At 31, Adams is not what he used to be and he’s coming off a down year, but the Bears got him so cheap in this resigning, 4.5 million over 2 years with 1.5 million guaranteed, that they almost had to do it. They’ve lost Tommie Harris this offseason and couldn’t afford to lose their only other proven defensive tackle, Adams, even with rookie Stephen Paea coming in.
Grade: A
Deal for Ravens:
Alright, everyone hands put your hands where I can see them, hands up. This poor action movie imitation is my way of showing that the Ravens just committed armed robbery. 30 teams’ fans right now are kicking themselves because there team wasn’t the one to pull this deal off.
Grade: A
Deal for Cardinals
Meanwhile Cardinals’ fans are probably hanging themselves. After 2 good years, that miserable franchise stench is coming back. They have lost Antrel Rolle and Kurt Warner already this offseason. They are probably going to lose Karlos Dansby and they might cut Adrian Wilson too and now they have lost Boldin. The truth is, though they could have gotten more value for their star receiver, they have the receiver depth to overcome this. Steve Breaston is more than capable of being a #2 and Early Doucet is a 2008 3rd round pick who showed good upside last year. He should be more than capable of replacing Breaston in the slot in Arizona’s 3 wide receiver offense. Still, though, not a happy day for Cardinals fans.
Grade: C+
Emotions ran high, and then low, and then high again as the Cardiac Jets offense pulled off a heist as they were the thieves in Ocean’s 11 after the defense had thrown away what looked like an easy victory giving up 17 straight points.
Things were looking great with the Jets holding on to a 23-lead and there were no signs that the defense was going to have a 4th quarter meltdown; we were finally going to be able to sit back and enjoy the final quarter of the game. Yeah right. These Jets, while they continue to win, do not make it easy on themselves giving us another heart attack for the fourth time in five weeks.
With 12:00 minutes or so left in the game, the defense gave up a field goal to make the game 23-10. Okay, that was fine. The Jets were just going to go “ground and pound” and rush the ball to eat up some clock with a thirteen point lead. Well, things were going well and then Shonn Greene fumbled the ball. Before I could blink, the Texans hit ex-Jet, Joel Dressen, for a 43 yard TD and we were not just up 6 points. Things started looking bleak and now we were in the middle of the game. I started to feel nauseous. Here we go again.
After doing nothing with the ball, the Texans have a nice drive for a touchdown to go up by one. I could not even believe we were losing this game that we had such a nice lead in. We now needed a field goal and guess what? Sanchez is intercepted deep in their own end. Crap; it was looking like the game was over.
Well, the Defense was ready and held the Texans to just three more points to go up 27-23 with just 55 seconds left. Things were looking bad as we had no more time outs and after a nice kickoff returned, we get called for a personal foul to set us back another 15 yards
So, it was up to the Sanchize again. Can he pull off another miracle comeback? We may now how to re-nickname him the new Mr. 4th Quarter after what he pulled off. After two quick passes to LT, Sanchez goes back, about 24 seconds on the clock, and hits Braylon Edwards for a 42 yard pass to the Texans six yard line. And, amazingly, he got out of bounds to stop the clock.
There was now 16 seconds left and 2/3rds of the stadium was outside watching on monitors. Mr. Cool goes back and hits Santonio Holmes in the corner, who somehow kept his feet in bounds for the winning score. Santiono does it again as well coming up big in big spots at the end of these crazy games in the 4th quarter.
The Jets are 8-2. We could be 2-8. But, we are 8-2 and are riding a high on this miracle marathon. I hope this race continues as this has been a year like no others — A year where this team just refuses to win. I hope it continues thru February !
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Quarterback
TCU
6-2 210
Draft board overall prospect rank: #175
Draft board overall quarterback rank: #11
Overall rating: 53 (6th round)
40 time: 4.84
3/28/11: As Mike Mayock says, Andy Dalton is someone who “grows on you.” The problem, so does mold. That doesn’t mean it’s a good thing. Ryan Fitzpatrick grew on Bills fans, but that didn’t make him a franchise quarterback. Dalton is the exact same way. He doesn’t have good arm strength. In fact, his arm is weaker than Fitzpatrick’s. However, he’s got good short accuracy and he’s smart and more importantly, he doesn’t look like a typical NFL quarterback. People want this guy to succeed.
He seems to be growing on NFL scouts as now it seems he could go in the 2nd round to a team like the 49ers, the Redskins, or the Vikings. He struggled mightily at the Senior Bowl. In fact, I’d go as far as to say he was the worst quarterback there. He has terrible arm strength and couldn’t hit a wide open Leonard Hankerson, who burned Richard Sherman on a deep route. In fact, Sherman, who, again, got absolutely burned by Hankerson, was almost able to intercept it and probably would have if Hankerson hadn’t turned into a DB and come back and deflected the ball out of Sherman’s grasp at the last second.
There are things Dalton does well. He wins. He led TCU to an undefeated record this year, albeit in the Mountain West Conference. He’s got good short accuracy and would be best fit for a West Coast offense. He’s also mobile. He possesses all the intangibles and is very smart for his age. However, his arm strength is way too limited for him to be an NFL starting quarterback, let alone an elite quarterback. The comparisons to Kevin Kolb are off because Kolb has a much stronger arm.
NFL Comparison: Bruce Gradkowski
Quarterback
Stanford
6-4 234
Draft board overall prospect rank: #1
Draft board overall quarterback rank: #1
Overall rating: 100 (once in a decade prospect)
40 time: 4.67
Games watched: Stanford/Arizona, USC/Stanford, Stanford/Washington, Stanford/Oregon, California/Stanford
Positives
· Football and non-football smart
· Calls most of his team’s plays in the huddle
· 3.5 GPA at Stanford
· Pro Style experience
· High character
· Natural leader – teammate’s follow and gravitate to him
· Humble, likable, interviews well, has all the intangibles
· Well coached
· Can make every throw
· Above average arm strength
· Elite accuracy
· 3 year starter
· 2 time Heisman runner up
· 2 years of elite statistical production (70.7%/9.0 YPA/32:8, 71.3%/8.7 YPA/37:10)
· Winner (23-3 record in last two seasons)
· Won and succeeded with and without Jim Harbaugh- survived coaching change
· Highly competitive, returned for his season senior to win a National title
· Survived the microscope and scrutiny he was put under after returning to Stanford
· Elite record and statistical production with little offensive supporting cast
· Frequently had to throw to covered guys, able to throw guys open
· Puts the ball in the perfect spot with excellent consistency
· Great pocket presence
· Mature footwork
· Above average mobility and athleticism
· Can throw on the run and under pressure
· Smart decision maker
· Good field vision, goes through his progressions
· Not afraid to throw it away when nothing is open
· NFL bloodlines
· Typical NFL build (6-4 234)
· Has all the tools
· Consistent
· Can handle adversity and win ugly (USC game)
Negatives
· Supported by an excellent offensive line
· Never took a lot of hits
· Rarely under a lot of pressure
· Occasionally flustered when progression is sped up
· He’s got everything you want, but what happens when he gets punched in the mouth?
· Not elite arm strength
· Pac-12 competition was not elite
· Led a conservative offense that ran the ball a lot, took some of the pressure off him
· 7 interceptions in his last 6 games, 9 in last 9
· Intercepted short too often – sets up pick sixes
· Leaves ball high sometimes
· No defining game
· No defining win
Comparison: More athletic Eli Manning
The Andrew Luck comparison was tough because there isn’t one quarterback in the NFL he is similar to. The Peyton Manning comparisons make some sense because of how cerebral he is and because he has unconventional charisma. Personality and intelligence wise, the Peyton Manning comparisons are good, but I think those are a bit lofty. He’s also much more athletic than Manning. Because of his athleticism, he’s often compared to another former Stanford quarterback, John Elway. However, I feel those too are lofty.
I picked Eli Manning because I think it’s a more down to earth comparison. In a lot of ways, Eli is very similar to Peyton Manning. Andrew Luck’s unconventional charisma and goofy “aw shucks” leadership style is very Eli Manning like, as is his competitiveness and ability to lead comebacks. Both Eli Manning and Andrew Luck come into the league with high expectations and comparisons to Peyton Manning. Both are #1 overall picks and I think both will fall short of the Peyton Manning comparisons. However, if Andrew Luck has 2 rings before he’s 30 like Eli Manning, I doubt he’ll care. I see Andrew Luck’s career taking a similar path to Eli’s. He’ll take a lot of scrutiny because of the hype, and fall short, but still have an excellent career.
He’s not perfect. No quarterback is. You can find something wrong with every quarterback prospect, even ones who go #1. Cam Newton last year was extremely raw. Sam Bradford was coming out of a system that bloats stats and coming off a separated shoulder. Matt Stafford needed to improve decision making. JaMarcus Russell had character issues. Alex Smith had a weak level of competition. Same with David Carr. Eli Manning was never a dominant college quarterback. The list goes on and on.
Luck is better than all of those quarterbacks. I think he’s got the cleanest scouting report of any quarterback since Peyton Manning. He can get a bit frazzled under pressure in the pocket and he has been spoiled by this offensive line. He leaves balls high sometimes. He’s also been spoiled by a good running game, though he’s proven, that can get it done even when the running game isn’t going. If his defense plays a better game, he wins this one even with all of his receivers making mistakes.
However, he’s one of the smartest college quarterbacks you’ll ever see. He makes all the adjustments at the line of scrimmage. He has decision making that quarterbacks his age just don’t have. He’s had a ton of success with crap at wide receiver. His pocket presence is also rare for his age. He can get frazzled, but he does know when to flee the pocket and he throws on the run extremely well. He’s also got all the intangibles. He’s a fierce competitor and a great leader.
He doesn’t have the strongest arm, but he can make all the throws and he’s extremely accurate. He handles adversity with amazing poise. He hasn’t had the strongest level of competition, but he’s played well against Oregon and USC. He’s not perfect, but as I said before, he has the cleanest scouting report of any quarterback since Peyton Manning.
Wide Receiver
Citadel
5-11 192
40 time (projected): 4.44
Draft board overall prospect rank: #13
Draft board wide receiver rank: #114
Overall rating: 66*
Andre Roberts was one of the few small school players who burst onto the big scene in the Senior Bowl. He had a down season as a senior, getting less than 1000 receiving yards for the first time in two years, which, at a small school, against weak competition, wasn’t impressive. I thought, if he got drafted, it would be as a kick returner. However, he showed his amazing route running and knowledge of the game of football and looked like a man among boys at Senior Bowl practice, instead of the other way around. However, he lacks elite athletic ability. He doesn’t have great size and that will hurt him against more physical NFL cornerback and he doesn’t have the speed to blow past anyone. I think he’s best suited as a gritty slot guy who is capable of getting yards after the catch and not afraid to go over the middle and catch a ball. He has very soft and secure hands which will help him back the tough catches he will almost have to make in the NFL and a result of his mediocre natural athleticism. He could become a quarterback’s best friend very quickly, and he’ll also impress as a punt returner. I don’t think he’ll be anything special in the NFL, but you could do a lot worse than a smart, gritty, and disciplined wide receiver with excellent route running and good ability as a punt returner, in the 3rd-4th round range.
NFL Comparison: Austin Collie
*=For a breakdown of what this means, click here
The Patriots are expected to be using a 3-4/4-3 hybrid this year. Carter can be the 4-3 end in their 4-3 scheme, something they needed opposite Jermaine Cunningham. Carter had 11 sacks in 2009 before switching to a 3-4 last year in Washington where he really struggled. He’s 32 so he’s not getting any better, but he’s still a very nice buy low signing for the Patriots.
Grade: A
Free Safety
Ohio State
6-1 202
40 time: 4.45
Draft board overall prospect rank: NR
Draft board safety rank: NR
Overall rating: 58*
10/2/09: Anderson Russell is a big, tall, tough safety built in the tough mold of Big 10 players. He doesn’t have the best straight line speed and his 40 isn’t going to get him noticed but he’s a very solid player that does it all in the backfield. He plays decent in both zone and man coverage which is a plus going into the NFL with all of the different combo systems. He can guard slot guys one on one, but he’s not fast enough or good enough in backpedal to take on opposing teams’ starting receivers. He has good size, but he’s smaller than almost all tight ends so putting him on one is not a good idea. In zone, he roams well and has a knack for picking up receivers in his zone. He is strong against the run and provides good support against the run. He closes spaces against the run after the back breaks out of the backfield and really is a safety against the run. Ohio State did not give up a lot of long runs last season and has not done so this season and he’s part of that reason. He also will take on a few blocks because of his size, though he’s not great at disengaging blocks and is normally blocked easily, but he’ll take on blockers to free up other guys. He’s not afraid to stick his nose in a pile near the line and can play up close to the line on clear running plays. He doesn’t have great hands and doesn’t make a ton of plays on the ball. He doesn’t have elite quickness or acceleration. He’s not a great player, but there’s a spot for him in the league in a defensive backfield rotation.
NFL Comparison: Quentin Demps
*=For a breakdown of what this means, click here
This is like the Vernon Gholston signing. Okoye is a bust, but he’s only 24 and he’s a former high draft pick. Houston cut him because he wouldn’t have fit their new 3-4, but he can at least provide depth in Chicago’s 4-3 and, who knows, maybe Rod Marinelli can get something more out of him.
Grade: A
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