Finsflurry
☠️ Banned ☠️
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- Mar 19, 2004
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I thought since we don't really have anything else to talk about I'd give you guys my minicamp thoughts and breakdowns. Sorry if this is boring and repetitive, but here goes:
QB: Feeley has gotten continually better each camp, if he can show this much improvement over the next 2 months my friends we will have a borderline Pro Bowl QB on our hands. He might never make all-pro or lead the league in passing, but he will be a quality top 15 starter for us for the next 5-7 years if he is what I think he is. I was harsh on him in the beginning only due to my own huge expectations, I expected him to come in and blow Fiedler out of the water. He did good the first minicamp for the first few minutes and I hailed him as the next Marino because I so badly wanted someone to give me hope, as Minus and several others pointed out it was quite a biased report lol. After that I was unfair with my expectations, as I expected him to come in and shine with no knowledge of the playbook or our system, but if I look at it objectively he has done a very good job. I'll say this about Jay, although I don't want him to be the starter due to my doubts about his abilities, he will be one of the top backups in the NFL, just as he was in Jacksonville. I feel real good about him coming off the bench and helping us, just as he did vs Washington, I think it his best and only bet at helping us. I can't feel comfortable with him back there with our destiny in his hands, I've been hurt one too many times to go through that again. Sage is just Sage, he continues to hover at one level while never making that big enough jump to get to the starter or backup level, although he is one of the better #3's in the game, he'll never have what it takes to start in this league IMO. Grade: B-
RB: Ricky has looked more impressive than ever, if the oline has a semi-decent season this guy will break 1,600 yds and 12 tds this year, if they play as bad as last year he'll still have a better year than last IMO. He looks faster and quicker than ever, I've never seen his jukes and moves so graceful and fast. The only way he's not going to be dominant this year is if he goes down with an injury god forbid. I have alot of faith in Minor as the backup, he's never got the chance to show his stuff but if he did I think he'd be a slightly better version of Warrick Dunn, which is not bad by any stretch. He'll give us a qualtiy backup, probably top 10 in the league but the guy I'm actually most excited about out of these guys is Fred Russell, I feel he adds a different dimension to the team that we haven't really had for a long time. He is an excellent change of pace from all our running backs, the reason I like him over Henry for the third down RB spot is I feel Henry is more starter material and a guy that will get you 25 carries and will pound you down and get some big runs but might take a while to do it, whereas Russell is a instant impact all-or-nothing type of player. He can really stretch the defense out and become a dangerous weapon for this team, so I do expect him to beat out Henry. Grade: A-
WR: Best 1-2 WR tandem since Duper-Clayton. Boston started off slow with his shin and lack of cooperation with his diet, but he has shown me something over the past month, and that is to do what it takes to make himself a top 5 reciever again. He has also looked better and better each camp, once the pads come on he will have an even bigger advantage with his strength and speed. He's not stiff anymore like he was in San Diego, he can actually move and juke and you know he has that 4.4 speed. Chambers, well what can you say about this guy. He is a accurate QB away from superstardom, he is so consistent now with all his catches and he just looks so much better than anyone else out there when he catches and runs. I can see 1100-1700 yds and about 14 tds from him this year along with his first pro bowl bid, he has too much talent not to do it...I'm just praying we sign him before he blows up this year and other teams wanna give him 40 million plus, he'd be worth every penny of it though. The third WR spot has me a bit worried, although a Snoop-Thompson split wouldn't be bad in my eyes as I feel Snoop can give you the deep threat while Thompson can move the chains for you. Our younger guys (Newson,Tolver,Simmons) need more work and polish before they can help out this team. Grade: B
OL: Although their play started to tail off at the end of minicamp, overall I was encouraged by the progess of our O-line...4 of the 5 positions are set IMO with Smith-James-McKinney and Carey at RT. German will have to hold out against St.Clair, Whitley, and Yates, but I do think he'll hold on to the job. Our running plays where we have the guard pull and other plays where we run through the center-guard gap will be our strength IMO especially to the left side where James is a mauler and opens those holes tremendously with his strength and leverage. Carey will excel in run-blocking as well although I think teams might switch their best DE to his side to take advantage of his lack of experience and technique in pass blocking. At the very least we will be better than last year with the possibility that we could be as good or better than 2002-2003. Grade: C+
DL: Clearly the stars of the minicamps so far, the defensive line is a huge strength for this team both in the starting personnel and depth wise. JT is simply incredible, while David Bowens and Jay Williams are solid stop-gap starters and quality backups while Otis Grigsby provides hope for the future...if Wale comes back this line jumps up to an A+. The main reason the dline will be improved this year is namely one Larry Chester, this guy is looking better than he did in his first training camp with us, the difference being this time most of the weight he's carrying is muscle and he's used to the South Florida sun. I expect a breakout season from him, think Daryl Gardener in his best season with us when he was a huge force in both the running and passing game. Timbo will be solid as usual if he can avoid the injuries, and you know Zgonina is a rock you can always rely on with Romero a question mark with potential. Grade: A
LB: Zach Thomas has been looking as good as last year, which is a good thing considering he had one of his best years last year. Seau is still a great prescence in the run game although he's starting to be a liability in the passing game IMO. His reactions alone aren't enough anymore and that's what got him by before, look for Eddie Moore or Crash Jenkins to replace him on passing downs if we don't use the dime package. Greenwood will be solid and not spectacular, in fact I barely even noticed him at camp as he didn't figure in on a lot of plays. Our depth is excellent with Moore, Jenkins, and Bua with Ayanbadejo also available to pitch in a bit. Still very solid for this season and the young players are brimming with potential, one of our biggest strengths. Grade: B+
DB: Sam Madison is back to the Sam Madison of the late 90's early 2000's, he is all over every ball and is very focused on getting back to an elite level. His ball hawking skills are second to none and he is showing by returning 2 picks for scores and smothering his guy on defense. Pat Surtain is simply lockdown shutdown on the other side, with Reggie Howard and Poole behind those 2 this is the most deep and talented portion of our team and the one that I feel could actually withstand a serious injury to one of our guys. Freeman has yet to win the job as Bell and Edwards make their push, I can't wait for pads to come on to really evaluate them and see who's gonna help us the most. My gut tells me Freeman will still start with Edwards backing him and Bell making his real push for the job next season. Grade: A+
ST: Even though we lost Hendricks we gained a whole lot more in Akins Bua and Poole. These kids are all special teams mavens and Poole just might be our answer to finally getting a couple blocks for once. Mare is looking like he regained his confidence from last year while Turk will be a middle of the pack punter for us again. Grade: B
Let me know what you guys think and if you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer them.
QB: Feeley has gotten continually better each camp, if he can show this much improvement over the next 2 months my friends we will have a borderline Pro Bowl QB on our hands. He might never make all-pro or lead the league in passing, but he will be a quality top 15 starter for us for the next 5-7 years if he is what I think he is. I was harsh on him in the beginning only due to my own huge expectations, I expected him to come in and blow Fiedler out of the water. He did good the first minicamp for the first few minutes and I hailed him as the next Marino because I so badly wanted someone to give me hope, as Minus and several others pointed out it was quite a biased report lol. After that I was unfair with my expectations, as I expected him to come in and shine with no knowledge of the playbook or our system, but if I look at it objectively he has done a very good job. I'll say this about Jay, although I don't want him to be the starter due to my doubts about his abilities, he will be one of the top backups in the NFL, just as he was in Jacksonville. I feel real good about him coming off the bench and helping us, just as he did vs Washington, I think it his best and only bet at helping us. I can't feel comfortable with him back there with our destiny in his hands, I've been hurt one too many times to go through that again. Sage is just Sage, he continues to hover at one level while never making that big enough jump to get to the starter or backup level, although he is one of the better #3's in the game, he'll never have what it takes to start in this league IMO. Grade: B-
RB: Ricky has looked more impressive than ever, if the oline has a semi-decent season this guy will break 1,600 yds and 12 tds this year, if they play as bad as last year he'll still have a better year than last IMO. He looks faster and quicker than ever, I've never seen his jukes and moves so graceful and fast. The only way he's not going to be dominant this year is if he goes down with an injury god forbid. I have alot of faith in Minor as the backup, he's never got the chance to show his stuff but if he did I think he'd be a slightly better version of Warrick Dunn, which is not bad by any stretch. He'll give us a qualtiy backup, probably top 10 in the league but the guy I'm actually most excited about out of these guys is Fred Russell, I feel he adds a different dimension to the team that we haven't really had for a long time. He is an excellent change of pace from all our running backs, the reason I like him over Henry for the third down RB spot is I feel Henry is more starter material and a guy that will get you 25 carries and will pound you down and get some big runs but might take a while to do it, whereas Russell is a instant impact all-or-nothing type of player. He can really stretch the defense out and become a dangerous weapon for this team, so I do expect him to beat out Henry. Grade: A-
WR: Best 1-2 WR tandem since Duper-Clayton. Boston started off slow with his shin and lack of cooperation with his diet, but he has shown me something over the past month, and that is to do what it takes to make himself a top 5 reciever again. He has also looked better and better each camp, once the pads come on he will have an even bigger advantage with his strength and speed. He's not stiff anymore like he was in San Diego, he can actually move and juke and you know he has that 4.4 speed. Chambers, well what can you say about this guy. He is a accurate QB away from superstardom, he is so consistent now with all his catches and he just looks so much better than anyone else out there when he catches and runs. I can see 1100-1700 yds and about 14 tds from him this year along with his first pro bowl bid, he has too much talent not to do it...I'm just praying we sign him before he blows up this year and other teams wanna give him 40 million plus, he'd be worth every penny of it though. The third WR spot has me a bit worried, although a Snoop-Thompson split wouldn't be bad in my eyes as I feel Snoop can give you the deep threat while Thompson can move the chains for you. Our younger guys (Newson,Tolver,Simmons) need more work and polish before they can help out this team. Grade: B
OL: Although their play started to tail off at the end of minicamp, overall I was encouraged by the progess of our O-line...4 of the 5 positions are set IMO with Smith-James-McKinney and Carey at RT. German will have to hold out against St.Clair, Whitley, and Yates, but I do think he'll hold on to the job. Our running plays where we have the guard pull and other plays where we run through the center-guard gap will be our strength IMO especially to the left side where James is a mauler and opens those holes tremendously with his strength and leverage. Carey will excel in run-blocking as well although I think teams might switch their best DE to his side to take advantage of his lack of experience and technique in pass blocking. At the very least we will be better than last year with the possibility that we could be as good or better than 2002-2003. Grade: C+
DL: Clearly the stars of the minicamps so far, the defensive line is a huge strength for this team both in the starting personnel and depth wise. JT is simply incredible, while David Bowens and Jay Williams are solid stop-gap starters and quality backups while Otis Grigsby provides hope for the future...if Wale comes back this line jumps up to an A+. The main reason the dline will be improved this year is namely one Larry Chester, this guy is looking better than he did in his first training camp with us, the difference being this time most of the weight he's carrying is muscle and he's used to the South Florida sun. I expect a breakout season from him, think Daryl Gardener in his best season with us when he was a huge force in both the running and passing game. Timbo will be solid as usual if he can avoid the injuries, and you know Zgonina is a rock you can always rely on with Romero a question mark with potential. Grade: A
LB: Zach Thomas has been looking as good as last year, which is a good thing considering he had one of his best years last year. Seau is still a great prescence in the run game although he's starting to be a liability in the passing game IMO. His reactions alone aren't enough anymore and that's what got him by before, look for Eddie Moore or Crash Jenkins to replace him on passing downs if we don't use the dime package. Greenwood will be solid and not spectacular, in fact I barely even noticed him at camp as he didn't figure in on a lot of plays. Our depth is excellent with Moore, Jenkins, and Bua with Ayanbadejo also available to pitch in a bit. Still very solid for this season and the young players are brimming with potential, one of our biggest strengths. Grade: B+
DB: Sam Madison is back to the Sam Madison of the late 90's early 2000's, he is all over every ball and is very focused on getting back to an elite level. His ball hawking skills are second to none and he is showing by returning 2 picks for scores and smothering his guy on defense. Pat Surtain is simply lockdown shutdown on the other side, with Reggie Howard and Poole behind those 2 this is the most deep and talented portion of our team and the one that I feel could actually withstand a serious injury to one of our guys. Freeman has yet to win the job as Bell and Edwards make their push, I can't wait for pads to come on to really evaluate them and see who's gonna help us the most. My gut tells me Freeman will still start with Edwards backing him and Bell making his real push for the job next season. Grade: A+
ST: Even though we lost Hendricks we gained a whole lot more in Akins Bua and Poole. These kids are all special teams mavens and Poole just might be our answer to finally getting a couple blocks for once. Mare is looking like he regained his confidence from last year while Turk will be a middle of the pack punter for us again. Grade: B
Let me know what you guys think and if you have any questions I would be more than happy to answer them.
