Round 5: Pick 173; Tedarrell Slaton DT, Florida

[Joe]

On 6/15/2021 at 3:32 PM, Refugee said:

No illusions that he will turn into KC, one of the best at his position. They might both play nose but will definitely approach it differently with their unique body types and skillsets.  This is the time of year every guy in green and gold is a probowler in my eyes but some guys come with different expectations and a late 5th rounder will be viewed differently than a 1st. At the same time, some guys get in and seize their opportunity. If he can find a good weight and use some quickness and technique to match that big body, he might just play some quality snaps for us this year and hopefully grows from there.  If he can eat space and be even a bit disruptive, he might free Kenny up to play in different gaps which he has been showing in practice.

I don't think TJ becomes a pro-bowler, at least not in the first 2-3 years of his career, but his role will most likely be to eat up space and free up KC to wreac havoc.

2 hours ago, Old Guy said:

As encouraging are the reports he intends to take diet and training serious. If this kid gets in shape, the athleticism is there. Just help him with the techniques and get out of his way.

That's the plan, man!

[MrBobGray]

2 hours ago, vegas492 said:

You would think all of that athleticism, to go with size, would have shown up more for Florida.

Maybe our coaches will show him better technique.  Maybe he will have a better "motor" or conditioning here.

But at least there are some good athletic traits to work with.

My guess would be a combo of playing too many snaps and not really having much talent around him in 2020.  Their team leader in sacks had a grand total of 5, and no one else on the team even had 4, and they finished 74th in points against.  Slaton was really working to pick up the slack, and big guys burn out a lot faster than most when you're the piece that makes it go. 

He's also still definitely a work in progress, and I don't want to downplay that because it is a big factor.  I like that he uses his hands and he uses a few of the basics really well, but he really struggles with keeping OL from hanging onto him and his feet are terrible.  Fast, but terrible.  A lot of his off-balance plays come from not syncing his hands and feet up, which is something a lot of young DL struggle with.  If you see a young guy come in who knows how to hand fight and uses his feet well (key things to look for there: doesn't end up on the ground, can close a gap without lunging or losing balance, and accelerates through their pass rush sequence rather than throwing static moves and trying to move if they get a win), you probably have at least an NFL starter.  Keke was a guy who flashed from his first training camp for that exact reason, and I'm not at all surprised that he's finding success more and more.  Slaton isn't that guy; it'll take him a bit to start to show up in the NFL game, and I'd expect any of the more veteran guys to just eat his lunch in the pass rush drill (and most of the drills/team work, really).  But his ceiling is sky high, and he's got all the positive things you look for in terms of his ability to actually reach that ceiling if he can stick around long enough.  He doesn't need to learn to play the position, he just needs to refine his play at the position; big difference, and maybe the most important one.

Edited June 16, 2021 by MrBobGray

[vegas492]

The NFL landfill is littered with guys who have had this kind of body with some explosive traits.

I dig the optimism regarding "pro bowl", but realistically we've seen little proof that in GB that it will happen.  Adams was a bust.  Kenny Peterson.  Jerel Worthy.  Donnell Washington.  James Lee.

And many of those guys were drafted well ahead of the 5'th round.  

Could he just need a little coaching?  Sure.  So could those other guys.  Outside of Daniels (and Clark), we've failed in developing DL.

Personally I like Slaton, happy we drafted him.  I'm just setting the bar really low for him.  The first step for him is simply making the roster.  Then let's see if he performs well enough in practice to get a few game snaps.

[MrBobGray]

7 hours ago, vegas492 said:

The NFL landfill is littered with guys who have had this kind of body with some explosive traits.

I dig the optimism regarding "pro bowl", but realistically we've seen little proof that in GB that it will happen.  Adams was a bust.  Kenny Peterson.  Jerel Worthy.  Donnell Washington.  James Lee.

And many of those guys were drafted well ahead of the 5'th round.  

Could he just need a little coaching?  Sure.  So could those other guys.  Outside of Daniels (and Clark), we've failed in developing DL.

Personally I like Slaton, happy we drafted him.  I'm just setting the bar really low for him.  The first step for him is simply making the roster.  Then let's see if he performs well enough in practice to get a few game snaps.

I get the point you're making, and that's not a bad practice in general.  But I wouldn't say the NFL landfill is littered with guys like Slaton, the point of my post above was that he scores athletically with the absolute very best big DL that have come out in the last 20 years.  Having the best 10 yard split a 330+ DL has had since 2000 is not just a nice trivia fact, it's an indicator of truly rare movement ability.  I mean Slaton had a better workout in every category than all the guys you listed at a higher weight than all of them.  

Now that being said, again, it's fair to be cautious and I'm not intending to call anyone out here.  My hype for Slaton is due to my own film "study" and the fact that the numbers he put up do show up in his game.  I haven't seen all that many guys his size who can move like he does, and he plays hard and understands the game inside.  I have no idea why he lasted to the 5th round, and he very well may bust for all kinds of reasons, but for now I'm pretty damn hyped about what I think he'll end up being.

[vegas492]

14 hours ago, MrBobGray said:

I get the point you're making, and that's not a bad practice in general.  But I wouldn't say the NFL landfill is littered with guys like Slaton, the point of my post above was that he scores athletically with the absolute very best big DL that have come out in the last 20 years.  Having the best 10 yard split a 330+ DL has had since 2000 is not just a nice trivia fact, it's an indicator of truly rare movement ability.  I mean Slaton had a better workout in every category than all the guys you listed at a higher weight than all of them.  

Now that being said, again, it's fair to be cautious and I'm not intending to call anyone out here.  My hype for Slaton is due to my own film "study" and the fact that the numbers he put up do show up in his game.  I haven't seen all that many guys his size who can move like he does, and he plays hard and understands the game inside.  I have no idea why he lasted to the 5th round, and he very well may bust for all kinds of reasons, but for now I'm pretty damn hyped about what I think he'll end up being.

I was hyped for Kenny Peterson, Jerel Worthy, Donnell Washington and Montavius Adams.

I was NOT hyped for Mike "Little Jack" Daniels.  And really, I was not hyped for Kenny Clark either.

Carry on with trying to convince yourself that Slaton is gonna be a good player.  I've convinced myself that he will not.  😉

[Norm]

14 hours ago, MrBobGray said:

I get the point you're making, and that's not a bad practice in general.  But I wouldn't say the NFL landfill is littered with guys like Slaton, the point of my post above was that he scores athletically with the absolute very best big DL that have come out in the last 20 years.  Having the best 10 yard split a 330+ DL has had since 2000 is not just a nice trivia fact, it's an indicator of truly rare movement ability.  I mean Slaton had a better workout in every category than all the guys you listed at a higher weight than all of them.  

Now that being said, again, it's fair to be cautious and I'm not intending to call anyone out here.  My hype for Slaton is due to my own film "study" and the fact that the numbers he put up do show up in his game.  I haven't seen all that many guys his size who can move like he does, and he plays hard and understands the game inside.  I have no idea why he lasted to the 5th round, and he very well may bust for all kinds of reasons, but for now I'm pretty damn hyped about what I think he'll end up being.

I kept meaning to post this and maybe a did, but reading this thread being bumped about every day, most of the posts just have me going "okay cool but why did he last until the 5th then?"

[ThatJerkDave]

10 minutes ago, Norm said:

I kept meaning to post this and maybe a did, but reading this thread being bumped about every day, most of the posts just have me going "okay cool but why did he last until the 5th then?"

Probably because Florida has not been the top team that they have been in the past, for the last 5 or so seasons.  He also only had 3.5 sacks, and as far as I can tell from his Florida bio, was only a starter for one season.

[vegas492]

10 minutes ago, Norm said:

I kept meaning to post this and maybe a did, but reading this thread being bumped about every day, most of the posts just have me going "okay cool but why did he last until the 5th then?"

Because in college he looked like Fat Tarzan, but played more like Fat Jane.

Remember when Montravius Adams was going to be great because he was overused in college and was worn down?  Yeah.....  

[ThatJerkDave]

33 minutes ago, vegas492 said:

I was hyped for Kenny Peterson, Jerel Worthy, Donnell Washington and Montavius Adams.

I was NOT hyped for Mike "Little Jack" Daniels.  And really, I was not hyped for Kenny Clark either.

Carry on with trying to convince yourself that Slaton is gonna be a good player.  I've convinced myself that he will not.  😉

I don't think I liked any of those guys.  But I did like Khyri Thornton and Josh Boyd, so what do I know?  😁

[tredpack]

39 minutes ago, Norm said:

I kept meaning to post this and maybe a did, but reading this thread being bumped about every day, most of the posts just have me going "okay cool but why did he last until the 5th then?"

Feel the same way, but I like Bobs optimism. Regardless what he turns into, seems to be a great pick. Not many athletes like him. I’ll take that in 5th every year. 

[Rodjahs12]

Still can’t figure out what went wrong with Worthy. Had such a natural ability to split gaps in college and seemed to love the sport. That’s one I got dead wrong. 

[Norm]

33 minutes ago, ThatJerkDave said:

Probably because Florida has not been the top team that they have been in the past, for the last 5 or so seasons.  He also only had 3.5 sacks, and as far as I can tell from his Florida bio, was only a starter for one season.

I'm a Gators fan fwiw. I liked him. But the defense was so infuriating this past season I pretty much wanted all of them to die. 

There was definitely times where he looked like he could be a really high pick though

[Refugee]

21 minutes ago, Norm said:

I'm a Gators fan fwiw. I liked him. But the defense was so infuriating this past season I pretty much wanted all of them to die. 

There was definitely times where he looked like he could be a really high pick though

If you’ve watched some UF games, you’ve probably have seen him play more than most people commenting. It’s encouraging that you’ve seen him flash at least but no guy taken in the 5th would be consistently dominant at that position. 

For me, this is just time of year to be optimistic about all of the new prospects.  Tempering expectations is fine but really I dream about what would happen if we had the perfect draft of home run high rounders and the rest turned into sleeper hits. 

For TJ, the combination of his moment and size does make him stand out. If we turned dline into a strength, everything else will start to benefit. I dream about GB returning to a time when the big men up front just trash offenses and make teams fear playing us. I’m happy he’ll be wearing 93 and hope he will dig a few graves in his time here. 

[vegas492]

46 minutes ago, Rodjahs12 said:

Still can’t figure out what went wrong with Worthy. Had such a natural ability to split gaps in college and seemed to love the sport. That’s one I got dead wrong. 

Going from memory here....but didn't he get pretty sick and not talk about it?  Like he lost 40-50 pounds or something like that?

[Old Guy]

On 6/17/2021 at 9:34 AM, vegas492 said:

The NFL landfill is littered with guys who have had this kind of body with some explosive traits.

I dig the optimism regarding "pro bowl", but realistically we've seen little proof that in GB that it will happen.  Adams was a bust.  Kenny Peterson.  Jerel Worthy.  Donnell Washington.  James Lee.

And many of those guys were drafted well ahead of the 5'th round.  

Could he just need a little coaching?  Sure.  So could those other guys.  Outside of Daniels (and Clark), we've failed in developing DL.

Personally I like Slaton, happy we drafted him.  I'm just setting the bar really low for him.  The first step for him is simply making the roster.  Then let's see if he performs well enough in practice to get a few game snaps.

Cullen Jenkins? Johnny Jolly? Corey Williams? All about the same age as Donnell Washington. Williams and Jolly were 6th round picks, Jenkins was a free agent. 

Edited June 18, 2021 by Old Guy