Listen, Eddie Moore is a decent player. 2 year starter in the best conference in college ball, runs a 4.5, has a 38 inch vertical, was the best coverage LB in the draft, flows well to the ball, will be a standout special teamer and is learning the position behind a 1st Ballot Hall of Famer. Our LB depth sucked. Only Tommy Hendricks is respectable, being as he is the best ST player in the NFL. What makes me laugh more is that half the people complaining about Moore hadn't heard of him - they actually hadn't seen him to make a judgement call on his skills. People were not going to be satisfied unless they got "a name". And people were crying "why LB?" Well if we had drafted Pisa Tinoisamoa, then all of a sudden, everyone says "yeah, LB, great pick." Guys need to watch Moore and see what he's about. He fits really well to our scheme. It was clear there was a run on LB,s with Barnett going higher, then Pisa, and then Hobson and Lance Briggs. Cleveland wanted Moore, Tampa wanted Moore at the end of 2. It may have been higher than we liked, but it was a need that's filled. Sentimentally I would loved for us to have taken Boldin, who was on the other phone and taken Lance Briggs later, but the CS KNEW Briggs and the 3 other backers on the board were going to go soon and they would miss out.
Wade Smith was a solid pick. He was teh 2nd rated OT left on my board. He brings great upside, has really nice feet and picks things up really quickly - he's a quick learner. He has a nice frame, moves well. He's going to be an excellent player for us. And remember, he's a guy we'd talked up a lot, he was on the rise, he was a day 1 guy - the Eagles were very high on him, the 49ers would have taken him in 3 had they not found Kwame Harris on the board.
I thought Whitley was a reach, but what he does bring is hard nosed football from the G spot. He doesn't stand around, he looks to smash a guy in the mouth, he's a finisher, he blocks well on the move - VITAL for our guards - when Ricky breaks it outside, watch Whitley running 30 and 40 yards down teh field to lay the wood - the guy never stops. What Smith and Whitley both do is SIGNIFICANTLY improve an ageing position. Dixon, Perry, Ruddy are all getting on in age. Spriggs and Smith are coming off injuries. All of a sudden, with Provost as well, we have three bright young guys. I would have liked Ragone here - that would have been a very solid day 1 if we had landed the Louisville lefty and I thought Montrae Holland and his run skills and pulling ability would have been terrific value here, but Whitley has a chance. And the last OL we drafted from College Station wasn't bad was he !!
All day 1 picks will make the cut.
On day 2, we picked 2 solid players, 2 projects and a guy that has a chance of being in the mix at DT.
Donald Lee was tremendous value - great TE. Good hands, athletic, runs really well, super blocker. Totally misused in Sparky Woods' offense to the point that all he did was block. The first time the guy gets a chance to get the ball in his hands he has 3-103 and a TD at the East West Shrine Game and blocks the hell out of everyone. If he played at Tennessee or Miami, where they throw to the TE, he would have been a top 50 pick. That was great value and a real Spielman pick - he wanted this kid badly.
You couldn't argue with JR Tolver's productivity. Whilst I would have liked to see us move into 4 for Bobby Wade rather than pull the Jenkins trade, the kid has great hands and can make YAC. He's a decent route runner and whilst I think he might struggle a little to make the roster, he's going to push guys like Kendal Newsome and Robert Baker and Sam Simmons and really give it a competition, rather than the 5th guy having to beat out a couple of CFLers and an Arena League 2 guy. There are 4 receivers there, any one of which would be solid 5th guys for us.
Tim Provost was also excellent value. I think he'll make the team as well. Solid RT/RG who fits us really well because he is agile, gets moving in a hurry, can move well as a pulling G. As he said in his press conference, he needs some time in the weight room and he needs to learn to use his knees rather than his waist, because he is susceptible to being pulled over when he bends at the waist, but a solid selection.
I didn't get why we traded up for Jenkins. I don't see who else was going to take him. He is mature as the CS say and he's an athlete and he can run and he can hit - his tackling style is unorthordox - he tends to tackle with his head down, but he has great size and the physique to get up to 230/235. I doubt he'll make the cut myself.
I think the pick of Yeremiah Bell was very cute. Bell is a 2 time Ohio Valley Defensive Player of the Year. A walk-on, who was a CB and then showed such great range and ball skills that they moved him to center fielder. He's a ball hawk, a guy that ran a 4.46 a year ago and who had 6 picks. He's also a leader. He injured his knee playing pick up basketball and sat out his entire senior year. He worked out for Mel Phillips and ran a 4.6 at 80% health. He also is a special teams maven - he has blocked 5 kicks in his time at Eastern Kentucky. I dug this out from one of his coaches:
"Yeremiah is such a leader and this is a big loss for our football team," said Kidd. "He does so many little things for our team. He is in the office every day studying film and talking to the coaches. He makes sure everybody is lined up on defense, plays special teams and blocks punts. We are going to miss his athletic ability, but we're going to miss his leadership even more."
The DT Williams was highly recruited and was a standout at Troy Sate - he's intense, high motor, really impressive off the ball, good leverage, is an excellent pass rusher and whilst he's not fast in pursuit, he suits being in that middle holding the play up - we don't need our DT's 20 yards downfield. the kid is really strong - I saw has a 500lb bench press, is durable and I reaklly like the way he hustles the QB as a rusher, something we don't have at DT. I would not be at all surprised to see him beat out Romero.
Whilst it wasn't flashy, there are lots of solid picks in there. I see 5, maybe 6 guys having a shot at the final roster - Moore, Smith, Provost, Lee and Whitley. I see Bell being put on the PS. I see Williams having a real shot at the 4th DT job. jenkins will need to learn fast if he's to have a shot. This was a much beter draft than the doom merchants figured. Watch the tape and know they guys rather than slag them down because they aren't Kelley Washington's or Jon Stinchcomb's of the guys you see on Sportscenter. The depth of this team got a whole lot better.
Wade Smith was a solid pick. He was teh 2nd rated OT left on my board. He brings great upside, has really nice feet and picks things up really quickly - he's a quick learner. He has a nice frame, moves well. He's going to be an excellent player for us. And remember, he's a guy we'd talked up a lot, he was on the rise, he was a day 1 guy - the Eagles were very high on him, the 49ers would have taken him in 3 had they not found Kwame Harris on the board.
I thought Whitley was a reach, but what he does bring is hard nosed football from the G spot. He doesn't stand around, he looks to smash a guy in the mouth, he's a finisher, he blocks well on the move - VITAL for our guards - when Ricky breaks it outside, watch Whitley running 30 and 40 yards down teh field to lay the wood - the guy never stops. What Smith and Whitley both do is SIGNIFICANTLY improve an ageing position. Dixon, Perry, Ruddy are all getting on in age. Spriggs and Smith are coming off injuries. All of a sudden, with Provost as well, we have three bright young guys. I would have liked Ragone here - that would have been a very solid day 1 if we had landed the Louisville lefty and I thought Montrae Holland and his run skills and pulling ability would have been terrific value here, but Whitley has a chance. And the last OL we drafted from College Station wasn't bad was he !!
All day 1 picks will make the cut.
On day 2, we picked 2 solid players, 2 projects and a guy that has a chance of being in the mix at DT.
Donald Lee was tremendous value - great TE. Good hands, athletic, runs really well, super blocker. Totally misused in Sparky Woods' offense to the point that all he did was block. The first time the guy gets a chance to get the ball in his hands he has 3-103 and a TD at the East West Shrine Game and blocks the hell out of everyone. If he played at Tennessee or Miami, where they throw to the TE, he would have been a top 50 pick. That was great value and a real Spielman pick - he wanted this kid badly.
You couldn't argue with JR Tolver's productivity. Whilst I would have liked to see us move into 4 for Bobby Wade rather than pull the Jenkins trade, the kid has great hands and can make YAC. He's a decent route runner and whilst I think he might struggle a little to make the roster, he's going to push guys like Kendal Newsome and Robert Baker and Sam Simmons and really give it a competition, rather than the 5th guy having to beat out a couple of CFLers and an Arena League 2 guy. There are 4 receivers there, any one of which would be solid 5th guys for us.
Tim Provost was also excellent value. I think he'll make the team as well. Solid RT/RG who fits us really well because he is agile, gets moving in a hurry, can move well as a pulling G. As he said in his press conference, he needs some time in the weight room and he needs to learn to use his knees rather than his waist, because he is susceptible to being pulled over when he bends at the waist, but a solid selection.
I didn't get why we traded up for Jenkins. I don't see who else was going to take him. He is mature as the CS say and he's an athlete and he can run and he can hit - his tackling style is unorthordox - he tends to tackle with his head down, but he has great size and the physique to get up to 230/235. I doubt he'll make the cut myself.
I think the pick of Yeremiah Bell was very cute. Bell is a 2 time Ohio Valley Defensive Player of the Year. A walk-on, who was a CB and then showed such great range and ball skills that they moved him to center fielder. He's a ball hawk, a guy that ran a 4.46 a year ago and who had 6 picks. He's also a leader. He injured his knee playing pick up basketball and sat out his entire senior year. He worked out for Mel Phillips and ran a 4.6 at 80% health. He also is a special teams maven - he has blocked 5 kicks in his time at Eastern Kentucky. I dug this out from one of his coaches:
"Yeremiah is such a leader and this is a big loss for our football team," said Kidd. "He does so many little things for our team. He is in the office every day studying film and talking to the coaches. He makes sure everybody is lined up on defense, plays special teams and blocks punts. We are going to miss his athletic ability, but we're going to miss his leadership even more."
The DT Williams was highly recruited and was a standout at Troy Sate - he's intense, high motor, really impressive off the ball, good leverage, is an excellent pass rusher and whilst he's not fast in pursuit, he suits being in that middle holding the play up - we don't need our DT's 20 yards downfield. the kid is really strong - I saw has a 500lb bench press, is durable and I reaklly like the way he hustles the QB as a rusher, something we don't have at DT. I would not be at all surprised to see him beat out Romero.
Whilst it wasn't flashy, there are lots of solid picks in there. I see 5, maybe 6 guys having a shot at the final roster - Moore, Smith, Provost, Lee and Whitley. I see Bell being put on the PS. I see Williams having a real shot at the 4th DT job. jenkins will need to learn fast if he's to have a shot. This was a much beter draft than the doom merchants figured. Watch the tape and know they guys rather than slag them down because they aren't Kelley Washington's or Jon Stinchcomb's of the guys you see on Sportscenter. The depth of this team got a whole lot better.
