Frostee Rucker was the other situation run stuffing 4-3 end from Cincinnati who signed elsewhere today (Jonathan Fanene). Like Fanene, Rucker is slightly above average against the run and well below average as a pass rusher. 12 million over 3 years made a little sense for Fanene because he seems like a better fit in a 3-4, but the Browns run a 4-3 and they still paid 20 million over 4 years for Rucker. I don’t really think he’s any different than incumbent left end Jayme Mitchell. Both should just be situational players and they still need another pass rusher through the draft. I guess when the Browns said they weren’t going to spend big money this offseason, they meant they wouldn’t spent big money unless the player sucked.

Grade: F

Defensive End 

Indiana

6-3 261

40 time: 5.08

Draft board overall prospect rank: NR

Draft board defensive end rank: NR

Overall rating: 42*

            7/23/09: Greg Middleton is an interesting prospect. He had an amazing 16 sacks in 2007, showing that he has the capability to do great things, but he followed that with 4 sacks last year. He has great strength, both upper and lower body strength, but isn’t a great run stopper. He runs a very pedestrian 40, even for his large size, but has a great history of getting to the quarterback. He projects as a left end in the NFL because he’s not a good enough of a run blocker to play up front in a 3-4 or inside in a 4-3 and he’s not a quick enough pass rusher to play right end in a 4-3 or rush linebacker in a 3-4. When right, he has the ability to run over and overpower offensive linemen to get to the quarterback, but he has shown that he isn’t always right. The upside is there for him to be a force on a 4 man defensive line, taking on two blockers, but he’s very inconsistent. I would still take a risk on him, as a flier, based on what he has done in the past, in the 3^rd or 4^th round range, but he has the potential to do a whole lot of nothing as an NFL player, as he may prove to be too big and slow to be a legitimate pass rusher. He carries a lot of extra weight, isn’t as tall as you’d like a defensive end to be, and he’s not very gifted athletically. You here it all the time about NBA prospects and NFL players, they gave great length. Scouts are always going on and on about prospects’ length, “great length” might be one of the most overused phrases on NBA and NFL draft days, but Middleton is a guy who simply does not have great length for his height and that hurts him as a pass rusher. If he has another good season, with 8+ sacks, he could shoot up into day 1, as he would have proved to scouts that he is a big time pass rusher and that 2007 was not a fluke. Even if he does not prove this season that 2007 was a fluke, I’d still use a 4^th rounder on him, because, while it may have been a fluke, it was a pretty damn good fluke. I currently do not have him ranked on my top 100 prospects big board, but that could change as the season goes on. In fact, I am currently debating moving him up, giving him a 3^rd round grade, and putting him in the next edition of my top 100 prospects.

NFL Comparison: Poor man’s Dewayne White 

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

Quarterback 

Washington

6-3 231

Draft Board Overall Quarterback Rank: #4

Draft Board Overall Prospect Rank: #80

Rating: 72 (mid 3rd round) 

40 time: 4.52

4/16/11: You’re probably thinking, Locker went 39 of 41, why are you knocking him? He had what was called a “deliberately easy” work out. Do I really want a signal caller who doesn’t challenge himself? Where’s the confidence? It’s also worth noting that the Seahawks were the only ones who sent their head coach to watch him and the Titans were the only ones who had decision makers, upper level executives, there. I would be really surprised if he went 12^th to Minnesota like some are projecting. He’s probably a 2^nd rounder. 

2/15/11: Jake Locker lost a lot of money returning to Washington for his Senior Season. He was being talked about as a potential #1 pick, over Sam Bradford, last year and probably wouldn’t have fallen out of the top 10. The Redskins might have drafted him, as Mike Shanahan admits he really liked Locker as a prospect coming out last year, though the Redskins eventually traded for Donovan McNabb.

Now, he’s being talked about as a potential 2nd or 3rd round pick. I think the absolute highest he’s taken is 10th by the Redskins, who, after a falling out with Donovan McNabb, need a new quarterback. However, I don’t know if they’d use the 10th pick on him because I can’t think of any other team that would draft him in the top 20.

Seattle at 25 makes sense as he’s a hometown kid who played in a system run by Steve Sarkisian at Washington. Sarkisian happens to be a former assistant of Seahawks coach Pete Carroll. Someone could always trade up into the bottom of the first round, but if he gets by Washington and Seattle and no one trades up, he’ll fall into the 2nd round.

I was never that high on Locker. I had a 2nd round grade on him last and before he decided to return to Washington, citing his lack of footwork and accuracy. Since returning to Washington, his accuracy problems haven’t improved, at all. His completion percentage dropped from 58.2% to 55.4%. He completed 4-20 against Nebraska. 5-16 in a rematch against Nebraska. 10-21 for 68 yards against UCLA. 7-14 for 64 yards against Stanford. Those are all terrible games.

Lot of people like to blame his lack of elite stats on his supporting cast and though his supporting cast is somewhat to blame, a lot of the blame has to fall on Locker. His footwork is terrible and he often overthrows open receivers. He often misses open receivers entirely in his reads. His accuracy didn’t improve with a better supporting cast at the Senior Bowl, not in practices or the game. He almost kills two receivers on two separate wild throws in the game. 

When asked about his accuracy at the Senior Bowl, about how he’s never completed more than 60% of his passes in a season, he didn’t respond with a reason, like stats don’t show the whole picture. He said it’s because he hasn’t been playing under center for that long, making an excuse (plus he’s been under center for 3 or 4 years, so it’s a bad excuse at that). 

I also question Locker’s leadership. His record at Washington was 15-26, a lot of which does have to fall on the shoulders of the quarterback. He also choose to return to Washington rather than challenging himself at the next level in 2009, which I see as a sign of weakness and lack of confidence. 

What Locker does have is a cannon arm, great athleticism, and mobility, and experience in a Pro Style West Coast offense. However, that doesn’t make him an NFL quarterback. It makes him a project, someone who’s not ready to step in right away. I’m not questioning the upside. I’m questioning whether he’ll ever make good on it.

NFL Comparison: Brian Brohm

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

By Kevin Harrison 

Jets against the Bills is mostly a let down game and a recipe for disaster.  There have been numerous trips to Buffalo when the Jets needed a win against a pathetic Buffalo team only to have their season crumble after a heartbreaking loss. 

However, this October day in Buffalo was quite different as the Jets dominated from the opening kickoff until the final whistle.

It was a beautiful first drive engineered by Mark Sanchez walking his team right down the field with a mix of the run and the pass in getting an early 7-0 lead after a short Tomlinson run.

This day, the story wasn’t the throwing game; at was all about the ground and pound.  LT had his best day in over two years notching 133 yards and 2 TDs.   Shonn Greene also rushed for 117 yards as the Jets total rush output hit a sweet 273 yards.

Sanchez did a solid job as well running the show and hitting Dustin Keller for a Touchdown as well as another long connect to Braylon Edwards.  Even Brad Smith got into the action with a TD pass to Dustin Keller.

The only complaint I had was a short Nick Folk missed field goal that would have given the Jets a 10-0 lead.

But, besides that, the offense moved up and down the field at will.  And it should even get better next week with the return of Santinio Holmes.

The defense did a solid job keeping their offense off the field.  This was a game of time of possession and we had the ball for 40 minutes compared to their 19.5 minutes.  A lot of Buffalo’s yards gained were during a team brain fart at the end of the first half allowing Buffalo to score quickly and stay in the game.  The rest of their yardage was gained in the final quarter when the game was all but sealed.

I loved the pressure on the quarterback and our defense did a nice job stripping the ball in route to 2 fumble recoveries.  Great play was made by Bryan Thomas, Nick Lowery, and Jason Taylor who is having a hell of a season.   I’m a little worried about Ellis who banged up his knee and we never did hear what happened to him.

Maybe they should call the Jets the Road Warriors as this is the 5th straight regular season road game this team has won.  The win against Buffalo was such a beautiful thing that there is not much to even criticize when so many things go right.

Next week, things get more interesting as we welcome Brett Favre back to the Meadowlands.  I hope Calvin Pace and Darrelle Revis are ready to play to help spoil Favre’s return.   

http://khbirdmantalkingjets.blogspot.com/ 

So Drayton Florence goes for 15 million over 3 years and Josh Wilson goes for 13.5 million over that same period of time. Something’s not right here. Wilson is a much better cornerback than Florence and the Redskins needed another starter opposite DeAngelo Hall. They got a great value here.

Grade: A

By Ryan Glab 

A look at four keys for the Bears to beat this week’s opponent. 

1. Apply extra pressure to rattle Eli Manning

Eli Manning’s six interceptions this season currently ranks him tied for first with Brett Favre for the league lead. He’s also been sacked 7 times — one less than Jay Cutler — sixth-most in the league. This game should present an opportunity for the Bears to do two things: shore up their pass rush which could mean a big game for Julius Peppers, and create some turnovers. Manning has some good weapons to throw to in wide receivers Steve Smith, Mario Manningham, and Hakeem Nicks. Smith caught nine balls for 103 yards on Sunday and Nicks is a big target who is tied for the league lead with four touchdown receptions. Manningham and Nicks have caught a combined 10 passes for more than 20 yards and both rank in the Top 12 (Manningham in the Top 3) in that stat category. In short, Manning can burn the Bears secondary unless they can put extra pressure on him.

2. Extra protection against Mathias Kiwanuka

From the the league’s No. 1 pass rusher to the No. 2, according to sacks, anyway, the Bears must face another tough pass rusher on Sunday night. If I had to make a prediction, I’d say Kiwanuka’s hot start will fade whereas the Packers’ Clay Matthews will stay among the league’s best throughout the season. Kiwanuka has recorded a sack in each game this season, which means he’s been applying pretty consistent pressure. Kiwanuka’s four sacks have accounted for all but two of the Giants’ total sacks this year. The Bears will face another tough defensive end opposite Kiwanuka in Justin Tuck, so the Bears’ offensive tackles will have their work cut out for them this week.

3. Contain Ahmad Bradshaw

The Bears have been criticized by many for what would be described as an inflated ranking for their league-leading run defense. I personally feel their run defense is certifiably good while others have claimed they haven’t faced any good backs yet. This week is their chance to prove they are the real deal. New York’s Ahmad Bradshaw is the NFL’s sixth-leading rusher with 253 yards. He has a 4.9-yard average and a long run of 39 yards. He’s broken three for over 20 yards and has rushed for 13 first downs, seventh in the league in that category. Even though the Giants can throw the ball with Manning, Bradshaw is averaging 17.3 carries per game — 11th most in the league — so the Giants clearly like to get him involved in the game plan.

4. Guard against complacency and the short week syndrome

The Bears are 3-0 and are riding an emotional high after winning a physical battle with a division rival on Monday night. Those are a lot of variables which often are the precursor to a letdown. But this isn’t a trap game because there’s no reason to look ahead to the next week. I’m confident the Bears are treating this game as a big deal. They’re still the underdogs despite their record being two wins better than the Giants and they publicly acknowledge that they’re still not getting any respect. I’m less concerned about mental mistakes in this one and more concerned about the health and endurance of the team following a short week of preparation.

http://www.bearsbeat.com 

Deal for Seahawks: Yet another veteran going for cheap. If I was an NFL team, I would definitely trade 2-3 mid round picks for proven vets this offseason. Washington is not a starting caliber back, but he’s an explosive change of pace guy and a Pro-Bowl kick returner, two things the Seahawks really need. He’ll fit in well with LenDale White.

Grade: A

Deal for Jets: They did sell him for cheap, but I understand why they did this. Because they were able to steal Joe McKnight (Leon Washington 2.0) in the 4^th round, they could trade Leon Washington and his expiring contract for a 5^th rounder.

Grade: B+

By Vince Vitale 

What is not to love, this quicker than fast playmaker has St. Louis Rams fans having visions of the (GSOT) Greatest Show on Turf. At 6’1″ 180 Mardy is not an imposing specimen, nor was his 4.56 combine speed anything to write home about but this kid is a playmaker. Over the course of his last two seasons as a Cincinnati Bearcat Mardy raked in 168 balls for 2467 yards and 22 touchdown receptions. In addition Mardy returned 92 kickoffs with a 28.9 average and 4 TD’s as a Bearcat. Mardy will bring this and more to the St. Louis Rams.

After the Dez Bryant controversy over carrying Roy Williams pads Gilyard was asked about carrying pads, his response,

“I’m okay with carrying the pads, combing hair, tying the shoes, whatever it
takes. I know my role, I’m a rookie and I know I can’t say too much. Actions
speak louder than words and in the words of my momma, ‘I can show you better
than I can tell you.’ I’m cool with anything, that’s my role as a rookie. 

How refreshing is it to here those words from a rookie.

I think the St. Louis Rams absolutely stole Mardy Gilyard with 101st overall selection in the 2010 NFL Draft. Although he does not have the speed and is not as much of a deep threat I hope Mardy Gilyard can bring to the St. Louis Rams what Desean Jackson brought the the Philadelphia Eagles a couple of years ago and that is a playmaker, a baller, a difference maker. I look for Mardy to occupy the slot in 2010 and return kickoffs over the smaller Danny Amendola.

While talking to St. Louis Rams tickets account executive Jon Kruse I was told recently Mardy Gilyard was at the Rams offices at the Edward Jones Dome helping with a promotional ticket event and asked if he could go down on the field. While Jon was reluctant, La’Roi Glover said it’s ok let him go. I was told Mardy ran all around the field in his dress clothes and had tears streaming down his face he was that happy. He asked Jon where he was standing and Jon said on the field and Mardy said “in the end zone.”

Look for many more reasons to love Mardy Gilyard every Sunday this fall.

http://www.stlouisramfan.com/

Spotlight #1: Florida State OT Zerbie Saunders

Spotlight #2: Florida State OLB Nigel Bradham 

1^st quarter

13:23: Saunders, good mobility to get into the 2^nd level and a solid 2^nd level block.

2:53: Saunders allows a strip sack, recovered by Florida State, but also poor instincts by Saunders to not notice at first the ball was by his foot.

2^nd quarter

14:35: Brandon Jenkins forces a guy to flush the pocket for no gain.

12:15: Bradham with a tackle up the middle after 3 yards.

10:24: Bradham good speed to the outside to chase down Lamar Miller running down the opposite side of the tackle box, but whiffs on the tackle.

9:34: Bradham with an ankle tackle on Miami quarterback Jacory Harris after he decides to run, sizeable gain, but a good job by Bradham to come back after dropping in coverage to make a tackle.

7:42: Saunders starts losing his battle, but good recovery to keep the quarterback protected and give him the time he needs to get a big completion.

0:39: Brandon Jenkins with a sack.

0:08: Bradham with a fumble recovery.