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SI.com likes our drafting

bigmiamifan

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DOLPHINS -- While I had my mock draft jumping through all kinds of hoops, setting up a trade so that Miami could get Rodgers, the QB, I neglected one factor. The club just wasn't thrilled by him. But Ronnie Brown is the class runner of this draft. DE Matt Roth was a projected first rounder whom the Dolphins got in the second. LB Channing Crowder was projected to round No. 2 and Miami got him a round lower. So their modest little six-pick of a draft turned into a magnum of Champagne.

B+/A- (Conditional)

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/dr_z/04/26/z.draft.grades/1.html

That's more like it. Unlike ESPN, everyone else seems to think we did quite a good job. It makes me feel good about our future. I hope Saban's luck won't run out the longer he's removed from college as far as knowing college players. I still can't get over the 1-2 people who think Brown was the mistake and Caddy was the better pick?? At least SI sees Brown as the right pick.
 
I do have a feeling that when all is said and done Cadillac will end up the best runningback in the draft class. I said that far before the draft began and I'm not going to rescind just because we got Brown. Brown has more potential for being a bigger part of the offense, I guess you would call it more yard per play potential, because of how much of a threat he is to catch the ball, but when it comes to a pure runner, I think Cadillac is the best of the class.

I don't like or dislike the Brown pick. If I had my absolute wish we would have traded down far enough to get Matt Jones...who has the best size/speed combination of any professional athlete since Secretariat.
 
Not much seperates the two except potential RBrown has more potential whether he can reach it remains to be seen.. Caddy can boast that he is a player..., because he is.
 
I'm not sure I agree on the potential bit. As an attribute for a runner, I would show a bias toward vision and balance as opposed to pure power. Ronnie and Caddy are about the same speed, Ronnie a little tiny bit faster I think, and Ronnie has leagues more power, but Caddy has far better vision and great balance. Balance can be a great substitute for power, sometimes a better substitute.

But it is undeniable that Brown has far better hands. He has the potential to be a more reliable runner, while being as reliable a catcher, as Brian Westbrook up in Philly...without all the injury concerns. A lot of football analysts were gushing about Westbrook this year, calling him the MVP of that offense rather than T.O. or McNabb.
 
ckparrothead said:
I do have a feeling that when all is said and done Cadillac will end up the best runningback in the draft class. I said that far before the draft began and I'm not going to rescind just because we got Brown. Brown has more potential for being a bigger part of the offense, I guess you would call it more yard per play potential, because of how much of a threat he is to catch the ball, but when it comes to a pure runner, I think Cadillac is the best of the class.

I don't like or dislike the Brown pick. If I had my absolute wish we would have traded down far enough to get Matt Jones...who has the best size/speed combination of any professional athlete since Secretariat.

haha that doesn't make sense to me, if you wanted jones for the best size/speed combo, then how can you not prefer brown who has a much better size/speed combination than caddy?
 
Brown was the best back in this class and if anyone is gonna bust out of them, it will be Cadillac Williams..

I also think Matt Jones is going to be a huge bust.. he has no position and has been a QB at Arkansas for the past four years.. Caddy and Jones are the two busts that I saw from this draft, and I am very happy none are on this team
 
Props to SI. We had a great draft and I'm glad it's being acknowledged. Anyways, I'm salivating at the thought of watching Roth and Crowder play together on the defensive side of the ball. But on offense, I can't wait to see Brown punish people and if ricky does come back that's going to be one hell of a versatile back field. Also, Houck turned a 7th round pick into a solid starter last year and he's puhing carey real hard this offseason, so I'm curious to see how Alabi pans out too.


It's clear Saban went after players with versatility.
 
TexasFinFan said:
Brown was the best back in this class and if anyone is gonna bust out of them, it will be Cadillac Williams..

Why?
 
I do like that fact that Brown can catch. AJ is so used to dumping off to the RB if in trouble, this not only provides an out/last option for him, but those dumps usually go for big gains because everyone is in the back field.
 
haha that doesn't make sense to me, if you wanted jones for the best size/speed combo, then how can you not prefer brown who has a much better size/speed combination than caddy?

Because they are different positions. Physically speaking, just because Ronnie is 6' even and 230 pounds, and runs a 4.4, as opposed to 5'11" and 217 pounds and runs a 4.4, that does not make Brown physically dominant over the 300 pound defensive linemen, and 250 pound linebackers that will be attempting to take Brown's head off on every play.

But wide receivers play in a different area. They play in space. They match up one on one with corners who are typically 6' tall even, with between 4.4 and 4.5 speed on average, and who probably weigh an average of 200 pounds. Luckily for these corners, the wide receivers typically average MAYBE 6'1", but more likely only 6'0", with probably 205 or 210 pounds, and also between 4.4 and 4.5 speed. Actually, I'd say that where corners average 4.45 speed, wide receivers probably average 4.50 in the speed factor. And remember, because these are primarily ONE ON ONE matchups (as opposed to being gang tackled by 1000 pounds of flesh), these attributes become very important.

At wide receiver, when you are playing in space, primarily one-on-one (even when it is a zone), usually one defender at a time unless it is a deep ball against the cover 2, when it would be 2 defenders. Having an average of 6 inches of height over the corners is huge. It's the entire reason 6'4" and 6'5" wide receivers get drafted and are able to make their way in the league despite consistently having sub-standard speed. But, Matt Jones, the freak of nature, has above-standard speed to go along with the 6 inches of height and 30 pounds of weight that he holds over the one-on-one matchups he will face.

Immediately, before he learns step 1 of his technique, defenses will have to double team him by playing a safety long and a corner short. Why? Place a big huge corner or safety (slow defender) on him to keep up with him in bulk and he will beat him deep 10 times out of 10 on a simple fly route (run straight forward, look for the ball, catch it). Place a quick corner on him who is most likely small, and Jones will dominate him physically (ever play basketball against a guy 7 inches taller than you and try to defend him?). This is even BEFORE Jones learns any technique. So what you'll need, is a bigger corner covering him short, and a faster safety covering his deep routes...a classic cover two like we use to play before Saban came to town.

What that also means is, before you've even taught Jones a single thing about being a wide receiver, he has already done more than his share to open up the running game, and your tight end.
 
Was Secratariat an athlete?

Yes. Race horses are very commonly referred to as athletes, and I don't believe I've ever seen a major magazine do a "top 100 athletes in history" segment without including race horses.
 
they dont take in to consideration where you were drafting at.

they just see a list of picks and say those are better guys than another team picked.

with the #2 overall pick you SHOULD have drafted very good players.
 
ckparrothead said:
Yes. Race horses are very commonly referred to as athletes, and I don't believe I've ever seen a major magazine do a "top 100 athletes in history" segment without including race horses.

what about jockys?
 
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