Mike Mayock on Manny Lawson....

[nick1]

in scouting reports I've noticed that alot of scouts think that being a tweener is a bad thing because they don't have a true position. but I think of it as a good thing. a tweener can play several different positions on the field which in D's today is a good thing

 

[madmike]

how is a guy who posted 10.5 sacks and 20 tackles for loss last season a workout warrior? the definition of a workout warrior is a player who looks very well in workouts but in a game doesn't do much. when you look at what Lawson did you see that he made alot of plays, he's not a workout warrior! he also blocked 9 punts in his college career

i couldn't of said it better myself,your right on the money!!!! that maylock guy doesn't know squat!!!!!! if you look at the film this year of manny he did very very good and if sabab is looking for a guy tp play olb on the opposite side of taylor to complement the pass rush and sack the qb,lawson is it!!!! he will be much better than arrington. giants waaayyyy overpaid for him. i hope we get santonio holmes or manny lawson in the 1st.

 

[finfan54]

There's a reason Manny Lawson was voted by his own teammates and coaches as the team MVP, not Mario Williams. He's a hard worker, he's smart, and honestly his workouts and tangibles make Mike Mamula look like Elvis Dumervil, IMO.

He doesn't take over games, but he's ALWAYS there. He's always in the QBs ear hole. Its like clockwork, he never disappears from games. I mean the guy had 10.5 sacks, 20 TFLs, 14 quarterback hurries, 4 passes defensed...he's blocked 9 kicks in his career at NC State.

Here's a fun fact. You know he's returned 5 punts for an average of 13 yards per return? Serious. He returned one for 7 yards in 2005, then for 15 yards in 2003, and 13, 13, and 17 yards in 2002.

I know I know, returns have nothing to do with being a defensive end. I just think that I've not seen a guy who plays so much like JT as this guy. His long arms (35.75" reach, same as D'Brickashaw Ferguson) keep his body away from the offensive tackle tryng to block him. He plays with good power (ask Marcus McNeil, who got bull rushed by Manny right into the QB at the Senior Bowl). And nobody can reproduce that speed rush around the edge. I've heard his spin move called pedestrian but when you're that fast, none of your moves are pedestrian. He's got Jason Taylor's spin move, not Dwight Freeney's whirling dervish.

I think the guy is going to be special wherever you play him because he's a smart player (scored a 28 on the wonderlic), he is a hard worker and a leader (see the Team MVP vote done by his own teammates and coaches), he's a physical freak in terms of speed and his ability to move, and at least in terms of hitting the weights, he's actually pretty strong...not overly strong, but plenty strong enough.

On that last note, Anthony Alabi has long arms like Manny except longer (36.75 inches) and he struggled on the 225 bench...only did 18 reps. But, he can reportedly max over 500 pounds. Why the disparity? Well, the long arms really sap your endurance on the bench, but not necessarily your maximum lift. Manny did 23 reps. Not fantastic, but certainly not bad, and actually quite good when you consider his 36 inch arms. Other guys in the draft with arms as long as many did around 27-28 reps, but they all outweighed Manny by near-100 pounds.

And what is remarkable to me is that he plays with power. He bull rushed the 340 pound McNeil right into the QB for a sack. He is easily able to use his upper body strength and long arms to keep the tackle off his body in the ground game, and this allows him to redirect after the ball carrier really well.

When you break down tape of Jason Taylor, you don't see some flashy spin move like Dwight Freeney. You don't see the bull rushing of Trace Armstrong. You don't see the club move of Reggie White or the rip move of Michael Strahan. You just see a guy who is tall, upright, extremely fast around the edge, strong enough to hold his arms out at the point of attack, has an endless motor, and otherwise just plain more athletic than everyone he faces. This is why he's able to string together any number of moves he wants even if he's not the expert in those maneuvers. He's always there. I don't know that you see a bunch of games where JT just takes over the whole thing (although he seems to consistently do so against the Broncos, strangely enough). He'll have his hat trick game every year, but otherwise he's just steady, always putting pressure on...never completely disappearing.

so my question then becomes character. How is his character? Is he the kind of guy who will be an overachiever and not let his head get big and all about money? When JT was drafted towards the end of the 3rd round by JJ, people took notice because they didnt want to take a risk on a small school guy who was a tweaner. I see Saban doing the same thing here but maybe with someone else who could be a tweaner as well who we can draft later anyways. long term character is what we need to draft at 16 regardless of position. That is why i am very skeptical of WR's. Because they are glory hounds who only like to recognize themselves.

 

[Geforce]

so my question then becomes character. How is his character? Is he the kind of guy who will be an overachiever and not let his head get big and all about money? When JT was drafted towards the end of the 3rd round by JJ, people took notice because they didnt want to take a risk on a small school guy who was a tweaner. I see Saban doing the same thing here but maybe with someone else who could be a tweaner as well who we can draft later anyways. long term character is what we need to draft at 16 regardless of position. That is why i am very skeptical of WR's. Because they are glory hounds who only like to recognize themselves.

Here's an answer to a question he gave during an interview he did during the Combine.
Q: How do you feel about being compared to linebacker/defensive end tweeners like Willie McGinest?
Lawson: It's crazy because they've done things I have not yet done, so I don't know what to say.

The complete interview is here.
http://www.atlantafalcons.com/team/article.jsp?id=11113

 

[BlueFin]

You will hear some well informed dissension from the VIP crowd....

Perhaps, but just because you pay money to this website to be a VIP doesn't make you more well informed.

 

[AZfinfan]

I'll be honest I didn't watch Lawson at all this year. However, the thing that really scares me is hearing "draft experts" say that he doesn't have an every down motor.

 

[Bowl_Bound]

Chad Greenway or Santanio Holmes at 16.

I think greenway is the ticket.

 

[PhinsPhan]

PLEASE dont start this crap. I go on other message boards and there is one person in every post who says something along those lines or if someone asks a q they say "the answer is in the vip area". Soon we are going to start seeing breaking news as a thread title and the message will say "check the vip area for what it is". I absolutely hate when people shove this stuff into my face and I bet there are a ton of people who agree with me. I am in college and dont have the money to spend on vip message boards yet.

I really hope finheaven doesn't turn into this kind of forum.

couldnt have said it better myself.


On Lawson, I still think the guy had a productive college career so I don't see how he is labelled a workout warrior. What worries me is Mayock is a fairly good draft analyst and I respect his opinion

 

[Geforce]

couldnt have said it better myself.


On Lawson, I still think the guy had a productive college career so I don't see how he is labelled a workout warrior. What worries me is Mayock is a fairly good draft analyst and I respect his opinion

I guess when you put up the kind of numbers Lawson put up at the Combine, someone is bound to label you a workout warrior. To some degree, I guess Lawson is. When was the last time a DE/OLB ran a 4.41/4.43 40, 4.18 short shuttle and a 7.90 in the three cone drill. Not to mention running on the 400 meter relay(I think he did it once) and long jumping in college.

 

[PhinsTD]

With the way Saban has raved about Taylor's ability in his defense, I think the chance for him to grab another JT will prove to be too much to pass up for Saban and he'll be the guy if he's there.

We could ease him into the playing rotation, playing rush backer in the 3-4 alignment and rush end in the 4-3 and allow him time to work on his drops in coverage and reads at LB. He could also work with a guy very similar to him in JT to get better at everything he needs to work on.

Guys with his upside aren't available at 16 every year, and I go for the upside over the safe pick if I have the luxury most of the time. I think we have the luxury due to having most of our major holes filled via FA and having other OLB candidates in place if Lawson should prove to need some time to develop into a major role.