Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
Yes, I fell in love with WR Tavon Austin---was agog to see him still on the board at #7 because I expected the 49ers to trade a king's ransom to the Raiders to move up to #3. If that didn't happen, I expected Chip Kelly to take Austin at #4 and I wasn't ruling out the Browns taking him at #6.
The draft was rolling along like a dream come true---and then BASK FORCE 1 took full control of the situation and selected G Jonathan Cooper, 6-2, 311 from North Carolina.
I, like many of you, has spent a good deal of time going back and forth watching Chance Warmack and Jonathan Cooper and to me Warmack was the more physically dominant player.
I, like many of you, heard Mike Jurecki claim for over a week that the Cardinals had Cooper very high on the board and well in their sights.
Then Jurecki relayed some very interesting inside information---there were some concerns about Warmack having a shoulder issue. Funny, because I went back to the tape and what I saw was it looked to me like Warmack was favoring what appears to be his right shoulder, which could have well accounted for the lack of technique I had been seeing on the tapes.
Seconds after the Cardinals tabbed Cooper---came word that the Rams were jumping up to #8 to take Tavon Austin. Yikes. Even worse, Austin was wearing a Cardinal red suit and red tie---and worse than that came the reality that he will be playing in the NFC West.
Austin looked a little stunned and he didn't seem all that happy. He had been saying to Mike Florio in an interview earlier that afternoon that he wanted to go to a team with already established WRs, so that he could compliment them and not have to be the primary focal-point of the offense.
While what Austin was saying makes perfect sense---and while it made me feel that the scenario Austin was describing would make him feel delighted to be a Cardinal---it struck me as odd that Austin was hoping for a secondary role in his new offense---it seemed to contradict what I had been feeling about Austin all along, that, while he is clearly a team-first player, he's as hungry as Larry Fitzgerald in wanting the ball in his hands as often as possible---which is why I had already dubbed him "L'l Larry."
Then---I listened to Steve Keim talk about G Jonathan Cooper. And I have to say I already feel such an affinity for Steve Keim---I just love the way he handles himself---love his enthusiasm---love his passion for scouting and player personnel---and what SK said about Cooper was intoxicating:
How he had gone to Chapel Hill last year to watch Cooper---how in his estimation Cooper would have been the top rated guard in the 2012 draft had he elected to enter the draft---how SK was so impressed with Cooper's extraordinary physical abilities (the blend of quickness and power) and his off-the-charts FBI (football intelligence)---
When asked my Jurecki whether Cooper reminded him a little of Alan Faneca and what he was able to do for the Steelers in his heydays---SK said it was a very good analogy, but took it a step further and many steps closer to home when he said: "In many ways he reminds me of Randall McDaniel."
You know what? This just shows not only Keim's perspicacity, but it shows how high the BASK Force is willing to set the bars---not just for the players, but for themselves as talent evaluators.
I cannot even begin to explain how excited I felt after hearing Keim's thoughts---just knowing how closely Keim himself followed Cooper for the last two years. It wasn't as if Keim had been admiring Cooper from a afar---or as if he, like many others, were wowed with the stellar performance Cooper turned in at the Combine where he benched 225 35 times, ran a 5 flat (and looked faster than that even) and ran the agility drills with tremendous fluidity and quickness.
Keim was way ahead of the curve already on this player.
And getting back to Austin for a second, the way that I had figured the Cardinals could afford to take Austin at #7 was counting on a very good guard being available to the Cardinals at #38 or at #69.
But---look how the first round unfolded after the Cardinals selected Jonathan Cooper---4 other potential guards were selected, 3 of them beyond Chance Warmack in rather surprising fashion:
Chance Warmack (#10---Titans)
Justin Pugh (#19---Giants)
Kyle Long (#20---Bears)
Travis Frederick (#31---Cowboys)
The repercussion of the Cooper pick was felt most dramatically by the Dallas Cowboys whose offensive line plans were deflated when their number one target, Cooper, was taken.
Reeling from that disappointment, they elected to trade down, likely feeling they would be able to take Pugh or Long---and wound up reaching for Travis Frederick at #31. Frederick has some limitations as a guard prospect and he might wind up staying at center. But, clearly the Cowboys wanted to draft a top level guard and wound up miscalculating how the draft would unfold.
The rookie GM who did not miscalculate how the first round was going to unfold was our Steve Keim. And that says something, doesn't it?---especially for his first draft as GM.
What is so exciting to me is I feel like I am learning something every day from the BASK Force.
Yesterday, I learned in hearing from Darnell Dockett that he wishes he could have been playing for these new coaches all along. Sure, Dockett will now be allowed to be Dockett in the new defense---but as a philosophy I have to agree with Todd Bowles---you want your defensive line to attack, not play one step, occupy and react.
When the Cardinals drafted Jonathan Cooper yesterday I learned that the top priority of the BASK force is to get much stronger in the trenches---something they've been saying, but now are putting to practice.
I guess most happily of all, I am learning, and I sense that you are too, that maybe, just maybe, we don't have to be haunted anymore by the Ghost of Cardinal Drafts Past.
This morning, like Ebenezer Scrooge, I feel as "giddy as a schoolboy."
The BASK Force has been taking me to school---and this kind of learning---is the happiest learning of all.
I cannot WAIT for tonight!
Today's lesson beings at 3:30 Arizona Time.
There's so much more to learn every day.
GO CARDINALS---GO BASK FORCE!
Take a look:
http://www.azcardinals.com/videos-p...per-pick/88195324-9836-4a62-864d-735818ff7684
The draft was rolling along like a dream come true---and then BASK FORCE 1 took full control of the situation and selected G Jonathan Cooper, 6-2, 311 from North Carolina.
I, like many of you, has spent a good deal of time going back and forth watching Chance Warmack and Jonathan Cooper and to me Warmack was the more physically dominant player.
I, like many of you, heard Mike Jurecki claim for over a week that the Cardinals had Cooper very high on the board and well in their sights.
Then Jurecki relayed some very interesting inside information---there were some concerns about Warmack having a shoulder issue. Funny, because I went back to the tape and what I saw was it looked to me like Warmack was favoring what appears to be his right shoulder, which could have well accounted for the lack of technique I had been seeing on the tapes.
Seconds after the Cardinals tabbed Cooper---came word that the Rams were jumping up to #8 to take Tavon Austin. Yikes. Even worse, Austin was wearing a Cardinal red suit and red tie---and worse than that came the reality that he will be playing in the NFC West.
Austin looked a little stunned and he didn't seem all that happy. He had been saying to Mike Florio in an interview earlier that afternoon that he wanted to go to a team with already established WRs, so that he could compliment them and not have to be the primary focal-point of the offense.
While what Austin was saying makes perfect sense---and while it made me feel that the scenario Austin was describing would make him feel delighted to be a Cardinal---it struck me as odd that Austin was hoping for a secondary role in his new offense---it seemed to contradict what I had been feeling about Austin all along, that, while he is clearly a team-first player, he's as hungry as Larry Fitzgerald in wanting the ball in his hands as often as possible---which is why I had already dubbed him "L'l Larry."
Then---I listened to Steve Keim talk about G Jonathan Cooper. And I have to say I already feel such an affinity for Steve Keim---I just love the way he handles himself---love his enthusiasm---love his passion for scouting and player personnel---and what SK said about Cooper was intoxicating:
How he had gone to Chapel Hill last year to watch Cooper---how in his estimation Cooper would have been the top rated guard in the 2012 draft had he elected to enter the draft---how SK was so impressed with Cooper's extraordinary physical abilities (the blend of quickness and power) and his off-the-charts FBI (football intelligence)---
When asked my Jurecki whether Cooper reminded him a little of Alan Faneca and what he was able to do for the Steelers in his heydays---SK said it was a very good analogy, but took it a step further and many steps closer to home when he said: "In many ways he reminds me of Randall McDaniel."
You know what? This just shows not only Keim's perspicacity, but it shows how high the BASK Force is willing to set the bars---not just for the players, but for themselves as talent evaluators.
I cannot even begin to explain how excited I felt after hearing Keim's thoughts---just knowing how closely Keim himself followed Cooper for the last two years. It wasn't as if Keim had been admiring Cooper from a afar---or as if he, like many others, were wowed with the stellar performance Cooper turned in at the Combine where he benched 225 35 times, ran a 5 flat (and looked faster than that even) and ran the agility drills with tremendous fluidity and quickness.
Keim was way ahead of the curve already on this player.
And getting back to Austin for a second, the way that I had figured the Cardinals could afford to take Austin at #7 was counting on a very good guard being available to the Cardinals at #38 or at #69.
But---look how the first round unfolded after the Cardinals selected Jonathan Cooper---4 other potential guards were selected, 3 of them beyond Chance Warmack in rather surprising fashion:
Chance Warmack (#10---Titans)
Justin Pugh (#19---Giants)
Kyle Long (#20---Bears)
Travis Frederick (#31---Cowboys)
The repercussion of the Cooper pick was felt most dramatically by the Dallas Cowboys whose offensive line plans were deflated when their number one target, Cooper, was taken.
Reeling from that disappointment, they elected to trade down, likely feeling they would be able to take Pugh or Long---and wound up reaching for Travis Frederick at #31. Frederick has some limitations as a guard prospect and he might wind up staying at center. But, clearly the Cowboys wanted to draft a top level guard and wound up miscalculating how the draft would unfold.
The rookie GM who did not miscalculate how the first round was going to unfold was our Steve Keim. And that says something, doesn't it?---especially for his first draft as GM.
What is so exciting to me is I feel like I am learning something every day from the BASK Force.
Yesterday, I learned in hearing from Darnell Dockett that he wishes he could have been playing for these new coaches all along. Sure, Dockett will now be allowed to be Dockett in the new defense---but as a philosophy I have to agree with Todd Bowles---you want your defensive line to attack, not play one step, occupy and react.
When the Cardinals drafted Jonathan Cooper yesterday I learned that the top priority of the BASK force is to get much stronger in the trenches---something they've been saying, but now are putting to practice.
I guess most happily of all, I am learning, and I sense that you are too, that maybe, just maybe, we don't have to be haunted anymore by the Ghost of Cardinal Drafts Past.
This morning, like Ebenezer Scrooge, I feel as "giddy as a schoolboy."
The BASK Force has been taking me to school---and this kind of learning---is the happiest learning of all.
I cannot WAIT for tonight!
Today's lesson beings at 3:30 Arizona Time.
There's so much more to learn every day.
GO CARDINALS---GO BASK FORCE!
Take a look:
http://www.azcardinals.com/videos-p...per-pick/88195324-9836-4a62-864d-735818ff7684
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