My Saturday Scrimmage Notes

[joeshmo]

Finally getting around to this, once I got the notes I wrote in my phone that went dead on me and just got fixed.

Some real quick takes –

Couldn’t get a read on DRC because none of the QB’s tried to test him, which could be a good thing.

Rookie OLB Brown and Davis definitely looked like rookies, they had one move and one move only, speed rush, and all other moves need work. Which is par for the course for their positions.

Rolle played a lot o nickel and covered the slot most of the day. Beside Wilson and Rolle, all other Safety backups had a ton of mental errors in the coverage game, everyone one gave up big plays – Fransisco, Ware, Johnson (just a rookie so it wasn’t surprising this early in his career), Davis, and Keyes. All of them looked lost as center fielders when Rolle took the slot and Wilson went into the box.

Herman Johnson may weigh the most but he has the smallest midsection out of all the OL or DL. Dude is just big and doesn’t look fat at all. Levi Brown still looks as average as ever before, horrible feet but good hands. Lutui’s feet looks a little quicker then I remember. Nothing else really stood out to me concerning the OL, same goes for the DL.

Hightower does look quicker and lighter but he also still has the happiest feet out of all the running backs. Dude loves him some stutter step. Vincent, LSH, and Wright all looked to hit the holes faster because of it. Those three looked to make something happen, where as Hightower seemed to wait for something to happen. But the weird thing is once Hightower got inside of the 10, his approach completely changes and the happy feet goes away.

Doucet and Long have zero chance of beating Urban for the #4 Spot. Folks the #1 through #4 WR spot is about the biggest lock on the depth chart on this team and its not even close.

Becht better get healthy quick because Pope and Spach are on this team without a doubt IMO. Coaches love Pope down the seam or just plain old working the middle of the field, which is clearly obvious. Becht better hope they hate Byrd or Patrick for getting suspended. You can’t evaluate what you can’t see and old man Becht hasn’t been evaluated yet.

The QB’s in general looked decent to sharp. Don’t remember any balls floating on Matt, which was his biggest problem. BSP looked in control. Matt looked better on the day though..

 

[Mulli]

Thanks a lot, Joe.

 

[PoolBoy]

good stuff. I hope Rashad Johnson can make a play during a few of the preseason games because I think he is a way better fit to backup Rolle at the safety spot then Francisco.

 

[Totally_Red]

Jerheme Urban solidifying his hold on that #4 WR position is one of the big stories of training camp 2009 IMO. Just having the same four receivers working with Kurt in the offense should really pay dividends this year. With the additional attention paid to Larry this season, Q, Steve and Jerheme should be able to get open and do some serious damage.

 

[Duckjake]

Jerheme Urban solidifying his hold on that #4 WR position is one of the big stories of training camp 2009 IMO. Just having the same four receivers working with Kurt in the offense should really pay dividends this year. With the additional attention paid to Larry this season, Q, Steve and Jerheme should be able to get open and do some serious damage.

I wonder what the Cards coaches did to improve Urban's pass catching ability? The guy could always seem to get open but had trouble handling the ball once it got to him. Didn't call him Jerheme the Juggler for nothing.

 

[Russ Smith]

I wonder what the Cards coaches did to improve Urban's pass catching ability? The guy could always seem to get open but had trouble handling the ball once it got to him. Didn't call him Jerheme the Juggler for nothing.

Yep he was really frustrating in that regard as you said he's always open. Had some big plays for us last year.

I really like Doucet but as Joe said it's a numbers game right now our top 3 Wr's are so good that the only chance is #4 and if Urban is catching the ball it's going to be tough for a kid who missed so much time last year(Doucet) to catch up this quickly. Nice to have Doucet around though, in the long run there's always the possibility that the Boldin situation blows up, or Breaston listens to an agent telling him he could make #1 money somewhere else. Nice to have a kid like Doucet in the wings as insurance.

 

[lauraw]

who called him that?

 

[Duckjake]

who called him that?

I did.

Started with a TD catch he made while juggling the ball into the endzone. Then he juggled a few more and it stuck.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Jerheme Urban solidifying his hold on that #4 WR position is one of the big stories of training camp 2009 IMO.

I am not sure about that.

I think as fans we all wanted Doucet or Long to take that #4 role because they are younger and arguably have higher ceilings. But the bottom line is Urban is just better then we give him credit for. As DJ infrerred he had some issues when he first came on board but he is a reliable as a #4 guys as you are going to get.

I think he's a more acrobatic version of Brandon Stokely circa 2006.

 

[jw7]

Doucet and Long have zero chance of beating Urban for the #4 Spot. Folks the #1 through #4 WR spot is about the biggest lock on the depth chart on this team and its not even close.

Thanks for the write-up, and good to see Urban is continuing to do well. If you see from Shane H's write up, he looked awesome the first weekend in camp catching balls one-handed and over the head blind. He was really a bright spot.

But one correction I would make is slots #1-5 are locked up. Morey makes it because of his special teams play and he is technically a WR. He looked good as a WR in the weekend one drills. That's going to make it even harder on the bubble players.

Doucet is seriously in trouble. IMO, Lance Long outplayed him on weekend one and you are the cap expert, but I don't know if his play warrants 2nd round salary when we are so deep at WR.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Thanks for the write-up, and good to see Urban is continuing to do well. If you see from Shane H's write up, he looked awesome the first weekend in camp catching balls one-handed and over the head blind. He was really a bright spot.

But one correction I would make is slots #1-5 are locked up. Morey makes it because of his special teams play and he is technically a WR. He looked good as a WR in the weekend one drills. That's going to make it even harder on the bubble players.

Doucet is seriously in trouble. IMO, Lance Long outplayed him on weekend one and you are the cap expert, but I don't know if his play warrants 2nd round salary when we are so deep at WR.

There alot wrong about this post so I'll just speak to it as a whole.

Morey is in no way "locked in" to a spot and might be more on the bubble then anyone. He doesn't bring anything as a WR and there have been multiple guys brought in (Lewis, Wright) who can play a position and are ST aces. Although Wiz's focus on improving ST's could help him.

I don't think there is anyway in hell that Long beats out Doucet. Early would have to get some sort of life threatening injury for that to happen. I have no doubt the staff "likes" Long but my best guess is the cut him and let him go to the Chiefs.

Basically he is a guy us fans like to talk up and pull for but won't likely make this team ala David Kirkas (sp?) of Broncos and Jets fame. Pretty much any other position he would be in a good spot but we are just too damn deep at WR.

And Early is a third round pick. Not that it matters because even a 2nd round pick makes negligible money.

 

[jw7]

And Early is a third round pick. .

Fair enough, I stand corrected on that (3rd not 2nd).

Morey makes it. He freakin' went to the pro-bowl last year, I don't know how you ignore that. JMO, but I don't see this as a contest at all.

 

[ryanshaug]

Have to agree on Morey, he's a lock. He's a Whis guy and a pro bowler, and his contribution to special teams is too valuable.

Just because Doucet is a third rounder doesn't mean we have to keep him - see Buster Davis - if he's not going to contribute you can't just float on potential.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Fair enough, I stand corrected on that (3rd not 2nd).

Morey makes it. He freakin' went to the pro-bowl last year, I don't know how you ignore that. JMO, but I don't see this as a contest at all.

Have to agree on Morey, he's a lock. He's a Whis guy and a pro bowler, and his contribution to special teams is too valuable.

Just because Doucet is a third rounder doesn't mean we have to keep him - see Buster Davis - if he's not going to contribute you can't just float on potential.

I think saying "Morey is a Pro Bowler - therefore he will not get cut" is too simplistic and I listed the reasoning in my previous post. Morey is a great ST'er but we signed a few of those guys and again they don't take up valuable roster spots and ONLY contribute on ST's.

At the end of the day I don't think Morey will get cut.

But if you think Morey and Long are ahead of Doucet in terms of the depth chart I think you are kidding yourselves.

The only way Doucet gets cut is if he is injured all camp or gets another terrible injury very soon. Because in his limited action in game he has played pretty well and the team likes him. Hell his injury happened in part because of a difficult catch he ended up making.

And the Buter Davis comparion is waaaaay off base. You mentioned potential in that post. Buster didn't really have any and combined with work ethic and fighting with John Lott his azz got shipped out. Doesn't look all that stupid now that the Lion jettisoned him too.

Other then injuries and the guys in front of him its tough to say Early is in the same boat.

 

[Totally_Red]

There alot wrong about this post so I'll just speak to it as a whole.

Morey is in no way "locked in" to a spot and might be more on the bubble then anyone. He doesn't bring anything as a WR and there have been multiple guys brought in (Lewis, Wright) who can play a position and are ST aces. Although Wiz's focus on improving ST's could help him.

I don't think there is anyway in hell that Long beats out Doucet. Early would have to get some sort of life threatening injury for that to happen. I have no doubt the staff "likes" Long but my best guess is the cut him and let him go to the Chiefs.

Basically he is a guy us fans like to talk up and pull for but won't likely make this team ala David Kirkas (sp?) of Broncos and Jets fame. Pretty much any other position he would be in a good spot but we are just too damn deep at WR.

And Early is a third round pick. Not that it matters because even a 2nd round pick makes negligible money.

Depends on what happens in the preseason games IMO. Doucet is not helping himself with his inability to stay healthy.

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Depends on what happens in the preseason games IMO. Doucet is not helping himself with his inability to stay healthy.

Right that was my one caveat as well. Even then I would have a touch time seeing it. He gets one more season/offseason no matter what IMO.

I think Long is more media and fan driven then anything....