mwalker Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 how Matthew Thomas looks? I haven't read anything talking about him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDSteeler1971 Posted June 4, 2018 Share Posted June 4, 2018 On 6/1/2018 at 9:59 PM, mwalker said: how Matthew Thomas looks? I haven't read anything talking about him. Looked well enough to sign him to a 3 year deal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
43M Posted June 4, 2018 Share Posted June 4, 2018 What is there really to talk about? How he has looked in OTA's? Limas Sweed looked good in OTAs, along with a bunch of other players who never did anything. Not trying to be snide or anything....just saying that even if he did "look good" at this point, would it matter? Preseason will be the first time we can get any kind of read on him in regards to how good he can be in this league....and even that is minimal. At this point he is still in the early stages of learning the playbook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeler Hitman Posted June 4, 2018 Share Posted June 4, 2018 1 hour ago, FourThreeMafia said: What is there really to talk about? How he has looked in OTA's? Limas Sweed looked good in OTAs, along with a bunch of other players who never did anything. Not trying to be snide or anything....just saying that even if he did "look good" at this point, would it matter? Preseason will be the first time we can get any kind of read on him in regards to how good he can be in this league....and even that is minimal. At this point he is still in the early stages of learning the playbook. Great points here. How many times year after ear have we heard players or positions looked great in shorts only to disappoint when the pads go on and it is for real? I think the realistic expectation/hope is that he begins to learn and understand the defense. That is huge with playing. It makes you play downhill and faster because you aren't thinking, but anticipating or reacting far quicker because you know what is going on. Our defense started out great and kept us in many games early when our all world offense was slow developing. As the year wore on, teams adjusted and found weaknesses to exploit and many times our defenders were playing catch up or the players were out of position. I hope he at the very least shows enough to make the practice squad and at best he makes the 53 man roster which is a long shot. More realistically is that he performs and learns enough to make the PS to spend a year getting comfortable with the defense and playing in the NFL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOSteelers56 Posted June 4, 2018 Share Posted June 4, 2018 10 hours ago, MDSteeler1971 said: Looked well enough to sign him to a 3 year deal They all get 3 year deals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDSteeler1971 Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 All the UDFAs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warfelg Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 6 hours ago, MDSteeler1971 said: All the UDFAs? Yes. Colbert is pretty copy and paste. 5/6/7th round draft picks all get 4 year deals , UDFA all get 3. Pretty much the max you are allowed to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3rivers Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 2 hours ago, warfelg said: Yes. Colbert is pretty copy and paste. 5/6/7th round draft picks all get 4 year deals , UDFA all get 3. Pretty much the max you are allowed to do. if they win a roster spot and help the team, thats all we can ask. OTA's aren't the best way to evaluate and neither is training camp. I remember in this tomlin era we had a training camp champ that never even made the roster. It's at the point where I just wait until the season and go from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chieferific Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 On 6/4/2018 at 8:32 AM, FourThreeMafia said: What is there really to talk about? How he has looked in OTA's? Limas Sweed looked good in OTAs, along with a bunch of other players who never did anything. Not trying to be snide or anything....just saying that even if he did "look good" at this point, would it matter? Preseason will be the first time we can get any kind of read on him in regards to how good he can be in this league....and even that is minimal. At this point he is still in the early stages of learning the playbook. This is my biggest concern with him. He has ALL the tools of an outstanding ILB (imo) but were his academic concerns related to low intelligence, a learning disability or just immaturity/laziness? If he is able to learn the playbook...Watch out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
43M Posted June 5, 2018 Share Posted June 5, 2018 1 hour ago, Chieferific said: This is my biggest concern with him. He has ALL the tools of an outstanding ILB (imo) but were his academic concerns related to low intelligence, a learning disability or just immaturity/laziness? If he is able to learn the playbook...Watch out! Im not going to get too excited. Talent is there, but we've seen too many idiots waste it because...well...they're idiots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steeler Hitman Posted June 6, 2018 Share Posted June 6, 2018 On 6/5/2018 at 9:56 AM, Chieferific said: This is my biggest concern with him. He has ALL the tools of an outstanding ILB (imo) but were his academic concerns related to low intelligence, a learning disability or just immaturity/laziness? If he is able to learn the playbook...Watch out! Chief a lot of people don't take this information that you presented into consideration. I think at this point, it is safe to say a combination of two or all that you listed. I have no idea what this kids intelligence is or if he has any learning issues like ADD or ADHD that may inhibit his ability to focus or concentrate. However being a young guy with some of the issues listed that prevented him from being drafted, I think maturation plays a big part. You hopefully are not the same person that you were at 19 or 20 as you will be at 24 or 25 in terms of your focus and decision making. Kind of a side convo on this topic: A lot of times with academic concerns (unless there is an actual disability) a lot of it is how the material is presented. Because something is boring to someone or they do not see how this matters to them, they shut down. Some people struggle with word problems, but if the same problem is given using an example of something that they are familiar with, they can apply the steps to complete the problem. Some are visual learners, others are listening/lecturer learners and yet others are learners by doing, etc... Do you remember former Atlanta Falcon and Syracuse Summa *** Laude Grad Tim Green? He was a Rhodes Scholar, high #1 draft choice and practicing attorney. Despite all of this natural God-given intelligence, Tim Green never had the football IQ of Ray Lewis. Lewis was a football savant. He used to tell his DC's what they were doing wrong. His study and comprehension of the game was on another level. Watching those You Tube videos of Lewis going against Peyton and Big Ben in pre-snap adjustments is pretty amazing. The biggest surprise that I had was the fact that Williams was not comfortable with being able to call or set the defense entering year FIVE last year. I think most teams/coaches expect young guys to take it one step at a time (learn the plays, learn how offenses attack those defenses, learn how to counter those attacks, etc, etc..). You would think a MLB playing in the same system for fours years would be comfortable enough to take over that role. We know that prior to Butler Coach LeBeau had some mad scientist crazy defenses and schemes that unless you were a brilliant football mind like Ryan Clark, you could not fully comprehend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VigilantZombie Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 On 6/5/2018 at 9:56 AM, Chieferific said: This is my biggest concern with him. He has ALL the tools of an outstanding ILB (imo) but were his academic concerns related to low intelligence, a learning disability or just immaturity/laziness? If he is able to learn the playbook...Watch out! I want to point out that the academic issues occurred following the death of his mother so I'm going to assume that there was a period of time where he simply didn't care about school because it's not where his head was that he was genuinely grieving and having a hard time with life. I am not trying to condone his behavior but if that is accurate, I understand it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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