2017-18 CFB SEASON / '18 NFL DRAFT

[Ray_Dogg]

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[CrimsonCrew]

Mike White and Kyle Lauletta really made themselves some money this week. Wow.

Allbright had mentioned Lauletta as a sleeper. Good call.

It's funny, with all the focus on the North QBs, I don't think I even saw White mentioned this week. Did see Lauletta mentioned a couple times, but only once or twice.

[CrimsonCrew]

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Five QBs in the top 10? I'd love to see it, but not sure I do. Ridley, either.

[ChrisPozz]

Marquis Haynes - DL - Rebels

Sporting News writer Thomas Lott mentions Ole Miss edge-rusher Marquis Haynes as a player who had a strong Senior Bowl.

Haynes had one of the biggest plays of the game, stripping Nebraska's Tanner Lee on a sack that was picked up by UTSA's Marcus Davenport and returned for a touchdown. "Haynes is undersized at 6-3, 230 pounds, but he has a great first step and showed it off when he beat Army offensive tackle Brett Toth off the right side," Lott writes. His lack of size is certainly going to hurt his draft stock, but his productivity (32 sacks in his four years at Ole Miss) will definitely help.
Source: Sporting News

Jan 27 - 10:49 PM

Hell of a kid, too. Humble, down to earth. Wants to start a foundation for kids that don't have the money to play sports. Also has talked about coaching at some level someday. A little soft spoken but very sure of his plan for the rest of his life it's sounded like. Can root for him.

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Rashaad Penny - RB - Aztecs

San Diego State RB Rashaad Penny ran for 64 yards on nine carries and caught a 73-yard touchdown pass for the South in a 45-16 victory over the North on Saturday in the Reese's Senior Bowl.

Penny (5'11/224) did not have a strong week of practice, with multiple outlets reporting that he was among the more disappointing players during the week. He didn't disappoint on Saturday. His 73-yard touchdown from Kurt Benkert showed that he's a capable receiver out of the backfield, and he consistently found holes when handed the ball. It's a strong running back class, but even with the poor practices, Penny still likely goes on Day 2, with a strong chance of going in the second round.

Jan 27 - 6:26 PM

His problem is he is atrocious at pass protecting. That’s a big problem to have and really puts a damper on him. Kyle isn’t gonna put up with that and this would prevent him from starting day one which is what we probably need, a day one starter.

https://ninernoise.com/2018/01/28/49ers-nfl-draft-rashaad-penny-consider-2018/

[ChrisPozz]

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Ballage and Samuels impressed. I heard so much negativity about Ballage before this week. Seems like he might have disproved a lot of that.

Samuels I noticed a bunch watching all the Chubb games. Still all week NFL Network wouldn’t shut up about where he would play and kept saying H back even though he played RB all week and looked natural doing it. Oh well, whatever.

There's been some talk why Ballage, Samuels, and Wadley didn't do this or show that this week. Admittedly I did not see EVERYTHING, but it was mentioned a couple times on air, and I also noticed that the North OL played COLLECTIVELY somewhere around garbage to below average as a unit. That had something to do with them when it got to the team stuff.

As individual players went that's where each started to earn and kind of all cement their money as well IMO. It was better for them when they weren't so OL reliant I thought.

I really like Ballage's movement skills. Definitely has the height/weight/speed thing going for him. Was not overworked either and never led his team in carries if memory serves me correctly. That can be taken a lot of ways. He'd be a definite consideration with me for his MOVEMENT skills alone. A lot of the negativity around Ballage is because of the uncertainty that comes with him.

Samuels is also another candidate because of those movement skills. There's move guys every year where the main debate is, "Yeah, but where are you going to play them?" Usually after I watch them over and over I feel pretty good from afar what I think they should be doing but then you have a couple of the special move guys where it's like, "Screw it, I don't care where you play this guy. You take him and you play him where you have to regardless of who you have." Charles Clay was a move guy, for instance, that was one of those guys for me. I don't QUITE know yet if Samuels is going to be a "Screw it. You take him and play this guy" candidate but he's a tick below that for now and on the considerations list. I haven't checked him off the list yet.

It's kind of backwards thinking because I guess one should want the most talent possible available each year in the draft but it seems like I go in watching every Senior Bowl hoping I can start to eliminate some guys from consideration so the picture gets a little clearer. Well, this year I feel like I almost have more sitting at the computer and TV going over this stuff than maybe any other year I've followed the draft since 1998 (when things were WAY different then). Guys I hadn't previously thought I was going to want to add for consideration have started to pop up from all over and now it's making me want to add more projects to the list.

It'll get better just because some of the personality stuff starts to get out there in February and that checks off some guys and then you have combine stories and all that gets tied into that and people start to share notes and that helps so it'll make itself more clear this next month but I do feel like that there's more additions to my lists following the Senior Bowl than there maybe ever has been in any previous year.

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

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[CalamityX12]

Glad Dallas Goedert isn't playing in the S.B. He needs to keep his stock nice & low.

Starting to like this TE class (although I still want Tyler Eifert).

I’ve liked Gesicki all year and he showed well this week. Big move TE target. Fills a void for us.

yes, thank you!

[CalamityX12]

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lol

and i'm fine with that ATM...

[CalamityX12]

Lots of Barkley bashing here! lol..jk

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Baker Mayfield - QB - Player

A source close to Browns GM John Dorsey told Yahoo's Charles Robinson that Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield would be an "outlier" for Dorsey's preferred style of quarterback.

The source told Robinson this just days after Robinson published a report connecting Browns dots to Mayfield. Per Robinson, the new source noted that Dorsey is a big proponent of "size, speed, quickness" in college prospects, and Mayfield would be shorter than a typical Dorsey-style passer. Dorsey was in Kansas City's front office when the Chiefs selected Patrick Mahomes at No. 10 overall. Mahomes is the ultimate size-speed-quickness quarterback prospect.
Related: Browns
Source: Charles Robinson on Twitter

Jan 29 - 4:01 PM

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Brett Toth - T - Black Knights

Draft Analyst's Tony Pauline listed Army T Brett Toth as the offensive lineman who was the biggest "riser" from Senior Bowl practices.

Earlier in the week, Pauline mentioned that Toth (6'5/304) was creating "buzz" in scouting circles. "After a solid week of practice at the Shrine Game, Toth took it up a notch in Mobile," Pauline writes. "He stopped just about everyone who lined up across from him and shut down a variety of opponents. From the speed rush of Oklahoma’s Ogbonnia Okoronkwo to the power moves of Justin Jones, our big winner on the defensive line, Toth came and conquered every day in practice." He believes that Toth would be a second-round pick if not for his commitment to the Department Of Defense, but still will be a mid-round pick even if he can't play in the NFL for another two years.
Source: Draft Analyst

Jan 29 - 6:45 PM

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Josh Allen - QB - Cowboys

In their latest mock draft, CBS Sports has the Denver Broncos selecting Wyoming QB Josh Allen with the fifth pick.

The top four picks before Allen are Sam Darnold to the Browns, Josh Rosen to the Giants, Bradley Chubb to the Colts, and Minkah Fitzparick to Cleveland, respectively. Most analysts seem to believe that Allen needs to sit a year, so this may not seem like a perfect fit on paper. If they feel like he's the most talented QB, that may not matter. "Denver goes with the riskier option who, to many, has the most upside of any quarterback in this class," CBS Sports writer Chris Trapasso writes. "Allen won't be asked to start right away."
Source: CBS Sports

Jan 29 - 6:25 PM

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Mike Gesicki - TE - Nittany Lions

In a list of the Senior Bowl offensive "risers," Draft Analyst's Tony Pauline listed Penn State TE Mike Gesicki as the top tight end at Senior Bowl practices.

Pauline notes that Notre Dame's Durham Smythe is the "honorable mention' at the position. Gesicki wasn't always a big part of the Penn State offense, but that has more to do with gameplanning than talent. The 6-foot-5, 242-pound tight end impressed virtually everyone over his week at Mobile. "Wow, wow, wow," Paulin writes. "The gigantic tight end looked natural catching the ball and had wide-receiver traits when the pass was thrown in his direction."
Source: Draft Analyst

Jan 29 - 5:52 PM

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

James Washington - WR - Cowboys

Tony Pauline of Draft Analyst believes that Oklahoma State WR James Washington was the best receiver at Senior Bowl practices.

Pauline notes that Miami's Braxton Barrios, LSU D.J. Chark and Penn State's DaeSean Hamilton all improved their stock, but Washington still comes away his winner. He's proof that the practices mean more than the games, as the 5-foot-10, 210-pound wideout didn't haul in a pass on Saturday. Pauline also says that he "used his hands well to separate early in routes, was lightning-quick out of route breaks and attacked the ball aggressively in the air at all levels of the field, and that he "might have pushed himself into the back end of Round 1."
Source: Draft Analyst

Jan 29 - 4:05 PM

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Vita Vea - DL - Huskies

NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah ranks Vita Vea ninth on his updated top 50 prospects.

Vea was viewed as a divisive prospect for most of the year, largely due to perceptions-- substantiated or not -- of an inconsistent motor for his time with the Huskies. Jeremiah doesn't seem to be too concerned. "Vea is a massive defensive tackle prospect with remarkable power, quickness and agility," he writes. "He's a dominant run defender, routinely resetting the line of scrimmage against both individual blockers and double-teams." It should not shock anyone if the 6-foot-4, 346-pound defender is one of the first interior defenders off the board.
Source: NFL.com

Jan 29 - 3:27 PM

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Quenton Nelson - G - Fighting Irish

Notre Dame G Quenton Nelson ranks 2nd in NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah's top 50 NFL Draft prospects.

Because we're sure you're curious, Penn State RB Saquon Barkley remains at the top spot. Guards rarely go high in NFL Draft, but Nelson (6'5/315) could be an exception because of his size and the dominating analytical statistics he put up. Jeremiah goes so far as to say he has the potential to be "the best run blocker in the NFL." Wow. Nelson is a first-round lock, and there's a real chance he won't be on the board after pick 10 -- with an outside shot of going in the top five.
Source: NFL.com

Jan 29 - 12:28 PM

[Bingo_AlphaMan]

Kalen Ballage - RB - Sun Devils

NFL Draft Scout's Tony Pauline believes that Arizona State RB Kalen Ballage impressed scouts during Senior Bowl practices.

Pauline notes that Ballage has intrigued scouts for a long time because of his size and speed, but that those haven't always translated onto the football field. "Ballage’s play this week in Mobile finally matched his physical prowess, as the 6-foot-2, 222-pound runner showed explosive athleticism and smooth receiving skills in addition to holding up in pass protection," Pauline writes. This is a strong group of running backs, but Ballage appears to be earning mid-round looks, and could be off the board before the end of Day 2.
Source: Draft Analyst

Jan 29 - 1:57 PM

[I_am_1z]

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Why have you sunken to using random twitter feeds to build up your players?

[Ray_Dogg]

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Five QBs in the top 10? I'd love to see it, but not sure I do. Ridley, either.

He’s thinking 5 or 6 trade up to three to take a QB. 4 QBs get drafted and Colts take Nelson.