurements only came in a little different from those of his East teammate Doug Worthington out of Ohio State, a guy that is fully on radar for a conversion to 3-4 defensive end.
Look at the way the two players move. Despite dimensions that are very similar, the difference between the two couldn’t be more obvious. Hardy moved with the fluidity of a linebacker. I even saw him beautifully high-point a ball while just messing around in practice. Yet during the game itself, he regularly moved inside to defensive tackle, and even played the run from that spot, dealing with offensive line double teams along the way. He had a sack during the game. He had another near-sack. He made several plays on the run behind the line of scrimmage.
Right now he is one of the only players I can think of that can run a linebacker drill one minute, high-point a pass another minute, put his hand down at defensive end and rush the passer, then put his hand down at defensive tackle and hold his own against a double team on a run play. One catch is that he does not appear to have great strength in his arms. During bag drills he was the one defensive lineman I saw that consistently had trouble getting the bag all the way to the ground. That showed up in the game itself when he ran around a tackle and got a clean shot on the miniature Todd Reesing, but just fell off Todd without bringing him down.
The second catch is, if you know about Greg Hardy as a prospect, you know that there is a “history” to be dealt with. Rumors of coaches having to cater to him, of being disruptive to his teammates’ work habits, of not working hard himself, of being off the field due to injuries that might have been prevented, are absolutely killing his draft stock at the moment. He would absolutely have a decent shot of competing for status as the top overall 3-4 outside linebacker, if he didn’t have a reputation for being, for lack of a better word, a lunatic.
Jeff Fitzgerald’s history seems mute by comparison. All he did was get kicked out of Virginia because of poor academics. The upside on him is tremendous. At 6’4” and 271 lbs, with near 34 inch arms and 10 inch hands, he’s got great size to be a 4-3 Defensive End, with even the upside of possibly gaining weight and playing in a 3-4 system. That would not at all be out of sorts for him, as he played his first couple of years under Al Groh in Virginia, right alongside Chris Long.
In fact, I remember watching film of Chris Long and thinking that his teammate Jeff Fitzgerald is outshining him in several ways. Since going to Kansas State, he’s been moved back and forth between defensive tackle and defensive end, not quite finding a hole. As a defensive end, he does not yet have a field for creating a dangerous edge rush. During practices, I thought he really showed up against the run. During the game itself, he drew mostly Kyle Callaway of Iowa, who had been one of my five most impressive players from the week of practice, and Fitzgerald absolutely gave Callaway a run for his money, even getting a sack.
Tevaseu, Neal and Torell Troup I view to be interesting projects. Troup and Tevaseu grabbed my attention during practices and especially during the game by handling double teams and forcing both players in the double to stay at home rather than release out and take up a linebacker at the second level. Tevaseu also showed really strong ability to protect his knees from the cut block, and the athleticism to chase plays from behind. On the other hand, Neal was consistently and by far the quickest and most explosive puncher off the snap of any player in Orlando.
No matter how many times you freeze frame and inch forward trying to see who gets their shoulder and hand fully lodged into the offensive line first, it will always be Neal, who regularly knocks a lineman’s shoulders back off the snap, but does not possess the leg drive to finish the job.
LINEBACKERS
Unfortunately, none of the linebackers really jumped out at me as prospects for the Dolphins. The best ones that I saw during the practice week and game were Stevenson Sylvester of Utah, Keaton Kristick of Oregon State, Kavell Conner of Clemson, Kion Wilson of South Florida and Dexter Davis of Arizona State.
Kristick had stood out to me during the week of practice for his late-arising penchant for finding the big hit, and for his ability to hook and jam tight ends at or near the line. It takes a nice blend of physicality and quickness to do the latter. If you lack the quickness then when you go to make your jam you might end up grasping at air and starting out coverage from a terrible position in trail. I saw this happen to Dexter Davis and O’Brien Schofield a few times.
Kristick, on the other hand, played the same position as those guys, and showed a natural feel for putting contact on tight ends. He also stood out for his fluid coverage in practice. Late in the week he found himself having to cover Wide Receiver Emmanuel Sanders deep down the field twice in a two-minute drill, and he had him painted both times.
Stevenson Sylvester has an interesting frame and playing style. He is lengthy at 6’2” with 34 inch arms and 10 inch hands, but only 225 lbs makes him pretty rail thin for the position. Yet he has a power, leverage and physicality to him that lets him be just as physical as a square body like Reggie Carter of UCLA. His length and the quickness he owes no doubt to his slight stature, not to mention his very quick reads, make him a natural cover guy and I saw the ability to shut options down in zone coverage during the game itself. When you put that together with the aggressive hole filling and tackling in the backfield that he displayed during the game, he is an interesting prospect, though one that would still be hard to stomach in Miami’s 3-4 defense.
Kavell Conner and Kion Wilson were similar players during the weak, both fluid and both showing the ability to attack the ball. But Conner is a little more stout at 247 lbs, and so it is intriguing to see him run through linebacker drills like a 230 lbs player. Conner also had a number of occasions where he showed a willingness to slam himself into the hole and dictate the runner’s lane, taking on a blocker in the process. Wilson, though smaller, showed some harder and more aggressive hits on the ball. Neither player, however, was particularly strong in coverage, which makes the story a little less interesting.
Dexter Davis of Arizona State is another defensive end convert. He did not play in the game because he injured an ankle right in front of me, ironically while I was engrossed in conversation with a Jacksonville Jaguars scout about Dexter. He has always caught my eye for his stout, active ability against the run, and his ability to stay on his feet even when you would swear just about any player would be on the ground in his position. He finds a way to pop back up and come for the ball.
During the week of practice, he saw himself victim several times when guys like Dennis Pitta would run routes against him in coverage. However, Pitta victimized several players all week. He also did not display as much ability to jam and be physical on tight ends in coverage as I had hoped. However, the thing he did that had me excited about him, was he was able to translate his ability to set the edge and shut down the run from the ground where he did it at Arizona State, to space as a linebacker. That was not an ability I saw consistently out of other converts like Chris McCoy and O’Brien Schofield. In practice, Davis not only set the edge, but he got off blocks and made plays on the runner when the runner tried to go to the outside. It would have been nice to see him in the game. The big issue is he was only 6’1” and 244 lbs, which means Miami would be hard pressed to make him a strong side linebacker in their 3-4, and if the guy can’t cover then he will be a liability as an inside linebacker.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
I am not sure that Miami will look at any of the corners in Orlando during Shrine week. The best corner by far during the week of practice was Devin Ross of Arizona. He displayed the physicality and quickness to jam receivers up close to the line, and then to mirror them in their routes. The thing that set him apart was that he could also play off from a zone look, and break on the ball, forcing the incompletion.
The problem is he may have done this during practice as a result of facing ineffective receivers, because when the West corners took the field against the East receivers, late in the game the East receivers were finding it far too easy to get open toward the sideline where they could not only catch the ball but get out of bounds.
During the game, Ross and Alterraun Verner of UCLA seemed to be physically outgunned by bigger and stronger players. At one point Freddie Barnes could just muscle his way out of bounds easily after catching a pass near the sidelines, with Verner helpless in trying to bring him down in-bounds. Meanwhile, Devin Ross got a big pass interference penalty and allowed some other catches, and was outgunned in blocking on several occasions.
This is where size tends to be important to corners, and neither Verner nor Ross were quite physical enough to overcome size disadvantages. Meanwhile, the East’s corners were generally not impressive to me and very inconsistent.
The safeties were a little bit of a different story. One safety in particular has to be square on Miami’s radar, and that is Kam Chancellor of Virginia Tech. He came into the week with questions about his ability to turn and run with receivers. He answered those quickly in one-on-one drills with receivers during practice. He had zero trouble, and regularly made plays on the football in coverage one-on-one.
Then when you get him into a scrimmage situation and ask him to play single-high as a deep patrol man, he was the most apt toward…wait, no I mean he was literally the only one blowing players up with his burst to the football and his physicality. He continued that strong outing into the game itself where he continued to play headhunter, causing incompletions and even literally taking guys’ helmets off. He regularly showed the awareness to go for the strip as he tackled people. He went where the coverage and the quarterback’s eyes took him. He was aggressive in filling the box against the run. After the week of practice, I view him to be one of the top safety prospects in the draft.
Well, I hope that gives you your fill of Shrine week action. I have a lot more comments on a lot more players but you’ll have to keep checking UniversalDraft.com for those, including the accompanying videos. As this is a Dolphins blog I did want to make sure to give you plenty to chew on among players that the Dolphins may look at. Next week we plan on having some coverage of the Senior Bowl and the Texas Vs The Nation game.
> Posted by Dave Hyde on February 2, 2010 03:14 PM
Last year, London draftnik Simon Clancy wrote the longest, most in-depth posts available examining the Dolphins needs leading into the NFL draft. This year, Simon will take turns with his cohorts at UniversalDraft.com , Richard Lines and Chris Kouffman.
i poste d this because as you know, some of our scouts were trained by detail to look for things that parcells liked in players etc and by jeff ireland, so we might be interested in them too since we play a 3-4 defense too and our offense is similar in some aspects;
Today, Chris gives an in-depth report on the East-West Shrine Bowl. Did I say in-depth? It's Tolstoy covering the Shrine game. You won't get more Dolphins-centric coverage anywhere
Last week, many a football fan tested out their home draft kits by breaking out the DVR, tuning into the NFL Network’s Senior Bowl coverage, and listening to Mike Mayock talk about draft prospects while the TV cameras set footage of Tim Terrific’s awful throw mechanics on loop, like some warped Holiday Yule Log channel straight out of a Tebow-phile’s worst nightmares. Not me. We’ll get to the Senior Bowl in due time, but I spent last week wading through a sea of data gathered from time spent the previous week in Orlando observing East-West Shrine practices, as well as the game itself, firsthand.
Hi, my name is Chris, and I have a problem.
Though the Senior Bowl gets more acclaim, to go along with sponsorship deals and television coverage, I have always enjoyed the East-West Shrine Game more. Not just because of the philanthropic nature of the venture (which is organized to help raise money for Shriners Hospitals for Children), but because I have always enjoyed trying my hand (or eyes) at uncovering some of the diamonds in the rough that one finds every year at the middling of the three remaining All Star games (Texas vs. the Nation has survived, while the Hula Bowl has perished).
Last week, Simon primed you up on some of the names to consider at the #12 overall pick in the draft. Consider this week a primer on some names that the Miami Dolphins might consider later in the draft, as they try and find the next Marques Colston, Brandon Marshall, and the like.
QUARTERBACK
Do the Dolphins need another passer? Obviously they have Chad Henne and there is very little doubt, despite a rocky finish, that he is the quarterback of the present and future. Among other things, his ability to perform in the clutch moments of comeback attempts has earned him that much. However, despite conventional wisdom telling us not to conclude draft experiments so soon, the Miami brass can’t be thrilled about Pat White’s progress as an undersized option quarterback. Prior to the season, many fair-minded individuals warned about the idea of taking a 180 pound bean pole and trying to have him run option plays against NFL-sized defenders. I am sure they quietly shook their heads as they saw Pat get knocked out by a cornerback. There are some General Managers out there that believe that you roll the dice on a low-risk passer pretty much every year, because the rewards are too high to ignore. While I can’t pretend that I know whether Jeff Ireland believes in that philosophy, I can say with certainty that prior to the 2009 NCAA season, the Dolphins were sending scouts out to a lot of smaller programs with a clear pattern. Those programs either had a significant Defensive End prospect, or a significant Quarterback prospect, or both
Six passers were invited to Orlando. In my humble opinion, only one emerged as a truly viable NFL prospect at the position. That one was Mike Kafka out of Northwestern. Before I get to him, I will talk about the others. The East invited a rocket-armed 6’5” and 244 pound monstrosity out of Fordham by the name of John Skelton. This is the guy that was set to draw the onlookers. Meanwhile, the East also invited the highly experienced and savvy winner Daryll Clark out of Penn State. Coming in at just under 6’2” and 238 pounds himself, he also looked the part. The West came to battle with the prolific Max Hall of BYU, the diminutive Todd Reesing of Kansas, and the unknown Matt Nichols of Eastern Washington.
If Miami is looking for a new Wildcat QB experiment, they should probably pass on Daryll Clark despite his solid build and supposed 4.6 speed. Though I was told during the week that Todd McShay of ESPN was pimping him as his most impressive prospect at the Shrine practices, those of us that were actually AT the practices generally have no clue what he was talking about. Daryll definitely has excellent and consistent throwing mechanics. His delivery is over-the-top, quick and uniform. From there, the story broke apart quickly. Though he possesses the biceps of a body builder, he lacks significant arm strength and ability to drive his passes.
There are theories out there that may or may not hold water that claim that arms that are too built up and too well defined lack explosion on quick snap motions such as a throw or a punch. It sounds funny to think about, but maybe Daryll ought to think about letting some air out of that tire because throughout the week of practice he was turfing throws up the seam and floating throws to the sidelines. Below the waist, he was a tragedy. His foot work lacked quickness or fluidity, it most certainly lacked any kind of consistency, he did not show ability in drills to slide with pressure, and at various points he had trouble just getting out from under Center without tripping on himself, dropping the ball, or fumbling the hand-off. It did not help that during scrimmages he routinely hesitated under pressure with a faltering pocket, being allowed to continue scrambling to find a target and still not being able to find one even after having been given multiple get-out-of-sack free cards by the practice rules. He showed some of that same hesitation during the game itself.
Now, on the other hand, if the Dolphins are looking for a lower tier passer in the mold of a Tim Hiller of Western Michigan or Billy Cundiff of Ashbury, both of whom the Dolphins visited with prior to the 2009 season, then there may be some interesting prospects among the remaining five. Todd Reesing, unfortunately, was even more of a mess than Daryll Clark during the week of practice. Too often, he made Daryll Clark’s arm look like Jamarcus Russell’s. Though he showed a gritty toughness and improvisational ability during the game itself, he showed none of that during the week of practices. That leaves Kafka, Nichols, Skelton and Hall. I will try not to go too far in depth on these guys. Suffice it to say, each had their warts. Max Hall of BYU showed up to Shrine week measuring no taller than Drew Brees. That is generally a problem unless your name IS Drew Brees.
John Skelton has great size and a monster gun on his shoulders, but he is very slow, deliberate and mechanical below the waist, not possessing the ability to slide or improvise, not showing a range of angles on his delivery, and the ball generally comes out one-speed and one-trajectory. His accuracy during the week was scattershot. At times you wondered if he was trying to deliver the football, or if he was just trying to wing a fast one for the audience a la Rex Grossman. Matt Nichols was interesting prospect during the week. He got better as the week wore on, and showed some ability to lead the offense and deliver the football. He has not been invited to the Combine yet, to my knowledge, and we will see if they bring him up as an extra arm.
The guy that really got me as the week went on, and especially as the week finished, was Mike Kafka. What you had to appreciate about Kafka during the week was that his footwork was the most fluid and consistent, his backfield mechanics as far as snap exchange and hand-offs were generally flawless (a simple thing to think about, until you see miscommunications on exchange points and sloppy drawbacks taking timing away from the execution of the simplest plays), he showed the most ability to vary his angles and platforms according to the integrity of the pocket, and perhaps most importantly he showed the most consistent ability to deliver the ball before the receivers came out of their breaks. There is something about Kafka’s motion and his ability to drive the football hot up the seam and to the edge of the field that reminds me of a young Tom Brady. You may remember that Brady was not always a guy that was known for having a top notch arm. And when you see Kafka during a game running for his life and turfing a ball from some impossible body position that other hot shots might be able to gun by arm alone, the temptation will be to view Kafka as a weaker armed guy as well. But when you watch him get his feet under him and drive the ball high and hot (well placed when your target is the 6’5” Pat Simonds out of Colgate) from the middle hash of his own 45 yard line to the sidelines of the opposing 30 yard line, a 35 yard throw as the crow flies, you’ll probably see that he has the same type of tools to work with as either of the two premium passers about to square off this weekend in the Super Bowl.
RUNNING BACK
With Patrick Cobbs coming back from an ACL injury, Ronnie Brown’s status looking more clear now that even Roger Goodell is admitting that an uncapped year seems inevitable, and both Ricky Williams and Lex Hilliard remaining under contract, I would say the Dolphins are probably not in for a mid-round running back prospect.
Miami may be in for a very late prospect at the position, or an undrafted free agent. Unfortunately, the running back position did not get me going during the week of practices and I am starting to doubt that the Dolphins will target any of the backs featured in Orlando. I came into the week with lukewarm feelings about Tulane’s Andre Anderson, Miami’s Javarris James and Arizona State’s Dimitri Nance, and the week of practices did nothing to warm me up to them anymore than I had already been. Anderson and Nance may have intriguing power, particularly Nance whose legs kept churning and moving the pile throughout the week, and Javarris James may have a gift for finding the cutback lane, but none of the players were intriguing as all-around players at the position.
The most consistent players during the week were actually the skinny Andre Dixon (who measured at above 6’0” height but only 200 pounds of weight) and the unknown FCS prospect Pat Paschall from North Dakota State. Paschall is the most intriguing, having racked up a ton of yards at the FCS level with I believe a whopping 6.7 yards per carry, and having shown the consistent speed and vision to get the ball outside of the defense, as well as the versatility to gain some hard and needed first down yards on the inside. Dixon, on the other hand, flashed the best ability all week long to make guys miss in the open field, which is not surprising given his history at Connecticut.
Neither player shows the ability to block at the next level, and that will be an absolute key for Miami’s front office. Dixon has always lacked power on that long and skinny frame when it comes to blocking and powering up the middle, and though Paschall came in nicely an inch shorter and 6 pounds heavier than Andre, when he was asked to help with the blocking effort during the game and during practice, it was ugly.
TIGHT END
I did not come into the week feeling like I would find a future tight end for the Miami Dolphins. I was intrigued a little with the idea of seeing Nathan Overbay in person, since I don’t have much opportunity to watch Eastern Washington in action nowadays. And, of course, it’s always entertaining to take a look at 6’9” and 277 pound prospect that moved from offensive tackle directly to wide receiver in Army’s triple-option attack.
Ali Villanueva may not be eligible for use by NFL teams for another two or three years at the least due to his military obligations, but I figured he would be fun to watch nonetheless. I had seen Dennis Pitta play a fair amount and while his skills for the passing game could not be denied, I always came away believing that he was too one-dimensional for a Parcellsian regime which notoriously appreciates tight ends that can block.
(Intermission: You will not hear me obsess or openly ponder whether Parcells would do this or Parcells would do that when it comes to the Miami Dolphins and their draft strategy. Bill Parcells does not run the Miami Dolphins’ drafting, Jeff Ireland does. At best you’ll hear me use cutesy concepts like a ‘Parcellsian regime’ which is supposed to communicate that the Dolphins are a Parcells-influenced team, not a Parcells-run team. Over the last two years, the WWPD (What Would Parcells Do) method of predicting Miami’s draft and free agent/trade strategies have had the accuracy of an astrology calendar. That is to say, significantly less accurate than a simple coin flip or a blindfolded dart throw.
Lest we forget, Parcells doesn’t take offensive linemen in the first round, a fact which was proven by his having traded out of picks where he could have selected Orlando Pace or Walter Jones, in order to take a linebacker.
Oh, did I mention that Parcells never stands for a corner to be taken above the third round, unless Jerry Jones and Larry Lacewell wine and dine him first and calmly let him know that they are overruling his choice of defensive tackle Kevin Williams in favor of Terrence Newman? So, Vontae Davis in the first round? Not in a million years. And of course, a 180 pound option quarterback in the second round? Not while Parcells is alive! Ok, intermission over ,,,.)
What I found during the week in Orlando was that I may have found not one, but two tight ends that could potentially impact the Dolphins’ offense in 2010. Andrew Quarless of Penn State and the aforementioned Dennis Pitta were nothing if not hugely impressive all during the week of practice, and especially during the game itself.
I walked into the week having a general distaste for Dennis Pitta as a pro prospect. Not unlike John Beck, he spent two years on Latter Day Saints mission, and as a result he is two years older than your typical senior prospect. I have always found that argument to be awful greedy. It’s hard enough to find a mid-round prospect that you think can play for you period, without getting nitpicky about whether he’ll play 8 years for your team or 10 years.
What he showed me in Orlando is that not only was he easily the most fluid pass catcher at Shrine practices, but probably the most fluid pass catching tight end in the entire draft. This is a minor point of contention between myself and my friend and colleague Simon, whom you heard from last week praising the hands of Jermaine Gresham, but I do not think Gresham has elite hands. I have seen him drop and juggle too many passes to come away thinking his hands are elite. I can think of several examples off the top of my head against Oklahoma State and Texas from a year ago. Pitta’s hands, on the other hand, are generally golden.
During the week of practice I saw him running like a wide receiver during drills and adjusting to the over-the-shoulder catch better than most receivers I’ve seen. He runs smooth, catches the low ball, and catches high with a basketballer’s grace. Ultra-productive coming from not only a pass-happy BYU offense, but a tight end-happy BYU offense, he has a keen understanding of his role in the passing game, how to adjust his routes for man and zone coverage, how to veer, flatten or sharpen his routes in order to help his quarterback.
This isn’t just coming from me. I spoke at length with the West’s tight ends/special teams Coach Mike Stock, specifically about Pitta. He called him a great combination player, pointed out how smart he is in the passing game thanks to that BYU system. He repeated the word “great” in order to emphasize the quality of his hands.
Stock, who could easily be confused for a brother of Miami Offensive Coordinator Dan Henning, even tossed in that Pitta was surprisingly strong in a weight room sense and a very good blocker. Of course, overlooked that comment a little, figuring it was just the praise of a guy that was in Dennis’ corner. Well, I *did* overlook those last comments from the gruff Coach Stock, until I took a closer look at what Pitta was doing from a blocking standpoint in practices and eventually in the game.
Would you believe me if I told you that Dennis Pitta was caught on tape neutralizing defensive end conversions to linebacker like Middle Tennessee State’s Chris McCoy (6’3”, 251 lbs) and O’Brien Schofield (6’2”, 242 lbs) in run blocking? You might believe that. They’re about his size. What if I told you that he added insult to injury (no pun intended, sorry O’Brien) by pancaking Schofield to the ground on one run block? That sounds a bit harder to believe.
What if I told you that Pitta neutralized the likes of Defensive End Willie Young (6’4”, 251 lbs) and Defensive End Lindsey Witten (6’4”, 248 lbs)? Or how about taking on the 279 lbs, genuine first round talented Greg Hardy one-on-one in run blocking, and holding him at bay? He did all of these things during the game itself, in the 10 snaps I recorded where he was on the field during a run play. He kept a nice base, extended his arms, moved his feet, showed tenacity and even strength.
I recorded him as having lost one blocking matchup, and after his man got by him instead of standing around like you see a lot of players doing on those occasions, he found other work. It is all enough to make me wonder if he could accept the blocking responsibilities that a David Martin had in Miami’s system in 2008, especially if Pitta goes through a Parcellsian (there’s that term again) weight training regimen.Even Dennis Pitta was outshined during the game by his East counterpart, Andrew Quarless. During the week Andrew showed fluid movement in his routes, a natural feel for using his body to create opportunity with the ball, good hands and genuine athleticism. His coordination and focus was very good: he was able to execute chip blocks on his way out to a route, haul in the ball and keep his feet under him for some run after the catch.
Quarless regularly lined up for the East at a genuine Wide Receiver position, both in practice and during the games. He did not necessarily run like a great wide receiver, but he did run routes like a mediocre one, which is saying something for a 6’4” and 248 lbs man. During the game he made one of the more impressive one-handed catches you’ll see this year, stabbing the ball only a foot off the ground from an awkward body position and hauling it in. It was not Kafka’s most accurate ball placement, but Quarless bailed him out. Then, on an option route during the final seconds of the game,
Quarless got in the back of the end zone and high-pointed a perfectly thrown ball over the head of linebacker Reggie Carter, to give the East the winning score. The reason I don’t necessarily gush about him? He has a history, one that I am not sure how Jeff Ireland will view. He was suspended games in 2007 for underage drinking, then cited again for underage drinking in 2008…in addition to marijuana possession, DUI and failure to obey traffic signals.
WIDE RECEIVER
I came into the week having a fair idea on the things I might see out of guys like the 6’3” and 211 lbs Seyi Ajirotutu out of Fresno State, and the 6’0” and 212 lbs Freddie Barns out of Bowling Green. Barnes has exceptional hands, an inconsistent route running history and serious questions about his long speed. Seyi, on the other hand, plays like a basketball player and is a threat for the circus catch, but does not possess consistent hands.
Both guys displayed much of what I suspected they would, though Barnes came in a little sharper at creating separation versus man coverage than I might have suspected, and one thing I hadn’t come to appreciate about Seyi until I was literally standing on the sideline in his way is the power that you can feel coming off him when he runs with the ball in his hand.
The big surprise of the week was Blair White of Michigan State. The 6’2” and 205 pounder was an unknown quantity to me, mainly because I had not gotten round to watching him much. Make no mistake, he was the most impressive and talented wide receiver in Orlando that week, not counting of course the brief appearance that Brandon Marshall made on the sidelines during Monday practice.
What originally caught my eye about Blair was his ability to focus on his footwork during drills, getting it right, while not really focusing 100 percent of his attention on it. Other players keep their heads way down, focusing on their feet. He kept his head level, and shaded his eyes down just a little bit. It sounds insignificant, but it spoke to me of body sense, balance and coordination.
I soon discovered that not only did my observations bear out in other ways, but that he had the strongest hands among the wide receivers on the Shrine roster, even stronger than Freddie Barnes’. The body sense and coordination were regularly on display when he ran his routes. Keep his feet under him and flat as he runs, he is able to cut quicker. He was also able to make a number of low catches that were very impressive.
As the practice week chewed up the field, players began losing their footing, and Blair was no exception. But what he did that other players did not is find a way to regain his balance just long enough to haul in the ball, showing that the ball is his no matter what happens. He showed an ability to consistently get open because of his ability to focus on his footwork, and use his head, eyes and shoulders in order to sell the defender. He doesn’t have a looseness to his body that speaks of speed, but his being wound tight works especially well when it comes to fooling cornerbacks.
Don’t ask me, ask East cornerback Patrick Stoudamire, who in a conversation with me specifically cited Blair as being the hardest receiver to cover in practice. All that said, it’s good to note that White is not really a vertical threat, and on the fade attempts I saw he did not necessarily display the same strong, attacking hands as he did on underneath routes. As a Miami Dolphins fan, one would have to wonder whether Blair is a little too much of what the team already has. Then again, having seen enough incompetence at the position over the last two years, it would be hard for me to say no to a guy that gets open and catches the ball, depending on the round.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Despite best efforts, the Dolphins need to solidify the offensive line…again. Signing Jake Grove turned out to be a coup from a talent standpoint but he came with just as much injury risk as advertised. Justin Smiley, on the other hand, came with even more injury risk than originally thought. In both seasons, the injuries mounted and took their toll on the group’s overall cohesion. There is something to be said for taking a durable player like Vernon Carey, and sliding him over next to his best pal Jake Long at left guard, while the team finds another right tackle to bookend with Jake for many years to come.
With that in mind, Indiana tackle Rodger Saffold proved to be, by a fair margin, the best overall lineman in the Shrine practices. He proved it every day in practice, and proved it again during the game itself. He consistently showed the best and most balanced stance during drills, as well as some of the most active hands, and the strongest back. He does not fall to waist-bending, as he bends naturally at the knees. He was equally adept at anchoring in pass protection as he was firing out low, aggressive and balanced in his run blocking efforts.
The problem for him is that he measured in at about 6’4.5” and 312 lbs, with arms just over 33 inches long and hands only a little over 9 inches wide. Though he consistently showed left tackle ability against the players in the East practice, as well as his competition during the game, a lot of NFL personnel executives will be convinced that he can’t do this at the next level and may have to move either to left guard or right tackle.
Let me just say that if I were the Miami Dolphins, I would be all too happy to take him on. He is easily one of the most disciplined and quick to recover players that I have seen on the offensive line this year.
Other guys that caught my attention included Hawaii Center John Estes, Texas Tech Guard Brandon Carter and Iowa Tackle Kyle Callaway. Estes, though undersized at 6’2” and 295 lbs with about 30 inch arms, showed anchor during the practices against much bigger, NFL-sized defensive tackles. What he showed that was even more important were the quickest hands of anyone in Orlando, excepting perhaps the defensive tackle Mike Neal of Purdue.
Carter, on the other hand is a massive player at well over 6’5” and 326 lbs, nearly 11 inch hands and over 33 inch arms. He played from an up position at Texas Tech and so he has to get used to putting his hand on the ground. I did not see that as being a significant problem for him. A bigger problem is that he does not seem to be a natural knee bender or very balanced player on the line.
A natural right guard, he is vicious and explosive with his upper body but needs to rein in a little bit and move his feet more in order to prevent lunging. Now, I’m not saying he was one of “those” guys at the practices, those guys were evident and they tend to be the ones that you cast aside pretty quickly. Carter was just a little bit off where he needed to be.
As for Kyle Callaway, he is absolutely a technician. He is not quite as technically sound as Rodger Saffold, but probably more powerful, especially as a run blocker, and he tends to keep his head up and knees low when anchoring in pass protection. When I have seen Kyle make mistakes, it tends to be in the depth of his kick slide. During the game itself he had excellent battles with a guy that I am very high on, Defensive End Jeff Fitzgerald of Kansas State. There was a lot of give-and-take between the two.
DEFENSIVE LINE:
One thing I had to constantly remind myself about the defensive line prospects in Orlando was the quality of the offensive linemen that they were generally facing in practice and during the game. Pit drills are generally geared to advantage the defensive players, but there were days especially in the West practices where you got the feeling that the offensive line couldn’t buy a win. Jaron Baston of Missouri has caught my attention on tape before, but when I see the likes of Reggie Stephens struggling with him in practice, or Ben Staggs during the game, I can’t help but wonder exactly how much Jaron is showing me.
That said, there were a few interesting defensive line prospects out there. The ones that caught my eye most were defensive end Greg Hardy of Ole Miss, defensive end Jeff Fitzgerald of Kansas State, defensive tackle Mike Neal of Purdue, Torell Troup and defensive tackle Martin Tevaseu of UNLV. All are players that the Dolphins should have their eye on, for different reasons.
Greg Hardy has been on radar for a long time, for being the most productive sacker in the SEC. He could have chosen to come out a year ago, and regardless of where he goes when all is said and done, he has the pure talent to go very, very high in the NFL Draft. A former basketball player that has caught touchdown passes in his history at Ole Miss, he came in at over 6’4” and 279 lbs, with 34 inch arms.
During the practice week, I thought he was easily the most physically gifted of the East’s defensive linemen, which put him high up there for most physically gifted among all Shrine players. Consider that his measurements only came in a little different from those of his East teammate Doug Worthington out of Ohio State, a guy that is fully on radar for a conversion to 3-4 defensive end.
Look at the way the two players move. Despite dimensions that are very similar, the difference between the two couldn’t be more obvious. Hardy moved with the fluidity of a linebacker. I even saw him beautifully high-point a ball while just messing around in practice. Yet during the game itself, he regularly moved inside to defensive tackle, and even played the run from that spot, dealing with offensive line double teams along the way. He had a sack during the game. He had another near-sack. He made several plays on the run behind the line of scrimmage.
Right now he is one of the only players I can think of that can run a linebacker drill one minute, high-point a pass another minute, put his hand down at defensive end and rush the passer, then put his hand down at defensive tackle and hold his own against a double team on a run play. One catch is that he does not appear to have great strength in his arms. During bag drills he was the one defensive lineman I saw that consistently had trouble getting the bag all the way to the ground. That showed up in the game itself when he ran around a tackle and got a clean shot on the miniature Todd Reesing, but just fell off Todd without bringing him down.
The second catch is, if you know about Greg Hardy as a prospect, you know that there is a “history” to be dealt with. Rumors of coaches having to cater to him, of being disruptive to his teammates’ work habits, of not working hard himself, of being off the field due to injuries that might have been prevented, are absolutely killing his draft stock at the moment. He would absolutely have a decent shot of competing for status as the top overall 3-4 outside linebacker, if he didn’t have a reputation for being, for lack of a better word, a lunatic.
Jeff Fitzgerald’s history seems mute by comparison. All he did was get kicked out of Virginia because of poor academics. The upside on him is tremendous. At 6’4” and 271 lbs, with near 34 inch arms and 10 inch hands, he’s got great size to be a 4-3 Defensive End, with even the upside of possibly gaining weight and playing in a 3-4 system. That would not at all be out of sorts for him, as he played his first couple of years under Al Groh in Virginia, right alongside Chris Long.
In fact, I remember watching film of Chris Long and thinking that his teammate Jeff Fitzgerald is outshining him in several ways. Since going to Kansas State, he’s been moved back and forth between defensive tackle and defensive end, not quite finding a hole. As a defensive end, he does not yet have a field for creating a dangerous edge rush. During practices, I thought he really showed up against the run. During the game itself, he drew mostly Kyle Callaway of Iowa, who had been one of my five most impressive players from the week of practice, and Fitzgerald absolutely gave Callaway a run for his money, even getting a sack.
Tevaseu, Neal and Torell Troup I view to be interesting projects. Troup and Tevaseu grabbed my attention during practices and especially during the game by handling double teams and forcing both players in the double to stay at home rather than release out and take up a linebacker at the second level. Tevaseu also showed really strong ability to protect his knees from the cut block, and the athleticism to chase plays from behind. On the other hand, Neal was consistently and by far the quickest and most explosive puncher off the snap of any player in Orlando.
No matter how many times you freeze frame and inch forward trying to see who gets their shoulder and hand fully lodged into the offensive line first, it will always be Neal, who regularly knocks a lineman’s shoulders back off the snap, but does not possess the leg drive to finish the job.
LINEBACKERS
Unfortunately, none of the linebackers really jumped out at me as prospects for the Dolphins. The best ones that I saw during the practice week and game were Stevenson Sylvester of Utah, Keaton Kristick of Oregon State, Kavell Conner of Clemson, Kion Wilson of South Florida and Dexter Davis of Arizona State.
Kristick had stood out to me during the week of practice for his late-arising penchant for finding the big hit, and for his ability to hook and jam tight ends at or near the line. It takes a nice blend of physicality and quickness to do the latter. If you lack the quickness then when you go to make your jam you might end up grasping at air and starting out coverage from a terrible position in trail. I saw this happen to Dexter Davis and O’Brien Schofield a few times.
Kristick, on the other hand, played the same position as those guys, and showed a natural feel for putting contact on tight ends. He also stood out for his fluid coverage in practice. Late in the week he found himself having to cover Wide Receiver Emmanuel Sanders deep down the field twice in a two-minute drill, and he had him painted both times.
Stevenson Sylvester has an interesting frame and playing style. He is lengthy at 6’2” with 34 inch arms and 10 inch hands, but only 225 lbs makes him pretty rail thin for the position. Yet he has a power, leverage and physicality to him that lets him be just as physical as a square body like Reggie Carter of UCLA. His length and the quickness he owes no doubt to his slight stature, not to mention his very quick reads, make him a natural cover guy and I saw the ability to shut options down in zone coverage during the game itself. When you put that together with the aggressive hole filling and tackling in the backfield that he displayed during the game, he is an interesting prospect, though one that would still be hard to stomach in Miami’s 3-4 defense.
Kavell Conner and Kion Wilson were similar players during the weak, both fluid and both showing the ability to attack the ball. But Conner is a little more stout at 247 lbs, and so it is intriguing to see him run through linebacker drills like a 230 lbs player. Conner also had a number of occasions where he showed a willingness to slam himself into the hole and dictate the runner’s lane, taking on a blocker in the process. Wilson, though smaller, showed some harder and more aggressive hits on the ball. Neither player, however, was particularly strong in coverage, which makes the story a little less interesting.
Dexter Davis of Arizona State is another defensive end convert. He did not play in the game because he injured an ankle right in front of me, ironically while I was engrossed in conversation with a Jacksonville Jaguars scout about Dexter. He has always caught my eye for his stout, active ability against the run, and his ability to stay on his feet even when you would swear just about any player would be on the ground in his position. He finds a way to pop back up and come for the ball.
During the week of practice, he saw himself victim several times when guys like Dennis Pitta would run routes against him in coverage. However, Pitta victimized several players all week. He also did not display as much ability to jam and be physical on tight ends in coverage as I had hoped. However, the thing he did that had me excited about him, was he was able to translate his ability to set the edge and shut down the run from the ground where he did it at Arizona State, to space as a linebacker. That was not an ability I saw consistently out of other converts like Chris McCoy and O’Brien Schofield. In practice, Davis not only set the edge, but he got off blocks and made plays on the runner when the runner tried to go to the outside. It would have been nice to see him in the game. The big issue is he was only 6’1” and 244 lbs, which means Miami would be hard pressed to make him a strong side linebacker in their 3-4, and if the guy can’t cover then he will be a liability as an inside linebacker.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
I am not sure that Miami will look at any of the corners in Orlando during Shrine week. The best corner by far during the week of practice was Devin Ross of Arizona. He displayed the physicality and quickness to jam receivers up close to the line, and then to mirror them in their routes. The thing that set him apart was that he could also play off from a zone look, and break on the ball, forcing the incompletion.
The problem is he may have done this during practice as a result of facing ineffective receivers, because when the West corners took the field against the East receivers, late in the game the East receivers were finding it far too easy to get open toward the sideline where they could not only catch the ball but get out of bounds.
During the game, Ross and Alterraun Verner of UCLA seemed to be physically outgunned by bigger and stronger players. At one point Freddie Barnes could just muscle his way out of bounds easily after catching a pass near the sidelines, with Verner helpless in trying to bring him down in-bounds. Meanwhile, Devin Ross got a big pass interference penalty and allowed some other catches, and was outgunned in blocking on several occasions.
This is where size tends to be important to corners, and neither Verner nor Ross were quite physical enough to overcome size disadvantages. Meanwhile, the East’s corners were generally not impressive to me and very inconsistent.
The safeties were a little bit of a different story. One safety in particular has to be square on Miami’s radar, and that is Kam Chancellor of Virginia Tech. He came into the week with questions about his ability to turn and run with receivers. He answered those quickly in one-on-one drills with receivers during practice. He had zero trouble, and regularly made plays on the football in coverage one-on-one.
Then when you get him into a scrimmage situation and ask him to play single-high as a deep patrol man, he was the most apt toward…wait, no I mean he was literally the only one blowing players up with his burst to the football and his physicality. He continued that strong outing into the game itself where he continued to play headhunter, causing incompletions and even literally taking guys’ helmets off. He regularly showed the awareness to go for the strip as he tackled people. He went where the coverage and the quarterback’s eyes took him. He was aggressive in filling the box against the run. After the week of practice, I view him to be one of the top safety prospects in the draft.
Well, I hope that gives you your fill of Shrine week action. I have a lot more comments on a lot more players but you’ll have to keep checking UniversalDraft.com for those, including the accompanying videos. As this is a Dolphins blog I did want to make sure to give you plenty to chew on among players that the Dolphins may look at. Next week we plan on having some coverage of the Senior Bowl and the Texas Vs The Nation game.