Warren hasn’t played in a 4-3 like Denver’s in a while and that could have part of the reason why the Patriots cut him, possibly moving to a 4-3 after bringing in Albert Haynesworth. He also is coming off of a major injury. However, this deal only has 2.5 million guaranteed, 10 million total over 2 years, but light on guaranteed money which is good because Warren is a risk. He also fills Denver’s biggest need by far.
Grade: A
I was thinking someone would overpay Clabo this offseason after he made the Pro Bowl last season. He’s an above average right tackle, but I don’t think he deserved to make the Pro Bowl and he definitely didn’t deserve to be paid like a left tackle or anything. So did the Falcons overpay Clabo? Clabo gets 27 million over 5 years with 11.5 million in guarantees. I think it’s a pretty fair deal. It’s not a great value or anything, but they didn’t overpay.
Grade: A
3-4 Defensive End/Defensive Tackle
California
6-3 294
40 time: 4.87
Draft board overall prospect rank: #41
Draft board 3-4 defensive end rank: #5
Overall rating: 79*
1/20/10: Not a great athlete, but makes up for in with hustle and work ethic which is a major plus for his draft stock in my eyes. He also has experience in a 3-4 scheme as a defensive end, which gives him an advantage over the other 3-4 defensive end prospects in this draft class. He has 13 sacks over the last 2 years and always seems to be in good position to make the tackle. He isn’t an ideal 4-3 defensive tackle at 4-3, but he’ll fit some schemes and can move inside on nickel packages. He can also play some 4-3 left end depending on how a team views him because he has experience as an edge rusher.
11/8/09: Alualu is the stereotypical overachiever that NFL scouts love. He has amazing heart and hustle and consistently exceeds expectations. Unlike most 3-4 defensive end prospects, Alualu has experience at the position playing 3-4 at Cal. He has a good size, speed combination for a passer rusher and is great at using his hands on bull rushes. He has good initial quickness, upper body strength, and leverage. He’s a natural run stopper and gets into gaps to break plays up before the ball carrier expects it. Relentless in pursuit of the ball carrier and plays faster than he’s timed. He lacks the size to play defensive tackle in the NFL. He’s nothing more than a nickel package defensive tackle in a 4-3 defense because he doesn’t have the size to play multiple gaps. He lacks great natural athleticism and doesn’t have very long arms, but he is a gym rat and has good self made athleticism. He doesn’t have a huge ceiling, but should be the type of 3-4 defensive end that stabilizes a defensive line for 8-10 years in the NFL.
NFL Comparison: Cory Redding
*=For a breakdown of what this means, click here
Offensive Tackle
USC
6-6 310
Draft board overall prospect rank: #11
Draft board overall offensive tackle rank: #1
Overall rating: 89 (1st round)
40 time: 4.93
4/12/10: Tyron Smith is an athletic freak. He bulked up from the 280-285 he was listed at last year as a Junior at USC in 2010 to 310 pounds for his Pro Day. He isn’t just bigger, but he carries it well. He ran a 4.93 at his Pro Day and he lifted 31 reps of 225 despite having freakishly long 36 3/8 inch arms. His long arms suggest room to bulk. He also just looks like a beast. He’s in amazing physical shape with very little body fat. I think he’s more athletic than Trent Williams was coming out last year and Williams’ athleticism got him drafted at #4 by the Redskins.
The big difference between him and Williams and is that Williams struggled at left tackle his senior season at Oklahoma. He had an impressive college career, but most of that was on the right side. He couldn’t handle the left side in college, but was drafted so high because of his athleticism. I frequently described Williams as a fast right tackle and nothing more last season.
Smith, meanwhile, has never played on the left side, with the exception of a few snaps here and there, so left tackle is a complete projection for him. However, given how well he played at right tackle, I think he could play the left side in the pros. He is a better technician than Williams was and he’s only 20 years old. The only reason he didn’t play left tackle as a sophomore or a junior was because USC had Charles Brown, a 2010 2nd round pick, at left tackle in 2009 and Matt Kalil, a projected 2012 top 5 pick, at left tackle in 2010. He wasn’t forced to play right tackle for lack of talent. He has plenty of that.
The only thing that prevents me from giving him an elite grade is his lack of experience on the left side. There’s a chance he just won’t be able to play the position in the pros. We don’t know because it’s an absolute projection. Teams can have him line up on the left side in drills in individual workouts, which they have been doing and the results have been very good, but that’s no substitute for playing the left side in game action.
Other than that, this is a very good prospect. He’s athletic with room to grow and a superb work ethic. He has very good technique for his age and dominated on the right side in college, most notably dominating fellow potential top 10 pick Cameron Jordan in their matchup this season. He’s a mauler against the run and he’s athletic enough to be an elite pass protector, although he’s still somewhat raw in his pass protection. His range starts at 9 to Dallas and I doubt he falls past New England at 17.
NFL Comparison: Jason Smith
By Paul Smythe
Tyler Thigpen is expected to make his first start with the Miami Dolphins in front of a national audience Thursday night against the Bears.
This is going to be a huge game for Thigpen, and if he plays like he did at the end of the Tennessee game he may very well become the starting quarterback in Miami for a long time.
Last week when he came in for the injured Chad Pennington and Chad Henne, Thigpen was able to give the offense a big spark and lead a scoring drive.
With the exception of his very first pass, Thigpen was on the mark and pretty much perfect on every one of his throws. He was able to scramble and make plays when he needed to, and because of him the Dolphins were able to pretty much seal the game.
My guess is that the Bears (and the rest of the football community) won’t be expecting Thigpen to do well. Chicago is probably just thinking about how lucky they are that Miami is going to be without their 1st or 2nd string quarterbacks. Not long form now they will find out, though, that Thigpen is a very dangerous quarterback.
What excites me so much about Thigpen is how well he can create plays with his feet. I was reading about him earlier, and someone called him the poor man’s Michael Vick, which is actually a very good analogy. He may not have the speed of Vick, but he is very similar in style to Vick. Heck, I wouldn’t mind him being similar to Vick after his performance on Monday night.
There is also a good chance that left tackle Jake Long will be able to play Thursday, so Thigpen should have the necessary protection to play his game. I have a good feeling about this game. Our offense won’t be robotic any longer. We may actually see a couple big plays. The Dolphins let the offense loosen up a little bit, and that was evident with the long flea-flicker play from Henne to Brian Hartline.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you are ready for some early football.
Go back to Dolphins Fan Spot
With both teams licking their wounds to kill time on the flight to England, it was anyone’s game Sunday between the 49ers and the Denver Broncos. The Broncos, coming off their embarrassing 14-59 performance against the Oakland Raiders a week prior and the 49ers losing to the Carolina Panthers.
Last week, David Carr was given an opportunity to take the reins as the quarterback of the quarterback-less 49ers, but failed to meet expectations similar to those of the team at the start of the season. Although his time under center was forced because of an injury to Alex Smith late in the game against Carolina, it was enough to see that his decision making was too much like Alex and it was time to give plan C a try.
Plan C goes by the name of Smith, Troy Smith, the Heisman winning quarterback that was drafted out of Ohio State in 2007. The same Troy Smith that had a website made for him by Browns fans urging Cleveland Browns management to take him in the draft. Browns management failed to listen but the poll is still out to whether or not that decision will be a costly one. Smith would be drafted in Day 2 at the end of the fifth round.
Don’t get me wrong, Troy Smith didn’t have a great game, as he only passed for 197 yards and a score, but he did get the job done, completing 8 of 10 passes for 110 yards with a late touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree that put them ahead.
You couldn’t expect a guy who a week ago was third in line, but to see that he took advantage of his opportunity and kept from making a mistake that those ahead of him would most likely have made gives a little hope to the quarterback situation.
The defense was able to keep Kyle Orton and the Broncos out of the red-zone, allowing them only 16 points on the day despite a 369 yard outing by Orton. Frank Gore made Smith’s job a lot easier as well, carrying the rock for 118 yards and a touchdown.
“Our receivers just told our coaches, ‘you know, let’s play,’” Gore said. “We can’t try to hold stuff back. You know our coaches called it and Troy did a great job … he made big plays when it counted and when we needed it.”
I’m sure the bye week couldn’t have come soon enough for Coach Singletary and his staff.
“We’re going to continue to go forward with Troy Smith right now,” Singletary said. “We’re going into the bye week and as far as Alex Smith is concerned, it’s a week-to-week deal. I’ll wait and talk to our doctors, trainers, whatever. But we’ll make those decisions when we need to.”
Go back to 49ers Fan Spot
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Born in Houston and raised by such passionate Oilers fans that they might have even worn “Luv Ya Blue” suits to work, at an early age Trey developed a deep interest in Houston football. Devastated when Bud Adams selfishly ripped the Oilers from the clutches of Houston football fans, he was born again in 2002 when the Texans came to town. (Although he tends to avoid memory of the David Carr era).
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Cornerback
Kentucky
5-11 183
40 time: 4.53
Draft board overall prospect rank: #128
Draft board cornerback rank: #17
Overall rating: 64*
3/2/10: Only benched 9 reps of 225 pounds and had a 4.53 40 at 5-11 183, but he was one of the worst cornerbacks in the cornerback drills. He has really disappointed in this draft preseason and has fallen from one of my favorite underrated prospects, to a 4th or 5th round guy
1/30/10: Whether it be his injuries that are still plaguing him or whatever, this is not the same guy we saw at Kentucky in 2007 and 2008. He looked like a stick figure at his weigh in and was 2 inches shorter than what he was listed at in college and he really has looked out matched by almost every wide receiver he has faced this week and has had a really hard time breaking out of the jam at the line of scrimmage, which is not a surprise because of his extreme lack of bulk.
1/23/10: He had a bit of a down year with a knee injury this year, but when healthy he’s an amazing man on man corner with future #1 corner potential. His wiry frame at 6-1 175 and his lack of elite timed speed will force him out of the 1st round, where he would have been a lock to go last year before he got hurt.
6/20/09: They say the one thing you can’t teach is natural athleticism. While that is true, Trevard Lindley possesses something else that you just can’t teach. Lindley is an average athlete for an NFL hopeful, with a mid to low 4.4s 40 and a skinny frame, but he has that natural ability to guard a wide receiver one-on-one that very few guys in the college game, or even in the NFL have. He rarely lets receivers get separation from him and he isn’t fooled easily. He only had 4 picks last season because wide receivers are rarely open enough when guarded by him for any quarterback with half a brain to throw to them. His man press coverage skills are very similar to those of Leigh Bodden, the man who Chad Johnson said was the best one-on-one cover cornerback in the league today. The fact that Chad Johnson gave someone a compliment other than his own reflection is very high praise for Bodden, but Lindley is just as good. The one thing cornerbacks struggle with when coming into the league, and the reason why most cornerbacks drafted on day 1 don’t play much their first year, is man coverage. That is where Lindley excels and that is why he should start from week 1 in the NFL. Like Bodden did, Lindley would struggle in a cover 2 or Tampa 2, where athleticism is valued over one-on-one coverage skills, but teams that use that defensive scheme aren’t going to draft him. He’d be a great fit for the Packers who use a press man coverage scheme. The Packers’ corners are old so they could be looking for a cornerback come draft day 2010. Lindley needs to put on about 10 pounds of muscle to be able to be at least average as a run stopper for a cornerback, but that shouldn’t be too hard. He’s young and has room to grow. While he’s not a great athleticism, skinny and average speed, he does have good height for a corner, which will also help in man-to-man coverage. He’s going to win more jumpballs than a guy 5-9 or 5-10 would and his uncanny ability to stick to a receiver like glue is going to force a lot of jumpballs when a receiver throws his way. At the end of the day, Lindley is a cornerback that can start from week 1 and soon should be able to be, with a little bit more experience against more athletic corners, that type of corner like Bodden or the Packers’ Al Harris or the Raiders’ Nmandi Asomugha who can single handedly take the opposing team’s #1 option and make him a non-factor.
NFL Comparison: Fred Smoot
*=For a breakdown of what this means, click here
Offensive Tackle
Oklahoma
6-5 314
40 time: 4.88
Draft board overall prospect rank: #36
Draft board offensive tackle rank: #5
Overall rating: 81*
2/27/10: Again, speed doesn’t mean much for offensive tackles, but his 4.82 40 at 6-5 315 shows his athleticism. I think he could still drop because of lack of a true position, but the athleticism and upside is there for him to be a left tackle in this league.
1/19/10: Too much of a tweener for me to consider him as a true first round prospect, even with his good athleticism and track record of awards in college. He isn’t a good enough pass blocker at this point to be a longterm left tackle, but he’s not enough of a big mauling run blocking to be a right tackle. His best fit would probably be as a zone blocking run tackle at this point, but with his upside he could do a lot more.
8/4/09: Trent Williams is an extremely athletic offensive tackle. He has played right tackle and some guard in the first 3 years of his college career, but with Phil Loadholt now a member of the Minnesota Vikings, Williams will play left tackle for Oklahoma, a position better suited to his skill set. He projects as a left tackle longterm, because he’s a better pass protector than run blocker, but the fact that he has played some right tackle makes him more attractive to some NFL teams. He still has a lot to prove. His athleticism makes him a first round lock, but if he can impress at left tackle next season, against tough competition in the Big 12, he could shoot up into the top 10. Left tackle is a position of great need in the NFL and a position that is not very deep in this year’s draft class. He’s got good size and long arms. He runs well for his size and has great quickness. He claims to have run a 40 at 4.82, which for his size would be amazing, but most places have him unofficially listed at just over 5 seconds. We’ll have to how he does at the combine. 40 times don’t matter much for offensive tackles, but it could help him show off his great athleticism, and make him very attractive to Al Davis, which might not be a good thing. He isn’t an overpowering blocker. He’s better at pass protecting than run blocking, but both need work. He fits much better in a zone blocking system, rather than a man blocking system where he lacks the strength to overpower defenders one-on-one. He has high potential and plays a position of great need so he’s a first round lock, though a strong season this season could shoot him up draft boards.
NFL Comparison: Chris Williams
*=For a breakdown of what this means, click here
Running Back
Alabama
5-9 228
Draft board overall prospect rank: #4
Draft board overall running back rank: #1
Overall rating: 92 (Top 10 pick)
40 time: 4.49
Games watched: Alabama/Florida, Alabama/Vanderbilt, Alabama/Tennessee, LSU/Alabama, Alabama/Auburn, Alabama/LSU (Part 2)
Positives
· Incredible power
· Incredible burst through the whole
· Almost always breaks at least one tackle per run
· Runs with great pad level
· Rarely tackled for loss
· Patient
· Great vision
· Uses his blocks well
· Shifty
· Prolific inside runner who can also run outside
· Terrific athlete
· Built like a bowling ball
· Great size speed combination (5-9 228 4.49)
· Very impressive 2011 season (283 carries for 1679 yards and 21 touchdowns)
· Deadly in the red zone and short yardage situations
· Excelled against great defenses in the SEC
· Excelled against stacked boxes
· Legitimate 3 down back with great hands (29 catches in 2011)
· Relatively little tread on the tires (540 carries)
· Heavily recruited
· Well coached
· High motor player who refuses to go down
Negatives
· Plays a position that has been devalued in the NFL
· Plays a position with a short shelf life
· Plays a deep position (you can find quality rotation backs in the mid to late rounds)
· Some injury history
· A bit raw in pass protection
· Doesn’t have elite breakaway speed (only had runs longer than 34 yards 3 in of 13 games in 2011)
NFL Comparison: Adrian Peterson
Trent Richardson is the cleanest running back prospect since Adrian Peterson and figures to join Reggie Bush, Peterson, Darren McFadden, and CJ Spiller as running backs to be drafted in the top 10 since 2006. Other running backs drafted in the top 12, Ryan Mathews, Marshawn Lynch, and Knowshon Moreno, had disappointing careers with the team that drafted them, though Lynch turned it around after being traded to Seattle and the jury is still out on Mathews.
Of those 7, he’s definitely most similar to Peterson. It’s also a good sign that the other 3 backs drafted in the top 10 were more speed backs than power backs. None have lived up to their draft slot. Peterson had some minor injury concerns and that dropped him to 7 when most had a top-3 grade on him. Richardson is in a similar situation after a “minor” knee scope. With running backs, there’s no such thing as a minor knee scope.
Also working against him is his position. Running backs have a relatively short shelf life (you’re lucky if you can get 6-7 years out of them), are being devalued in a pass heavy league, and come a dime a dozen (you can always find solid rotational backs in the mid to late rounds). Richardson is probably the 2nd cleanest prospect in this draft class after Andrew Luck, but he almost definitely won’t go in the top 3.
His range starts at 4 to Cleveland. Tampa Bay at 5 will have interest, as will St. Louis at 6 and if he falls past St. Louis, he’ll probably need someone to trade up to go in the top 10 as Jacksonville, Miami, Carolina, and Buffalo all have much bigger needs. Cincinnati, the Jets, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Denver could all be candidates to trade up if he’s still available at 9 or 10. I can’t see Kansas City at 11 passing on him, even after signing Peyton Hillis, however, so that’s his floor.
He’s such a talented player who has everything you look for in a running back. He’s an amazing in between the tackles runner, with great pad level, burst, speed, shiftiness and amazing power, especially in short yardage situations. He can also run outside the tackles as well, despite a lack of elite speed and he breaks tackles no matter where on the field he is.
He’s also a solid pass catcher who can stay in on 3rd downs. He had a phenomenal junior season in 2011 for “National Champion” Alabama and was a legitimate Heisman candidate in a stacked Heisman year, rushing for 1679 yards and 21 touchdowns on 283 carries. He did this in easily the best defensive conference in the country, and had 89 yards and 96 yards in their two matchups with LSU, who allowed 2.7 yards per carry, good for 3rd best in the league.
He’s also relatively fresh because he spent his first two seasons as a backup for Mark Ingram. He only has 540 collegiate carries, which is important because of how fast running backs can become washed up and injured in the NFL. Still, he’s no lock to have a healthy and full NFL career and a recent minor knee scope is always troubling, even if it is “minor.” Adrian Peterson battled the same concerns. He persevered until a major knee injury last season, but Richardson might not have the same fat. At the same time, he could be in the Hall of Fame when all is said and done.
His only flaws are that he’s somewhat raw in pass protection (what college back isn’t?) and that he doesn’t have elite breakaway speed. Other than that, he’s a perfect prospect, but the nature of his position makes it impossible for him to be a top-3 pick, especially after having a “minor” knee scope. However, I’m giving him a legitimate top-10 grade and making him the 4th ranked player on my Big Board, which is incredibly rare for me because I don’t value the running back position very much at all.
Football Fan Spot 