1[12]: Rashan Gary [EDGE; Michigan]

[packfanfb]

8 hours ago, craig said:

Absolutely.  Kinda scared that this will all vanish once the real games start.  One of my hesitations is that all of the camp success, it's coming against the packers O-line, and largely against backups.  Of the tackles he's facing, Bakhti and Turner are the only drafted tackles in camp.  So is he beating Bakhti a lot, or these wins coming against Zach Johnson and Alex Light and Runyon and Cody Conway?  Not sure.  But it might be a lot harder when he's facing nothing but NFL starters.    

Let me put it to you this way, if Gary fails this year, it will 90%+ be Pettine's fault. No excuse not to be able to use a guy with Gary's skill-set in a way to get the most out of him on the field. 

[persiandud]

Yeah, the way the coaches are doubling down on this kid...they better be right or it's their jobs 😤 

He looks like he's in great shape. Rooting for him! Cmon Rashan we need you ! 

[AlexGreen#20]

Always got to add the caveat, athletes always look great in training camp. 

[vegas492]

3 hours ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

Always got to add the caveat, athletes always look great in training camp. 

No doubt.

I'm more optimistic about Gary this year because last year, he looked good in drills.  Thats the athlete.  When there were blockers and game situations in practice...invisible.

Seems like that has changed this year and he's making plays in those game situations and not just against "air".

I'm still not totally "sold" on Gary.  I keep telling myself that it takes a few years for some edge guys to "get it".  Gary changed positions and changed his body.  My guess is that he's better this year, but still just scratching of the surface of what he will become.

[Kenrik]

7 hours ago, AlexGreen#20 said:

Always got to add the caveat, athletes always look great in training camp. 

Enters Lacy

[Spartacus]

41 minutes ago, Kenrik said:

Enters Lacy

He did say athletes. Not John Candy impersonators. 

[ThatJerkDave]

1 hour ago, Spartacus said:

He did say athletes. Not John Candy impersonators. 

[MacReady]

Gary could bust, or he could hit.  I just don't like writing players off after one bad year, especially at pass rush type positions and along the DL. 

For reference, here's a list of first seasons from 1990 - present drafted in the first 16 picks.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/play-index/psl_finder.cgi?request=1&match=single&draft=1&year_min=1990&year_max=2019&season_start=1&season_end=1&pos[]=dt&pos[]=de&pos[]=olb&pos[]=lb&draft_year_min=1990&draft_year_max=2020&draft_slot_min=1&draft_slot_max=16&draft_pick_in_round=pick_overall&conference=any&draft_pos[]=dt&draft_pos[]=de&draft_pos[]=dl&draft_pos[]=olb&draft_pos[]=lb&c5val=1.0&order_by=sacks

Lots of big names had slow starts, lots of no names had fast starts. 

[Gopackgonerd]

At the very least its good we aren't hearing he has regressed in any way which is what you should be afraid of a rookie going into their second year. 

Idk it just seems like everything is posed for him to have a breakout year from his offseason work and getting his body down to be more quick footed and agile than he looked last year.

Its hard to judge though since we haven't had any real preseason games, but if you had to pick one guy on this team to break out this year its gotta be Gary right? 

 

[HighCalebR]

1 hour ago, Gopackgonerd said:

At the very least its good we aren't hearing he has regressed in any way which is what you should be afraid of a rookie going into their second year. 

Idk it just seems like everything is posed for him to have a breakout year from his offseason work and getting his body down to be more quick footed and agile than he looked last year.

Its hard to judge though since we haven't had any real preseason games, but if you had to pick one guy on this team to break out this year its gotta be Gary right? 

 

Regressed?? Where could he go but up? Homies still a physical freak who we arent sure can actually play.

Id say theres just as good/better chance Stern/Tonyan, Savage, WR breakout. Gary still has Preston and Z in front of him for a ton of reps.

[Kepler]

5 hours ago, ThatJerkDave said:

God I love this movie

[pacman5252]

1 hour ago, HighCalebR said:

Regressed?? Where could he go but up? Homies still a physical freak who we arent sure can actually play.

Id say theres just as good/better chance Stern/Tonyan, Savage, WR breakout. Gary still has Preston and Z in front of him for a ton of reps.

The context of the posters point was more like, “It’s good he isn’t struggling”, which is very fair.

 

I also think Gary has probably the best chance of breaking out outside maybe Savage (Not as high on the TE/wrs based on pedigree). Gary is probably the best athlete on the team. As far as PT, this is going to look more like 2014 when we had Clay, Peppers, and Perry on the field together.

[coachbuns]

6 hours ago, pacman5252 said:

The context of the posters point was more like, “It’s good he isn’t struggling”, which is very fair.

 

I also think Gary has probably the best chance of breaking out outside maybe Savage (Not as high on the TE/wrs based on pedigree). Gary is probably the best athlete on the team. As far as PT, this is going to look more like 2014 when we had Clay, Peppers, and Perry on the field together.

I really hope all this hype does actually pan out.  It would be so good to see his talent on the field.   

[craig]

Think there's a huge continuum from "bust" to "great"/"star"/"big year"/"breakout".

He's going to get a lot of snaps, obviously, so will get some volume numbers in terms of tackles/sacks/pressures. 

I'm kinda guessing he might end up somewhere in that in-between continuum somewhere between awful and great.  

Preston has averaged 7 sacks; less without the lift from his 12-sack 2019.  

I can easily imagine a landscape where Gary ends up with 7 sacks.  And there are two perspectives:

1.  Kinda JAG, less than you should get for a #12 pick.  Maybe the 7 sacks will be analyzed and disrespected: a couple coming in a single game against some below-average or backup tackle; one where some blocker just whiffed and Gary got a free pass; two that were totally coverage sacks; maybe one where somebody else really got the pressure and got the hand and then Gary ended up with the cleanup sack; maybe only one in which he flat out beat a ≥average NFL tackle for a true sack.  Or, maybe he'll get the 7 sacks, but somebody will cite pressure rates and conclude that his pressure rate really wasn't average, just kinda JAG rate.  And maybe he'll have 6 offsides penalties that drive posters crazy.  

2.  Or maybe he'll have 7 sacks but some posters will see his year as really positive.  7 sacks isn't amazing, but it's pretty solid.  His pressure % was better than his actual sack rate; if he can sustain and further improve that pressure rate, that's what counts and plenty more sacks will come, listen to Mike Smith it's pressure not just sacks!  7 sacks relative to not being a full-time player is plenty good, if he's a full starting guy he'd be double figures.  Sure he got "only" 7 sacks, but looks what a force he was in run-containment and setting the edge?  Sure, he got "only" 7 himself, but he did a lot of strong team-oriented dirty work, that freed Z to improv and rack up 14.  Sure, he got "only" 7 himself, but he didn't start fast and as the season progressed and he found his way, he was looking better and better; wait till year 3, that's when he'll really "break out"!  Sure, he got "only" 7, but he started much faster than that; after he injured XYZ he was playing hurt down the stretch.  Wait till year 3 when he comes back healthy!  Etc....

Heh heh, I'm guessing he'll play at a level variably north of awful, but sufficiently south of great, so that perhaps we come out still with conflicting board perspectives on whether he's an asset to be celebrated, or too average to be more than a bit of a disappointment.   

Hope I'm under-anticipating, and that as the season progresses, it's relatively unanimous that he's an asset and a good player.  

[vegas492]

11 hours ago, Gopackgonerd said:

At the very least its good we aren't hearing he has regressed in any way which is what you should be afraid of a rookie going into their second year. 

Idk it just seems like everything is posed for him to have a breakout year from his offseason work and getting his body down to be more quick footed and agile than he looked last year.

Its hard to judge though since we haven't had any real preseason games, but if you had to pick one guy on this team to break out this year its gotta be Gary right? 

 

That's a Savage statement, there!