@tour2ma said:

Just shows how far technical soundness can take you...

He's obviously not Joe, but you see a lot of Joe's technique mirrored in Mitch. And Mitch has gotten better each year. In 2014 his kick drop got really good as did his knee bend. He's put in the work.

Match that against a still raw, but more athletic rookie... and it's going to be one of camp's more interesting competitions.

Cam's clear advantage is having the feet to better flow with the ZBS.

Your post is the exact reason I think Erving gets the start over Schwartz. Schwartz is hindered, in my opinion, by a lack of athleticism - but he studied (and im sure worked with) Joe to refine his technique and that's gotten him where he's at now.

Erving isn't hampered by that athletic barrier - and he seems equally as eager to study under Joe.

He's obviously not Joe, but you see a lot of Joe's technique mirrored in Mitch. And Mitch has gotten better each year. In 2014 his kick drop got really good as did his knee bend. He's put in the work.

Match that against a still raw, but more athletic rookie... and it's going to be one of camp's more interesting competitions.

Cam's clear advantage is having the feet to better flow with the ZBS.

@tour2ma said:

Yeah, I don't see that. I petitioned for his transition inside last year and he ended up surprising me with his play at RT...but I still don't like him. He's technically sound and that's it. He reminds me of the guy in the office who skates by on the bare minimum just so he can say he's not the worst one there.

@tour2ma said:

I also believe Erving may transition to RT for a while.

@ballpeen said:

I see Erving at RT, Schwartz moving inside, and Grecco as the #1 reserve.

Put down the mushrooms... you've had enough.

Zombo said:

Barney Dray and the two guys we drafted. Tefler is a blocking TE other guy is a FB.

Z

@thenew23 said:

4 TEs plus a FB is a lot, but not impossible I suppose...

Barney Dray and the two guys we drafted. Tefler is a blocking TE other guy is a FB.

Z

@texasag1969 said:

I agree. I see Erving at RT, Schwartz moving inside, and Grecco as the #1 reserve. I think Erving plays this year.

He may be the #1 back-up at center and may be the guy to take over for Mack if he leaves, but if he doesn't leave, Erving isn't destined as a back-up player. He plays, and moves around if guys get hurt.

He was the starting LT for FSU.. I might be a Gator, but FSU is a decent program and have been for 30 years. If the kid can play LT for them, he is a pretty darn good player, and that is the bottom line.

@mudfly said:

Right.....though he only actually returned 3 punts that first year.....so I guess I somewhat discounted it in my mind as being a full year. More like one game.

@thenew23 said:

I like it....pretty much what I came up with too......based upon today....Agree that the bottom rung guys could come & go just based upon camp performance and who shines enough to create a spot for himself....

Prolly a few "convenient" injuries too....

@the-gipper said:

That was his rookie 2nd year....and last year was his second third year. Sophomore 3rd year Slump hopefully. So I expect a bounce back year from him now in his 3rd 4th year.....assuming he is here.

Fixed

@mudfly said:

Not sure where you are coming up with those numbers. Here are his stats:

@thenew23 said:

Based on feedback, made a couple simple changes. Added Barnidge and dropped Bademosi. Switched Campbell and Desir to S because I like those two in those spots. Moved Gaines to CB.

Could see one less o-lineman and maybe one less LB replaced by maybe one more RB and/or WR.

Also based on some of our vets that aren't on my list, I could see some of our drafted guys getting stashed on the PS, which is always a risk b/c any team could take them. That's why I didn't want us to dratt 10 players, let alone 12...

@gftchris said:

That was his rookie year....and last year was his second year. Sophomore Slump hopefully. So I expect a bounce back year from him now in his 3rd year.....assuming he is here.

@mudfly said:

Campbell is def a SS...a box safety, as a matter of fact......he's basically a small linebacker with limited coverage skills, not a chance he'll play CB....perfect back up to Donte and a great power add for run protection in dime packages...

Desir only really played 2 games last year.....but he did play FS in game 15 and switched to CB in game16 when Haden got hurt.....

So, considering he's the perfect size and he's now played there and we just drafted 2 more CB's....Id say it's a very reasonable assumption to convert him to safety....but see no reason or indication of why they would convert Gaines to safety or Campbell to CB

Yep, my fault, thought Campbell was a cb. I was wrong

@tim-couch-pulls-out said:

That seals it then. We must trade out Manziel immediately if he screws up in Madden!!

(or fire the Madden HC)

@thenew23 said:

Campbell is def a SS...a box safety, as a matter of fact......he's basically a small linebacker with limited coverage skills, not a chance he'll play CB....perfect back up to Donte and a great power add for run protection in dime packages...

Desir only really played 2 games last year.....but he did play FS in game 15 and switched to CB in game16 when Haden got hurt.....

So, considering he's the perfect size and he's now played there and we just drafted 2 more CB's....Id say it's a very reasonable assumption to convert him to safety....but see no reason or indication of why they would convert Gaines to safety or Campbell to CB

Zombo said:

Dude ... what did you do to Gary Barnrdge?

He is 29 and ready to have a breakout year. He blocks, He catches. He has the name of a friendly local State farm agent. He dates hot wrestling chicks.

C'mon, man!

Zombo

4 TEs plus a FB is a lot, but not impossible I suppose...

@the-gipper said:

You want to get rid of Benjamin? Who is going to return punts and kicks?

Do you mean who's going to fumble punts for us? Benji has been pretty good at that...

@unsympathetic said:

Desir and Campbell are S.

Gaines is CB, and he will be ahead of Nelson but behind Gilbert.

U sound so sure when Desir only played CB last year and the 2 rookies haven't even seen the practice field...

@gftchris said:

Hahaha(actually half of a year, cause he blew his knee out...remember?).....but, hey, these facts dont matter anyhow.....he's GREAT!!!

Though I do think people should differentiate between "kick" returner and punt returner...cause they are completely different animals and are getting rolled into one thing.....Travis has really only been our "punt" returner, and only this year got involved in any "kick" returns...though Marlon Moore is the primary.....and Travis was the lowest ranked on the team and ranked 84th in the league for kick return average(if that matters)...here's that extensive history he's put up....

2012...Cribbs was our punt returner

2013...Travis took over and was fairly average(ranked 20th) for the 8 games he played...then blew his knee out

2014...Travis completely tanked and was ranked 40th(way below average)

And as a receiver, he's brought very little.....in 3 years, he has 39 catches for just over 700 yds and 5 tds......GREG LITTLE did that in one season and we ran him out of town.....Last year, Josh Gordon played only 5 games and EVERYBODY slammed his effort and performance, yet he had the same # of catches and yards as Travis did in 16 games.....Taylor Gabriel did as much his first year as Benji has in 3.....

Just have to open your eyes to see he's painfully average 3 years in...(or slightly below that even)....nothing wrong with getting better at a position that EVERYBODY knows we have to get better at.....wasnt WR one of our primary needs???

Everyone says we need better receivers, yet theres a push to save the bottom rung one?......who's done nothing special in 3 years except return a couple punts?......this team is getting too good to hang our hats on average anymore....time to move on...

I only want to see better from that position....if Travis is the one to deliver it, thats fine.....but all Im saying is that he hasn't yet....