SDogo
Not as good as I once was but as good once as I ev
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I'll only explain this once because for some reason it rubs some people the wrong way when I repeat it.
This is a column I used to do for various draft sites and will start posting on my blog in February. Typically, this piece is filled with brief quotes, opinions and thoughts on a several prospects but it's rare that I get this much face time to sit down with several scouts and discuss one player.
Over the last 15-20 years I have been lucky enough to not only meet but work with some of the best scouts in the league. They influenced my life and my thoughts on the draft greatly. It's a eye opening and special occasion when anyone including myself get a few minutes to pick the brain of past and current scouts on this years NFL prospects, these are the guys who's opinions influence a teams direction on draft day and ultimately can control a players destination.
I hope you enjoy
Sunday, January 16th, 2011
For what on the surface seems to be a sure fire top 10 choice no player has been openly discussed and evaluated as much as LSU DB Patrick Peterson. No scout I have spoken to has doubted his freakish athletic ability, his hard hitting style nor can they deny his accolades. All American, Thorpe award winner, Bendarik award winner, SEC Defensive player of the year, SEC Special Teams players of the year. His numbers are also equally impressive, As a JR he recorded 42 tackles, 6 pass break up's and 4 INT's despite opposing defenses avoiding him at all cost. He finished with an LSU record 932 kick off return yards and as a punt returner proved to be a game changer with a 16.1 average and 2 TD's. He scored a TD 3 different ways the Tigers recording TD's on a punt return, Int return and a blocked FG.
On the surface it appears Peterson is a lock to be selected in the top 5 of this upcoming draft, for sure a top 10 pick and draft projections around the net support it but more then a few scouts are taking a second look.
Several current scouts feel Peterson is a much better athlete then he will ever be a football player. Some question his instincts, some question his desire in run support but most if not all agree that he is simply not fundamentally a great player and all follow that up with "yet".
Two scouts I spoke to say they believe Patrick is an immediate special teams contributor but is two or three years from being ready to implant himself permanently in a NFL defensive backfield.
Another scout I spoke to expanded on this by saying that his athletic traits allowed him to get away with a lot at the college level and wont translate to the NFL. He went on to say that one knock on Peterson at LSU was that he was too much or a "free roamer" and had trouble grasping and understanding schemes.
A current NFL scout for the Saints told me that Peterson reminds him a lot of former Commanders LB Lavar Arrington. An athletic freak that will never produce as expected due to the simple fact there is no scheme that can contain him.
The over whelming consensus was that Peterson's future in the NFL will be made at safety but his responsibilities will need reduced in order for him use his athletic ability to make plays. The problem being as they said is that as a pure safety he's not the game changer that teams typically look for if they spend a top 10 pick on a safety.
A current Bills scouts explained to me, only 10 Safeties have been taken in the top 15 picks in the NFL draft since 1991, Arguably only two of them can be considered game changers and one lost his life too early. The one thing every one of them have in common is that they had higher draft grades then Peterson currently has. He also went on to point out that the two safeties chosen in last years top 15, Eric Berry and Earl Thomas received two of the highest draft grades for a DB let alone safety that scouts have seen in several years and Berry was chosen 5th while Thomas slipped to 15th. He emphasized, Peterson is no where near the caliber player of those 2.
I finished up by speaking to one scout who team holds a pick in the top 7 selections of the first round, he stated to me that a lot can happen between now and draft day. Players will improve on their 40 time, they will get stronger, they will get more agile and they rehearse their interviews and as always teams will fall in love with numbers but a player is not going to improve on being a football player in that time.
Of the 4 current NFL scouts I spoke to, 2 of them work for teams that have pick in the top 7 selections of the 2011 draft, while one rounds out the top 15 and the other sits at the bottom half of the first round. The consensus was that we may very well see a situation like we had last year with Earl Thomas where you will hear Peterson's name mentioned a lot in the top 10 but will settle in around the middle part of the first round.
Of the 2 former NFL scouts I approached about Peterson, neither felt he was a lock for the top 10 and went on to explain that not only does he not grade out as one of the best safeties in recent memory but evaluating teams in the top 10, it's not they year that those teams have the luxury of investing in a safety.
I found it interesting that not a single one of the scouts I spoke to projected Peterson to CB at the next level and were very clear in stating that there were very few teams who are grading him right now as a CB.
http://sdogo.blogspot.com/
This is a column I used to do for various draft sites and will start posting on my blog in February. Typically, this piece is filled with brief quotes, opinions and thoughts on a several prospects but it's rare that I get this much face time to sit down with several scouts and discuss one player.
Over the last 15-20 years I have been lucky enough to not only meet but work with some of the best scouts in the league. They influenced my life and my thoughts on the draft greatly. It's a eye opening and special occasion when anyone including myself get a few minutes to pick the brain of past and current scouts on this years NFL prospects, these are the guys who's opinions influence a teams direction on draft day and ultimately can control a players destination.
I hope you enjoy
Sunday, January 16th, 2011
For what on the surface seems to be a sure fire top 10 choice no player has been openly discussed and evaluated as much as LSU DB Patrick Peterson. No scout I have spoken to has doubted his freakish athletic ability, his hard hitting style nor can they deny his accolades. All American, Thorpe award winner, Bendarik award winner, SEC Defensive player of the year, SEC Special Teams players of the year. His numbers are also equally impressive, As a JR he recorded 42 tackles, 6 pass break up's and 4 INT's despite opposing defenses avoiding him at all cost. He finished with an LSU record 932 kick off return yards and as a punt returner proved to be a game changer with a 16.1 average and 2 TD's. He scored a TD 3 different ways the Tigers recording TD's on a punt return, Int return and a blocked FG.
On the surface it appears Peterson is a lock to be selected in the top 5 of this upcoming draft, for sure a top 10 pick and draft projections around the net support it but more then a few scouts are taking a second look.
Several current scouts feel Peterson is a much better athlete then he will ever be a football player. Some question his instincts, some question his desire in run support but most if not all agree that he is simply not fundamentally a great player and all follow that up with "yet".
Two scouts I spoke to say they believe Patrick is an immediate special teams contributor but is two or three years from being ready to implant himself permanently in a NFL defensive backfield.
Another scout I spoke to expanded on this by saying that his athletic traits allowed him to get away with a lot at the college level and wont translate to the NFL. He went on to say that one knock on Peterson at LSU was that he was too much or a "free roamer" and had trouble grasping and understanding schemes.
A current NFL scout for the Saints told me that Peterson reminds him a lot of former Commanders LB Lavar Arrington. An athletic freak that will never produce as expected due to the simple fact there is no scheme that can contain him.
The over whelming consensus was that Peterson's future in the NFL will be made at safety but his responsibilities will need reduced in order for him use his athletic ability to make plays. The problem being as they said is that as a pure safety he's not the game changer that teams typically look for if they spend a top 10 pick on a safety.
A current Bills scouts explained to me, only 10 Safeties have been taken in the top 15 picks in the NFL draft since 1991, Arguably only two of them can be considered game changers and one lost his life too early. The one thing every one of them have in common is that they had higher draft grades then Peterson currently has. He also went on to point out that the two safeties chosen in last years top 15, Eric Berry and Earl Thomas received two of the highest draft grades for a DB let alone safety that scouts have seen in several years and Berry was chosen 5th while Thomas slipped to 15th. He emphasized, Peterson is no where near the caliber player of those 2.
I finished up by speaking to one scout who team holds a pick in the top 7 selections of the first round, he stated to me that a lot can happen between now and draft day. Players will improve on their 40 time, they will get stronger, they will get more agile and they rehearse their interviews and as always teams will fall in love with numbers but a player is not going to improve on being a football player in that time.
Of the 4 current NFL scouts I spoke to, 2 of them work for teams that have pick in the top 7 selections of the 2011 draft, while one rounds out the top 15 and the other sits at the bottom half of the first round. The consensus was that we may very well see a situation like we had last year with Earl Thomas where you will hear Peterson's name mentioned a lot in the top 10 but will settle in around the middle part of the first round.
Of the 2 former NFL scouts I approached about Peterson, neither felt he was a lock for the top 10 and went on to explain that not only does he not grade out as one of the best safeties in recent memory but evaluating teams in the top 10, it's not they year that those teams have the luxury of investing in a safety.
I found it interesting that not a single one of the scouts I spoke to projected Peterson to CB at the next level and were very clear in stating that there were very few teams who are grading him right now as a CB.
http://sdogo.blogspot.com/
:worthy: :worthy2: :clap2: 
