NFL NEtwork - Path to the Draft. JAKE LONG - coming up!

[Phinfan31]

He'll be on after they talk about the Vikings. I've been enjoyin watching this 30min show every day and theyre finally going to dedicate some time to Jake. Probably wont give us any NEW insight but should be a good watch.

 

[Phinfan31]

Well that was icing on the cake. I LOVE this guy.

NFL Total Access just started up and apparently chad johnson made ANOTHER statement today. He aint gonna let this thing go. I'll post what he said.

So far they have talked about parcells...saying out of his last 13 1st rounders he has taken 10 DEF players...lol, so all signs point to Chris Long

But I am wondering if he really has that kind of control ? he trusts sparano and ireland, what if sparano (being an OLine man himself) wants Jakey? You think Parcells will honor that?

EDIT: Chad Johnson said "if it doesnt work out, maybe ill go play arena ball for a year" and went on about how teams can cut players at any given time, why cant he leave if hes unhappy, yadayada

 

[hemidemon]

No. It's Ireland's decision not Sparano's.

 

[ChambersWI]

Well that was icing on the cake. I LOVE this guy.

NFL Total Access just started up and apparently chad johnson made ANOTHER statement today. He aint gonna let this thing go. I'll post what he said.

edit: so far they have talked about parcells...saying out of his last 13 1st rounders he has taken 10 DEF players...lol, so all signs point to Chris Long

But I am wondering if he really has that kind of control ? he trusts sparano and ireland, what if sparano (being an OLine man himself) wants Jakey? You think Parcells will honor that?

I think we'll see Ireland has more control than we're actually giving him credit for. It IS in his contract that he has final say on personel.

I think we're also forgetting is that Tuna is not our coach. Sparano will have a lot of insight on who we draft.

 

[ShaBam]

If Sparana is such an O-line mastermind as most claim he is...why can we not just take one of the many good available LT's at #32??

 

[ChambersWI]

If Sparana is such an O-line mastermind as most claim he is...why can we not just take one of the many good available LT's at #32??

cause the guys everybody thought would be available at 32 are now surefire first rounders, and the next best guys (minus maybe Anthony Collins) would be reaches at 32.

I'd be happy with either Long, but when you have a top flight OT staring you in the face, and you need a top flight OT, why wait to get a 2nd flight OT. If you could garuntee me Jeff Otah would be there at 32, pass Jake Long. If you could garuntee me that Chris Williams would be there, pass Jake Long. If you could garuntee me that Brendan Albert (although he is a LG) is there, pass on Jake Long. The only OTs that will be there worth taking are Gosder Cherilus (who might not be there), and Anthony Collins (and even he might be a reach). Even if Cherilus is there, he is a RT all the way, and if we keep Carey at LT that's a good pick, but it sounds like Carey will switch either to RT or to guard. Also KC,Minny,Atlanta,St. Louis, Pittsburgh,Houston,San Diego(RT), Chicago,Detroit, and Carolina (moving Wharton to guard) all have OL concerns. You can not wait when so many teams have the same need.

 

[3rdandinches]

If Sparana is such an O-line mastermind as most claim he is...why can we not just take one of the many good available LT's at #32??

Even the best chef in the world can't make a hotdog into a 5 star meal, but a bad chef can make a Sirloin and make it taste like trash. I'll order the sirlion every time.

 

[ShaBam]

cause the guys everybody thought would be available at 32 are now surefire first rounders, and the next best guys (minus maybe Anthony Collins) would be reaches at 32.

I'd be happy with either Long, but when you have a top flight OT staring you in the face, and you need a top flight OT, why wait to get a 2nd flight OT. If you could garuntee me Jeff Otah would be there at 32, pass Jake Long. If you could garuntee me that Chris Williams would be there, pass Jake Long. If you could garuntee me that Brendan Albert (although he is a LG) is there, pass on Jake Long. The only OTs that will be there worth taking are Gosder Cherilus (who might not be there), and Anthony Collins (and even he might be a reach). Even if Cherilus is there, he is a RT all the way, and if we keep Carey at LT that's a good pick, but it sounds like Carey will switch either to RT or to guard. Also KC,Minny,Atlanta,St. Louis, Pittsburgh,Houston,San Diego(RT), Chicago,Detroit, and Carolina (moving Wharton to guard) all have OL concerns. You can not wait when so many teams have the same need.

But why are so many people making J Long to be this "sure thing" hall of famer?? Every analyst i've heard from has said this guy has questionable pass blocking skills...I just don't see how you can justify using the #1 on an OT with questionable pass blocking skills....the guy has lifetime RT written all over him IMO.

C Long should be the pick.

 

[ShaBam]

Even the best chef in the world can't make a hotdog into a 5 star meal, but a bad chef can make a Sirloin and make it taste like trash. I'll order the sirlion every time.

I'll take a hotdog made by the best chef in the world than anything that tastes like trash, thank you very much.

 

[ChambersWI]

But why are so many people making J Long to be this "sure thing" hall of famer?? Every analyst i've heard from has said this guy has questionable pass blocking skills...I just don't see how you can justify using the #1 on an OT with questionable pass blocking skills....the guy has lifetime RT written all over him IMO.

C Long should be the pick.

he's given up 2 sacks his entire career and was not penalized as a senior. People are reading too much into the mediocre pass blocking. He's quick, but he gets off balance at times because he tries to anticipate too much. That is something that can be fixed with proper coaching. All I know about Long (aside from watching him for the past 4 years) is he's played against the same competition as Joe Thomas and Levi Brown (both top 5 picks) and played at a higher level than they did.

Also, you can nitpick any prospect and find things wrong with them. Chris Long was never really productive until this year, Gholston relys too much on speed. McFadden runs too upright, Glen Dorsey has had some injuries. Matt Ryan turns the ball over too much.

People have differing opinions on how good Jake will be at LT, but everybody is starting to think he'll be very good to great, and everybody agrees at worst you have an All-Pro RT.

 

[mmikel30]

cause the guys everybody thought would be available at 32 are now surefire first rounders, and the next best guys (minus maybe Anthony Collins) would be reaches at 32.

I'd be happy with either Long, but when you have a top flight OT staring you in the face, and you need a top flight OT, why wait to get a 2nd flight OT. If you could garuntee me Jeff Otah would be there at 32, pass Jake Long. If you could garuntee me that Chris Williams would be there, pass Jake Long. If you could garuntee me that Brendan Albert (although he is a LG) is there, pass on Jake Long. The only OTs that will be there worth taking are Gosder Cherilus (who might not be there), and Anthony Collins (and even he might be a reach). Even if Cherilus is there, he is a RT all the way, and if we keep Carey at LT that's a good pick, but it sounds like Carey will switch either to RT or to guard. Also KC,Minny,Atlanta,St. Louis, Pittsburgh,Houston,San Diego(RT), Chicago,Detroit, and Carolina (moving Wharton to guard) all have OL concerns. You can not wait when so many teams have the same need.

carl nicks looked pretty good

 

[sceeto]

he's given up 2 sacks his entire career and was not penalized as a senior. People are reading too much into the mediocre pass blocking. He's quick, but he gets off balance at times because he tries to anticipate too much. That is something that can be fixed with proper coaching. All I know about Long (aside from watching him for the past 4 years) is he's played against the same competition as Joe Thomas and Levi Brown (both top 5 picks) and played at a higher level than they did.

Also, you can nitpick any prospect and find things wrong with them. Chris Long was never really productive until this year, Gholston relys too much on speed. McFadden runs too upright, Glen Dorsey has had some injuries. Matt Ryan turns the ball over too much.

People have differing opinions on how good Jake will be at LT, but everybody is starting to think he'll be very good to great, and everybody agrees at worst you have an All-Pro RT.

Yeah! I and many others on this site, including CK, have gone over this with some of the same facts you just listed. We should have 1 response to this somewhere on the site, so when someone brings up the point of him not being a good pass blocker, slow feet, etc...it will just bump them to the response. I'm not bitter, it's just that, I always feel compelled to respond.:beer1:

 

[miamitd13]

he's given up 2 sacks his entire career and was not penalized as a senior. People are reading too much into the mediocre pass blocking. He's quick, but he gets off balance at times because he tries to anticipate too much. That is something that can be fixed with proper coaching. All I know about Long (aside from watching him for the past 4 years) is he's played against the same competition as Joe Thomas and Levi Brown (both top 5 picks) and played at a higher level than they did.

Also, you can nitpick any prospect and find things wrong with them. Chris Long was never really productive until this year, Gholston relys too much on speed. McFadden runs too upright, Glen Dorsey has had some injuries. Matt Ryan turns the ball over too much.

People have differing opinions on how good Jake will be at LT, but everybody is starting to think he'll be very good to great, and everybody agrees at worst you have an All-Pro RT.

That is a good point and it seems like it pretty much amounts to us emphasizing the negatives against the player we don't want and understating them for the player we prefer. My avatar aside, I'll be good with either Long but prefer Jake if for nothing else to have a strong addition to our talent starved o-line.

For everyone's negative analysis and doubts on Jake Long's abilities - few are the mocks that have him going lower than the 2nd pick to the Rams if he gets by us.

JMO and go Fins....

 

[Ryleigh97]

If Sparana is such an O-line mastermind as most claim he is...why can we not just take one of the many good available LT's at #32??

Here's a post of mine from another thread with a similar point....

I once bought into the whole theory of 'a great O-line coach can turn average lineman into great ones' when Hudson Houck came to town from Sand Diego. Then I witnessed three years of musical chairs with Houck trying to find the best mix of players and it never seemed to work out.

You can't entirely blame all of the OL problems on Houck, but it was still frustrating.

Forget hoping to improve players, get the BEST talent on the roster to begin with!!

 

[Ryleigh97]

I just stumbled upon the segment last night and will make a point to watch it in the future.

Seeing footage from McFadden's pro day was the first time I saw him working out. Impressive, but is it me or does he have 'bird legs'?? Looks like they'll snap like a twig.