Who's your draft man crush? | Page 3 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Who's your draft man crush?

I thought Lane Johnson was the best of the tackles last year. Very rare athletic ability for that size.

Fisher's rise baffled me. He moves well but he uses his arms so poorly the movement often doesn't do him any good. Instead of extending his arms and controlling the defensive end he keeps his arms and hands too close to his frame, creating a natural angle for the opponent. I suppose it's partially fixable but it's such a glaring tendency I don't think he can fully get rid of it. And no kidding it will be more of a detriment at left tackle. I couldn't believe Fisher was receiving praise for his Senior Bowl week when that arm tendency was front and center throughout.

I swear, sometimes these guys from smaller conferences seem to receive too much of a benefit of a doubt. Maybe it seems cute to vault them up the board minus the scrutiny attached to big leagers. I bet lots of Mid American conference games. Woeful league. That was my concern when the Canes hired Al Golden. Check the bowl game results of that conference. You'll be hard pressed to find more than a handful of wins going back many years. That conference had some decent results in early season games in the prior decade, mostly against the Big Ten, and somehow that led to a phony positive reputation that extends to this day. I'm not sure the most amusing moment of the 2013 season wasn't when Herbstreit picked Toledo to win at Florida. This was before the Gators suffered all the injuries.
 
Awsi Dooger said:
I thought Lane Johnson was the best of the tackles last year. Very rare athletic ability for that size.

Fisher's rise baffled me. He moves well but he uses his arms so poorly the movement often doesn't do him any good. Instead of extending his arms and controlling the defensive end he keeps his arms and hands too close to his frame, creating a natural angle for the opponent. I suppose it's partially fixable but it's such a glaring tendency I don't think he can fully get rid of it. And no kidding it will be more of a detriment at left tackle. I couldn't believe Fisher was receiving praise for his Senior Bowl week when that arm tendency was front and center throughout.

I swear, sometimes these guys from smaller conferences seem to receive too much of a benefit of a doubt. Maybe it seems cute to vault them up the board minus the scrutiny attached to big leagers. I bet lots of Mid American conference games. Woeful league. That was my concern when the Canes hired Al Golden. Check the bowl game results of that conference. You'll be hard pressed to find more than a handful of wins going back many years. That conference had some decent results in early season games in the prior decade, mostly against the Big Ten, and somehow that led to a phony positive reputation that extends to this day. I'm not sure the most amusing moment of the 2013 season wasn't when Herbstreit picked Toledo to win at Florida. This was before the Gators suffered all the injuries.
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fisher got the label as being a "Mauler" which shot him past the other two. Those guys werent seen as physical. These NFL coaches love the "mauler" olineman.

I remember when Clady fell where he did, because he wasn't considered physical enough. Smh...
 
Not only was he the top tackle but he was probably the one that made the most sense for this strategy everyone seemed to develop where they were going to take a top left tackle and put him at right tackle for at least a year until they developed an exit strategy for the guy they already had playing left tackle. At least Lane Johnson had just played right tackle the year before his final season at Oklahoma, and looked good doing it. Luke Joeckel may not have played right tackle since grade school for all I know. Eric Fisher had minimal experience (I think 4 of 35 games, something like that) at right tackle.

Sometimes these guys move from left to right or right to left and they are the same player. They don't feel uncomfortable and they just think football is football. But just as often if not more so, you take a guy with homogeneous experience on one side and you move him to the other and they never feel comfortable. Some say it's like trying to write with your left hand if you're right-handed.

Many people want the Dolphins to do that with Zack Martin, who played 49 of 51 games at left tackle at Notre Dame and hasn't played right tackle since 2 games all the way back in 2010. I think when you do this, you insert an element of risk that is unnecessary. It's hard enough trying to pick the right talent without making life harder on yourself by inserting even more risk into the equation.

Taylor Lewan would be a risk that way as well. But I think he's such a tremendous talent it might be an OK risk to take because at the very worst he gives you an early exit out of Branden Albert's huge contract.

Greg Robinson is a guy I would play initially at left guard while he learns zone protections and how to move in pass pro at the NFL level. I would not move him to the right side trying to learn to kick step from right tackle when he barely knows what a kick step is from left tackle. There's no reason to stunt his growth that way. But there's also no reason to throw him to the wolves as a rookie when the guy is so inexperienced in true pass protection. When you stack up the dearth of footage there is from 2013 of him truly stepping out into a pass protection, there's a lot more bad than you would normally accept in an "elite" left tackle prospect. When you examine the 2012 tape you find a lot more footage of him doing it and again, a lot more bad than you'd usually accept. But when it's good, it's real good...because of his unusual burst, upper body strength, lateral agility and especially his flexibility. Of course the run blocking is superb. We know that. He almost takes the fun out of seeing a guy erase two defenders on a run play because he does it so often. But a left tackle's primary job in the NFL is to keep pass rushers off his quarterback's blind side and I don't think he's ready yet.
 
Yes I had Lane Johnson as the #1 OT last year. He looked terrible at the beginning of the season but really came on with Jeff Stoutland's coaching. His offensive line coaching is one of the biggest things Alabama misses since he left.

Greg Robinson is elite in every fashion except pass protection. But he's able to win and get by on pure athleticism and reflex... which is astonishing considering he doesn't get a lot of reps doing vertical pass sets. I think he'll get there, although I've always loved a left guard projection for him.

Jake Matthews on the other hand, gets plenty of reps at it and got worked over by Dee Ford against Auburn. I'm taking Robinson. Elite left tackle? Perhaps not yet. Elite player? Absolutely.
 
If a team takes Greg Robinson and throws him to the wolves at left tackle right away they're going to have a sour taste in their mouth about the draft pick for a few years I think. If they're willing and have the vision to play him at left guard initially while someone else mans the left tackle spot, then they move him out to left tackle, I don't think they're going to think of the pick as anything but a homerun. This is a case where the evaluation has to work extremely well in conjunction with the vision for his use in order to produce a successful pick.
 
If we're talking about mancrushes then A.C. Leonard is a guy that I believe should be getting more run than Coke Lyerla as a potential mid to late round dice roll on a player with a checkered past.

Leonard's big issue, the reason he got kicked from Florida to Tennessee State, was a domestic abuse problem with a girlfriend who had just moved in with him I believe only a few weeks prior. They got into a big fight, and he physically dragged her kicking and screaming out of the house and locked her out. That's bad. You can't do that. But he completed his programs, transferred as he needed to, and I've been given reasonable assurances by people closer to the situation that he's been solid ever since. Maybe that's BS, who knows. But it's better than Coke Lyerla's pattern of clear hard core drug use and erratic behavior.

Leonard is a marvelous athlete, like Lyerla. He runs and moves like a RAC-oriented wide receiver, except he's 6'2" & 250 lbs. He's a pesky blocker. The will is there, the technique is not. You can teach him that. He clearly cares about it though which is a big plus to me. The athleticism drips off the tape. Shows the ability to get off the line like a wide receiver with quick jab step and hand use. He's kind of a "count the steps" route runner at the moment but again, you expect some rawness given his background. Easily gets open on the quick out, easily creating separation because he's just too damn athletic, smooth and explosive all at the same time. Plucks the football outside of his frame consistently. Locates it well. This was mostly against lower competition but after the catch he breaks tons of tackles and contact, it's something to behold at times. He does have lapses in concentration for sure. And when he's carrying the football there are times you're thinking boy you need to tighten that up because the ball is too loose. But again, there's so much there that is totally fixable.

You get a 5-speed tight end prospect at a discount price because of an incident with a woman that is no longer in his life, I think that has the potential to be a homerun pick.

As always, it's what you don't know that is the scariest. Can I guarantee there aren't any more incidents or skeletons in his closet that I haven't heard of? Definitely not. But it sounds like it checks out.
 
1st: Greg Robinson, Sammy Watkins, Mike Evans, Kahlil Mack, Cj Mosley in 1st

2nd: Morgan Moses, Martavis Bryant, Chris Borland, David Yankey, Brandon Thomas, Carlos Hyde

3rd: Troy Niklas, Donte Moncrief, Terrence Brooks, Tre Mason, James Hurst

Beyond: Dri Archer
 
Good with Odell Beckham Jr. , Jarvis Landry , Marqise Lee.

Like Deone Buchanon, Jimmie Ward, Marcus Martin, Jeremy Hill, Lamarcus Joyner, Lache Seastrunk, Bruce Ellington, Shayne Skov, Morgan Breslin.
 
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