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3ypc-(udfa-street Fa Preview) Episode 2.73

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In this Episode, the guys debate whether Ricky Williams should make the Ring of Honor, and what they learned from the team build so far. In the second half, they talk the UDFA's the Miami Dolphins have signed and more precisely, Preston Williams. They close with a full Street Free Agent Preview.

https://threeyardspercarry.podbean.com/e/3ypc-udfa-street-fa-preview-episode-273/

iTunes:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/3-yards-per-carry-miami-dolphins/id1363764781

On the Web:
https://www.fivereasonssports.com/south-florida-podcasts/three-yards-per-carry/
 
Ricky, no way for me, hardly represents “Honor”.

Love the Ziggy idea!

Agree with Alf, the draft was confusing. If Rosen was the target in the second round then wouldn’t it have made more sense to either A) build the oline at 13 or B) trade down, aiming to pick up another second or at least get more picks to facilitate the trade?

CK mentioned that maybe the Fins have a really good evaluation of Davis at RT. The team not drafting a RT early like I mentioned leads me to believe they have seen Davis at RT from day one.

You guys briefly touched on the lack of a 5T which is what makes the Wilkins pick even stranger. I imagine they must feel that he can play there on run downs and move inside on pass downs.

Alf regarding the Secondary “Maybe they should of drafted one”
:funny:
 
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CK’s assessment of Williams seems surreal. We may have got super lucky that a dude blew his college career and then his pro day
If he pans out and keeps his nose clean....could be a great signing. He looks the part on film, but the word CHARACTER kept coming-up and that disturbed me a little.
 
Yo, thanks for the additional info/research on Preston. I tend to think the "character concerns" about him are overblown -- beyond that the dude sure looks like a serious "athlete" on the field to me.

Interesting case study RE "slow."

Steve Largent: 5ft 11" - 190 pounds - 4.7 40
drafted R4 by Houston in '76 - waived then recalled
and traded to Seattle for an R8

Hall of Fame '95

REC 819
YDS 13,089
AVG 16.0
TDS 100

The NFL practically ignores kids like this nowadays. It's all based on *flash* and 40 times as opposed to football players. Heck kids like Largent are systematically ignored by the big-time college football factories. And yet we wonder WHY like 60% of WRs drafted R1 bust.

I kinda believe this addresses one of the "secrets" of the so-called Patriot way.
 
Immature in high school, getting booted from a recruiting trip. Might have been some marijuana involved. Definitely was some attempts to recruit his fellow recruits to Tennessee.

Blew out the ACL/MCL in high school senior year. Had to re-take the ACT. Really set him back in that first year at Tennessee.

Unknown why he didn't catch on more in his second year at Tennessee, nor why he decided to leave the program (similar to Jalen Hurd).

Went to Colorado State to be reunited with Mike Bobo, who stood at his bedside after he blew out his knee in high school, even AFTER Preston had already committed to Tennessee.

Got into trouble with the police in Colorado for shoving his girlfriend. Got into even more trouble violating a protective order by calling her 200+ times.

Got off suspension at Colorado State and caught 96 balls for 1,345 yards and 14 TD. That was as much catch and yardage production as all the other wide receivers at Colorado State combined, and it was more touchdowns than all other pass catchers combined, regardless of position.

Left school early. Family decision. Trained for his pro day, as he was banned from attending the Combine (along with Jeffery Simmons).

Had trouble doing the no-step vertical at his Pro Day. Had to do it 6 times. His highest marks were thrown out. Scouts settled on giving him a 31.5 inch vertical. Similar to the poor vertical, Preston also had a relatively poor 9'8" broad jump. As Alfredo explained, this is common with basketball players, who often have trouble doing a vertical off two feet, and theorized this may have been Preston's problem. In high school Williams was the Georgia state champion in long jump, and runner-up in triple jump. Both are events you do with a running start, off one foot. His high school coach was quoted once saying Preston has a 42 inch vertical. These things fit Alfredo's theory. But it's just a theory.

The 4.61 forty at his pro day is troubling, as well. But it also may have a theoretical explanation. His Flying 20 time was 1.84 seconds, consistent with players that run 4.4's or even 4.3's. Not at all consistent with players who run 4.6+. Did he stumble? Did he rock forward during his start, causing the timer to start early? Did he lift his hand off the ground early, again causing the timer to start early?

These are my gripes with the infamous "10 yard split". The 10 yard line might be laser'd electronically, but the start is begun by someone subjectively based on perceived movement, and is therefore subject to either error by the human doing the start, or technical mistakes made by the runner in his track start. The track start is not a football move for a wide receiver. You could argue it's only a football move for 4-3 defensive ends. I don't care about technical perfection in the track start. I don't care if a guy lifts his hand early or rocks forward before he starts. I don't care if he didn't quite get down with his back arm up and managed to stay still for a three-count before he went off the blocks. I don't care. And yet all of these things can f-ck up the time. And thus I always approach 10 yard splits skeptically.

So I tend to put a lot more on times that are laser-to-laser. And for some positions, I care particularly about the final 20 yards, what some refer to as the Flying 20, because it gives you a nice estimate of the player's top-end speed.

If you go back five years, the ONLY wide receiver who was TALLER than Preston Williams AND ran a better Flying 20 was Dorial Green-Beckham, by one-hundredth of a second. That includes Combine times as well as Pro Day times. And for all those people belching about electronic this or that, keep in mind that electronic Flying 20's are almost always FASTER than hand-timed Flying 20's. I did only look up players that were ranked in the Top 50 among wide receivers. Obviously I couldn't look up everyone.

DGB was a high rated prospect entirely because of his size/athleticism combination. He was a three-route guy. And I don't mean he ran the 3-route constantly, I mean he only generally ran three different routes at Missouri. Much like D.K. Metcalf at Ole Miss, and several other speed merchants out there.

Whatever Preston Williams was at Colorado State, he was not a three-route guy. That's not what he learned in Mike Bobo's offense. He ran switch routes, he executed route combinations with other receivers. He moved between the outside and inside. He had a pretty full route tree.

He was a guy that made a LOT of big plays at Colorado State, a lot of deep plays, to where he was one of PFF's most dangerous and efficient deep threats...and yet, to me, he almost comes off as more of a possession receiver, because he has that skill set. That's what is so compelling to me about him.

But he's got to keep his nose clean from a marijuana standpoint, obviously. He can't run into trouble with the law, obviously. And he's got to show the team that his Instagram feed, as well as the testimonials from people around him, which both show a player that works really hard at football, is not just for show. He has to show the Dolphins that the game is indeed that important to him.

And I can't sit here and tell you how that's going to come out. He could turn them off and get cut halfway into training camp. Or before training camp, like Cam Wake was once cut by the Giants before he even reached training camp.

But I certainly hope that doesn't happen.
 
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Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith ran, what, 4.6's? Switch sports, but Nikola Jokic looks like a goofball and is a stud. I am not comparing the kid to any of them. I am just pointing out there are different ways to be good, or even great. You can be a breathtaking athlete like Giannis, but you can also win by being precise, running excellent routes, being crafty, etc.

Wasn't Antonio Brown a sixth round pick? You don't like your odds with these after thoughts, but it's possible to land a big fish outside day 1 or day 2.

His production last year is nothing to sneeze at. And, CK pointed out nicely that he has work ethic and production. Those aren't the areas of concern w.r.t. character.
 
Man I really want Williams to pan out. Pretty hyped about him for now, sounds like he has a lot of potential. Hopefully the pro day has a lot of good reasons for his poor performance. But what truly matters is what he does on the field.. Sounds like a should be pretty decent with his route running from the get go, that has to earn him something to these coaches
 
The idea that the trade for Rosen and us not taking a DB or premier edge rusher shows we had no plan is a ridiculous thought. The plan is to shed bad contracts and get as much draft capital as possible, whether its young players or draft picks. With the Rosen trade, we had two picks in the top 4 rounds. Al seems like hes ready to jump off the ledge because it didnt go the way he thought....
 
The idea that the trade for Rosen and us not taking a DB or premier edge rusher shows we had no plan is a ridiculous thought. The plan is to shed bad contracts and get as much draft capital as possible, whether its young players or draft picks. With the Rosen trade, we had two picks in the top 4 rounds. Al seems like hes ready to jump off the ledge because it didnt go the way he thought....

That can be apart of the plan but that's not a complete plan. Ok, you shed the contracts and drafted the players; now what? Did you solidify the secondary? Did you add a DE? Did you add an OL early to be an immediate contributor?That's what they're referring to.
 
That can be apart of the plan but that's not a complete plan. Ok, you shed the contracts and drafted the players; now what? Did you solidify the secondary? Did you add a DE? Did you add an OL early to be an immediate contributor?That's what they're referring to.

uhhhh..we added an OL as early as we possibly could? So 2 picks in the top 4 rounds, seeing as we did use one of them for OL, how did you want us to add pass rush and solidify the secondary?
 
uhhhh..we added an OL as early as we possibly could? So 2 picks in the top 4 rounds, seeing as we did use one of them for OL, how did you want us to add pass rush and solidify the secondary?
The suggestion was pretty obvious - don’t trade for Rosen and don’t take Wilkins, and instead use the top three picks on DE, OL and secondary.
 
The suggestion was pretty obvious - don’t trade for Rosen and don’t take Wilkins, and instead use the top three picks on DE, OL and secondary.

First, that is not what was implied at all, Al literally said he loves the Wilkins pick. Second, welcome to the way of a terrible franchise, selecting each round based on pure need. Third, one 2nd round pick, while picking up another the next year, makes this franchise go from having a plan to not having a plan and having no clue what they are doing?

Like I said, its a ridiculous thought.
 
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