Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
East-West All Star Game:
* RB Zach Bauman. Most productive RB all week and in the game (8/55/6.9/17). Slippery, has good vision, like Juke, can elude first tackler and quickly redirect. Bounces well to the outside. Does not go down on first contact. Has very good balance. Plays with poise.
* WR John Brown. Had one kickoff return for 23 yards. Was thrown to once on a curl route which the CB (Lawson, Utah St.) bear hugged him on but wasn't flagged. Looks taller than I expected. Accelerates quickly. Very fluid. Plays with his head up.
* LB Glenn Carson. Consummate sifter through traffic to find the ball. Good finisher, although he tackles a tad too low at times. Got beat badly in zone by a TE, where he is supposed to protect the seam, especially when there is no other receiver underneath. Active player with a nose for the ball. Not especially fast, but very instinctive.
* DT Bruce Gaston. Big, hard to move NT/DT, who plays a little too upright at times, but can shed and make tackles. Had a couple nice run stuffs. Has power and pretty good stamina.
NFLPA Bowl:
* CB Jimmy Legree. Good size (6-0, 195) and awareness. Plays good angles and leverage. Smells plays out well. Forces the run well. Lacks burner speed, but makes up for it in technique and savvy.
Senior Bowl:
* QB Logan Thomas. Went 4/5 for 17 yards, but was sacked 5 times (and in all 5 cases he had virtually no time to escape, although once he ducked Dee Ford, but Ford managed to hit him hard enough to spin him around). Did not fumble the ball and did not play in fear, despite the pressure. Showed good touch on short passes, which were the only ones he had time to complete. Wasn't able to showcase his arm due to lack of protection (which may have been a boon for the Cardinals, because the NFLN crew was speculating that Thomas could go as early as round 2---they felt that some HC would believe he could maximize Thomas' prodigious talent---as the 49ers did with Kaepernick, whom, as the NFLN crew said, had accuracy concerns coming out.
* S Deone Bucannon. Played mostly deep FS, which is not his forte. Came up quickly to make three good, hard tackles, two on quick passes. Gets to the ball in a hurry. Not an instinctive deep safety in coverage, but that's not what the Cardinals drafted him for. Looks physically a lot like Adrian Wilson---same body type and pipes for arms. The NFLN crew were very high on him.
* LB Jonathan Brown. The NFLN crew pointed out that he led the Big ten in tackles for most of the season and finished with 118, and at Illinois he played OLB, which is saying something. Very active and hard charging. Not especially fast, but is always around the ball. Got flagged for a horse collar on a run near the sideline. Got turned around a couple of times in coverage. Shot the gap on a running play and made a nice TFL with help from Kareem Martin.
* Kareem Martin. The NFLN crew was also very high on his prospects, but questioned what position he fits. They highlighted his greatest strength---his hands and arms---but they also noted that he isn't explosive in his edge rush. That was evidenced in the game as he seemed to be playing the run almost every play. He made 4 tackles versus the run and then in the second half on one of the rare times he attacked the edge he had a near sack of Jimmy Garoppolo that the QB slipped sideways of. I was thinking that because of his size and athleticism that Todd Bowles would try to groom him behind John Abraham, but based on his feet, I wonder whether Martin is agile or quick enough to play the edge versus Wilson and Kaepernick. Martin's best fit looks like as a 34DE opposite Calais Campbell...although he is going to have to learn how to play with better balance and vision in the 5 technique...and how to hold his ground versus downblocks and double teams.
Note: I wonder where Dee Ford was on the Cardinals' draft board, because he was the pass rushing show in this game---although, he did not have any of his sacks or pressures versus T Zach Martin. Just the same Ford's quickness off the edge was impressive, as was his body control in reacting to bootlegs, etc. The Chiefs drafted Ford two picks ahead of the Cardinals---which was somewhat of a surprise seeing as they have two good edge rushers in Hali and Houston. It wouldn't surprise me if based on the needs of the teams picking from 20-26, that the Cardinals may have thought they would be able to take Dee Ford. Then again, maybe they had concerns all along about his lack of ideal length and his old back injury. Regardless, one would think that adding an edge rusher is now the top priority in the 2015 Draft. The Cardinals could have stayed at #20 and drafted Ford. Interestingly, the Eagles surprised everyone by taking DE/OLB Marcus Smith of Louisville at #22 (three picks ahead of Ford)---which begs the question as to how high Marcus Smith was on the Cardinals' board. Having pondered all of this---had the Cardinals drafted OLB/DE in round one, they would not have been able to find a SS like Deone Bucannon at #52. Once Smith and Ford were off the board, it made picking Bucannon a lot easier. I still think that because of the private workouts and time they spent with Bucannon before the draft that he was their guy all along---but it does make me wonder about how they were going to miss out at OLB/DE once again.
* RB Zach Bauman. Most productive RB all week and in the game (8/55/6.9/17). Slippery, has good vision, like Juke, can elude first tackler and quickly redirect. Bounces well to the outside. Does not go down on first contact. Has very good balance. Plays with poise.
* WR John Brown. Had one kickoff return for 23 yards. Was thrown to once on a curl route which the CB (Lawson, Utah St.) bear hugged him on but wasn't flagged. Looks taller than I expected. Accelerates quickly. Very fluid. Plays with his head up.
* LB Glenn Carson. Consummate sifter through traffic to find the ball. Good finisher, although he tackles a tad too low at times. Got beat badly in zone by a TE, where he is supposed to protect the seam, especially when there is no other receiver underneath. Active player with a nose for the ball. Not especially fast, but very instinctive.
* DT Bruce Gaston. Big, hard to move NT/DT, who plays a little too upright at times, but can shed and make tackles. Had a couple nice run stuffs. Has power and pretty good stamina.
NFLPA Bowl:
* CB Jimmy Legree. Good size (6-0, 195) and awareness. Plays good angles and leverage. Smells plays out well. Forces the run well. Lacks burner speed, but makes up for it in technique and savvy.
Senior Bowl:
* QB Logan Thomas. Went 4/5 for 17 yards, but was sacked 5 times (and in all 5 cases he had virtually no time to escape, although once he ducked Dee Ford, but Ford managed to hit him hard enough to spin him around). Did not fumble the ball and did not play in fear, despite the pressure. Showed good touch on short passes, which were the only ones he had time to complete. Wasn't able to showcase his arm due to lack of protection (which may have been a boon for the Cardinals, because the NFLN crew was speculating that Thomas could go as early as round 2---they felt that some HC would believe he could maximize Thomas' prodigious talent---as the 49ers did with Kaepernick, whom, as the NFLN crew said, had accuracy concerns coming out.
* S Deone Bucannon. Played mostly deep FS, which is not his forte. Came up quickly to make three good, hard tackles, two on quick passes. Gets to the ball in a hurry. Not an instinctive deep safety in coverage, but that's not what the Cardinals drafted him for. Looks physically a lot like Adrian Wilson---same body type and pipes for arms. The NFLN crew were very high on him.
* LB Jonathan Brown. The NFLN crew pointed out that he led the Big ten in tackles for most of the season and finished with 118, and at Illinois he played OLB, which is saying something. Very active and hard charging. Not especially fast, but is always around the ball. Got flagged for a horse collar on a run near the sideline. Got turned around a couple of times in coverage. Shot the gap on a running play and made a nice TFL with help from Kareem Martin.
* Kareem Martin. The NFLN crew was also very high on his prospects, but questioned what position he fits. They highlighted his greatest strength---his hands and arms---but they also noted that he isn't explosive in his edge rush. That was evidenced in the game as he seemed to be playing the run almost every play. He made 4 tackles versus the run and then in the second half on one of the rare times he attacked the edge he had a near sack of Jimmy Garoppolo that the QB slipped sideways of. I was thinking that because of his size and athleticism that Todd Bowles would try to groom him behind John Abraham, but based on his feet, I wonder whether Martin is agile or quick enough to play the edge versus Wilson and Kaepernick. Martin's best fit looks like as a 34DE opposite Calais Campbell...although he is going to have to learn how to play with better balance and vision in the 5 technique...and how to hold his ground versus downblocks and double teams.
Note: I wonder where Dee Ford was on the Cardinals' draft board, because he was the pass rushing show in this game---although, he did not have any of his sacks or pressures versus T Zach Martin. Just the same Ford's quickness off the edge was impressive, as was his body control in reacting to bootlegs, etc. The Chiefs drafted Ford two picks ahead of the Cardinals---which was somewhat of a surprise seeing as they have two good edge rushers in Hali and Houston. It wouldn't surprise me if based on the needs of the teams picking from 20-26, that the Cardinals may have thought they would be able to take Dee Ford. Then again, maybe they had concerns all along about his lack of ideal length and his old back injury. Regardless, one would think that adding an edge rusher is now the top priority in the 2015 Draft. The Cardinals could have stayed at #20 and drafted Ford. Interestingly, the Eagles surprised everyone by taking DE/OLB Marcus Smith of Louisville at #22 (three picks ahead of Ford)---which begs the question as to how high Marcus Smith was on the Cardinals' board. Having pondered all of this---had the Cardinals drafted OLB/DE in round one, they would not have been able to find a SS like Deone Bucannon at #52. Once Smith and Ford were off the board, it made picking Bucannon a lot easier. I still think that because of the private workouts and time they spent with Bucannon before the draft that he was their guy all along---but it does make me wonder about how they were going to miss out at OLB/DE once again.
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