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DRAFT PICKS DISCUSSION


mwalker

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Plax/Vincent Jackson is a really good comparison to his ceiling. I didn't expect him to be the next Megatron. I saw some people saying that stuff on other sites and it's laughable. Calvin was a far superior athlete. Keyshawn is a pretty good floor. I don't know if Claypool will be as good a deep threat as Martavis Bryant was for that year and a half, but I think he's far more physical than MB was. 

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On one of these threads, someone mentioned V.Jackson as a comp, which I thought was interesting.
In truth, I haven't seen enough of him to know. I always worry when players with these kinds of 'numbers'
don't dominate week to week, but also agree that ND didn't have great QB play.

He'll be interesting to watch, that's for sure.
 

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On 4/27/2020 at 12:58 PM, MOSteelers56 said:

Plax/Vincent Jackson is a really good comparison to his ceiling. I didn't expect him to be the next Megatron. I saw some people saying that stuff on other sites and it's laughable. Calvin was a far superior athlete. Keyshawn is a pretty good floor. I don't know if Claypool will be as good a deep threat as Martavis Bryant was for that year and a half, but I think he's far more physical than MB was. 

And he has better hands.    He hand catches everything.     Bryant liked to trap the ball.     

Only negative thing Ill say in regards to Claypool, I dont see his speed on the field as being as good as he timed in the 40. 

Still, I like the pick.

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2 hours ago, FourThreeMafia said:

And he has better hands.    He hand catches everything.     Bryant liked to trap the ball.     

Only negative thing Ill say in regards to Claypool, I dont see his speed on the field as being as good as he timed in the 40. 

Still, I like the pick.

I think you're right about his timed speed being better. When someone mentioned VJ as a comparison I started watching some of his highlights on youtube and he didn't look like he was running very fast either. Jackson got open deep a lot, but he and Claypool definitely don't look as fast as Bryant did. They all ran similar 40s. It may have been the noodle arm QB at Notre Dame too. 

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On 4/27/2020 at 10:46 AM, jebrick said:

I feel good about Highsmith.  Watch his tape vs Clemson.  He made life hard for them going up against another OT that was drafted. Clemson always had Rb help on his side and he got good push on all plays.  Got one sack I think.

 

IMHO, Claypool has a ceiling of Plax and a floor of Kelvin Benjamin.  Kind of wide but his tape does not match the performance in the Underwear Olympics   So either the ND coaches are morons or he is much more limited than Megatron.

But reading this, though, I'd assume the former...he showed at the SeniorBowl, through is play (not just the 'underwear olympics', lol, as you call them...)

Dane Brugler (The Athletic) -- "With his size (6-4, 229 pounds), Claypool looks like the type of target who will post up and out-physical defenders to the football. And while he is capable of doing that, his freaky athleticism has really stood out during practices as the trait that could separate him from others on draft boards. On tape, Claypool looked very upright in his routes, which made it tough for him to shake press and create snap out of his breaks. But during drills, he is playing much more loose to defeat the jam and separate at the top of the route with sink. Claypool is known for his impressive athleticism, but he is using that fluidity more effectively as a route-runner during practice compared with his college tape."

Scott Wright (Draft Countdown) -- "Claypool is a specimen at 6-4 3/8 and 229 pounds with big hands and long arms that present a huge catch radius who knows how to use that large frame. There is a misconception that Claypool lacks speed, leading some to suggest he should bulk up and transition to tight end. In reality Claypool has actually been one of the fastest players on the North squad in both practices according to tracking data provided by Zebra Technologies. Don’t be surprised if he runs better than most expect in pre-draft workouts. In addition to those natural physical gifts Claypool has shown some nuance as a route runner..."

Bryan Driskell (SI.com) -- "

Brugler touched on something I wrote about in my Senior Bowl preview. Claypool's technique was sloppy at Notre Dame, and he relied on just being better than his opponents, which he was. But Claypool showing improved route running at the Senior Bowl tells me he put in the work to improve his game, and that's going to have a major impact on how scouts view him.

Claypool has also been noted multiple times for his playing speed, which has consistently tested out as among the best of any player at the Senior Bowl."

...and this was tweeted from the Senior Bowl, as well...neck-n-neck with speedster Denzel Mims, and he didn't have contract a chase of the dropsies in college, like Mims did...

Top 5 for North squad (mph):

Lamar Jackson - 20.84
Troy Pride Jr. - 20.46
Denzel Mims - 20.26
Chase Claypool - 20.17
Terrell Burgess - 20.11

 

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Claypool could be a Vincent Jackson or a Demariyus Thomas type WR, that’d be my comp for him as a I said in the other thread. He has a lot of developing to do like those two did as route runners when they came in the league. The good news is that the Steelers are amongst the best in the league at developing WRs.

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11 hours ago, turtle28 said:

Claypool could be a Vincent Jackson or a Demariyus Thomas type WR, that’d be my comp for him as a I said in the other thread. He has a lot of developing to do like those two did as route runners when they came in the league. The good news is that the Steelers are amongst the best in the league at developing WRs.

I worry, however...how much of that development took place while Mann was here??  How much of that 'development capability' did we lose when he left??  Just curious if anyone had thoughts on this??

And yes...I agree with your WR comps, as well! ;)

 

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4 hours ago, Ward4HOF said:

I worry, however...how much of that development took place while Mann was here??  How much of that 'development capability' did we lose when he left??  Just curious if anyone had thoughts on this??

And yes...I agree with your WR comps, as well! ;)

 

Ike Hilliard is our new WR coach. He had a lot of success developing WRs in Washington.

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2 hours ago, MOSteelers56 said:

Ike Hilliard is our new WR coach. He had a lot of success developing WRs in Washington.

That is true...and he didn't do half bad with Woods and Marquise Goodwin in Buffalo for their Rookie season, I see...let's hope all that transfers!

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8 hours ago, Ward4HOF said:

I worry, however...how much of that development took place while Mann was here??  How much of that 'development capability' did we lose when he left??  Just curious if anyone had thoughts on this??

And yes...I agree with your WR comps, as well! ;)

 

Very true, very sad that he’s gone. He seemed like a great man and not only a great coach but a great father figure for so many young athletes when they came in the league. Like take AB for example, the fact that he was pretty much kept in check for so long in Pitt while he’s become unhinged since they traded him away has to go to Mann and what a great mentor he was for AB, and also a lot of credit has to go to Tomlin. 

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1 hour ago, turtle28 said:

He sure did, but don’t tell most Redskins fans that, they’ll bite your head off! Haha 🤣 

As a Redskins fan, how did you feel about Hilliard?  And was he 'let go' by the REdskins, or did the Steelers 'steal' him away...I assume the former, since he did not come with a 'promotion'.  Not that it really matters, since turnover of staff for the Redskins are more frequent than the Steelers, I believe...and sometimes, position coaches are let go as a 'scape goat'.

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24 minutes ago, Ward4HOF said:

As a Redskins fan, how did you feel about Hilliard?  And was he 'let go' by the REdskins, or did the Steelers 'steal' him away...I assume the former, since he did not come with a 'promotion'.  Not that it really matters, since turnover of staff for the Redskins are more frequent than the Steelers, I believe...and sometimes, position coaches are let go as a 'scape goat'.

He wasn’t even let go by the Redskins in the sense that he lost his job for not being good at his job. The Redskins as I’m sure you know, fired Gruden and then Bruce Allen and Callahan and hired Ron Rivera.

Rivera brought his own guys in. That’s why Hillard wasn’t retained, so it had to do with Rivera wanting his own guys.

I will say this:

DJax and Garçon loved Hillard as their positon coach. Then, Hilliard developed Jamison Crowder - a 4th round pick into one of the leagues best slot WRs. Hillard developed Ryan Grant - a slow and not that athletic 5th round WR - and helped him become a WR who could be a fringe starter as in 2017 Grant had 45 recs & 4 TDs. Then, obviously he helped develop Terry McLaurin into one of the best rookie WRs last year.

The only failure - if you want to call it that - was Hillard couldn’t develop Josh Doctson into a good #1 WR, but if you knew everything about that situation, you would know that Doctson doesn’t seem to love football and it was just a bad selection by the Redskins. Doctson’s problem is Doctson, he’s a lazy route runner and relies too much on just his athletic ability and he doesn’t have the drive to be the player his natural talent says he should be.

Reports are that Jay Gruden wanted the Redskins to draft Michael Thomas but Scot McCloughan wanted Josh Doctson so we took Doctson, and we see how that all played out.

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