How are those sophomores doing?

[Forge]

We always ask how the rookies are doing, lets check in on those second year studs and duds!

49ers: 

1. Trey Lance

Sadly, we will have to wait a couple of more years before we have a real idea on what he is. I was fine with the selection, but he was a questionable prospect, no doubt. Now we are 2 years in and the same concerns exist because he hasn't had a chance to iron them out. The release is still elongated and slow in my opinion, his feel passing the football is spotty with regards to accuracy, and the pace is somewhat slow. Whether that's a byproduct of the release, or if it's just an overall lack of experience and playing (which is what I attributed it to when he was a prospect), neither can be resolved. The lack of experience really makes you nervous. I think that in limited samples he's largely looked okay for what you would expect, but at some point you have to move off of grading on a curve. There are certainly reasons to not be bullish on him long term.

 

2. Aaron Banks

Banks sat out his entire first season and wasn't even active until McG got hurt and they had the extra spot. As a 24 year old rookie from Notre Dame, this will slow your roll in terms of expecting big things. Expectations were very, very low coming into this season. Surprisingly, he's been okay. He's had some inexperience bumps in the road (missed a blocking assignment against he Bears, I believe and another game where he just really whiffed on a block) but hasn't given up a sack, hasn't taken a penalty as far as I am aware. He's not perfect, and he seems to be in that spot where he's handling his business against those that he should while struggling with the better competition, but honestly given what he's paid, that's probably enough for now. I'm not sure that there's going to be a crap ton of improvement over what he is, but he's not the liability I expected him to be. 

3. Trey Sermon

lol. I hated the pick when we made it, and he's now a member of the eagles. You kind of have to be a special sort of bad or on the wrong side of the coaching staff to get purged that quickly. 

4. Ambry Thomas

Not looking great. He looked bad to start last year, overtook the starting corner spot and looked bad his first few games, then got tremendously better throughout the season. By the end of the year, he looked like a solid future starter. Then he came back this year and just was awful in camp. Like, so bad that there was some concern from me that he wasn't even going to make the roster. Ultimately he did stick, but the arrow is definitely pointing down here. 

5. Jaylon Moore

Woof, he is a god awful tackle. The niners drafted him to be a guard, but due to injury issues, have been unable to move him over there. He basically made the roster this year as the 8th OL. Sadly has been forced into starting with the injuries to Trent and Colton McKivitz, but he's bad. He came in for 7 snaps after Trent got hurt against Denver, 4 of which were passes, and I believe gave up a sack and QB hit lol. He was benched last year in the Jax game and never seen again after blowing an assignment. Preseason he played tackle and was absolutely abused by Houston in the third preseason game. He'll get another shot to prove he has a future in the league at tackle over the next few weeks, but I don't have high hopes. 

6. Deommodore Lenoir

Back to a guy who's arrow appears to be pointing up. Lenoir started last off season really strong, opened as a playable outside corner in the first couple of weeks. Did not hold up well and made a couple of big mistakes in zone coverage (not sinking deep enough, etc) and was ultimately benched around game 3, I think. Didn't hear much the rest of the season,  and for a time was pretty quiet in TC and I thought he wasn't going to make the roster, then you started hearing some things. Samuel Womack won the starting corner job during camp and preseason, was doing fine in coverage and all of a sudden in week 3, Lenoir was the starting slot corner. He's been there for both weeks 3 and 4. He looks okay...I think I still prefer Womack in terms of pure coverage, but maybe Lenoir just provides some additional aspects that the rookie doesn't yet. He doesn't seem lost in coverage. Yes, Kupp had his way a little in that week 4 games, but I also saw Lenoir make some decent coverage plays and frankly, I'm just not going to hold Cooper Kupp's performance against anyone. I think Lenoir is a quality depth corner, but I think eventually he cedes this starting gig back to Womack. 

7. Talanoa Hufanga 

Yeah baby. Looks like a stud. Right now, you can make a case that he'd be one of your all pro safeties 4 weeks into the season. Really enjoying a break out campaign thus far in 2022. That said, he still has some limitations. He's got great awareness and anticipation and IQ which really mitigates that true lack of speed, but I think he's still by far at his best playing top down even if you're starting him in a deep safety position. Most niner fans didn't expect this, and we had a few who loved him as a prospect. Everyone thought safety was a true concern for the 49ers coming into the season. Hufanga has cleared those fears for the time being and looks like a stud. Still only 4 games so we will see if he keeps it up, but obviously the arrow is pointing up. 

8. Elijah Mitchell

For as bad as the Sermon pick was, this pick does make up for it a little. Mitchell is a legit good running back in this system...the problem is that when he's played, he's been relied on as a bellcow and he's 100% not that. His body can't take it. He's been hurt more times than I can count already, and sure enough, less than a game into the season, he nicked up his MCL and was put on the shelf for 2 mos. Its a sixth round pick and even with the injury he's going to clear the pretty low bar for this pick to be a success pretty easily. I don't know that you sign him past his rookie deal, but in the meantime he's a pretty good starting running back (when healthy) 

[SteelKing728]

Darrisaw looks really good.

Patrick Jones can stop the run and is a rotational OLB.

Cam Bynum is solid. Nwangwu is a good KR.

The rest sucked/got cut already.

[RaidersAreOne]

1. Leatherwood:

2. Moehrig is super solid yet unspectacular. You rarely notice him, good or bad.

3. Koonce shows huge flashes as a pass-rusher and needs playing time, however he's not playing over Crosby or Chandler Jones (Who he should most definitely steal snaps from). Tons of potential here.

4. Divine Deablo has the GOAT name and is starting at LB for us, but he's nothing special. Very average.

5. Gillespie has traded for nothing and was cut by the other team IIRC

6. Nate Hobbs is one of the best young players in the game. Absolute home run pick in round 5. 

7.  Morrisey is playing for the Texans I think?

[ThatJerkDave]

Packers

1.  Eric Stokes - Starting CB.  Seems pretty good so far.

2.  Josh Myers - Starting C.  Probably average center at this point.  Looks like an All-pro one play, then gets to the second level and blocks nobody the next.  He will probably be compared to Creed Humphrey for the rest of their careers.  So far, Humphrey has the advantage, but Myers is not bad.  

3.  Amari Rodgers - Punt returner.  He might also be the kick returner, I honestly can't remember.  Bad first season.  Second season seems to have picked up where first left off.  His time has to be limited.

4.  Royce Newman - Starting RG.  He was not great as a rookie, has made some gradual improvement over the offseason.  Started this season at RT out of necessity, is not very good there.

5.  Tedarrell (TJ) Slaton - Rotational DL.  Part of our run stopping unit DL.  He also has a little bit more pass rush juice than expected.  Playing about 25% of defensive snaps.

5.  Shemar Jean-Charles - 4th CB.  He doesn't get a lot of burn so far on defense, plays STs.  He looked a lot better in preseason this year compared to last.  Probably needs more PT to determine if we have anything or not.  But there is no reason so far to think he is bad, he just can't crack a pretty good CB rotation.

6.  Cole Van Lanen - On Jacksonville roster.  He was a developmental tackle that was overshadowed by newer developmental tackles this preseason.  Gets a second chance with Jacksonville.  He hasn't played much yet, I don't know where he is on the depth chart there.

6.  Isiah McDuffie - Bigtime ST player.  He looked much improved in the preseason at inside backer.  He has not seen PT from scrimmage, but that is largely because of the players in front of him.  I would say that much like Slaton and Jean-Charles, he is behind some pretty good players at his position.

7.  Kylin Hill - PUP list.  He injured his knee last season and hasn't quite made it back yet.  At the time, he was the third RB.  He was eligible to come of PUP this week, possibly left on PUP with the London trip this week, and less time to get up to speed.  He is likely the third RB if/when he returns from PUP.

 

Overall, pretty good class that seems to be developing how we want them to.  Biggest year 2 jump was probably McDuffie, though he may never even get a chance to actually show it.  TJ Slaton is probably the best value pick, the knock on him coming out of Florida was that he was kind of lazy, that has not been the case at all in Green Bay.  Way too early to tell second contract players:  Stokes, Myers, Slaton.

[Trentwannabe]

Gregory Rousseau is AWESOME!

Boogie Basham is also doing well. 
 

Spencer Brown had been solid.  
 

Tommy Doyle has looked good but now on IR.

Damar Hamlin looks good. Starting now in place of Hyde. 

[Chiefer]

Chiefs

Nick Bolton MLB- Above Average Stud

Creed Humphrey  C- One of the best Centers in the league 

Josh Kaindoh DE- on the roster but not in the rotation 

Noah Grey TE - Decent 3rd TE

Cornell Powell WR - Regular on PS

Trey Smith G - Animal Run Blocker, average pass blocker.

[ET80]

3a. Davis Mills: He is who he is - a very good backup QB. 

3b. Nico Collins: He’s a good WR with some upside, can get downfield quickly and get up to fight for 50/50 balls. He could eventually be a “1b” WR for the Texans, acting as a 2nd guy behind an alpha sort of WR.

5a. Brevin Jordan: Getting opportunities to play as the move TE, but not really noticeable. Injuries have slowed him down this season.

5b. Garrett Wallow: Undersized, fast but tackling is atrocious. He’s an ST guy at best, but is getting a lot of snaps at LB on passing downs. 

6. Roy Lopez: Rotational DT, made Ross Blacklock expendable. Poor tackler, but has a non stop motor and wins on effort up front. If he could finish the play more frequently, he'd be a steal - but a DT who can't T isn't very valuable.

[-Hope-]

1. caleb farley: D. has been injured basically his entire career up to this point, and now that he's healthy he can barely get on the field in a CB room that isn't especially good behind kristian fulton. the only reason it's not an F is that he was already raw coming out of college, and now he's essentially a rookie due to his injury last year, so i'm still giving him time to put it together. the talent is there but it's not looking good right now.

2. dillon radunz: F----. has been given every opportunity to win a tackle job and can't even crack the 2nd teamers. has looked bad on the rare occasions he's even made it on the field. we're playing a scrub off the street at LT over him. just absolutely awful.

3a. monty rice: C. he was a solid contributor as a rookie, but unfortunately an achilles injury ended his year early and landed him on PUP to begin this season. he'll finally be active this week, and hopefully he can pick up where he left off. potential is there for this grade to rise.

3b. elijah molden: C+. had a solid rookie year- ups and downs for sure, but generally did well as a nickel CB. was going to be in the same role before- you guessed it!- getting injured in the preseason, so we haven't seen him at all this year. beginning to notice a pattern?

4. rashad weaver: B. showed flashes as a rookie but- hey, guess what! broke his fibula and was out for the year early on before being able to show much. he's been thrust into a big role this year due to harold landry being out and bud dupree's availability being inconsistent, and he has risen to the occasion, with 4 sacks on the year so far. he's looking pretty impressive and has helped make up for all the injuries at EDGE this year.

6a. racey mcmath: D. incredibly raw size/speed guy coming out of LSU, showed basically nothing year 1 as you'd expect. he unexpectedly got a ridiculous amount of hype during camp/the preseason and was expected to be our primary deep threat before- here we go again- injuring his hip, and he has been on IR ever since.

6b. brady breeze: F. cut before his rookie year

long story short: jon robinson putting on a master class in how to turn a very good roster into a pretty bad one

[AFlaccoSeagulls]

Round 1: No. 27 – Rashod Bateman, WR, Minnesota

• He's been pretty solid as a WR1 for us this year, although Duvernay has made more of an impact. Our passing game really hasn't had issues this year and Bateman has been very solid.

Round 1: No 31 – Odafe Oweh, LB, Penn State

• He's played nearly 100% of snaps, but he's been objectively awful all year. He had a couple of impact plays in the Bills game, but it was really overshadowed by how many times he got put on skates by Josh Allen, and for a guy who's #1 strength is his athleticism, that's just unacceptable. I think he'll play better once we get some help at OLB, but until then he's a liability on the field but we can't do anything about it.

Round 3: No. 94 – Ben Cleveland, G, Georgia

• Beat out by Ben Powers who is not good, so yeah. Backup LG.

Round 3: No. 104 – Brandon Stephens, CB, SMU

• Very hit or miss, kind of. Has good plays, has VERY bad plays. He should be a 4th string CB at best but he's being forced to play because of injuries.

Round 4: No. 131 – Tylan Wallace, WR, Oklahoma State 

• Has done literally nothing.

Round 5: No. 160 (from ARI) – Shaune Wade, CB, Ohio State 

• Traded.

Round 5: No. 171 – Daelin Hayes, DE, Notre Dame

• IR, done nothing.

Round 5: No. 184 – Ben Mason, FB, Michigan

• Cut, signed by NE, cut, signed by Baltimore, cut(?)

[candyman93]

Not going to bother mentioning busts for Cleveland.

 

However, Jeremiah Owusu Koramoah has been a monster from day 1. Really love his potential. Greg Newsome has done a solid job in the slot. James Hudson can be a solid longterm depth OT.

[KhanYouDigIt]

Trevor Lawrence- good

Travis ETN- still waiting for that big play. Perfect compliment to J-Rob. Bateman would be my re-pick though.

Tyson Campbell- stud

Walker Little- lost battle to Jawaan Taylor in camp. Still have high hopes for him. Jawaan is FA after this year, so the RT job could be his to lose next season.

Andre Cisco- he good. Two picks in 4 games this year. Somehow was on the bench in favor of Wingard last season. Classic Urban.

 

Everyone else either cut or a non factor.

[Scoundrel]

CB Patrick Surtain ll- Stud

RB Javonte Williams- Good Young bowling ball but season ending injury dampens it

OG Quinn Meinerz- Depth player has had some moments in the run game playing. 

Edge Baron Browning- Played LBer last year and was really solid in coverage. Moved to edge this year. Had a breakout game Thursday night at edge and with Gregory out will get more opportunities. Doubt Chubb resigns and then Browning will be a future starter.

S Caden Sterns- Starting for Justin Simmons and makes plays in coverage. Future starter for Kareem Jackson.

No one else has worked out/worth mentioning 

[ThatJerkDave]

6 hours ago, ET80 said:

 

6. Roy Lopez: Rotational DT, made Ross Blacklock expendable. Poor tackler, but has a non stop motor and wins on effort up front. If he could finish the play more frequently, he'd be a steal - but a DT who can't T isn't very valuable.

For a 6th, that isn't too bad.  Some guys are there to eat blocks and make RBs stretch plays.  LBs can clean it up.  

[ET80]

1 hour ago, ThatJerkDave said:

For a 6th, that isn't too bad.  Some guys are there to eat blocks and make RBs stretch plays.  LBs can clean it up.  

I agree for the most part, he's definitely an important part of the unit. Tackling is something that can improve a bit too, so it's not as if he's set in who he is just yet.

[BigTrav]

Creed. 

that is all