http://draftanalyst.com/surprise-risers3) Jordan Willis/DE/Kansas State: Teams love versatile athletes who can rush the passer. Willis proved he was the premiere athlete at the defensive end position during the combine when he timed 4.53s in the 40 and 6.85s in the short shuttle as well as touching 39 inches in the vertical jump after weighing in at 255 pounds. He then went on and showed his versatility at the Wildcats pro day, looking flawless in both defensive line and linebacker drills. I think it will be a stretch for Willis to end up in the late part of Round 1 but would expect him to be off the board during the top half of the second frame. Willis worked out for the Jacksonville Jaguars this week, will be working out for the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Bucs in the coming weeks and has a visit to Tampa Bay on his schedule. The Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys are also showing a lot of interest in Willis.
5) Josh Jones/S/North Carolina State: People seem to dismiss Jones when the conversation turns to the top safeties in the draft, though this is not true in the scouting community. He tested incredibly well at the combine and when teams went back and watched the film, they saw a potential top-50 pick. Jones has worked out for the Jacksonville Jaguars and will be working out for the Arizona Cardinals in future. His list of official visits includes the Pittsburgh Steelers, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins and New York Jets.
We need youth at DE. As far as immediate impact 1st round pick DE might not be the position you look for. That would probably go to guard or FS. I wouldn't have any issue grabbing one of those two needs if a guy is graded similarly and looking for a DE in round 2 or 3. It's easy to say that well we have these 3 guys and some are old and some are average, but that's not generally the point people are making. The point I think most are making is that we have a 3 deep rotation at DE, and for this upcoming season that is true. We have pretty well 1 elite pass rusher and 1 elite run defender, and one guy who's kind of average. In the NFL that's a pretty good group and not a top level need. Not like we can't find a contributor at DE outside of the 1st round.
I'm not opposed to DE in round 1 at all, but there could be more immediate impact position groups worth looking at. If a DE is graded significantly higher, and this is obviously supposed to be a good draft for it, then you pull the trigger since it's a premium position and we don't exactly have a ton of long term security there.
The staff always allow draft talk in the mains as we approach the draft (we have had threads popping up for weeks) if it is going to be here anyway it is best to try consolidate some of it into a thread like this, we had a very similar one last year.
http://draftanalyst.com/march-24-pro-day-update-cal Said to be showing a lot of interest in Michigan DE Chris Wormley's services. Wormley measured 6'5" 297, ran the 40 in 4.8 seconds, did 23 reps, 31.5" vertical jump, had arms that measured 34 1/8" and 10 1/2" hands. Some scouts say he is a better all around DE than Taco Charlton.
Yeah if you start a thread on the draft forum I know I wont see it.
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Was listening to our very own podcast crew at peefectville perfectvillethe other day and they were talking about how VERY few DE's have ever had success running a 4.8 or slower. Seems like it might be one of those telling stats for that position.
Yea DE is still the most critical positions as is LB.
To put DE in perspective: a 35 year old, a bunch of 1 year left on their contract guys and Andre Branch. Gotta think that pass rusher has the edge at 22. Have to see how the board plays out.
You want an answer ...just looks the Bengals defensive roster
Also based on what we've done previously, it would not shock me if Chris Wormley is a lot higher on our board that others
Do you prefer Charlton to Wormley?
I really don't love either at 22, but Wormley would interest me at 54, assuming he makes it, which seems iffy.