Here endeth the lesson

So that's it, combine is done now. The DBs have finished and now I've had a chance to look at them, here's my thoughts on the final group: -- Taylor Mays was clocked unofficially going as fast in the 40-yard dash as 4.26. Officially his time was slower, but having seen a slow motion ghost capture of him running against Jacoby Ford, I don't see how, the two were separated by mere hundredths of a second not tenths. In addition to his speed, Mays did well in the drills (remember my comments earlier about watching the ball into the hands? That applies here) and with his physicality when he gets to the ball, Mays is looking very good to go on and become an impact player. -- Devin McCourty also impressed today. He played both corner and some safety in high school before becoming a bona fide corner in college at Rutgers. Kid looks good, may slip under the radar for a bit, maybe creep into the second round thanks to all the hype around guys like Hayden and with all the strong players at other positions. McCourty in the second round is a good little pick I think. -- So what have we learnt over the last few days? Err, not a lot to be honest. All the guys we thought were going to be good were. Maybe a few red flags popped up, but nothing huge. Now it's back to the film rooms across the nation as coaches and scouts check, double check and triple check on the players they're interested in, while maybe having a second look at some of the guys who previously hadn't made many ripples. -- Ever wondered what your favourite player gets paid? Now you can find out!! Kind of. I found a link on USAToday.com to their database of player salaries, but it should be noted that the accuracy of their data is not entirely verifiable as it's been taken from a number of sources, some of which may not include all the various little things that end up in players contracts. But it gives you a good idea. Here's the link: http://content.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/salaries/ Thanks for checking in.

Group 10

Group 10 just finished their field drills and there were four guys who made a mark in my humble estimation. -- Eric Berry, as you might expect, was very solid. The difference between him and the other DBs was light and day. Footwork, speed, hands, agility, he just lit that whole session up. -- Joe Haden is being touted as the top prospect at CB coming into this draft (as NFL.com decided to remind us... by interrupting the live drills to show a promo piece on him). Honestly, I thought he ranked alongside A.J. Jefferson as one of the two worst guys in this drill. Drops, bad feet, lazy attitude, neither of these two really did themselves a favour. -- Both Chris & Kam Chancellor performed well. They were solid overall and I particularly liked the way they were always watching the ball into their hands. That small point of technique is not only important for making interceptions, but it tells me that they've taken the time to learn their trade and practice it until it's instinctive. Nice work. -- Aside from Eric Berry, Kendrick Lewis was a guy who stood out from the pack. He was consistently giving it his all through the drills and apart from one drop he had a very good outing. Nice footwork and agility. And just to make sure I ram the point home, NFL.coms coverage of the combine has been awful. I don't know who they hired as cameramen, or what the director was doing when he was supposed to be organising the show, but it was a joke. Actually it was worse than that, because I wasn't laughing at how bad it was, I was getting mad. Points of interest for next year. When the guys are doing drills, point the camera at them, put your graphic on screen somewhere where it doesn't obstruct our view of their footwork, and then keep the camera on them. I don't wanna see pictures of guys walking to the start of a drill and if you're going to give us an explanation of the drill, how about you run the VT (with sound this time) BEFORE the drill, not during it! The whole point of showing the workouts is that's what people want to see and nothing short of some major catastrophe or breaking news should interrupt that!

Searching for an angle

I'm currently trying to watch the DBs go through their on field workouts, so I'd like to once again take the chance to commend NFL.com for putting on a video to show us what the scouts are looking for........ during the f%$*ing drill. Thanks for that. Add to that their insistence on constantly panning the camera off in random directions, seeming to be more concerned with watching guys stepping up to start of the drill than actually filming guys doing the drills, and what you end up with is a frustrating and poorly directed piece of programming.

It's not panning out well

I know I've already put out a long post today but I just have to get this complaint off my chest. I've been trying to go back and watch film of the D-linemen going through their workouts and I just have to say this: NFL Network. SORT YOUR DAMN CAMERAWORK OUT!!!!!! It was bugging me earlier, now it's just making me crazy. Switching between cameras constantly, following players who've finished their drills and are walking back while another prospect is still working out, constantly focusing on guys like Suh so we end up missing the drills, and generally filming just about everything possible except the damn prospects who are currently on the drill. For gods sake, invest in a stand where your camera can see the action and then keep it focused on the action. That's the whole point of putting the draft on TV!!

D-Fense!!!!!!!!! (Sorry, I don't have a fence symbol).

So much to talk about, so little time, so let's stop wasting it and get down to business: -- Thomas Jones of the New York Jets will be released from his contract this Friday, making him a free agent. This move is good for everyone I think. Jones is 31 now and the Jets have both Leon Washington and Shonne Greene to take over next season and between them I think they have the potential to be an explosive backfield duo. Jones meanwhile can now get a contract worthy of his skills. The trouble he had previously, and why he wanted to renegotiate his contract last off season (at which he was unsuccessful), was that his contract was front loaded, meaning he received approximately $13.1 million dollars up front, but last year took home just $900,000 in base salary (yeah I know, "just $900,000"). This year he was expected to take home $2.8 million in base with a $3.3 million roster bonus. Jones still has talent and teams like the Chargers and the Redskins could use a guy like Jones (yes, that is me officially rating Jones over Portis). -- It wouldn't be the 2010 combine weekend if I didn't mention Tim Tebow every single day, so here we go again. The most recent spat that's going around is that Florida Gators Head coach Urban Meyer and his staff did Tebow an injustice by not preparing him properly for a career in the NFL. Which is funny, because here was little ol' me thinking that Meyer and his staff were paid good money to help the Gators win football games and championships. I never realised that the University of Florida actually pays them to prepare players for a future career in the pros! There are just times when I want to grab peoples heads, often NFL personnel guys or coaches, and then ram them violently together. -- Talking of using your head (see that transition... smooth), let's talk about Myron Rolle whose draft stock has apparently plummeted a bit in the last few days. And get this, it's because he's intelligent. Yes, a potential NFL player is sliding down draft boards because he has the audacity to be smart and want to improve his prospects in life. The Florida State Seminoles safety was accepted on a Rhodes scholarship and has ambitions to become a neuro-surgeon when he leaves football. Which I think is highly commendable. On top of that, he's been know to work out in the off season with players from the Pittsburgh Steelers, which is a great thing on so many levels. The biggest knock that teams seem to have is that he will be too much of a thinker as opposed to reacting instinctively. Unlike Ed Reed of course, one of the best safeties in the game, who spends huge amounts of time watching film and using his brain power to break teams down, so that on the field he can react.... uh, instinctively. I've got high hopes for Rolle and if his fourth round prediction is true, that's a hell of a steal for someone. -- As my regulars will know, I'm a huge fan of the Bench Press (can you smell the sarcasm?). Watching the DBs was pathetic. I'm pretty sure there were one or two guys in there who didn't even notch one proper rep. Credit to Eric Berry and the top repping DB, Lucien Antoine, who seemed to lock out on most of their reps. I know I sound like a technique freak, but it's simple logic. If you're gonna make the guys do it and then analyse and compare them based on their results, then at least make them do it properly, otherwise what's the point? You're just letting guys inflate their stock artificially without putting in the work. -- Suh versus McCoy today and to be honest, both guys were pretty solid. McCoy got in a quicker 40 time compared to Suhs' higher bench press reps from yesterday. But other than that, they're still neck and neck for the first pick. Personally I'm still with McCoy. I think his lateral quickness and instincts will serve him a little better in a league where passing is the norm and most teams are starting to use zone style running schemes. -- As for the rest of the DL and LB who were out today, two guys stood head and shoulders above the rest for me. Derrick Morgan, DE out of Georgia Tech, showed fantastic movement on all the drills. I like his quick feet and fluid motion. Probably a little heavy to be a 3-4 outside rusher but put his hand in the ground and this kid is ready to roll. The other player who caught my eye was Sean Weatherspoon, LB from Missouri, did great on all the drills, pretty quick, but the thing I like the most is his change of direction. Most players when they want to change direction will plant and drive, effectively stopping then starting again. Weatherspoon has a different style, a much more flowing move that keeps his momentum and speed up. It's hard to explain, but he kinda places that outside foot down, then rolls his inside foot in and then back in the direction he wants to go. It's a much smoother motion. For comparison, look at these two symbols: < ( The first one represents the traditional plant and drive motion, while the second one is more like Weatherspoons footwork, only he's a little more circular than that. For a better comparison, watch Joe Montana when he used to drop back on some of the quicker pass plays. He kind of drifts a little to the side with his last step(s) and then comes forward to throw in one fluid move. In fact, being the generous guy that I am, here's a link to Montana in Superbowl 19: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa2usy_super-bowl-19-study_sport I don't know who posted this video, but the description is worth reading as well. Somebody posted it as a study project of sorts on the Bill Walsh offense, proposing that the 3 step drop was nowhere near as influential as the 5 and 7 step drop were (read my info on the side to get my take). So I actually took the time to sit down and watch it all and makes notes, so I'd like to present these to you here. There were 41 intended pass plays (regardless of their actual end result, such as Montana running). Of these, only 8 plays, that's roughly 19.5% were 3 steppers. There were nine 5 step plays (22%), and seven, 7 step plays (17%). Playaction in it's various forms accounted for 17 plays (41%). What's also interesting is that out of those 41 plays, 20 of them, almost half, were run from what Walsh called "Red" formation (known to everyone else as simply the 'splitbacks' set). This is interesting because if you look at modern WCO teams in the last ten years, they hardly used the splitbacks set and commonly go for a lot of 3 WR sets, whereas I only counted 6 such sets, 15%, in this whole game from Walsh, for passing at least. He also spent another 14 plays in other two back sets, notably the I formation. The key thing here is that over the years, the idea of using backs as dump offs and safety valves on 5 and 7 step plays, as well as play action, has been corrupted into the derisive idea of the WCO being a 'dink and dunk' type offense. But the idea is you run a seven step play or a play action play, then you throw to the open receiver. If the guy down field is free, that's great, give him the ball. But the key thing is, if he's not open, then at least you have a checkdown to go to who can help get you some yards. You have big play potential with ball control built in. And probably the biggest difference from then to now is that Walsh never demanded his QB should throw the ball down field regardless of whether the throw was there or not. He understood patience and the building of a series of first downs. I think this is key to the success of the Walsh Offense. Well, that's me spent for the day. Thanks for stopping by for a read and have a great day everyone.

A typically reliable Ford

-- I know I've already talked a little bit about this the other day but I saw the bench press results for the DL/LB and I was shocked. First off, Ndamakung Suh blew Gerald MCoy away notching 32 reps to McCoys' 23, but the thing that really caught my attention was Jeff Owens posting 44. And then I watched the tape. Those were not bench presses. They were little pushes. He didn't even fully extend his arms on about 3/4 of those reps. That 44 is a joke and it's a joke that he was allowed to get away with it. More reason to be wary of the combine.... -- And in case you're not convinced yet, just check out the receivers. The hype machine has been going into overload for Golden Tate, but honestly.... he sucked. His 40 yard time was nothing in comparison to Jacoby Ford (4.28), but what made me laugh even more was everyone talking about how well Tate did in the receiving drills, even though he looked awful. When it came to running the line (that stupid drill where receivers are basically encouraged to catch the ball and then drop it straight away), Tate practically jogged across to give himself more time and still managed to drop almost half the balls while looking unbalanced and generally overwhelmed. Compare that again to Jacoby Ford who looked calm, caught all the passes and seemed to thrive under the pressure. Far from impressing Tate would have moved down my board and Ford would have moved up it.

Drawing the bow again

-- It's being reported that the Chargers are talking to the Lions about a possible trade involving Antonio Cromartie. I like the sound of this. To me this sounds like the Lions recognising that their secondary needs serious help and that Cromartie might be a piece in solving that puzzle, while the Chargers could be looking at snatching up that second pick in the draft. That's great business and exactly what I was talking about the other day. The Chargers need help with their pass rush to make them a truly consistent team going forward and to give them the chance to get to the Superbowl. Suh or McCoy at number 2 would do them nicely. Liking this move on all fronts. -- It's Tim Tebow again!! Basically I'm gonna give huge credit to the NFL networks Fran Charles and Mike Mayock for sticking up for Tebow. Everything we hear about this kid is great. We all know what he did in college and by all accounts he's lit up the combine as well, both statistically and with his off field actions. There were reports that he was standing aside the other guys as they prepared for their 40 yard dash and he basically became a cheerleader, trying to motivate the other guys in his group even though they're competing against him. His interview perfromance was described as "exceptional". Just everything about the kid rings of a first round pick. But most people still have him as going in the second or third round. Why? Because of this horse$h%t about his motion? Look at Favre, the guy throws like he's having a fit at the same time. At the end of the day, all that matters is the end product. Does he get the ball where it needs to go on time? Yes, would be the resounding answer to that. If you want to quicken his release then draft the guy and work on it. This is just typical idiotic NFL scouting. Right there under their noses is a ready made product for the league, a guy whose leadership is going to inspire some team to the Superbowl one day. And we're calling him a second or third round pick? Give me a break. It just makes me mad. I wish I was an NFL head coach right now, 'cos I'd snap Tebow up and start building an offense that would produce a Superbowl in three years, maybe less. Grrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Disappearing numbers

-- Random irritation for the day? Lack of combine results posted on NFL.com. You get some stats, while others appear to have just disappeared into the digital ether. What happened? -- Second random irritation? Out of 19 QBs, just three took part in the Bench press. It's a joke. If you're injured, fair enough. But guys like Tebow? And what about the others? Where's the competitive spirit shown by the O-linemen. Even a special teams guy had a crack. He only posted 10, but at least he did it. Personally I'd be heavily down grading all those Prima Donna passers. Far from saving their draft stock at its present value, I think the whole group who didn't participate just shot themselves in the foot. A$$holes. -- Moving on to the state of negotiations between the league and the NFLPA over getting a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in place, I decided to do a bit of history studies. And it doesn't look good for the players. The last two strikes were miserable failures and this one may just top the cake. For those that are interested, the league are threatening a lockout which is markedly different from a strike. If the players strike, then new guys can be brought in to replace them and those players desperate for cash can always cross the picket line. If the league brings on a lockout, that's a whole new ball game. That means no-one gets to comeback. Even if they want to, they cant. Is the union going to compensate those lower paid players? The whole thing just sucks. The players strategy appears to be to get the media and public on side. But I can't see many steelworkers, cops, gas station attendants, etc jumping on the players bandwagon and sympathising with them because those evil owners wont let them have an extra few million dollars for their pay checks. Honestly, I hope the league dumps all the players and just reboots it's rosters. That would be funny as hell.

On the Trading floor

As the draft looms ever closer and we get stuck into the combine, I want to briefly (he says) touch on the subject of trading up and down in the draft. Currently I'm reading "The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty" by David Harris (highly recommend it for football fans). One of the things he hits on is how Walsh used to trade down, looking more often than not for multiple picks of solid starters as opposed to a few big names. At the time he was seen as being nuts to want to give away such valuable high picks. Then in the last decade we saw Bill Belichick do exactly the same thing with the Patriots, trading down to get more picks for solid players who could be worked into the line up. And now? Everyone's at it. By all accounts the Lions and Rams are struggling to offload their top picks. They don't want them and nor does anyone else. And thus I think their is a huge opportunity in this years draft. After the crazy contracts dished out for Stafford and co. last year, the mood is certainly against paying out the big dollars for the high draft picks. And herein lies the opportunity. The value of those top picks are reduced. The Rams and the Lions (who should really get together and start a superbly named pub) are in the perfect position to be robbed blind. Last year we saw the Jets make a bold move up in the draft to get Sanchez. For the rights to pick 5th overall, the Jets gave up their first round pick (17th overall), their second round pick (52nd overall) and three players; Brett Ratliff, Kenyon Coleman and Abram Elam. This kind of trade is also known by another name: "Daylight robbery". And this year the scene is set for some ripe pickings. As mentioned, both the Rams and the Lions have expressed an interest (with varying levels of desperation being reported) to ditch their picks. The Buccaneers at three are unlikely to go quietly, but the Redskins are definite suitors. They need a QB and they probably don't fancy paying Bradford, or anyone for that matter, 4th pick money. Their interest would be further peaked if the Rams took Bradford at number 1. Picking fifth is the Chiefs and GM Scott Pioli is from the Patriots stable. He understands the value of a good trade down. At 6 is the Seahawks and their head coach Pete Carroll who, other than looking disturbingly similar to Bill Walsh from the side, is likely keen to get extra picks in order to start rebuilding a team in dire need. The Browns might be a tougher nut to crack at 7 with Holmgren at the helm, but a former Walsh assistant himself, their is likely a little voice in the back of his head that is tempted to trade down. The Raiders pick at 8 and can either be bribed with a track star turned football player, or else be left to their own devices, which means picking the fastest player of whatever group they feel is most needed. At 9 it's the Bills, who basically need new talent at pretty much every position and would probably do a deal that somehow involved a QB and an O-lineman. Picking tenth is the Jaguars, who have needs at receiver and all across the D. Put together a tempting package along those lines and they're yours. So in summation, the top picks are up for grabs. Anyone with enough guts and the savvy to put together a tempting group of unwanteds can jump in their and snatch themselves some pretty nice prizes. I certainly would. -- Some random notes now, starting with WR prospect Dez Bryant. There are a lot of questions that hang over him coming into the Combine, mainly related to his connection to the Harbinger of Doom for young players, otherwise known as Deion Sanders. But my biggest concern is not off the field but on it. Watching the scarce film of him that I can find, I question his ability to make fast breaks on his routes and get separation. The reality is that at the NFL level he will be surrounded by some of the fastest defensive players he's ever seen and his seemingly casual breaks, where he often decelerates dramatically, will not cut it. Maybe I just happen to have seen the worse of him, but alarm bells are ringing for me. -- Bench press. Ugh. I hate this drill. First, I'd like to see the weight upped to around the 270-300 pound mark, really sort the men from the boys. Secondly, I don't get it. The theory is that you can tell how much time a kid has spent in the weight room using this drill. Not really. What you can tell is how much time the kid has spent in the last year pounding the bench press to artificially enhance his draft stock. And worse, it misleads people into thinking a good press tally will equate to good blocking, which is simply not true. Blocking skill is the cohesion of good footwork, good arm technique, leverage, posture, leg drive and determination. In other words, the bench press is a non-factor for me. Apologies then to Mitch Petrus who benched 45 reps, setting a new record (since 2000). -- Mike Iupati. Can't begin to give this guy enough praise. His college stats are pretty darn good, he has quick feet, great hands and never seems to give up. Whoever snaps him up has got themselves a hell of an O-lineman. Can't wait to see him in action. Remember the name (that's Iupati, I-U-P-A-T-I). And of course, don't forget that if you enjoy reading the blog, please tell all who will listen about this mad bloke who hates the Bench press, thinks teams should take more risks in the draft, hates the Panthers, thinks the Superbowl winning Saints are over rated and who managed to go a miserable 0-7 in his picks from the divisional round onwards this year. Have a nice day everyone.

Heads you win...

Just a quick update as the tie-breaking coin tosses have now been done for the first round of the draft. The venue chosen was the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis and what I really love about this is that they made special coins for the occassion with the teams respective logos on opposite sides, replacing heads and tails. The idea is that the coins are just thrown and neither side has to call in the air or any of that nonsense. Maybe it's just me but things like that add a touch of class, show that the NFL is, excuse the half pun, head and shoulders above the rest. I can just imagine the collectables market that would develop over time for picking up these coins if the NFL either sold or auctioned them off for charity. But anyway, allow me to put my business mind to side and focus on.... well, the business at hand. There were three coin flips, required because teams with similar records lacked any of the normal tie breakers, such as strength of schedule or divisional/conference record (those already being equal) and as a result of these coin flips, the following positions have been finalised. -- The Jacksonville Jaguars will take the 1oth pick in the draft, while the Broncos will pick 11th. Denver acquired this pick as part of the Jay Cutler trade deal. -- The Tennessee Titans take the 16th pick in the draft, with the San Francisco 49'ers picking 17th (just our luck, can't even win a coin toss). The 49'ers acquired this pick from Carolina. -- The Atlanta Falcons will take the 19th pick in the draft, with the Houston Texans picking at number 20. And one final thing for now, a bit of trivia for you. In a bizarre twist of fate (otherwise known as the 49ers average season), the 49ers pick in the second round just happens to be..... you guessed it....... the 49th pick in the draft.