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Draft: Things We Learned


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15 hours ago, Ozzy said:

So clearly speed is not everything with a RB, thus me saying it was a little over valued in this draft.  I do agree though, 40 time is important and is why those guys were drafted highly.  But take away Evan's and Calais's time and they do not get picked that high, simple as that I think.  

The whole point of this thread is to identify trends within the draft. For the purposes of this thread, I'm not too concerned about how that translates to their success in the NFL. 

As you just pointed out, less talented backs will get drafted "higher than they should" due to their 40 time. 

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On 4/29/2020 at 5:14 AM, Teen Girl Squad said:

NFL teams still hate safeties, or at least value them among the least important positions in football, which is absolutely bonkers to me. The one taken round 1 was Simmons and even he was listed as a LB (and arguably fell a bit due to the safety boogeyman). I'd like to think that I have a passing knowledge of how football works and to borrow a basketball metric, it always seems that safeties have some of the highest +/- numbers for defenses but its an annual collective shrug by the league.

I think it is rare to get a safety with a early to mid 1st rating. Not that many safety have a huge impact on a game the way a DE/DT or a CB or the same way a QB/OT/WR can. How often is there a Jamal Adams, Seant Taylor or a Ed Reed or a Troy P type prospect available? they are less frequent than franchise Qbs. 

Also of the guys who are 5'10"-6'1"who can more are likely to want to play corner rather than safety, you get paid more and hit less. I bet a lot of the top corners could be top 5 safetys, Gilmore, Peterson etc its just the money is at corner. 

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We should start doing some case studies on prospects of interest that fell. 

For instance, Amik Robertson was someone expecting to go as high as late 2nd, yet ended up “falling” to the end of the 4th. With the NFL in nickel defense nearly 75% of the time, it seems pertinent to have capable nickel CBs like him. Yet he tumbled enough to be considered a steal for Oakland. I think nearly everyone in the draft community agrees his tape is awesome, he’s got ball skills, plays bigger than his size, and tested well enough (4.45 pro day), but regardless the NFL will still penalize you for (minuscule) size, and lack of competition (LA Tech). Truth be told, there just aren’t many 5’8, 187 lbs corners that find NFL success. In fact, there's only 3 corners who are 5'8 in the NFL currently. And if you expand that criteria to include 5'9 corners, there's only 21 that played in some capacity this past season. Only 7 of which 21 started more than 8 games.

Even with how well-liked Robertson was predraft, corners this size carry risk. I think the NFL recognizes that and adjusts them accordingly. I’ll remember size for next year.

 

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7 minutes ago, SmittyBacall said:

We should start doing some case studies on prospects of interest that fell. 

For instance, Amik Robertson was someone expecting to go as high as late 2nd, yet ended up “falling” to the end of the 4th. With the NFL in nickel defense nearly 75% of the time, it seems pertinent to have capable nickel CBs like him. Yet he tumbled enough to be considered a steal for Oakland. I think nearly everyone in the draft community agrees his tape is awesome, he’s got ball skills, plays bigger than his size, and tested well enough (4.45 pro day), but regardless the NFL will still penalize you for (minuscule) size, and lack of competition (LA Tech). Truth be told, there just aren’t many 5’8, 187 lbs corners that find NFL success. In fact, there's only 3 corners who are 5'8 in the NFL currently. And if you expand that criteria to include 5'9 corners, there's only 21 that played in some capacity this past season. Only 7 of which 21 started more than 8 games.

Even with how well-liked Robertson was predraft, corners this size carry risk. I think the NFL recognizes that and adjusts them accordingly. I’ll remember size for next year.

 

It is curious, CJ Henderson plays small with how poorly he tackles and how he is not that physical at all.  But he is 6-1 and ran well at the combine so oh yay.

 

Then again in 2018 Denzel Ward, Jaire Alexander, Mike Hughes and Donte Jackson were all smaller corners 5-10 or 5-11 and all have done pretty well.  Then again the 5-8 range is different territory.  If Amik was able to have a pro day which he was not or took part in the combine things could have been different potentially for him.  

 

Captain Munnerlyn was a 7th round pick and has had a long solid pro career, Nickell Robey-Coleman was a UDFA and has had a very solid pro career as well.  Antoine Winfield obviously is a HOF type player and he was 5-9.  But if Amik played at LSU he would have been picked a lot higher, but that lack of a combine workout was huge.  Does not mean he cannot play, same with the likes of Robey-Coleman.  

Robertson should be amazing on the Raiders though and instantly be the starting nickel corner there unless they plan on Joyner playing that role.  Either way he should be one of the best 4 corners on that roster potentially.

 

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47 minutes ago, SmittyBacall said:

We should start doing some case studies on prospects of interest that fell. 

For instance, Amik Robertson was someone expecting to go as high as late 2nd, yet ended up “falling” to the end of the 4th. With the NFL in nickel defense nearly 75% of the time, it seems pertinent to have capable nickel CBs like him. Yet he tumbled enough to be considered a steal for Oakland. I think nearly everyone in the draft community agrees his tape is awesome, he’s got ball skills, plays bigger than his size, and tested well enough (4.45 pro day), but regardless the NFL will still penalize you for (minuscule) size, and lack of competition (LA Tech). Truth be told, there just aren’t many 5’8, 187 lbs corners that find NFL success. In fact, there's only 3 corners who are 5'8 in the NFL currently. And if you expand that criteria to include 5'9 corners, there's only 21 that played in some capacity this past season. Only 7 of which 21 started more than 8 games.

Even with how well-liked Robertson was predraft, corners this size carry risk. I think the NFL recognizes that and adjusts them accordingly. I’ll remember size for next year.

 

Chiefs drafted his less heralded teammate L’jarius Sneed one pick before him. He’s tall and fast but played out of position at safety.

But chiefs don’t need more slot corners, they’ve got Honey Badger and Fenton, and HB is already short. They needed more bodies at outside corner. So can’t exactly look at it in a vacuum per se, each team needs different things. 

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Throw in Josiah Scott alongside Amik Robertson. Scott might actually be even stickier in coverage and athletically more gifted. Both should be among the best nickels in the NFL by year 2. Idk why teams in a league dominated by slot WRs and nickel being the main defense - still undervalue that position. It's much more important than your 3rd LB or IDL, yet it doesn't show in the draft process.

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20 hours ago, brushmyhair said:

KJ Hill is a 2nd rd talent with a 7th rd frame

Another KJ is the polar opposite: KJ Hamler has UDFA hands and late round size, but elite 1st round burst, agility and speed to burn.

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