Well deserved props to Slimm for this thread as I am in position to know how much of what he's written in this thread is the culmination of countless hours of hard work and film study. Can't understate that. What you see in terms of grades, description, rankings, etc...may not look much at times and people may nitpick it, yet I know how much time goes into it.
A little surprised that despite Slimm's cynical/sarcastic original assessment with all A+ grades and his assertion that we really do not want to read his grades on the players...when it came time to actually assign grades, there wasn't even a single C or C- in there. On a numeric scale he gave a 99 of 135, or about a B average. I'm not about to accuse Slimm of having gone soft on Miami (I'm not even sure he's truly a Miami fan to be honest), because I can relate...as someone that has not liked a lot of what Jeff Ireland has done, and was surprised that as he rattled off pick after pick, these were for the most part players I approved of. Not necessarily favorites, but players I liked.
Not necessarily sure I saw things the same way on Jon Martin. I don't have a problem with the position in the 2nd round, but I also don't know that I agree that Martin was a future top 10 pick in 2013. I also watched closely that matchup with Nick Perry and had a different read on it. I don't know that I would characterize what Martin did to Perry as having dominated him. I thought it was closer to the other way around. I guess part of this is how you regard Perry himself. Given Slimm liked Perry as the best DE in the Draft, his perspective on that battle makes sense. But regardless I had Perry beating Martin cleanly in pass rush at least 7 times (6 outside, 1 counter), including 4 pressures flushing Luck out of the pocket and 2 hits on Andrew as he threw. I don't know what the stat services say but that's what my eyes told me. There were two plays some might have even tossed a half-sack at Perry for, but one you couldn't fault Jon Martin for in any way. The other I scored as a QB hit because if the pressure hadn't come from the other side, that's probably all Perry would've gotten out of it was a hit on Luck as he threw. This to me was a game that helped show that Martin needs a lot more upper body strength, something he showed again at his pro day on the bench. What he did well in the game was perform in the clutch late in the 4th quarter and in overtime. Or perhaps it was Perry that slowed down in the clutch. Either way, Martin blocked Perry well in crunch time.
Another one I differ a little is Lamar Miller. I hear Slimm on never having thought of Miller as a 1st rounder or the 2nd best runner in this Draft. I'm the same way. I never looked at Miller and thought this guy needs to go in the 1st round. Doug Martin, the more I got round to him, the more I saw that. David Wilson I did not, because of fumbling issues, also not a big guy that gets any significant yards after contact. What I appreciate about Miller's game more than I think maybe Slimm does is the vision and ball security. My personal opinion is that he does not have just average vision. I like his patience and I like the way he sets up blocks. He has this god-given burst and speed, and he knows it. It's like a quarterback that has god-given arm talent, and plays accordingly. Quarterbacks with great arms 'borrow' off that arm strength so to speak in order to gain advantage in other aspects, because they know their arm is good for it. They can back away from pressure creating extra distance and/or worse angles, throw off leverage, etc. Lamar Miller to me embodies the phrase "speed through the hole, not to the hole". He knows he can hit the speed button like a video game, so he's patient to the hole and lets his blocks develop. The other area I disagree is ball security. He has good instincts for protecting the ball in a crowd, whether it's switching hands or coming down on the football with both hands, he does these things fluidly and quickly, with good coordination and instincts. He has shown this by only fumbling 3 times in his career (2 happening in one game, sometimes you just have a weird day) and only having lost 2 of them (1 in 2010, 1 in 2011). I agree with Slimm he's not phyiscal enough and if he doesn't develop his body and get better, then at the lower end he may just be another Brandon Jackson. That's his floor, to me. However, he could be a lot better than that.
I'm not sure we disagree overall on Josh Kaddu, because the bottom line is a C+ is exactly what I'm inclined toward for him. I've brought him up in the past as a guy that wouldn't be a bad draft pick. It would be hypocritical of me to sit here now and say suddenly it's a bad draft pick. However, there were some things that confused me on the pick. I'm one of the people Slimm mentioned that didn't like passing on Tank Carder to end up with Josh Kaddu. I just have a clearer vision for how Tank Carder is going to fit in the NFL, as a coverage guy on passing downs (initially). I have a tougher time figuring how Kaddu fits, other than special teams. He reminds me a little of Kevin Burnett, and like Burnett it could take five years before Kaddu has honed his instincts against the run to where he's valuable on 1st/2nd down. Unlike Burnett, he's not a strong cover linebacker yet. He's athletic, he's sudden, he has some explosiveness to him, he hits like a truck at times, but he mostly made his name as a blitzer rushing the quarterback, which won't avail him at the next level. He's sort of a poor man's Ronnell Lewis, and Lewis himself may have issues trying to make it as a pro (hence dropping to the 4th round).
Cunningham I think we'll just have to agree to disagree. I see what's special about him at athe college level. I don't see what's special about him at the NFL level. Of course now that I say that, he'll be an All Pro. The first thing that always jumps out at me about him is how smoothly he runs and catches the football with his hands on the run. It's a trait I saw in Blair White, also from Michigan State, whom I felt was better than his undrafted free agent status. But I knew Blair was a tireless worker and I don't know that about Cunningham, and the bottom line is no receiver makes a living running slants and drags at the NFL level. I hate to be harsh but there you have it. He specialized on slant and drag routes and even the slant routes were iffy if he had a corner with any amount of size or physicality pressing him at the line. He's not out running anyone. He's not out-bodying people. He doesn't have a "my ball" physical mentality when the ball is in the air. He tracks and adjusts on the ball in the air but if I wanted that I could have grabbed Jeremy Ebert and at least had some 4.40 speed to show for it. Cunningham's run after catch and tackle breaking ability was dependent on physically inferior, smaller corners trying to tackle his 6'1" and 211 lbs frame, and coming up short. Worse, he's not versatile. He presents no special teams value. He presents no value on reverses. As I said, he's not a strong RAC player. So you're trying to think of ways for him to be useful in the game and there's only one way...he has to go out there, run routes, create separation, and make plays. What if he's not as good at that as other guys on the roster? Suddenly you've got a player who can't be active on game day and is just clogging up a roster space. I think the bottom line is the Dolphins grabbed four receivers off this rookie class, two of them undrafted free agents, and though Cunningham was taken first he might be the least interesting to me of the four. Like I said, now that I say that, he'll be the best of the four. There are pluses to his game. He adjusts on the ball well, catches smoothly on the run without breaking stride at all (which is actually not as common a skill as you think), he's a smart player and plays like it, and he's got decent size. But I don't think it's enough.
The rest I pretty much agreed with almost point for point. I'm intrigued with Derek Moye and Jonas Gray, among the UDFAs, along with Josh Samuda.