Some draft thoughts

Busts or Overhyped

Gerald McCoy – I am not sure why anybody would pick him over Suh. Suh is a beast to me and McCoy seems very soft. He reminds me of Glenn Dorsey but not as strong. Everybody wants to compare him to Warren Sapp and I can see it but I just don’t think he has the same instincts and strength.

Bryan Bulaga – maybe I am thinking about all of the Iowa offensive linemen that have come out over the course of the last 15 years and that most of them do not have solid NFL careers. Bulaga is a good lineman who can start for a long time but he is not going to dominate. A top 10 pick really should dominate so I think that he is a little overrated at this point. I also think he is more of a guard than a tackle.
I think that most of the OT in this draft are overrated with a lot of bust potential—particularly with the speculation that there will be a run on OT’s early in the draft. Here is my quick breakdown:

Anthony Davis – This kid is not a bad player but I think that some of the same fears that everybody had for Jeff Otah a few years ago should apply to Davis. He is powerful and big and a little slow. He has a mean streak but he is a bit immature and may turn out to be a bit of a head case. He does not have enough ugly factor and offensive lineman need ugly factor. Should be projected as more of a late first rounder early second rounder and needs a little bit of time to develop.

Trent Williams – Just an average player with a high ceiling to me. We see players like him every year.

Bruce Campbell – My god I hope that the Packers do not draft him. All the talent in the world but lack of production. Between Campbell and Okung they have the highest ceilings but I think that Okung is much further along and is battle proven whereas Campbell is still learning how to play the position.
Jason Pierre-Paul – Well I like his name. But ultimately I cannot figure this one out. He seems like the Akili Smith of DE’s—that is to say, somebody who shows up for half of a season and does well then makes themselves eligible for the draft. A guy with a lot of upside but not a lot of production, to me at least, is a guy that you take a chance on in the third or fourth round. It is going to take a gutsy and overconfident coach and GM to draft this guy. I don’t see him becoming anything more than a perennial tease or one of those guys that only shows up in a contract year.

Carlos Dunlap – We have seen this before; great talent and poor work ethic. Dunlap has been known to nurse injuries, take plays off, has a limited number of pass rushing moves, and is known as being immature. The question is, at what point do you draw the line with players like this? This is a guy that obviously needs hard coaching but is probably not receptive to it. This leaves a team with either a player who walks off the field crying, ala Manny Wright, or they totally shut down. Either way you do not want them on your team. Sure, there is a chance that he will turn out, but again you should probably take a flier on a player like this in the middle rounds.

Terrence Cody – Giant overeating defensive lineman typically do not work out in the NFL. Gilbert Brown worked out well but he was his own worst enemy and ate his way out of the league at one point in time. Look at anybody nicknamed Bigdaddy and you will find guys that did not work out. The only player that comes to mind that was able to control himself with being a big physical presence and not overeating to the point that his endurance was gravely affected was Ted Washington. Washington was smart Cody’s intelligence has been questioned. So I don’t see the light clicking for him.

Golden Tate – Golden Tate saw an opportunity to declare for the draft and possibly get picked in the first round. I am not convinced that he is going to be a bust but I really do not think that he is going to be a dominate #1 receiver. He needs to work on his quickness and fundamentals from what I see/understand. He reminds me of Devery Henderson, who is decent, but not a super star. When a receiver is under 6 foot, usually they need to be quick like Wes Welker and Steve Smith (CAR) and I am not sure that Tate has that same type of quickness. He certainly has the long speed though. I am not ready to call him a bust but I don’t think he is going to dominate. He also needs to work on catching with his hands instead of his body but that is just fundamentals that he can work on. Overall though, I am a little wary of all of the top WR prospects in this draft.

Sam Bradford – I already outlined this in my previous post, I don’t think Bradford will be bad, but he is not worthy of the top pick this year. There are too many question marks with him in my opinion. Now, what is interesting and perhaps mulligans my statements is that Gil Brandt was at his personal workout and he said that it is the best quarterback workout he has seen since Troy Aikman (He was the one that drafted Aikman). The only person in the history of my football obsession that understood scouting better than Brandt was the late Joel Buschbaum so I may be wrong in my assessment.

Colt McCoy – Boy last year at this time I may have said something else but I have some serious concerns with how he is going to pan out. I am always wary of Texas players, nothing against the school, but a lot of players from Texas have grown up being coddled and are a bit of “Legends in their own Minds” and McCoy may be no different. Still, it is hard to ignore his insane completion percentage the last two years. I would take a flier on him in the fourth round but I just don’t think he has the talent. I look at him as a Tim Rattay type player. I am not sure that he will be a bust per se but I do think that he has been a little overhyped.

Taylor Mayes – Boy Taylor Archuleta Williams Mays sure can hit! He sure can put the hurt on a receiver after he catches the ball. He sure can miss that big hit and allow for that player to run it in for a touchdown. But man look at that freakish talent! If you haven’t guessed yet, I think Taylor Mays is going to be exactly like Roy Williams and Adam Archuleta. He goes for too many big hits and misses and he has too many coverage deficiencies to be an effective safety. I would not touch him. The one thing he may be able to do though is if a team really likes him they could convert him to linebacker ala Thomas Davis. He may be effective at that but do you really want to draft a guy that you are projecting to a different position in the first round? The Vikings are rumored to take him, I say let them!

Underrated/the real deal players

Russell Okung—I think that Okung could be a great starter for a long time. He is not for everybody because he is more of an athletic zone tackle rather than a power player. So he will dominate against speed rushers and may have a little bit more trouble with power rushers. Still I like him a lot and I think that there is a huge gap between Okung and the next best OT.

Jared Veldheer from tiny little Hillsdale college. He has just as much potential as Campbell but teams will be a bit more patient with him. It is really hard to project a guy from this small of a school to the NFL. But Veldheer is not lacking in size, strength, smarts, or instincts. There have been a few small school offensive lineman that have made it to the NFL recently (Boothe, Bernadeau) from small schools. This is complicated though because none of them have been from quite as small of a school as this guy but none of those that have made it have nearly the upside that Veldheer does. Because of that I think that this guy will make it and I want this guy on the Packers.

Mike Kafka – I have already discussed him before so I will make this shorter. He reminds me of Jake Delhomme but he is further along at this point. He may not ever win pretty but he will win. He will surprise a lot of people with his intangibles and is a late bloomer.

Joe Haden – I am always wary of Florida players. I typically would never go out on a limb and claim to like one but I have a feeling that Haden is different. He is a good all around player, good athlete, and gets the job done.

Ed Wang -- Maybe he does not have it all in regards to speed and he may seem a little stiff according to some sources but Wang is going to fight tooth and nail to be successful. He has a lot of pride in his play and is treating playing in the NFL like it is a legacy, which to a degree it is. With two olympians as parents going home during the offseason means that he will possibly lose weight. He will fit well with a zone blocking team.


There are other guys I like and dislike in the draft but this is what I have right now. I am working on the Mock Draft so I will post that hopefully tomorrow.