cadmonkey
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Patriots’ Draft Preview, Defensive Ends (Jerry Thornton)
Patriots’ Draft Preview, Defensive Ends
http://boston.barstoolsports.com/random-thoughts/patriots-draft-preview-defensive-ends/
Patriots current roster/ needs: OK, here’s the position I’ve been saving up for. Here’s the one I’ve been looking forward to most. Belichick has invested a lot of capital looking for someone who can fill the ginormous hole on the side opposite Ty Warren since the Richard Seymour trade. In no particular order he’s tried Ron Brace, Gerard Warren, Brandon Deadrick, Mike Wright and Myron Pryor. Now (in his effort to sign the entire 2001 DE draft class) he’s added Marcus Stroud. And while all of them are serviceable role players, the defense is still lacking the big, cornerstone stud that the championship defenses were built on.
And Seymour was the prototype. The pluperfect DE in the Belichick 3-4 scheme. Someone who can line up in the 5-technique, head up on the offensive tackle, with the strength to hold his ground against a double team, the length to get his arms under the OT’s pad and extend, control his man and protect both gaps, and the height to see over the blockers and break to the ball. Guys like that don’t come anywhere but the 1st round and it’s kind of ironic that they had to trade Sey in order to get a pick high enough to replace him.
Positional Overview: Fortunately, if ever there was a year to find that guy, this is it. The Sporting News gives this DE class an A+ grade and depending on whom you talk to, as many as 9-10 DE’s or DE/OLB hybrids could go in the 1st round. If all the positions in this draft were sitcom casts, the defensive ends would be “Parks and Recreation,” just solid from top to bottom. Belichick himself last week said this whole draft will come down to who makes the right call on the defensive front-7 guys.
The early consensus top pick who’s currently in a HALO jump-like free fall: Da’Quan Bowers, Clemson. 6-3, 280, 4.64.
Months ago, Bowers was being looked at as a possible No. 1 overall pick. Early in his career Bowers’ work ethic was in question, but he lost his father and his mentor, Clemson-Chicago Bear DE Gaines Adams within a few months of each other, and he says it lit a fire under his ass to become great. And it worked. But he suffered a microfracture on his knee, and he hasn’t fully recovered from the surgery. His pro day was a disaster that had scouts wondering if he’ll even be able to contribute at all in 2011. So he’s probably the biggest risk/reward in the entire draft, and there’s no telling who’ll nut up enough to pull the trigger on him. Or when.
Highly rated but more of a conversion OLB guy: Aldon Smith, Missouri. 6-4, 263, 4.74.
Smith is too slow for the Pats needs and besides, he’ll go high to a team that will plug him in as a 4-3 defensive end.
Tale of Two Camerons:
Cameron Jordan, California. 6-4, 287, 4.71.
Jordan has been mentioned in a ton of mock drafts as going to the Pats at 17. And there’s nothing not to like about him. He’s got size, strength, quickness. He’s supposedly a smart kid with great instincts who always seems to be the first one moving at the snap. The only question seems to be if he’ll last long enough for them to take him, and I doubt he will.
Cameron Heyward, Ohio St. 6-5, 290, 5.10.
Bigger, stronger and slower than Jordan. But he was productive. And he impressed everyone in the Sugar Bowl when he basically made a skin suit out of Arkansas LT DeMarcus Love. He could suit the Pats just fine, but you’d have to wonder why, with big bodies like Brace, Deadrick, Warren and Stroud already on the roster they’d bother with a guy who’s not much of an athletic upgrade.
Guy I’ve gotten a crush on lately: Muhammed Wilkerson, Temple. 6-4, 305, 4.96.
He’s often listed with the D-tackles, but then again, so was Seymour. For a while I dismissed Wilkerson as a potential Patriot just because he went to a small(ish) program, which they typically don’t do in the early rounds. But they broke with that last year by taking a guy from the Rutgers football factory and that looks like one of the great picks of the Belichick Epoch. Wilkerson is agile for a guy his size, they say he’s smart and instinctive. The knocks on him appear to be the competition he faced, the fact that he came out as a junior and that his hand technique needs work. He’s not my favorite choice, but I find myself turning to him like Harriet Bird looking from The Whammer to Roy Hobbs. He should be available at 28 or maybe even the 1st pick of Day 2.
Perfect Patriot: JJ Watt, Wisconsin. 6-5, 290, 4.81.
Watt has everything you could want. He’s big. He’s quick off the ball. He’s the kind of multi-dimensional athlete the Pats love as he was a tight end at Central Michigan before transferring to the Badgers. The only knock on him is that because of that he only played one year of defense. But he’s also a relentless, feral maniac and would be an instant fan favorite in Foxboro. He’s also won several leadership/ academic awards. The problem is that he also surprised everyone with his performance at the Miss Indianapolis Pageant and therefore probably put himself out of the Patriots’ reach. I hope I’m wrong, but I think Watt will go in the Top 12 and it will take a trade to get him, which doesn’t make sense given the depth at the position.
Patriots’ Draft Preview, Defensive Ends
http://boston.barstoolsports.com/random-thoughts/patriots-draft-preview-defensive-ends/
Patriots current roster/ needs: OK, here’s the position I’ve been saving up for. Here’s the one I’ve been looking forward to most. Belichick has invested a lot of capital looking for someone who can fill the ginormous hole on the side opposite Ty Warren since the Richard Seymour trade. In no particular order he’s tried Ron Brace, Gerard Warren, Brandon Deadrick, Mike Wright and Myron Pryor. Now (in his effort to sign the entire 2001 DE draft class) he’s added Marcus Stroud. And while all of them are serviceable role players, the defense is still lacking the big, cornerstone stud that the championship defenses were built on.
And Seymour was the prototype. The pluperfect DE in the Belichick 3-4 scheme. Someone who can line up in the 5-technique, head up on the offensive tackle, with the strength to hold his ground against a double team, the length to get his arms under the OT’s pad and extend, control his man and protect both gaps, and the height to see over the blockers and break to the ball. Guys like that don’t come anywhere but the 1st round and it’s kind of ironic that they had to trade Sey in order to get a pick high enough to replace him.
Positional Overview: Fortunately, if ever there was a year to find that guy, this is it. The Sporting News gives this DE class an A+ grade and depending on whom you talk to, as many as 9-10 DE’s or DE/OLB hybrids could go in the 1st round. If all the positions in this draft were sitcom casts, the defensive ends would be “Parks and Recreation,” just solid from top to bottom. Belichick himself last week said this whole draft will come down to who makes the right call on the defensive front-7 guys.
The early consensus top pick who’s currently in a HALO jump-like free fall: Da’Quan Bowers, Clemson. 6-3, 280, 4.64.
Months ago, Bowers was being looked at as a possible No. 1 overall pick. Early in his career Bowers’ work ethic was in question, but he lost his father and his mentor, Clemson-Chicago Bear DE Gaines Adams within a few months of each other, and he says it lit a fire under his ass to become great. And it worked. But he suffered a microfracture on his knee, and he hasn’t fully recovered from the surgery. His pro day was a disaster that had scouts wondering if he’ll even be able to contribute at all in 2011. So he’s probably the biggest risk/reward in the entire draft, and there’s no telling who’ll nut up enough to pull the trigger on him. Or when.
Highly rated but more of a conversion OLB guy: Aldon Smith, Missouri. 6-4, 263, 4.74.
Smith is too slow for the Pats needs and besides, he’ll go high to a team that will plug him in as a 4-3 defensive end.
Tale of Two Camerons:
Cameron Jordan, California. 6-4, 287, 4.71.
Jordan has been mentioned in a ton of mock drafts as going to the Pats at 17. And there’s nothing not to like about him. He’s got size, strength, quickness. He’s supposedly a smart kid with great instincts who always seems to be the first one moving at the snap. The only question seems to be if he’ll last long enough for them to take him, and I doubt he will.
Cameron Heyward, Ohio St. 6-5, 290, 5.10.
Bigger, stronger and slower than Jordan. But he was productive. And he impressed everyone in the Sugar Bowl when he basically made a skin suit out of Arkansas LT DeMarcus Love. He could suit the Pats just fine, but you’d have to wonder why, with big bodies like Brace, Deadrick, Warren and Stroud already on the roster they’d bother with a guy who’s not much of an athletic upgrade.
Guy I’ve gotten a crush on lately: Muhammed Wilkerson, Temple. 6-4, 305, 4.96.
He’s often listed with the D-tackles, but then again, so was Seymour. For a while I dismissed Wilkerson as a potential Patriot just because he went to a small(ish) program, which they typically don’t do in the early rounds. But they broke with that last year by taking a guy from the Rutgers football factory and that looks like one of the great picks of the Belichick Epoch. Wilkerson is agile for a guy his size, they say he’s smart and instinctive. The knocks on him appear to be the competition he faced, the fact that he came out as a junior and that his hand technique needs work. He’s not my favorite choice, but I find myself turning to him like Harriet Bird looking from The Whammer to Roy Hobbs. He should be available at 28 or maybe even the 1st pick of Day 2.
Perfect Patriot: JJ Watt, Wisconsin. 6-5, 290, 4.81.
Watt has everything you could want. He’s big. He’s quick off the ball. He’s the kind of multi-dimensional athlete the Pats love as he was a tight end at Central Michigan before transferring to the Badgers. The only knock on him is that because of that he only played one year of defense. But he’s also a relentless, feral maniac and would be an instant fan favorite in Foxboro. He’s also won several leadership/ academic awards. The problem is that he also surprised everyone with his performance at the Miss Indianapolis Pageant and therefore probably put himself out of the Patriots’ reach. I hope I’m wrong, but I think Watt will go in the Top 12 and it will take a trade to get him, which doesn’t make sense given the depth at the position.
