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Prospect Watch: Courtland Sutton


diamondbull424

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Courtland Sutton, WR, SMU, 6’3” 218 lbs

Arm length- 32 3/8”, Hands- 9 3/4”

40 time: 4.54s, Bench: 18 reps, Vertical: 35 1/2”, Broad: 10’4”, 3-cone: 6.54s, Short Shuttle: 4.11s, 150+ yd games: 6

With the free agent pickups, it seems we’ve added a deep threat and a slot option. John Brown might be viewed as a similar player to Calvin Ridley and Ryan Grant might fill a similar role to DJ Moore.

This all to say that I think it’s reasonable to assume that Courtland Sutton, as a big bodied possession receiver might be the direction the front office decides to go in.

I like things about Sutton’s game. There are many things that I don’t like. But if he’s the draft selection in the either of the first two rounds, what’s your opinion of him and the selection?  

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2 minutes ago, diamondbull424 said:

Courtland Sutton, WR, SMU, 6’3” 218 lbs

Arm length- 32 3/8”, Hands- 9 3/4”

40 time: 4.54s, Bench: 18 reps, Vertical: 35 1/2”, Broad: 10’4”, 3-cone: 6.54s, Short Shuttle: 4.11s, 150+ yd games: 6

With the free agent pickups, it seems we’ve added a deep threat and a slot option. John Brown might be viewed as a similar player to Calvin Ridley and Ryan Grant might fill a similar role to DJ Moore.

This all to say that I think it’s reasonable to assume that Courtland Sutton, as a big bodied possession receiver might be the direction the front office decides to go in.

I like things about Sutton’s game. There are many things that I don’t like. But if he’s the draft selection in the either of the first two rounds, what’s your opinion of him and the selection?  

I was high on him, then lower on him. I basically have to see much more of him.

When I was high on him, it was due to what he was able to do.

When I then lowered my expectations, it was because he didn't really use his advantages as much as I wanted from a high draft pick. 

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I think he's not good enough at "big man" things to fit into that role, and doesn't have the traits to thrive in another. He isn't a great natural catcher, too many inconsistencies with his technique. His 50/50 ability is oversold and not reliable. Also he's an OPI machine. He can get some YAC if he has a lane and space but it certainly isn't a plus. 

Apparently he's a great kid though, and clearly he has some athletic potential based on his testing. That's what we'll have to sink our hope into.

Why are we assuming the Ravens will now start drafting according to absent type though? They continued to take H/W/S guys when that's all we had, maybe we're just transitioning to a new type.

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For what it's worth signing John Brown to a 1-year deal has absolutely no bearing whatsoever on what type of receiver Baltimore should draft.

I'm not sure on Sutton. Feels like it would be buying a little too much into potential upside to take him in the first couple of rounds... but the upside is legitimate. :S

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To be quite honest, I’m not a big fan of Sutton as a player on the field either. I’m just preparing myself for him as our pick/target because with this offseason I think I’m learning I have to expect the unexpected.

I no longer trust Ozzie at the receiver position. And they did draft Perriman a few years back. If they didn’t learn from their mistake and want to once again draft the potential guy, Sutton seems to be that pick. Thus he seems to make the most sense for us because I question whether we will have learned from the Perriman pick.

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5 hours ago, drd23 said:

You trusted his ability to identify receiving talent before?

I never trusted his ability to identify receiver talent through the draft. But at least his free agent record was pretty darn good.

Also in the draft we had Torrey Smith and Chris Moore as of late. Sure we also had Perriman, but I was willing to give him a reprieve until this draft class. I figured if he got this class correct then maybe he has “figured” it out somewhat. After the Ryan Grant signing, I’ve lost hope.

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10 minutes ago, diamondbull424 said:

But at least his free agent record was pretty darn good.

Because he signed either HOF (in SSS's and possibly Anquan's case) or Hall of Very Good talents (in the case of Derrick Mason)  who had passed their prime?

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1 hour ago, drd23 said:

Because he signed either HOF (in SSS's and possibly Anquan's case) or Hall of Very Good talents (in the case of Derrick Mason)  who had passed their prime?

Those guys were solid additions and shouldn't be frowned upon.

However, guys like Maclin/Lee/Housh/etc. you've got a point. We're very hit and miss with FA WR's and very miss with draft picks.

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1 hour ago, Darth Pees said:

Those guys were solid additions and shouldn't be frowned upon.

However, guys like Maclin/Lee/Housh/etc. you've got a point. We're very hit and miss with FA WR's and very miss with draft picks.

I still don’t criticize the bottom guys much. Lee Evans at the time seemed like a really good addition. Houshmanzadeh as well. I wasn’t a Maclin fan, but some people are.

Regardless, I’d argue that 50/50 is better than a lot of teams track records on free agent receiver acquisitions.

Also I’d add the TEs to this group as well. We added Dallas Clark and Ben Watson, then were both solid additions as well.

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1 hour ago, Darth Pees said:

Those guys were solid additions and shouldn't be frowned upon.

I'm not frowning upon them.  I'm pointing out that it was already well known that they were good players when they were signed, so it doesn't take much ability to identify them as good players.

The fact that they were signed by the FO isn't proof that they can identify a good WR imo

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I thought Maclin would be a hit. I was very wrong.

Now I am so desillusioned. We could invest in an oline we had groomed ourselves into a good player. We know what we had in him, and instead we used the cap space to add a receiver who never managed to put up numbers in an inflated offensive system.

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6 hours ago, drd23 said:

I'm not frowning upon them.  I'm pointing out that it was already well known that they were good players when they were signed, so it doesn't take much ability to identify them as good players.

The fact that they were signed by the FO isn't proof that they can identify a good WR imo

I think the identification is in how they fit your system. Sometimes teams will sign major name free agent wideouts and they fail because they’re a bad scheme or locker room fit.

And I think there’s something to be said about being able to coordinate that to a high degree.

My point about having no trust now is that I’m not even sure we can rely on identifying free agent receiver talent.

To relate it to basketball it’s like if a player (Ozzie) had a horrible jump shot but was great in the paint. Now he’s missing layups in the paint. Thus he can’t be trusted on the offensive side of the ball.

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I’ve been rewatching Courtland Sutton and really dialing in on him because I’m getting a feeling that he’s the guy the Ravens will target in the draft.

While he’s too aggressive offensively with pushing off, his combine athleticism really does show up on tape. It’s just very inconsistent. I think he can come into the NFL and carve out a niche initially. He operates well on the outside and in the slot. Has solid speed and very good agility on his post routes. He does well on his comeback routes.

I saw an Alshon Jeffery comparison for him and while I think Jeffery was a better deep threat with deceptive speed, Sutton does have a similar game.

I haven’t been the biggest Sutton fan, but his QB play obviously has limited him with terrible velocity and accuracy. What’s more, if he can simply continues to develop his route running to allow his athleticism to show up more consistently, he could be the next Allen Robinson and by all accounts he is a very hard worker.

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