waldoputty
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Many point to Tapper as hope. Especially his 4.59 40 speed. Yet he fell to the top of the 4th round and we nearly took Connor Cook instead. So why did he drop so much?
I get it that he was in the wrong system in college playing as a 5-tech in a 3-4 system. We can line him up in as a LEO to give him a better angle to use his top speed to rush the QB. Certainly teams like Seattle know that too well and are not stupid. You have a 270lb DE running a 4.59 and that is faster than many top 1st round picks. For example the top pick of the 2017 draft Myles Garrett is 272lb and ran a 4.62 at the combine with 33 reps. While Tapper only did 23 reps at his combine, certainly that would have changed after many months of weight training? The only DEs in the 2017 combine this year that beat Tapper's 40 is Willis who ran an insane 4.52, while McKinney matched him at 4.59 but had questionable cone and shuttle scores. Tapper's 34" broad jump score was also comparable to top prospects this year except Garrett's insane 41" score.
So the question is agility and motor. I presume motor is not an issue, so it is down to agility and bend. I think many have questioned his bend, and he did not perform the cone/shuttle agility tests at the combine.
Since then, has there been any more info on his agility? While McKinney had worse cone (7.48) /shuttle (4.62) scores than the other top DE prospects this year, how much worse could Tapper be? Is he a simple linear player?
I get it that he was in the wrong system in college playing as a 5-tech in a 3-4 system. We can line him up in as a LEO to give him a better angle to use his top speed to rush the QB. Certainly teams like Seattle know that too well and are not stupid. You have a 270lb DE running a 4.59 and that is faster than many top 1st round picks. For example the top pick of the 2017 draft Myles Garrett is 272lb and ran a 4.62 at the combine with 33 reps. While Tapper only did 23 reps at his combine, certainly that would have changed after many months of weight training? The only DEs in the 2017 combine this year that beat Tapper's 40 is Willis who ran an insane 4.52, while McKinney matched him at 4.59 but had questionable cone and shuttle scores. Tapper's 34" broad jump score was also comparable to top prospects this year except Garrett's insane 41" score.
So the question is agility and motor. I presume motor is not an issue, so it is down to agility and bend. I think many have questioned his bend, and he did not perform the cone/shuttle agility tests at the combine.
Since then, has there been any more info on his agility? While McKinney had worse cone (7.48) /shuttle (4.62) scores than the other top DE prospects this year, how much worse could Tapper be? Is he a simple linear player?
