Risers and Sliders
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Courtesy of SI/TFY Draft's Tony Pauline:
Risers
B.J. Raji/DT/Boston College: Raji walks away from Senior Bowl practices as the unquestionable big winner. He was unblockable each and every day. Raji manhandled opponents in one-on-one drills then collapsed the pocket in scrimmage when he faced double team blocks. Coming into the week Raji was considered a mid-to-late first-round pick but he enters the game now ranked as a top 15 selection.
Derek Williams/WR/Penn State: Williams was always thought of as a great athlete who showed flashes of excellence at receiver. He pulled all the pieces together this week and was just plain brilliant. His athletic skills translated into football dominance on just about every snap. He solidified himself as the draft's top senior receiver moving towards the combine and now grades out as a late first-round pick.
Larry English/DE-OLB/Northern Illinois: English was the best pass rusher on the field this week. He beat offensive tackles off the edge and made several higher rated prospects look like amateurs. His speed and ability to make plays up the field is enticing and has solidified English as a late first-round selection.
Alphonso Smith/CB/Wake Forest: Smith came to Mobile as a fringe first-round pick but enters the game knowing he has solidified himself as a top 20 selection. Smith took on all receivers, including those bigger or faster, and shut them down. He displayed great ball skills and made a living defending or intercepting passes all week.
Alex Magee/DT/Purdue: He was a late arrival to the Senior Bowl yet made his presence felt the moment he stepped onto the field Tuesday. Magee made life miserable for those who tried to block him. He showed great athleticism on every snap. Magee was considered a late second-round choice before the week began, yet it's not out of the question he could slide into the final few choices of round one after his performance in Mobile.
Evander Hood/DT/Missouri: Hood could've been an easy guy to miss with all the available talent on the defensive line, yet he made his mark and stood out when the opportunity arose. Hood played with a non-stop motor, working hard until the whistle blew. He was another whose quickness and explosion gave blockers fits. Hood now grades as a solid early second rounder, about 20 spots better than where he stood a week ago.
Juaquin Iglesias/WR/Oklahoma: Iglesias positively answered the question about his ability to play in a disciplined pro-style offense versus the wide open spread system at Oklahoma, which made him so productive. He displayed consistent hands all week and now ranks below only Derrick Williams on the list of senior receivers available this April.
Louis Delmas/S/Western Michigan: Delmas displayed an array of skills from day one. He was effective in pass coverage, very tough against the run and showed a lot of leadership in the secondary. He has positioned himself as one of the top three safeties in the draft.
Trevor Canfield/OG/Cincinnati: The Bearcat All American dominated opponents each and every day. He's strong like a bull and as mean as they come. Canfield went up against the best defensive linemen offered by the Senior Bowl this year and held his own. He is now positioned to be one of the top three guards selected, somewhere in the middle of round two.
Rashad Jennings/RB/Liberty: The small school product took full advantage of the opportunity to showcase his talents. He displayed speed and power carrying the ball, strength and tenacity as a blocker and sure hands catching passes. Jennings' performance makes him the top senior running back in April's draft.
Mike Thomas/WR/Arizona: Thomas stood out every day this week and significantly improved his draft stock. He played bigger than his measured size of 5-8, 187-pounds, and faster than his perceived 40 time of 4.55 seconds. Thomas battled larger opponents to come away with the difficult grab but also regularly made the ordinary reception. He's elevated himself into the second round of the draft and could move into the middle part of the frame with good workouts at next month's combine.
Nic Harris/OLB/Oklahoma: Harris was seamless in his transition to outside linebacker after spending most of the past four years at safety. He was athletic and forceful all week, defeating blocks to make plays up the field or denying the corners to ball carriers. Harris has room for improvement at the position but the arrow is definitely pointing up.
Noteworthy Performers: John Phillips/TE/Virginia, Tyronne Green/OG/Auburn, Jason Watkins/OT/Florida, David Veikune/DE/Hawaii, Peria Jerry/DT/Mississippi, Coye Francies/CB/San Jose State, Chip Vaughn/S/Wake Forest, Rashad Johnson/S/Alabama. (I'd add Cody Brown/DE/Connecticut to this list -Alo)
Sliders
William Moore/S/Missouri: Moore came to Mobile stamped as the draft's top safety and carried a first round grade. After a bad week he leaves hoping to be selected before the second round ends. Moore struggled in pass coverage and was constantly getting beat by receivers. Scouts in attendance feel Moore's poor ball skills limit the types of systems he will be effective in at the next level. As a result, his draft stock has taken a hit.
Pat White/QB/West Virginia: Scouts who thought White could play QB in the NFL must now rethink that opinion. White's a talented athlete who shows minimal consistency and accuracy throwing the ball from the pocket. He is now likely to spend time working out with the receivers at the combine in February.
Victor Harris/CB/Virginia Tech: Harris struggled from the word go, giving up receptions short and deep every day. He rarely made plays on the ball and was constantly late arriving to the action. The week in Mobile cost Harris at least a round of draft stock, pushing him into the fourth frame.
Herman Johnson/OG/LSU: Johnson got a rise from scouts on Monday morning after measuring 6-feet, 7.5 inches and 382 pounds. It turned out to be one of the few times all week he would impress onlookers. Johnson rumbled around the field from the first day of practice and was constantly exploited by smaller and quicker defenders. He struggled at his college position of guard and at right tackle.
Andy Levitre/OL/Oregon State: Levitre could not capitalize on a terrific senior season. He was beaten by speed opponents and driven off the line by powerful defenders. A possible top 75 choice coming into the Senior Bowl, Levitre has fallen into the late part of round four.
Notes
After a very slow start to the week, Rey Maualuga finished in a furious manner and looked every bit the part of being an impact defensive player by Wednesday. He was flying around the field, running over blockers and blowing up plays. What was the difference? Maualuga was one of just two players in the Senior Bowl who had not yet signed with an agent, the other being Cal center Alex Mack. Maualuga came into the week ill prepared physically and mentally and was unaware of how the entire Senior Bowl process worked. Word got out Tuesday night that the USC linebacker had finally signed with a representative. Once things settled down for him off the field, his play started to heat up between the sidelines.
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Shit.... does that mean Jennings moved up to the first round..... damn it!!! This pisses me off
Maualuga and Jennings is a pipe dream now?
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At least Rey picked it up and brought it hard!!!
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Shit.... does that mean Jennings moved up to the first round..... damn it!!! This pisses me off
Maualuga and Jennings is a pipe dream now?
Shit.... does that mean Jennings moved up to the first round..... damn it!!! This pisses me off
Maualuga and Jennings is a pipe dream now?
I don't think Jennings will move into the first round. There are a lot of great RBs in this draft. Maybe two or three (max) get picked in the first round.
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Shit.... does that mean Jennings moved up to the first round..... damn it!!! This pisses me off
Maualuga and Jennings is a pipe dream now?
Shit.... does that mean Jennings moved up to the first round..... damn it!!! This pisses me off
Maualuga and Jennings is a pipe dream now?
Well, the top two RB's are juniors (Moreno, Wells), and I'm not sure Jennings rates higher than LeSean McCoy.
It's a virtual lock that 5-7 RB's will be taken in the first two rounds. In the last ten years, only in 2003 were less than 5 taken.
I imagine Jennings is now a lock to be one of those 5-7, but I doubt he'll make it all the way into Round 1.
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@shepwrite said:
Surprised Clay didn't get mentioned here.Good point. Both he & Cody Brown deserve to be on Pauline's list.
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Aloysius said:
No. The practices are much more important than the actual game, as evidenced by the fact that GM's leave on Thursday & Friday.I disagree.....standing out in tonights game will confirm or deny what they do in practice. last year??? Trevor laws, rogers-cromartie, keith rivers, a bunch of O-lineman, but mostly the DB from Troy whom Buffalo used as top pick in first(name alludes me). JMO... but they all have coaches tape of the game, have scouts remain and on a personal note.....I want guys who play big in big games.....and this is a hugee game for these kids. For example....for me if Rey has a monster game I will remain a vocal cheerleader on these boards for him as a pick...if he is average tonight....I'll lean towards a different player.
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i hope jennings stays in the second, likewise with shonn greene. we seem to have forgotten about him around these parts, but he's still someone i'd be happy to have on the team as part of a RBBC. jennings seems more able to carry the load on his own, meaning he'll likely go before greene.
it kills me that english looks like a late first guy. he's who i really want at this point if we don't get curry. his physical skills definitely moved him ahead of sintim, who seemed a lock for the lower third of the first before the senior bowl; english's burst off the ball and speed around the corner were far superior to anything sintim showed during the week. C3 looked better than sintim did, too. i just hope that the game film on sintim keeps him ahead of either matthews or english, both of whom look like they'll be decent at the least.
running down the 3-4 teams that could use english:
green bay, i would think, is a virtual lock to take raji at nine.
san fran could use a pass rusher, but will likely take everette brown or aaron maybin if they go that direction. in the unlikely event that sanchez falls to them, they'll gladly snatch him up.
denver has a decent pass rusher in elvis dumervil, so they will likely go ILB and take maualuga if he falls to them.
san diego is getting merriman back and has a decent cast on defense. they need a real RB to replace tomlinson or possibly a WR, though rivers seems to have done well with their current receiving corps.
everyone says cushing goes to new england, but i think they're the first team that's likely to take english. they need to add to their LB corps and are smart enough to figure out who'll be a good OLB and who won't. not to say that cushing won't; english just looks like a stud.
miami has a pass rush and a decent front seven. look for them to upgrade their secondary or their o-line or to look for a replacement to crowder if they let him walk.
baltimore is another team that could take english, especially if they let suggs walk (which they won't). this pick, i think, will be either a WR or RB to help out flacco and/or take some of the pressure off derrick mason, who's the only viable receiver on that team.
if he's there, pittsburgh takes tyson jackson. no doubt in my mind.
last, we still have to hope english or matthews makes it past KC in the second, two picks in front of us, not to mention the teams that might be looking at him as a 4-3 DE. getting him is looking increasingly unlikely unless we trade down, which means that we would miss out on curry.
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Aloysius said:
No. The practices are much more important than the actual game, as evidenced by the fact that GM's leave on Thursday & Friday.I disagree.....standing out in tonights game will confirm or deny what they do in practice. last year??? Trevor laws, rogers-cromartie, keith rivers, a bunch of O-lineman, but mostly the DB from Troy whom Buffalo used as top pick in first(name alludes me). JMO... but they all have coaches tape of the game, have scouts remain and on a personal note.....I want guys who play big in big games.....and this is a hugee game for these kids. For example....for me if Rey has a monster game I will remain a vocal cheerleader on these boards for him as a pick...if he is average tonight....I'll lean towards a different player.
I disagree.....standing out in tonights game will confirm or deny what they do in practice. last year??? Trevor laws, rogers-cromartie, keith rivers, a bunch of O-lineman, but mostly the DB from Troy whom Buffalo used as top pick in first(name alludes me). JMO... but they all have coaches tape of the game, have scouts remain and on a personal note.....I want guys who play big in big games.....and this is a hugee game for these kids. For example....for me if Rey has a monster game I will remain a vocal cheerleader on these boards for him as a pick...if he is average tonight....I'll lean towards a different player.
charlie frye, senior bowl MVP.
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I disagree.....standing out in tonights game will confirm or deny what they do in practice. last year??? Trevor laws, rogers-cromartie, keith rivers, a bunch of O-lineman, but mostly the DB from Troy whom Buffalo used as top pick in first(name alludes me). JMO... but they all have coaches tape of the game, have scouts remain and on a personal note.....I want guys who play big in big games.....and this is a hugee game for these kids. For example....for me if Rey has a monster game I will remain a vocal cheerleader on these boards for him as a pick...if he is average tonight....I'll lean towards a different player.
charlie frye, senior bowl MVP.
charlie frye, senior bowl MVP.
I stand by my opinion that Charlie Frye is not a bad QB. We just ruined him that's all, first year behind a shitty line (Tim Couch anyone?) disgruntled teammates, shitty play calling. His confidence was destroyed by us.
No one can deny that the kid had more balls than anyone on the team (except maybe winslow) and wanted to win more than anyone.
Outside of that... Im gonna continue praying we can nab Rey and Rashad
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I disagree.....standing out in tonights game will confirm or deny what they do in practice. last year??? Trevor laws, rogers-cromartie, keith rivers, a bunch of O-lineman, but mostly the DB from Troy whom Buffalo used as top pick in first(name alludes me). JMO... but they all have coaches tape of the game, have scouts remain and on a personal note.....I want guys who play big in big games.....and this is a hugee game for these kids. For example....for me if Rey has a monster game I will remain a vocal cheerleader on these boards for him as a pick...if he is average tonight....I'll lean towards a different player.
charlie frye, senior bowl MVP.
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@ solon: the whole point is that practice is more important than the actual game. i don't know how frye was in practice (i recall him being average, but i'm not sure), but he went out and had a great game. his performance in that game wasn't really indicative of his skill as a player; he just got hot at the right time.
over a week or practice, you get a better idea of what kind of player a guy is than you do in a single game. the game itself is almost the least important part of the week. it's got artificial rules similar to the pro bowl which make it less of a game and more of an extended practice.
i think we might be saying the same thing and i misunderstood what you said about being a rey cheerleader depending on what he does in this game. i already like him a lot more than i did before the week based on practice. there's little he can do in this game to change that without doing something outstanding or terrible, the same for more or less every other player.
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I'm surprised we didn't see Alex Mack on the "Risers" list. I know he has really seperated himself from Unger.
I still wouldn't be surprised to see the Browns draft Unger in the 2nd round. Fraley is 32 this year and a point of weakness on that line.
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Case in point: Jay Cutler was great all week during the Senior Bowl practices, but ended up throwing a pick during the game.
Ultimately, that week of practices had a greater effect on his draft stock (and was a greater predictor of his NFL performance) than one quarter of mediocre play.
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I'm surprised we didn't see Alex Mack on the "Risers" list. I know he has really seperated himself from Unger.
I still wouldn't be surprised to see the Browns draft Unger in the 2nd round. Fraley is 32 this year and a point of weakness on that line.
oldcow1945 said:
I'm surprised we didn't see Alex Mack on the "Risers" list. I know he has really seperated himself from Unger.I think that separation was more due to Unger being pretty bad than anything exceptional that Mack did.
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oldcow1945 said:
I'm surprised we didn't see Alex Mack on the "Risers" list. I know he has really seperated himself from Unger.I think that separation was more due to Unger being pretty bad than anything exceptional that Mack did.
Aloysius said:
I think that separation was more due to Unger being pretty bad than anything exceptional that Mack did.I know Mcguire said he struggled a bit at center but is the most versatile lineman in the draft which will make him a mid to early 2nd rounder.
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Case in point: Jay Cutler was great all week during the Senior Bowl practices, but ended up throwing a pick during the game.
Ultimately, that week of practices had a greater effect on his draft stock (and was a greater predictor of his NFL performance) than one quarter of mediocre play.
Aloysius said:
Case in point: Jay Cutler was great all week during the Senior Bowl practices, but ended up throwing a pick during the game.Ultimately, that week of practices had a greater effect on his draft stock (and was a greater predictor of his NFL performance) than one quarter of mediocre play.
I agree....the actual game doesn't mean much. You have a bunch of guys who have never played together, with a coach they never played for...the practice sessions are what scouts are interested in seeing..
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