Senior Bowl week

[Icness]

I'll be in Mobile for the next week and I'll use this thread to post expanded thoughts. I will write the daily summary for the main page but I'll throw extra stuff in here.

If you have any specific questions about players there or want me to ask a question to a player, put it in here and I'll try to get to them. Monday night is pretty cool--the media get to dine with the players on a battleship and just hang out, no coaches, no agents, very fun 3 hours.

Here's the roster as of Friday:
http://www.seniorbowl.com/rosters.asp

All the top offensive tackles will be there, lots of DL talent too. Should make for some very good practice sessions.

[DirtyDez]

I'll be eager to see how Love, Carimi, Sherrod and Costanzo do seeing how the Cards pick #38. Terrible year for OT's but they could really raise their stock.

[Bucksfans1and2]

I'll be eager to see how Love, Carimi, Sherrod and Costanzo do seeing how the Cards pick #38. Terrible year for OT's but they could really raise their stock.

I (Packers) want that 38 pick really bad.

Would an offer of Matt Flynn, Nick Barnett, and the Packers 4th do it?

[Turk Nowitzki]

Icness, I'm interested in your thoughts on Titus Young, the WR fron Boise St. He seems like the kind of WR the Packers might target and he reminds me a bit of Greg Jennings. Where is he projected to go?

[Wade-A-Holic]

Icness, I'm interested in your thoughts on Titus Young, the WR fron Boise St. He seems like the kind of WR the Packers might target and he reminds me a bit of Greg Jennings. Where is he projected to go?

Young looks a little slight for Ted Thompson's tastes and he isn't the most consistent pass catcher, but he's an electrifying athlete and already a very good route runner.

[Wade-A-Holic]

BTW, McShay referred to Dwayne Harris at TCU's Dwayne Harris in his first Senior Bowl blog today. If this was unusual for him, that would be one thing, but the guy makes mistakes like this all the time and ESPN (not some poorly put together independent site) publishes it. He's seriously awful at his job.

[Bucksfans1and2]

BTW, McShay referred to Dwayne Harris at TCU's Dwayne Harris in his first Senior Bowl blog today. If this was unusual for him, that would be one thing, but the guy makes mistakes like this all the time and ESPN (not some poorly put together independent site) publishes it. He's seriously awful at his job.

He is he's horrendous

[DirtyDez]

I'll be eager to see how Love, Carimi, Sherrod and Costanzo do seeing how the Cards pick #38. Terrible year for OT's but they could really raise their stock.

I (Packers) want that 38 pick really bad.

Would an offer of Matt Flynn, Nick Barnett, and the Packers 4th do it?

Barnett makes 12+ over the next 2 years but LB inside is a need. Need more of a ''thumper type'' and he isn't really that guy. The 2nd rounder will probably go for Orton or Kolb but Flynn looked fine against the Pats and he is an upgrade (which is sad). Knowing how this FO works i doubt they take on that contract and rather draft ILB in the 3rd/4th. I'd give a late rounder for Flynn though.

[Wade-A-Holic]

Icness, I'm interested in your thoughts on Titus Young, the WR fron Boise St. He seems like the kind of WR the Packers might target and he reminds me a bit of Greg Jennings. Where is he projected to go?

So, the comparisons I'm seeing for Titus Young after ONE day of practice down there have been a more polished Johnny Knox and somebody else said a hybrid between Desean Jackson and Mike Wallace.

Also sounds like his dropped balls were very early in practice, and that by the end he seemed totally settled in and was making a lot of great plays.

[Icness]

Senior Bowl Notebook: Tuesday North Practice
By Jeff Risdon

Star of the morning: Cameron Jordan. He not only won every individual battle I watched, he dominated them. Great leverage, quick feet, gets his shoulders thru the gap and explodes out. There was a drill where he lined up right over the tackle the way a 3-4 end would, and he showed the ability to go inside or outside. He knows he’s unstoppable here, similar to the way BJ Raji was a couple years ago when he almost seemed bored at the inferior competition.

Spent some time watching the DBs in drills. Thoughts:
Best corner was Rashad Carmichael of Virginia Tech. Not very big but he extends his arms on the jam well, stronger than he looks. Low, controlled backpedal and he flips out of it at good speed and balanced. Was able to turn and run with any receiver. Showed natural hands. Thrived on inside technique, he’s clearly played it before and has been well-coached. Reminds me of Kyle Wilson last year but a little more fluid athletically, not as physical in run support though at VT. He’s not bad at that, just not great.

Eric Hagg (Nebraska) struggled. Very upright when he runs, reaches out early with his hands, got his hips too far open when trying to turn and run. The coaches were working on an inside technique drill and his man (Titus Young and Dwayne Harris) easily got inside him.

Joe Lefeged (Rutgers) is a guy I really want to like but he didn’t have a good morning. Slow to see the routes and he’s not a dynamic athlete when he reacts. Steps way in the bucket when changing direction. Got flattened by Lance Kendricks when trying to chase down an outside run in 11-on-11 drill. Just not quick enough either athletically or in making decisions, not today anyways. I’ve seen him play much better in some games.

DaNorris Searcy (UNC) impressed me, relatively speaking. Thickly built, showed good strength and field awareness. Not real fast to turn and run but closed on the ball well. Displayed very good hands, made a couple of athletic catches. Read the receiver well to find the ball and pick up the route. My expectations weren’t high and he greatly exceeded them.

Quinton Carter (Oklahoma) has the worst hands of any DB I’ve ever seen in any postseason games or the Combine. He can’t catch a thing. He did show nice range and closing speed on the ball, he just can’t catch it. He’s not as big in person than he appeared on game tape, though he shows good tackling form and some pop with his hits.

Jalil Brown is “the other Colorado corner” after Jimmy Smith. Another guy too upright in his backpedal, but he breaks with power and hits top speed quickly. Uses his size nicely in the inside technique drill but got caught leaning by Niles Paul, who ripped inside his overextended shoulder and blew past.

Quick thoughts on the wideouts:
Titus Young (Boise State) is the best of the lot. Very vocal, grunts all the time like a women’s tennis player. Real slippery with great feet. He owned the sidelines, gets outside real quick and quickly corrals the ball. Showed strong hands, snatched the ball from the air. Made a great toe-tap catch on a strong throw from Ricky Stanzi under tight coverage from Jalil Brown.

The other Boise State wideout, Austin Pettis, is almost scary raw. Bengals WR coach Mike Sheppard had to coach him up on rudimentary things after almost every play. Wild with his feet, taking extra steps to make a cut, no route discipline or consistency. Had one play where he made a nice catch over his head but Temple safety Jaiquawn Jarrett quickly dislodged the ball because Pettis never tucked the ball away, left it out dangling. Much more of a project than I expected, but he does have intriguing size and can flat-out fly. To his credit, he processed the coaching quickly and made adjustments.

SDSU’s Vincent Brown has great hands and really goes out and attacks the ball. He takes an extra hop step off the line that needs to go, though.

Dwayne Harris (East Carolina) is very explosive in space, but he doesn’t cut with sharpness and was easily steered when pressed. Carmichael pushed him 3 yards out of bounds before they were two yards from the line on one rep. Made a couple of tough low catches on inaccurate throws from Jake Locker, of which there are seemingly no other kind.

Dane Sanzebacher looked like he was in over his head. Just not a dynamic enough athlete and he’s not physical. Failed to locate the ball on a play in 11s that got picked.

Linebackers:
I watched a couple of drills up close. Overall impression: this is not an impressive lot.

Mark Herzlich (BC) had a poor morning. In a screen drill where they had to break outside and tackle a fellow LB playing the role of runner, he overran the outside twice. Consistently arm tackled and left his feet to make the tackle.

Casey Matthews (Oregon) is real upright even though he’s not real big. Doesn’t have the burst to quickly close on the ball. Also got sucked in on play action every single time in 11s. Couldn’t stop Ross Homan (Ohio State LB) from getting around the corner in the screen drill. Homan did little to stand out either.

Greg Jones (Michigan State) is the biggest hitter. Good tackling technique, keeps balanced and drives thru the man. He’s added about 10 pounds since I last saw him in September and wears it well. Flows to the ball well and made a huge hit in 11s that drew oohs. Best candidate here to be a 3-4 ILB even though he’s short…and he’s real short at under 6’.

Mason Foster (Washington) has the quickest closing burst and does so under control. Also looked the most comfortable in space, though he let his feet early on a couple of tackles that a better runner than an opposing LB would eat alive. Lawrence Wilson (UConn) is probably better in coverage and has the makings of a good nickel-package LB. He’s real light though and got pushed around in 11s.

Watched the pass rush drill next. Aside from the top stuff on Jordan, here’s what I saw:

Christian Ballard (Iowa) showed great quickness and the ability to get into the blockers before they can extend their arms. Dominated Kevin Kowalski (Toledo center who did not look like he belonged), and made a nice inside-out move on Stephen Schilling (Michigan), though he ran right past the QB on the play.

Just in general, all the offensive linemen really struggled with the defenders going inside them. The B gap was exploited all drill against the tackles. Jordan and Jeremy Beal (Oklahoma) both had a couple of reps where they did a quick fake outside and got through the gap almost untouched. Beal embarrassed Nate Solder (Colorado) in that regard and looked quicker than I expected. The only DL that couldn’t win battles consistently was Pierre Allen (Nebraksa) who was easily stonewalled because he gets too upright and doesn’t have leg drive. Both James Brewer (Indiana) and Solder pushed him well beyond the QB and controlled him.

Slippery Rock center Brandon Fusco had a lot of trouble with inside power, and after a couple of reps where he got beat he bounced a shotgun snap. Not a good showing for a guy who is largely a blank slate to the coaches in attendance.

I know everyone wants to know about the QBs but honestly I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention to them this morning. I saw Stanzi make a few nice throws with zip to the sideline. Locker threw the ball well over the middle but when the route is outside I don’t think even he knows where the ball is going to wind up. He overthrew one where Young was wide open on the sideline, so far overthrown that a Seahawks coach standing on the fencerow caught it. Kaepernick had one play where he didn’t read the coverage and threw the wrong route when the receiver clearly had the inside post wide open; Kaepernick threw the corner even though that’s where the safety help was, and it was obvious. His wind-up/release is longer than his peers here.

Jeff.Risdon@RealGM.com

That’s the stuff for the main page, here’s the bonus stuff:
--The Seahawks, Chargers, and Cowboys were all heavily scouting Cam Jordan. He’s the best 3-4 DE candidate here and probably has separated himself from Clayborn and Heyward as well, and he will be in big demand on draft day. Like “we need to trade up to get this guy” kind of demand in the 8-12 overall range.

--The Lions, Falcons, and Eagles all had multiple coaches, including head coaches in some cases, watching the OL drills even when they weren’t going against the defense. I talked briefly with Jim Schwartz this morning and he told me he was very curious about the linemen here.

--The word on the fencerow (the stadium has chain-link fences with some bushes on the edge) is not at all positive on Locker. One recently retired receiver was talking about how much players can’t stand quarterbacks that they don’t trust to put the ball where it needs to be on every throw. And it’s pretty clear just in the first practice I watched here that the receivers don’t trust him as much as they trust Stanzi or Kaepernick. Stanzi was the best of the three and the arm strength questions look stupid in light of this morning’s performance. Another personal observation with Locker--he’s shorter by a couple inches but he also carries himself shorter. He’s the same height as Tim Tebow and taller than Michael Vick but those two both carry themselves like they’re bigger than they are. Locker does not.

--Nobody wants to play with Ocho, and it’s even more emphatic that nobody wants to coach him.

--The punter is Nebraska’s Alex Henery, and he’s worthy of being drafted. I rarely say that about a punter. Dude was consistently topping 60 yards and pinning it where he wanted.

[Manhattan Project]

First of all nice writeup on both squads. After the first day who would you say is making the most of these practices? Regarding Allen Bailey, from the sound of the writeup do you think he can make the transition to the 3-4?

[DirtyDez]

Great stuff Ice!!!

Do you see Greg Jones going before #40?

[PhilipNelsonFan]

Is Phil Taylor a late-first possibility? Sounds like he's really catching eyes.

Also, I know he's not at the Senior Bowl but if you have any thoughts on Muhammad Wilkerson I'd love to hear them.

[Icness]

Allen Bailey in a 3-4? That would remedy his inaiblity to get off blocks, but he's not big enough to play end and not fast or quick-twitch enough to play OLB. IMO he's a 4-3 LDE.

Greg Jones in the top 40? Probably not but not OOTQ. I think that's his ceiling but he's more likely to go in the 40-60 range. Not being even 6' tall is a real detriment, and his speed numbers aren't going to be special.

Phil Taylor in the 1st? I'll put it this way--he's far better received here than Dan Williams (who went 26th IIRC) was a year ago and he's been a consistently better player on game film, and the demand for NT is sky-high. I could see him going in the top 20.


Wilkerson is impressive on film and he showed he could get into the backfield. My concerns are that he's tall (6'5.5") and that can mean leverage issues, and he played against mostly garbage lines in the MAC. I think he's a bottom 2nd/top 3rd round range talent. Hard to argue with his sack totals from playing mostly 1-technique though. He's better than Torrell Troup from UCF who went in the 2nd last year, though they are very different types of players.

Side note:
Stephen Paea has a torn meniscus and he'll be out for at least 4 months.

[Icness]

Some semi-drunken observations from last night:
--Jerry Glanville wears his dark sunglasses in the dimly lit bar well after dark. He wears all black, all the time.

--The Raiders have the most physically intimidating coaching and scouting staff even without Tom Cable. I'm 6'5", 200 pounds and I felt puny in their presence.

--As I was getting ready to leave the video room where they show the practices, the Redskins staff walked in and went straight to the South practices to break down Dalton and Ponder. They're not hiding the fact they're going QB early on.

--The Jaguars met with several of the corners after South practice

--The Eagles have talked to pretty much every interior OL from both squads

--The Browns met with Hankerson, Titus Young, and Ron Johnson

--The Saints have been very actively scouting the offensive tackles and met with Clint Boling after practice, where he played pretty well at tackle.

--I've seen people from every team here except the Packers. That doesn't mean they don't have people here, but I haven't seen them. It's not uncommon for the Super Bowl teams to have very little representation, obviously the coaches have more important things to do, but I haven't seen their scouts or front office people yet.

--Watching some of the retired players moving around is downright painful. There are guys younger than me (I'm 38) that move like they're in their 60s with all sorts of limps and mangled hands. You could make a killing as a hip surgeon just working on NFLPA alums.

[ChronicKerr]

Mort said on M&M this morning that Ted Thompson was there.

[Icness]

Saw a couple of Packers this morning. Its a big gathering and I was just in different circles.

Quick North notes, summary will be on main page ASAP.
--Jake Locker had a very good morning
--Gabe Carimi had a great morning
--Casey Matthews had a lousy morning
--Kendall Hunter really stood out
--Brandon Fusco bounced a couple of snaps and is really struggling
--Sione Fua showed well. Remind me to write about him tomorrow...

--Tom Dimitroff made a beeline to Nate Solder as soon as practice was done
--Sean Payton went straight to Anthony Castonzo and monopolized him
--Lions coaches fanned out to Greg Jones, Vincent Brown, Lawrence Wilson, and Mason Foster
--lots of people went to Locker, notably Raiders and 49ers. The Niners also talked to Kaepernick at length with a couple of coaches and Kap's agent (I believe).

[Harry Palmer]

Hey Jeff!

Quick question: Does Locker strike you as guru-bait?

ie, one of those guys whose footwork and other baselines are so good that a QB guy will look at him and say 'the issues are absolutely something I can tweak, the naturals are all there'?

[Sandlot]

I've only seen Kaepernick play twice. (Cal and Boise) He looked really good in both those games but I don't know how that translates to the NFL. Does it look like the Niners are seriously considering him? Also, what round do you think he will go and how soon before he starts? Oh and based on practices do you think there is a chance that Locker could end up in the 2nd round?

[Killa K]

Two players that i was interested in this Senior Bowl was WR Titus Young and LB Greg Jones, and by reading your write ups it seems like they are doing pretty well. I doubt either sneaks into the 1st round and I would love to see the Ravens snag 1 or maybe both those guys.