By Vince Vitale 

Well it seems like if the St. Louis Rams did not have bad luck they would not have any luck at all. After losing several players to injury on Sunday the Rams have now lost LB Josh Hull who tore his ACL in practice today. Hull has been placed on IR and will be lost for the season. With Chris Chamberlain fracturing a toe against the Cardinals the Rams are now down to 4 healthy linebackers James Laurinaitis, Na’il Diggs, Larry Grant, and David Vobora for the game against the Oakland Raiders on Sunday. As I continually state the lack of depth on the St. Louis Rams will play a major role in their 2010 season and early injuries certainly will not help.

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Middle Linebacker

Auburn

6-2 240

Draft board overall prospect rank: #77

Draft board overall middle linebacker rank: #5

Overall rating: 73 (3^rd round)

40 time: 4.80

3/23/11: Of all the Combine “snubs,” Josh Bynes is my highest rated. He doesn’t get a lot of talk among the draft community, though Todd McShay seems to like him (believe me, I considered lowering my grade on Bynes upon finding out this fact). I don’t know how Bynes got passed over. He doesn’t do anything amazingly, but he played in a power conference, the SEC, as a defensive leader for the National Champion Auburn Tigers, both on the field and off the field, as a vocal locker room guy and an “unofficial team captain” as his teammates have called him.

He’s a 3 year starter and with best statistical year being 2009, where he had 104 tackles. He doesn’t have great athleticism, but he’s got good technique and he drops into coverage with the best of them. He’s best off in a cover 2 scheme where he can drop back into coverage more. He can make plays on the ball as well, with 7 picks in 3 years.

He’s an experienced high character kid, who is vocal in the locker room (boldly predicting the Tigers to go all the way in the preseason, when no one believed they could). He does all the little things and he’s a jack of all traits. His coverage skills are a valuable asset and he’s got experience in a power conference. He could end up a late round steal and one of the next on the list of guys who didn’t get invited to The Combine, but wound up as starters in the NFL. At worst, he’s a special teamer, something he did well in his time at Auburn.

NFL Comparison: Gary Brackett

Addai isn’t great, but he was the only running back who could actually run the ball on their roster last year, so they almost had to do this. If they let him go, they’d have to rely on rookie Delone Carter, which isn’t a good idea and Peyton Manning took a 10 million dollar pay cut specifically so they could resign Addai. However, Addai can’t stay healthy and 14 million over 3 years is way too much to pay for him, even if it was almost a necessity.

Grade: B

Wide Receiver 

Texas

5-11 183

40 time: 4.57

Draft board overall prospect rank: #132

Draft board wide receiver rank: #16

Overall rating: 68*

2/28/10: Again, maybe another guy who has having a bad day, but a 4.57 hurts his stock until he proves himself to be faster than that at his pro day. This is a guy who needs to be fast at the next level to succeed.

            10/4/09: If you look at Jordan Shipley, you wouldn’t think he was a football player. When you look at him play, you realize he is quite a good one. However, when you look at him play right now, you’re seeing basically the type of player he’ll be for the rest of his football career. His not very athletic and, because he redshirted twice with injuries, making him a 6^th year senior, he’ll be 24 by draft day. He’s a very smart player and can add to an NFL team right away. He runs good routes and makes a lot of catches. He projects as a slot guy in the NFL because he doesn’t have starter caliber athleticism. He has good straight line speed and is one of the best kick returners in the history of the University of Texas. He’s not overly tall or athletic and won’t win a lot of jump balls. He is fragile and has already had his fair share of bad injuries. He has a small frame and will get out muscled by cornerbacks and by other defenders on run plays. He seems like the kind of guy who can stick around in the league for a while, as a depth guy, a 3^rd or 4^th receiver. He’ll never be a star in the NFL or even a starter, but he’ll stick around awhile, barring another major injury, because he’s smart, consistent, and fundamentally sound.

NFL Comparison: Brandon Stokley

*=For a breakdown of what this means, click here

The Bears have one of the worst receiving corps in the NFL. No one caught more than 37 balls last year and the receiver who played the most snaps for them was Roy Williams. Brandon Marshall was an absolute steal for 2 3^rd rounders and Jay Cutler has to be thrilled. The pair combined for 206 completions from 2007-2008. The Bears still have cap space to go after another receiver or to sign Mario Williams and take a receiver in the first or second round.

Grade: A

Karlos Dansby: 5 years 43 million 22 million guaranteed

Patrick Willis: 7 years 54 million 29 million guaranteed

Jon Beason: 5 years 50 million 25 million guaranteed

Look Beason is a very good player, but you can’t possibly argue that Beason is worth more than Dansby and Willis. You can’t argue that Beason deserved to be the highest paid middle linebacker in NFL history. If you’re going to pay a defensive player who doesn’t rush the passer or cover receivers 10 million per year for 5 years with half of that guaranteed, you better make damn sure he’s the best player in the league at his position and Beason just isn’t. He’s a great player, but he’s not the best. At best, you can argue he’s on the same level as Dansby. The Panthers overpaid by about 7-10 million.

Grade: C

Goodwin used to be a good center, but he’s 33 in December and his best days are behind him. This deal is a 3 year deal that takes him until he’s 35. Given how the market has deflated on free agents in recent days, Goodwin getting 3 years 10.9 million with 4 million dollars guaranteed looks pretty outrageous.

Grade: D 

The Patriots missed out on Red Bryant so they settled for Jonathan Fanene. Fanene was a slightly above average run stuffer and a well below average pass rusher as a situation 4-3 defensive end in Cincinnati. He may be a better fit in a 3-4, which it appears the Patriots will be going back to, but 12 million dollars over 3 years seems like a lot to a largely unproven commodity. Although Belichick does basically get the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Grade: B

Running Back

Georgia Tech

5-11 229

40 time: 4.59

Draft board overall prospect rank: #60

Draft board running back rank: #6

Overall rating: 76*

2/28/10: Dwyer’s workout today proved what his weigh in showed and what people all around the NFL have been saying all week. He’s out of shape. At 5-11 229, Dwyer ran a 4.59, which isn’t awful, but when you consider his second time was 4.69, it looks a lot worse. He also only benched 15 reps, 3^rd fewest of all RBs.

2/26/10: He just looked like a fat guy at his weigh in. He was 5-11 229 which sounds good, but he did not look in shape at all.  

1/17/10: Excellent size, but he put on a lot of weight from last season to this season and looked a lot more sluggish this year as a result, though his stats don’t suggest he struggled. He also played in a weird offense that just isn’t used in the NFL so you have to wonder how he would have fared statistically being overweight and in a normal offense. However, he’s got all the physical tools and is still projected to run a mid 4.4 40 at 235 pounds which is amazing so someone is going to snatch him early on upside alone.

Update (11/2/09): Putting up great stats to go with his great measurables, 230 pounds, projected to run a low 4.4 40, but he plays in a weird style offense which is a red flag.

            6/28/09: Jonathan Dwyer is the closest thing to a feature back in this running back class. If this were 5 years ago when feature backs were still used, instead of running back by committees, Dwyer would be a top ten pick lock. Now, he is far from a top ten lock, though I’d be shocked if he dropped out of the first round. He has that great combination of strength and speed that feature backs need. He is 230 pounds of pure muscle and has amazingly strong legs to blow through the defense. He gets great leverage when he runs and is almost impossible to stop for a loss. Once he gets through the initial set of defenders, he has 4.4 speed. I wouldn’t call him a breakaway back, and he doesn’t have the quickness to make guys miss, but 4.4 speed at 230 is very dangerous in the open field. He can run over defenders. He isn’t great at changing directions in the open field and he doesn’t always see the running lines quite as well as you’d like him to. He’s not much of a threat in the passing game. Still, his combination of speed and size, along with his numbers from last season, speak for themselves. He rushed for 1395 yards and 12 touchdowns on a 7 yards per carry clip.

NFL Comparison: Ron Dayne

*For a breakdown of what this means, click here

Wide Receiver

Pittsburgh

6-4 228

Draft Board Overall Prospect Rank: #18

Draft Board Overall Wide Receiver Rank: #3

Rating: 86 (mid 1^st)

40 time: 4.45

2/28/11: I think he’s shed his “possession receiver only tag.” Baldwin looked like an athletic deep threat today with a 4.45 40 at 6-4 228 and a 42 inch vertical.

2/19/11: Jonathan Baldwin was a heavily ranked prospect by ESPN, coming out of high school as an athletic 6-5/6-6 receiver. I think he lived up to that in his 3 years at Pittsburgh. He struggled statistically as a junior, but you can really blame a lot of that on the quarterback. Pittsburgh receiver only caught 230 passes for 2616 yards and 16 touchdowns on the year. Baldwin had 53 catches for 822 yards and 5 touchdowns. So yes, it was a down year from 2009, when, with a legitimate quarterback in Bill Stull, he caught 57 passes for 1111 yards and 8 touchdowns, despite having Dorin Dickerson, the tight end competing with him for catches.

He’s a physically imposing receiver and his kind of soft hands and agility at his height combine to make him the type of player who doesn’t come around very often. He can be a legitimate #1 receiver in the NFL, and I think worst case scenario he ends up as a nice #2 possession receiver and end zone threat. I have him as my 3^rd rated wide receiver, after Green and Jones. Some people obviously disagree with me, rating Torrey Smith, Titus Young, and even Leonard Hankerson higher. I’ve seen Baldwin drop into the 2^nd round, which could happen, but he’s worth a first round pick.

NFL Comparison: Plaxico Burress