JeffGollin
ASFN Icon
Or more accurately, the hard drive of my DVR.
I spent the past 2 days cleaning up my hard drive by deleting all the footage I had of Combine workouts, Senior Bowl Week, various all star games and assorted pre-draft and post-draft highlight shows.
But as I did so, I edited everything down to snippets involving the Cardinals and their draft picks (and UDFA's) and copied them onto a DVD. In doing so, I came away with the following impressions about various players:
Levi Brown - No passer got the best of him in the Senior Bowl. Ever. And there were a couple of running plays where he simply collapsed the pile inward. If he can bring that kind of dominance to the pro level and he can stay healthy, we indeed will have our "10 year fixture."
Alan Branch - Absolutely unstoppable when he executed properly - whether it bull-rushing one blocker into the lap of the QB or splitting the double-team. There were a couple of examples of how he'd break down when not executing properly - i.e. coming out of his stance too high and getting stood up and walked around by his opponent and being too heavy-legged to explode around the outside edge on stunts.
Buster Davis - During Senior Bowl week, Mike Singletary made Buster a project for healthy doses of "tough love" during the drills (particularly getting low enough and staying on the balls of his feet during side-to-side drills where the LB has to step over a series of 4-6" high obstacles). But the general buzz by Mayock, Charles Johnson and others was that Buster was "pure football player" who couldn't wait for drills to be over "so he could hit somebody." What stood out from the footage was that once Davis located the ball carrier - on a screen, a pass reception or carrying out of the backfield - he'd lock on and zoom into the ballcarrier like an anti-tank missile. He also made the defensive calls from the MLB position.
Steve Breaston - Played in the East-West Shrine game. Only made one or two catches, but impressed me with his toughness - on one punt return, #4 cold-cocked him just before the ball got there (resulting in a penalty). All Steve did was do a back-flip and continue on his way after the whistle was blown. When asked by the color analyst on the sideline what he thought about the "cheap shot" he shrugged it off, saying "no sweat, it was just a guy trying to make an impression out there."
Ben Patrick - He made a few catches - mostly on crossing patterns (rather than up-the-middle seam routes) and I was impressed by his route running, hands and athleticism - especially the way he dove for an overthrown ball on an incompletion. It was hard to for me to get a handle on him as a pass blocker in the Senior Bowl because Levi Brown kept catching my eye.
Travarous Bain - Was a late addition to the East-West Shrine classic. Like Breaston, the rap on him was that he was slender and "not physical enough." As a gunner, I saw him absolutely decimate a punt returner with a solo tackle. Playing RCB, I saw him come up to anhilate a receiver who had caught a ball in the flat.
Steve Baylark - In the East-West classic, he had one nice (20-25 yard) run down the left sideline and 3 or 4 carries of less consequence. Late in the game, he had a nice catch out of the backfield to sustain a drive. Although Shipp-like in size, he didn't seem to have Marcel's explosion, strength or straight-line speed.
Although he was our top pick, Brown was player who surprised me the most (in a positive way). The prospect of the right side of our line being manned by Levi and Lutui is a beautiful thing.
I spent the past 2 days cleaning up my hard drive by deleting all the footage I had of Combine workouts, Senior Bowl Week, various all star games and assorted pre-draft and post-draft highlight shows.
But as I did so, I edited everything down to snippets involving the Cardinals and their draft picks (and UDFA's) and copied them onto a DVD. In doing so, I came away with the following impressions about various players:
Levi Brown - No passer got the best of him in the Senior Bowl. Ever. And there were a couple of running plays where he simply collapsed the pile inward. If he can bring that kind of dominance to the pro level and he can stay healthy, we indeed will have our "10 year fixture."
Alan Branch - Absolutely unstoppable when he executed properly - whether it bull-rushing one blocker into the lap of the QB or splitting the double-team. There were a couple of examples of how he'd break down when not executing properly - i.e. coming out of his stance too high and getting stood up and walked around by his opponent and being too heavy-legged to explode around the outside edge on stunts.
Buster Davis - During Senior Bowl week, Mike Singletary made Buster a project for healthy doses of "tough love" during the drills (particularly getting low enough and staying on the balls of his feet during side-to-side drills where the LB has to step over a series of 4-6" high obstacles). But the general buzz by Mayock, Charles Johnson and others was that Buster was "pure football player" who couldn't wait for drills to be over "so he could hit somebody." What stood out from the footage was that once Davis located the ball carrier - on a screen, a pass reception or carrying out of the backfield - he'd lock on and zoom into the ballcarrier like an anti-tank missile. He also made the defensive calls from the MLB position.
Steve Breaston - Played in the East-West Shrine game. Only made one or two catches, but impressed me with his toughness - on one punt return, #4 cold-cocked him just before the ball got there (resulting in a penalty). All Steve did was do a back-flip and continue on his way after the whistle was blown. When asked by the color analyst on the sideline what he thought about the "cheap shot" he shrugged it off, saying "no sweat, it was just a guy trying to make an impression out there."
Ben Patrick - He made a few catches - mostly on crossing patterns (rather than up-the-middle seam routes) and I was impressed by his route running, hands and athleticism - especially the way he dove for an overthrown ball on an incompletion. It was hard to for me to get a handle on him as a pass blocker in the Senior Bowl because Levi Brown kept catching my eye.
Travarous Bain - Was a late addition to the East-West Shrine classic. Like Breaston, the rap on him was that he was slender and "not physical enough." As a gunner, I saw him absolutely decimate a punt returner with a solo tackle. Playing RCB, I saw him come up to anhilate a receiver who had caught a ball in the flat.
Steve Baylark - In the East-West classic, he had one nice (20-25 yard) run down the left sideline and 3 or 4 carries of less consequence. Late in the game, he had a nice catch out of the backfield to sustain a drive. Although Shipp-like in size, he didn't seem to have Marcel's explosion, strength or straight-line speed.
Although he was our top pick, Brown was player who surprised me the most (in a positive way). The prospect of the right side of our line being manned by Levi and Lutui is a beautiful thing.
