Hawg73
Mediocre with flashes of brilliance
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2002
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By the numbers we had 9 rookies make the 53-man roster -- of which 7 were draft picks and 2 UDFAs.
In addition, 7th round pick Darryl Roberts was placed on IR along with UDFA A.J. Derby.
A few thoughts on what I've noticed so far:
* Malcom Brown -- Didn't set the world on fire in preseason, but appears to have good movement skills and can hold up to double teams. His gap management is going to need improvement, but I think he shows awareness of plays developing in front of him and will give up his body for the linebackers. He would appear to have pocket-collapsing potential with quickness and strength, but hasn't been particularly effective in this area so far.
* Jordan Richards -- a surprise 2nd round pick who is supposed to be an unsually smart player, Richards showed me that he is a solid tackler who breaks down efficiently and wraps up. He doesn't have great height but plays strong. In general, he did look smart in terms of diagnosing his run fits quickly and nobody picked on him in the passing game the way that you see teams go after Chung. Fairly impressive.
* Tre Jackson -- Played the bulk of the snaps at RG and looks like he knows what he is doing. I haven't seen any dominant-looking skills from him in terms of power or quickness, but his technique allowed him to get valuable reps while he gets accustomed to this level. He looked OK. A bit grabby in pass-blocking, but that's nothing unusual.
* Shaq Mason -- For an offensive lineman I'll say this kid is fun to watch. He's very powerful and has a great punch and decent foot speed/agility. Mason will open a bunch of holes for us at LG before long. The big question on him is as a pass blocker after playing in a run-heavy Ga. Tech scheme but I thought he did better than expected. He looked bad at times vs. New Orleans, but performed pretty well overall and also got a ton of snaps.
* Trey Flowers -- My favorite rookie so far. Flowers looks small at 6'2" and 265ish but he has long, very strong arms and does a nice job keeping blockers from getting their hands into his chest. Trey got most of his snaps versus backups, but dominated at times showing some polished pass-rush moves and generally held his ground well on running plays. I want to see him play more against the big boys, but I think we've got a steal in this kid. He made a LOT of good plays. Unusually powerful for such a slim frame.
Geneo Grissom -- Didn't do a whole lot that I noticed, but he appears to be a fluid athlete with quick feet. Looks smaller on the field than listed. I don't know whether he will end up at LB or DL.
* Joe Cardona -- One bad snap that I remember. He's a long-snapper.....who knows?
* David Andrews -- a UDFA center who played the majority of the preseason and played exactly what his rep was coming out of college-- he's athletic and good in space, but he's not exactly a powerhouse blocking in line. I was surprised he made the team, but maybe the brain trust thinks he can add muscle. I will say he didn't make a whole lot of mistakes that I noticed.
*Chris Harper -- Harper was the offense in preseason. Quick, good hands, good feet, slim frame and he had a good concept of the limited preseason playbook. I'm glad we were able to keep him at least until Brandon LaFell gets back. Harper has a chance to do something in this league, I'd venture. I just don't know if it will be here. Put it this way-- he did more coming in as a UDFA than Josh Boyce ever did. Looks to be an adequate KR guy as well.
We also added two rookies to the practice squad who didn't play for us in the preseason, but Xzavier Dickson was mildly impressive as a smallish linebacker. He made a few plays but had his ups and downs figuring out where he was supposed to be.
In addition, 7th round pick Darryl Roberts was placed on IR along with UDFA A.J. Derby.
A few thoughts on what I've noticed so far:
* Malcom Brown -- Didn't set the world on fire in preseason, but appears to have good movement skills and can hold up to double teams. His gap management is going to need improvement, but I think he shows awareness of plays developing in front of him and will give up his body for the linebackers. He would appear to have pocket-collapsing potential with quickness and strength, but hasn't been particularly effective in this area so far.
* Jordan Richards -- a surprise 2nd round pick who is supposed to be an unsually smart player, Richards showed me that he is a solid tackler who breaks down efficiently and wraps up. He doesn't have great height but plays strong. In general, he did look smart in terms of diagnosing his run fits quickly and nobody picked on him in the passing game the way that you see teams go after Chung. Fairly impressive.
* Tre Jackson -- Played the bulk of the snaps at RG and looks like he knows what he is doing. I haven't seen any dominant-looking skills from him in terms of power or quickness, but his technique allowed him to get valuable reps while he gets accustomed to this level. He looked OK. A bit grabby in pass-blocking, but that's nothing unusual.
* Shaq Mason -- For an offensive lineman I'll say this kid is fun to watch. He's very powerful and has a great punch and decent foot speed/agility. Mason will open a bunch of holes for us at LG before long. The big question on him is as a pass blocker after playing in a run-heavy Ga. Tech scheme but I thought he did better than expected. He looked bad at times vs. New Orleans, but performed pretty well overall and also got a ton of snaps.
* Trey Flowers -- My favorite rookie so far. Flowers looks small at 6'2" and 265ish but he has long, very strong arms and does a nice job keeping blockers from getting their hands into his chest. Trey got most of his snaps versus backups, but dominated at times showing some polished pass-rush moves and generally held his ground well on running plays. I want to see him play more against the big boys, but I think we've got a steal in this kid. He made a LOT of good plays. Unusually powerful for such a slim frame.
Geneo Grissom -- Didn't do a whole lot that I noticed, but he appears to be a fluid athlete with quick feet. Looks smaller on the field than listed. I don't know whether he will end up at LB or DL.
* Joe Cardona -- One bad snap that I remember. He's a long-snapper.....who knows?
* David Andrews -- a UDFA center who played the majority of the preseason and played exactly what his rep was coming out of college-- he's athletic and good in space, but he's not exactly a powerhouse blocking in line. I was surprised he made the team, but maybe the brain trust thinks he can add muscle. I will say he didn't make a whole lot of mistakes that I noticed.
*Chris Harper -- Harper was the offense in preseason. Quick, good hands, good feet, slim frame and he had a good concept of the limited preseason playbook. I'm glad we were able to keep him at least until Brandon LaFell gets back. Harper has a chance to do something in this league, I'd venture. I just don't know if it will be here. Put it this way-- he did more coming in as a UDFA than Josh Boyce ever did. Looks to be an adequate KR guy as well.
We also added two rookies to the practice squad who didn't play for us in the preseason, but Xzavier Dickson was mildly impressive as a smallish linebacker. He made a few plays but had his ups and downs figuring out where he was supposed to be.
