Jermon Bushrod is not an elite left tackle or anything, but he’s solid at his position and guys like that don’t grow on trees. I have no idea how the Saints were able to resign this guy for 9.8 million over 2 years.

Grade: A

Jermichael Finley is a frustrating player. He was very good in the 2^nd half of 2009 once he was given the chance to start and he was off to a good start in 2010 before getting hurt. He came back this season and was off to a great start, but ended up with a solid, but disappointing 55 catches for 767 yards and 8 touchdowns. Meanwhile, his 12 drops led all tight ends and really hurt the Packers down the stretch. He’s not even 25 yet (25 in March), so the upside is still there, so I really like that the Packers didn’t commit a lot to him. This is a mere 2 year deal, 15 million dollar deal.

Grade: A 

Tight End 

Oklahoma

6-5 259

40 time: 4.76

Draft board overall prospect rank: #21

Draft board tight end rank: #1

Overall rating: 86*

2/27/10: After his 4.76 40, questions about the health of his knee have resurfaced. That’s the last thing Gresham wants to happen at this point. 4.76 isn’t awful, but he was expected to run at least .1 to .15 seconds faster so this is a bit concerning.

1/18/10: Despite being injured all season, he’s still an elite tight end at the next level. Assuming his knee holds up strong through the combine and in team workouts, he’s a lock to be the first tight end off the board and a first round pick. He’s big, 6-6 260, and fast mid 4.6 40, and has amazingly soft hands. He’s not afraid to go over the middle and he’d be a welcome target for any quarterback in the league. He put together one of the greatest statistical seasons ever by a tight end in 2008 with 66 catches for 950 yards and 14 touchdowns and would have been the first tight end off the board in 2008 had he declared.

Injury update (9/14/09): Gresham is out for the year after having knee surgery. He’ll have to prove a lot in the combine, in his pro day, and during his individual workouts, but I fully expect him to be the first tight end off the board in 2010.  

            5/21/09: Jermaine Gresham is probably the highest rated tight end prospect to come out of college football since Kellen Winslow and he has a good chance to be an even better pro than Winslow. Like many tight ends, Gresham started out as a basketball player, but after displaying unusually soft hands for someone of his size, his high school coach thought he would stand out more on the football field, as he did. At 6-6, he’s an amazing red zone target. He isn’t going to run a 40 in the 4.4s like Vernon Davis. He isn’t as good of a run blocker as Brandon Pettigrew. However, he has an amazing combination of great size, speed, and great hands. He rarely drops a pass. He is not even 21 yet so he has a ton of upside and room for improvement. He’s only been playing football for 6 years, but he is just a naturally gifted athlete with a love of the game and a great work ethic and those type of players normally succeed at the next level. He doesn’t have great speed, but he should run in the 4.6s and that will be able to cause some matchup problems in the NFL, though not too many. He’ll be more of a threat in the red zone with his 6-6 height, great vertical leap, and long arms. He has experience both playing on teams surrounded with talented wide receivers, as he did at Oklahoma, and also he played against some of the nation’s best defenses in the Big 12, so the NFL should be as much of a transition for him as it would for some other tight end. He needs to get stronger and become a better run blocker before you can truly call him an all around great tight end. However, I have no reason to believe that he can’t do that with a few years more experience.

 NFL Comparison: Jeremy Shockey

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

Defense End/Rush Linebacker

Florida

6-3 266

40 time (projected): 4.69

Draft board overall prospect rank: #57

Draft board defensive end rank: #7

Overall rating: 77*

1/21/10: He doesn’t have amazing athleticism, but he has an amazing motor and that’s really half of the battle. He would fit very well as a rush linebacker or a cover 2 defensive end. I think a lot higher of him than most places do and he’ll probably be drafted in the 4^th round at the highest, but he has borderline 2^nd round skills. His fundamentals are very sound.

12/12/09: Scrappy is a word used most with baseball and basketball players, but Jermaine Cunningham is a scrappy football player.

            11/27/09: Jermaine Cunningham is one of my favorite underrated college football players. He was a big time recruit out of High School and picked the University of Florida, where he has yet to establish major statistical success. He doesn’t have great measurable size or measurable speed, but I have been extremely impressed with him when I have watched him. He hustles every single play and has a great heart. He’s a great leader on the football field and though his sacks totals aren’t extremely high, they are consistently above average. He’s often in the backfield and uses his hands very well. He breaks up passes and also has an interception which leads me to believe that he’ll be a very good rush linebacker in the NFL, which would negate his lack of elite size and allow him to display his full range of speed rushing moves. He also uses his hands in the trenches on passing plays to negate his lack of size. He pushes off of offensive linemen very well and he has very long arms which makes him tough to block. He is a sound tackler and is not easily broken because his arms are both long and strong and he wraps up properly. He hits hard as well and has a good number of forced fumbles especially for his size. He’s an extremely smart player as well. The major knock on him is obviously his size. He can be driven off of the line quickly and though he never gives up on a play and is constantly trying to break blocks, that will hurt him in the NFL. However, if he moves to rush linebacker, that won’t be an issue. He also fits extremely well as a cover 2 defensive end because he has a good repertoire of speed rushing moves, he plays faster than he times, and because of his great uses of his hands and his arms. He was arrested in December 2007 for an altercation in a sandwich shop, but as bad as that sounds, that seems to be a one time isolated incident, and thus somewhat excusable for an NFL prospect (I said lettuce, dammit!). His character on the field with his hustle and his willingness to play through injuries, played the entire 2008 season through a hyper extended knee which also could be to blame for less than excellent production that year, makes up for that incident. He is a small guy, but uses everything he has to get the job done and he’s a consistent senior with 3 strong college seasons. He’ll make a good rush linebacker or cover 2 defensive end in the NFL, but might not be drafted, because of his lack of elite production, elite size, or an elite 40 time, until the 4^th round.

NFL Comparison: Alex Brown

Zuttah is a pretty average guard, ranking 25^th according to ProFootballFocus last season, allowing 2 sacks, 15 pressures, and committing 8 penalties in 12 games at left guard for Tampa Bay last season. Given that, 4 years, 16 million seems pretty reasonable for him. The Buccaneers have needs at almost every position this offseason and they didn’t want to make left guard another one of them. They have a lot of cap space so credit them for resigning Zuttah before he could hit the open market.

Grade: B

Wide Receiver

Tulane

6-0 206

40 time: 4.57

Draft board overall prospect rank: #65

Draft board wide receiver rank: #7

Overall rating: 75*

             3/27/10: Jeremy Williams would be one of my favorite wide receivers of this draft class if it weren’t for two things, an ugly history of injuries, and the lack of experience and consistency as a result of those injuries. Williams has very nice reliable hands and good experience succeeding and putting up huge numbers in a Pro Style offense. Last year he caught 84 passes for 1113 yards and 7 touchdowns for a team that didn’t have a great passing game. He had 84 of his team’s 234 catches, 1113 of their 2436 receiving yards, and 7 of their 13 passing touchdowns. All of their, remember, is in a true Pro Style offense so the learning curve is going to be much smaller for him when he gets drafted. He has good hands. He runs good routes. He knows how to get open and, more importantly possibly, he doesn’t necessarily need to be open to catch the ball. He’s very good at making catches against tight coverage and made his quarterbacks look much better than they actually were last year. He doesn’t have breakaway speed. In fact, his speed is fairly sub par and that hurts him at the next level, but he does have experience running on end arounds and returning kicks and showed very good open field presence on those, though his speed is still fairly limited and I wouldn’t call him a running back in the open field with the way he breaks tackles. He breaks a few, but not a ton. He’s a very smart player. He’s very humble by nature and he catches the ball at it’s highest point with an NFL caliber leap. However, the injuries are there. He has 2 ACL tears in his career at Tulane. This not only doesn’t bode well for his future, as scouts try to predicate what he will be like in the future and how that knee will hold up, but it also makes him a bit of a one year wonder. He’s looked good in flashes before, but he really only has one good year of production, and even that was against not the toughest competition. I would take Jeremy Williams in the second round, probably, though I, obviously have not gotten a chance to check out his knee myself, nor would I know what I was looking at if I did. If individual team doctors give a favorable review on his knee, he could go as high as the 2^nd round, and remember, all it takes is one. Then again, if that doesn’t happen, he could slip to the 4^th where he could be a huge steal if he stays healthy. He has borderline 1^st round talent if he can stay healthy and adjust to a tougher level of competition, which is probably going to be a lot easier than some college style offense guys trying to transition to a real Pro Style scheme.    

NFL Comparison: Nate Burleson

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

The Jaguars needed to resign Mincey, otherwise they would need two new defensive ends this offseason, with all of their needs on the offensive side of the ball too, because they weren’t serious contenders for Mario Williams or John Abraham. Given that, I think they got a great deal for Jeremy Mincey, who emerged as one of the better 4-3 ends in the league this season.

ProFootballFocus ranked him 12^th among all 4-3 defensive ends as he had 8 sacks (19^th) and 38 pressures (7^th), while being above average against the run (14^th). Less than 7 million per year (4 years, 27.2 million) is completely reasonable for someone like that. The best part, if Mincey proves to be a one year wonder, only the first year (9 million) is guaranteed, so they can cut him without penalty at any point after the season.

Grade: A

Defensive End

Oklahoma

6-2 262

Draft board overall prospect rank: #105

Draft board overall defensive end rank: #16

Overall rating: 67 (late 3rd)

40 time: 5.13

4/12/10: When you look at Jeremy Beal’s stats, you’d think he could be a first round pick as a pass rusher. He has 27 sacks in the last 3 years, including 11 in 2009 and 9 in 2010, but he’s not very athletic and he’s having a terrible offseason. He struggled in the Senior Bowl and Senior Bowl practices, getting swallowed up by bigger offensive linemen in the trenches and causing people to wonder if he was only a linebacker at the next level.

He played some linebacker at Oklahoma, especially on running downs, because of his inability to play in the trenches consistently, so this isn’t a new problem. If he couldn’t play in the trenches in college, he’s going to have a lot of trouble consistently playing in the trenches in the NFL. Given this, it was good that he played some linebacker in college, as it will help him transition to rush linebacker in the NFL.

What won’t help him as a rush linebacker at the next level is his 40 time. He ran a 5.13 at The Combine. He struggled in coverage drills and he’s really not athletic at all with a 28 inch vertical and arms that are short. I don’t think he’s much more than a nickel rusher at the next level, but given his track record of success in college, I think he can be a very good nickel rusher.

NFL Comparison: Dewayne White

Wow this is a surprise. I would have though Saturday would sign with the Broncos in Denver and rejoin Peyton Manning, but I guess I can see why he went to Green Bay. After all, they did recently win a Super Bowl and they do have a gaping hole at center. The Packers are getting Saturday for 8 million over 2 years and I’m assuming only one of those years is guaranteed.

He’s still a great player who ranked 5th on ProFootballFocus last season and he’s a much safer option for the Packers than an unproven rookie or unproven career backup Evan Dietrich-Smith. Scott Wells ranked 4^th last season so unless Saturday declines, they probably won’t notice much of a difference and he’s a lot cheaper than Wells (4 years 24 million), though Wells is much younger. I definitely understand why the Packers did this.

Grade: A

By Sean Geddes  

Today, the Steelers waived kicker Jeff Reed, and signed Shaun Suisham. Reed is currently 13^th all time in field goal percentage and tenth among active kickers, but his misses this year, some in big time situations, combined with his off field antics and recent verbal lashing of fans, all put together signaled the end of the Reed era in Pittsburgh.

I have been a Reed fan, on the field, for many years. His accuracy in a stadium known for tricky swirling winds has been something to marvel at. Opposing kickers, before Sunday night’s game, were making kicks at Heinz at a 77% rate, Reed’s numbers have spoken for themselves.

I was of the opinion that this was Reed’s last year in Pittsburgh anyway, if for nothing else due to his salary aspirations. I did not foresee the Steelers paying any kicker top flight money for the position, especially after that bar was raised in the offseason by the Raiders and Sebastian Janikowski.

Jeff was brought in during the 2002 season, to replace an injured and ineffective Todd Peterson. He was reportedly called in for the tryout while he was milking cows trying to make end’s meat after failing to secure a job during a tryout with New Orleans. Off of the field, Reed has been active in the Pittsburgh area, raising money for multiple charities, as well as being a regular at Pittsburgh Penguins hockey games.

Since his time in Pittsburgh began, Reed has made 81.9% of his field goals. As I already wrote, this is good for tenth most accurate active kicker and 13^th most accurate in the history of the league. He has never missed a single post season kick in his career.

In his place the Steelers have signed Shaun Suisham, who I have affectionately called Squeeze-ham since his days in Washington. Over the course of his 5 year career, Shaun has made 79.1% of his kicks attempted. He is 21 of 21 from inside of 30 yards, 21 of 26 from 30-39 yards, 23 of 33 from 40-49 yards and 2 of 6 from 50+ yards out. He has never attempted a kick at Heinz Field as a professional.

http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/

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