Round 1 Pick 28; Devonte Wyatt, DL Georgia

[vegas492]

Just going from the eye ball test....

The kid has "it".  Every game that he's had snaps in, he's flashed enough for me to at least notice #95.

Obviously his PFF scores and such don't reflect that, but to my untrained eye, he's flashing enough for me to notice.

Which is about what you can expect from a rookie DL taken at the end of the first round.

So I think he's got a nice future ahead of him.  He will get stronger and he will get more experienced.  

He will be one of those guys who should take a pretty large step forward next year.

And I'm excited about him and Slaton for the future on that DL.  Cuz Slaton has flashed enough for me to notice him, too.

[Refugee]

22 minutes ago, vegas492 said:

Just going from the eye ball test....

The kid has "it".  Every game that he's had snaps in, he's flashed enough for me to at least notice #95.

Obviously his PFF scores and such don't reflect that, but to my untrained eye, he's flashing enough for me to notice.

Which is about what you can expect from a rookie DL taken at the end of the first round.

So I think he's got a nice future ahead of him.  He will get stronger and he will get more experienced.  

He will be one of those guys who should take a pretty large step forward next year.

And I'm excited about him and Slaton for the future on that DL.  Cuz Slaton has flashed enough for me to notice him, too.

Yep, we’ve also got Ford on a redshirt year but I’d hope he gets some snaps in the final games just to get an evaluation. Strong chance that Reed and Lowry won’t be back next year. I’m hopeful that Wyatt is able to take his game up a notch to become a starter. Long way to go from here, but I have seen his quickness and ability to chase down a play out there. 

[vegas492]

17 minutes ago, Refugee said:

Yep, we’ve also got Ford on a redshirt year but I’d hope he gets some snaps in the final games just to get an evaluation. Strong chance that Reed and Lowry won’t be back next year. I’m hopeful that Wyatt is able to take his game up a notch to become a starter. Long way to go from here, but I have seen his quickness and ability to chase down a play out there. 

Yah, I forgot about Ford. I'd like to see what he can do sooner or later, too.

And you are right about Lowry and Reed.  

We do need to see if the young kids can play, because that DL will look different next year.

[Old Guy]

58 minutes ago, vegas492 said:

Just going from the eye ball test....

The kid has "it".  Every game that he's had snaps in, he's flashed enough for me to at least notice #95.

Obviously his PFF scores and such don't reflect that, but to my untrained eye, he's flashing enough for me to notice.

Which is about what you can expect from a rookie DL taken at the end of the first round.

So I think he's got a nice future ahead of him.  He will get stronger and he will get more experienced.  

He will be one of those guys who should take a pretty large step forward next year.

And I'm excited about him and Slaton for the future on that DL.  Cuz Slaton has flashed enough for me to notice him, too.

I was all in on Slaton but he hasn't made as big a leap in year two as I had hoped for. We do need them both the be factors in a big way next year. 

Honestly, not sure how any D-lineman can shine the way Barry continually puts them at a disadvantage. 

[Old Guy]

36 minutes ago, Refugee said:

Yep, we’ve also got Ford on a redshirt year but I’d hope he gets some snaps in the final games just to get an evaluation. Strong chance that Reed and Lowry won’t be back next year. I’m hopeful that Wyatt is able to take his game up a notch to become a starter. Long way to go from here, but I have seen his quickness and ability to chase down a play out there. 

 

18 minutes ago, vegas492 said:

Yah, I forgot about Ford. I'd like to see what he can do sooner or later, too.

And you are right about Lowry and Reed.  

We do need to see if the young kids can play, because that DL will look different next year.

This Ford is not "built to last," unless he gets his body in better NFL shape. He was a guy who showed nothing in the preseason. 

The guys I want to see are on the O-line: Tom, Jones and Walker. If I skip the comma people might confuse for the singer. 

Edited December 2, 2022 by Old Guy

[minnypackerfan]

10 minutes ago, Old Guy said:

 

This Ford is not "built to last," unless he gets his body in better NFL shape. He was a guy who showed nothing in the preseason. 

The guys I want to see are on the O-line: Tom, Jones and Walker. If I skip the comma people might confuse for the singer. 

I'd like to see Tom at center.  He's quickness, overall athleticism and high IQ factor would be a very good fit for that position.  He obviously still needs to bulk up this offseason and get stronger.  But I personally think his future is there and so did many scouts.  I also agree with you that I'd like to see Jones and Walker get some snaps too.  Would be good to know if we have solid back-ups or not with potential before year end so we can determine where the priorities of the draft should be.

[MacReady]

People need to stop talking about Rudy Ford like he’s got a future here. He’s 28 years old. He’s not going to be a part of the rebuild.

[vegas492]

While I want to see Tom and Walker get some snaps, no way am I doing that if Love is starting at QB.

I'm going to want to see him with as many starters as we can put out there.

If the game is out of hand, I'd like to see Tom at LT and Walker at RT, but I'd like to see someone else under center if those are the tackles.

[Mr. Fussnputz]

6 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

People need to stop talking about Rudy Ford like he’s got a future here. He’s 28 years old. He’s not going to be a part of the rebuild.

Sorry, but Nixon and Ford at safety? Just too good of a name combination to pass up!

[HighCalebR]

8 minutes ago, Outpost31 said:

People need to stop talking about Rudy Ford like he’s got a future here. He’s 28 years old. He’s not going to be a part of the rebuild.

they mean big jon ford

[minnypackerfan]

I'm curious if Slayton, Clark and Wyatt would look better in a 4-3 defense.  

[craig]

I'm usually an optimist, and I hope the optimists are right.  I admit I'm a little nervous.  When a D-lineman's best (only?) positive trait is chase quickness, chase is usually valuable on plays that have already failed, and where somebody already has space to run.  

It's worrisome that for a d-line that has been so lousy both versus run and in pass pressure, that he hasn't shown enough to the coaches to win snaps from the mostly-JAG linemen. 

Maybe it's just scheme, and with a new coordinator the run-D will look different.  But they haven't seen fit to use him super often in run-defense situations.  And in college he never had much pass-pressure success, despite the quickness. 

So I admit I'm a little nervous that he might never be a guy who defends run well enough to be a good 3-down guy, and he isn't actually that impactful in pass to be that useful as a pass specialist.

[CWood21]

3 minutes ago, craig said:

So I admit I'm a little nervous that he might never be a guy who defends run well enough to be a good 3-down guy, and he isn't actually that impactful in pass to be that useful as a pass specialist.

I mean, most rookie DL struggle.  I'd like to see him get snaps, but you see glimpses of good stuff.

[vegas492]

1 hour ago, minnypackerfan said:

I'm curious if Slayton, Clark and Wyatt would look better in a 4-3 defense.  

With the amount of 3 WR offenses that are being run, does 3/4 or 4/3 really matter anymore?  Most "base" defenses are now big nickels.  

I'm more curious if those guys would look better in an attacking style of defense as opposed to our 2 gap control defense.  And I think that in order to see that, we actually need to have a lead to play that way.  Leads for us are hard to come by.

[MrBobGray]

Slaton's playing well, he's just got the same issue as the rest of this DL group: Barry's hanging them out to dry schematically and foundationally.  Despite what his size would suggest, he's got a great first step and a terrible anchor.  Hands have gotten better, his disengage is better, but he still struggles when blockers get into him more than you'd like.  Put him in a tight front and he's a monster; put him at 3T with nobody in the nearest two gaps and he's going for a ride into the LB group. 

Thing that's so frustrating is that this DL group is actually built perfectly to support his best role; this team should be running some form of Tite front (4-0-4, or roughly equivalent pending the shades of the DL) on the line damn near every down.  Slaton and Clark are both studs heads up over the center, and Wyatt/Reed/Lowry are good fits for the 4i role.  Wyatt in particular would be spectacular.  They all struggle with being reached at the 3, but reaching a 4 is a tall order even for elite guards and they all have the first step to fill the B gap off the snap and clog up lateral run plays or attack outside edge of the tackle to peel apart pass pro.  Play Preston at your Leo, Campbell/Barnes/McDuffie at mike, and just walk Walker (tee hee) around on the backside of the formation wherever the hell you want and threaten delayed blitzes/hard backside pursuit angles.  Stop asking your DL group with barely an anchor between them to constantly two-gap in a 7-3-2-7 front (or whatever the hell that two down front is supposed to be.)  I don't know why Barry sees this group of athletes and thinks "I know, we'll hunker down and let the play come to us!"

Edited December 2, 2022 by MrBobGray