Rewatch Tape...

[JeffGollin]

Herman Johnson, Trevor Canfield, Will Davis, Cody Brown and Rashad Johnson were in the Senior Bowl.

Without getting specific or tipping my mitt, I strongly urge anyone who TIVO'd or taped the Senior Bowl practices/games and Combine workouts/highlights to do so. See if you see what I saw.

I think - in a couple of instances - you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[lauraw]

Thank you Mr. Gollin. Will you please add to your post with your observations when you have time?

 

[Shane]

Im gonna go on a limb and say that 95% of us on this board dont have that on file either on tape of tivoed to watch it. So instead of the guessing game can you just give us your personal observations?

 

[az jam]

Im gonna go on a limb and say that 95% of us on this board dont have that on file either on tape of tivoed to watch it. So instead of the guessing game can you just give us your personal observations?

Even if I did have these on tape, I doubt if I have the skill set to properly give a reasonable analysis.

 

[Goldfield]

JeffG, I need my Cardinal football fix. What stood out to you, referring to our rookies!

 

[PortlandCardFan]

Yeah Jeff, if you could just hook us up with your insite that would be good. I'm just a fan and won't notice the stuff you would see.

Thanks!

 

[b8rtm8nn]

Ditto.

 

[Redheart]

Pretty please?

 

[Goldfield]

WTF Jeff, I have waited Long enough.

 

[Nash2Amare]

Yes, an observation of what you saw would be nice...I don't have it saved on Tivo

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

What a tease!

 

[CardEd]

WWJGT

Wonder What JeffGollin Thinks

 

[PitchShifter]

WWJGT

Wonder What JeffGollin Thinks

Damn, can I change my nick???

 

[JeffGollin]

Im gonna go on a limb and say that 95% of us on this board dont have that on file either on tape of tivoed to watch it. So instead of the guessing game can you just give us your personal observations?

The reason I didn't want to jot down my comments "before the fact" was that I didn't want to prejudice anybody by saying stuff before they saw the footage. (I was hoping you guys would watch first and then form your own conclusions).

But OK here goes:

- First, we all know how this was supposed to be a deep draft at OT, how there were four or five guard-centers and a couple of guards projected to go from around #30 to #50 in the draft. And there seemed to be the overall assumption that Herman Johnson was just a big fat guy who was too slow to play tackle and not explosive to play inside at guard. All I know is that Big Baby (who mostly played RT) looked like a dancing bear out there against edge outside rushers, and - although he didn't explode into anyone - was so big and strong that he served as a one-man-wall to prevent his opponent from closing down on inside-the-tackle cutbacks. Maybe he wouldn't make it over at LT, but I think we got ourselves a dominating football player at RT. I can't wait til Russ G and John L get to spend some time with him.

- Then there was Canfield (rated top #3 guard by some draft books and ended up being drafted 2 picks away from Mr. Irrelevent). After starting out a bit shaky in the one-on-one drills, Trevor cleaned up whatever he was doing wrong and then consistently stoned inside pass rushers (that included guys like Raji and Ziggy). Once or twice - both in practice and the game - he'd get outquicked and rag-dolled (which probably made some folks question his athleticism) but then he'd learn from his mistakes and anchor well inside from there in out. He's one of those lunch-pail battlers whom I think will make our roster and quite possibly wind up starting.

- Not a lot of footage on Cody Brown, (except that he looked faster than Orapko or English on tape - leading me to suspect that his agent speeded up his reel) other than one drill where, coming from the outside he simply bull-rushed his man right into the QB.

- Charles Davis said he was going to spend a lot of time focusing on Will Davis, but then I heard very little about Davis after that. I did see him - at LDE - close on the QB nicely on one set of plays; only to be sucked in by a screen on one play and the QB on an outside waggle. One thing pointed out by C Davis was that Will Davis was orginally a WR/TE and still learning the fine points of the DE/OLB position.

- Rashad Johnson (listed as Mike Mayock's #1 safety back then) was hard to pick out on the TV screen. (I think he was #47 on the red squad). It seemed as if they not only had him playing "center field" but extremely deep; so that he was seldom part of the action.

Bottom Line - I think Herman Johnson is vastly underrated and will turn out to be a huge steal. Canfield somewhat of a steal. Cody Brown has Freenie-like qualities. Will Davis, while not doing much now, flashed a few positive qualities, is just scratching the surface of his talent and could (repeat could) turn out to be this year's defensive version of Brandon Keith. It' was hard to get a reading on Rashad Johnson (other than that he played, he started and Mayock liked him).

That's all I got.

 

[NuttinButTDs]

Maybe they picked Big Baby to protect Leinart in a couple of years . We will need a good RT for Leinart.

 

[Skkorpion]

We haven't had a Big Baby since Eric Swann quit. Finally filled that gap.

 

[Kolo]

- First, we all know how this was supposed to be a deep draft at OT, how there were four or five guard-centers and a couple of guards projected to go from around #30 to #50 in the draft. And there seemed to be the overall assumption that Herman Johnson was just a big fat guy who was too slow to play tackle and not explosive to play inside at guard. All I know is that Big Baby (who mostly played RT) looked like a dancing bear out there against edge outside rushers, and - although he didn't explode into anyone - was so big and strong that he served as a one-man-wall to prevent his opponent from closing down on inside-the-tackle cutbacks. Maybe he wouldn't make it over at LT, but I think we got ourselves a dominating football player at RT. I can't wait til Russ G and John L get to spend some time with him.

Don't take this the wrong way--I haven't seen the Senior Bowl and don't claim to understand what playing offensive line is all about anyway--but all of the Senior Bowl write-ups I've seen said Johnson not only didn't look good, he looked pathetic and lost himself a lot of money. I read that at his pro day, he was thirty pounds lighter and moved much better (although his three cone and short shuttle times at his pro day still would have been among the worst if he did them at the combine).

Don't get me wrong, I hope you're right, but what you saw seems to be the exact opposite of what everybody else saw. Maybe I'm missing something.

 

[TheCardFan]

I really like Herman Johnson and even more after Grimm picked him.

When you think 380...you think blob but Herm is huge but athletic/in shape.

I think he is 1 year away (Grimm/Lott) from seeing the field but it was a very nice gamble.

 

[187]

I really like Herman Johnson and even more after Grimm picked him.

When you think 380...you think blob but Herm is huge but athletic/in shape.

I think he is 1 year away (Grimm/Lott) from seeing the field but it was a very nice gamble.

He weighed in at 364lbs at the combine, so he's been dropping a lot of weight. If anything that shows he's dedicated to excelling in the NFL, so far so good!

 

[Dr. Jones]

Bottom Line - I think Herman Johnson is vastly underrated and will turn out to be a huge steal.

Of course he will.........

:5thRound:

 

[Goldfield]

Herm Johnson look very athletic for his size. I have no doubt he will find a spot. I think he can play RT.

 

[perivolaki]

Don't take this the wrong way--I haven't seen the Senior Bowl and don't claim to understand what playing offensive line is all about anyway--but all of the Senior Bowl write-ups I've seen said Johnson not only didn't look good, he looked pathetic and lost himself a lot of money. I read that at his pro day, he was thirty pounds lighter and moved much better (although his three cone and short shuttle times at his pro day still would have been among the worst if he did them at the combine).

Don't get me wrong, I hope you're right, but what you saw seems to be the exact opposite of what everybody else saw. Maybe I'm missing something.

You know Kolo thats exactly what I heard also. The reports I saw said he had potential at guard but looked completely overmatched at tackle.

Not that any of it means anything. We've seen players have great senior bowls and never amount to a hill of beans and players who looked terrible end up being good players.

We are never sure about things like injurys and weight gains. The senior bowl is just one small part of the evaluations.

 

[PoolBoy]

so are we giving up on Levi Brown?

id rather him replace deuce when ready.

 

[lauraw]

If John Lott can get him down to 340# and moving free-er within himself I think this mtn of a man will be a starter for us some day, where I don't know. Thank you Mr Gollin for your write up.

 

[JeffGollin]

You know Kolo thats exactly what I heard also. The reports I saw said he had potential at guard but looked completely overmatched at tackle.

Far be it from me to ignore what various draft pundits have to say, but more and more, I've been inclined to "go with my eyeballs."

Too often, the pundits will fail to do their homework and, instead, simply repeat earlier conventional wisdom or, at the very least, allow that CW to color their assessment of what they see.

Best I can do is to report on "what I saw." As I said in my original post, check it out for yourselves and draw your own conclusions (NFL Network or ESPN-U will no doubt re-air the Senior Bowl before summer is over).

Note: I too saw the comments about Johnson having more potential at guard. He played a little guard during the 4Q of the Senior Bowl. I wasn't impressed - he didn't look as though he could drive block or had the explosive quicks you like from a guard.

Note II: Russ G says Johnson will initially play RT (but could eventually see time at guard as well).