I was at the U Miami game in November when they played Pitt and Kaaya was pretty damn good all game. Took no risks, lot of short spread-offense stuff, but good touch on this throws. Though I never for a second thought he looked like an NFL QB or that he might be on the Bears radar.
Kaaya has some great abilities. Rocket arm, decent read/decision making, does a lot with an offense that outside of Stacy Coley and that TE, David Njoku. People love Njoku, I do not. Every time I see him I think of Khari Lee or Fendi Onobun--2 names that should alarm you because they were former bears. "Freak athletes" who couldn't catch a pass to save their lives. Njoku is a sprinter, long jumper, and triple jumper for track and field. People always point to former U TEs like Olsen, Jimmy Graham, Winslow and Clive Walford and assume there's some kind of "pedigree." I don't buy it. Someone's going to drop a 2nd rounder on this guy when he's a 5th in my book. What kills me with Kaaya is that every time a team blitzes right in his face, he turns into something worse that Shitwad, if you can imagine that. A couple of games this year teams would blitz ILB/MLB right at him and he panicked and threw some really ugly interceptions. No doubt Fox will get a very close look at many of these quarterbacks. I thought Watson didn't accept Senior Bowl invite though. I know Davis Webb, Mitch Leidner, CJ Bethard, Josh Dobbs, Chad Kelly (though I doubt he plays unless his knee is better), Sifo Liufau, Nate Peterman, Seth Russell, and some D2 qb have. Here's the link to all accepted invites, Watson not on it. There are going to be several names I'm watching. Tanzel Smart from Tulane, Josh Harvey-Clemmons and Cole Hikutini from Louisville, Rasul Douglas, DB from West Virginia, and Dion Dawkins/Julien Davenport, 2 OTs who are 2nd-3rd round prospects at the moment. http://www.seniorbowl.com/accepted-invites.php
He didn't accept yet, but hasn't declined which means he is going to see how he does tomorrow night and see if that performance is good enough to improve his draft stock. His current status is a borderline first rounder so he would be foolish to avoid the Senior Bowl when two of the high drafting QB needy coaching staffs will be running the show. As everything in the pre-draft underwear Olympics, everything is calculated.
This list does not excite me at all. Going to watch more on Davis Webb, he is getting a lot of love of which i don't understand from the games i have watched him play. Prototypical size so I'm assuming that is the fascination at this point.
I doubt Watson goes to Senior Bowl. I see either the combine or his own Pro-Day to showcase his stuff. Same goes for Kizer and Trubisky. Nobody excites me either. Leidner kind of did, but the whole University of Minnesota getting half the team banned right before the bowl game and hush-hush silence about the ongoing sexual assault case which caused players to get banned, leading to the coach getting fired.......there's going to be a red flag with him. Maybe Sifo Liufao......he seems Kaepernick like as a best case scenario. Good size and athleticism, and doesn't have the yips the way Kaep does. He's going to be a project and a half, and needs the Senior Bowl more than the Senior Bowl needs him. I can say that for pretty much about everybody here except for maybe Webb, like Aggie said.
The East-West Shrine game doesn't help much with quarterbacks. Cooper Rush and Wes Lunt are the 2 best. Gunner Kiel's also there. Granted I don't much watch Cincinnati, but this kid's name I've been hearing over the last couple of years, don't know if its the unique name or if he's any good. Zach Terrell from undefeated Western Michigan too, but he's far off. EW Shrine Game will have OLinemen I want to watch. Eric Magnuson and Avery Genesy in particular, 2 mid-late round OTs. University of Manitoba product Geoff Gray looks outstanding, but scouts seem to think he'll move inside to guard. He was outstanding at their blindside. http://www.shrinegame.com/Teams/WestRoster http://www.shrinegame.com/Teams/EastRoster
Speaking of OT's, it figures the Bears would be drafting in the top 5 in a year where this is no clear cut Franchise OT. I like Cam Robinson, but not really at number 3. I like Mike McGlinchey but while he still hasn't announced officially either way, sounds like he is staying at ND for another year. Only 2 in my opinion that could even be considered at number 3. Ryan Ramcyzk is good but not worthy of the number 3 overall and apparently is having surgery prior to the draft. If the QB they want is not there, going to be hard to pass on one of the DE's available. There are 3 (Garrett, Barnett and Allen) that appear to be worthy, I'm fine with that. Add another stud next to Goldman and Hicks along with Floyd and hopefully a healthy McPhee you have an extremely formidable front. Be shocked if both the 49ers and Browns pass on any QB deemed worthy of being a top 5 pick so that opens up the door for the Bears to draft one of the best non-QB BPA's in this draft. I also think that unless Trubisky completely shits the bed in pre-draft underwear Olympics, he will be a Brown. He's an Ohio kid with all the tools to be a very good NFL QB. After passing on Wentz last season, be shocked if they pass on one this season.
Robinson is a ferocious run mauler. His zone pass protection, especially in the gun needs work. He has an insanely slow first step and his body is even slower getting to the angle to take on the rusher. A really good speed rusher at the NFL level could make him look really stupid. Ramczyk is similar. I've always liked Eric Magnuson from Michigan, but he projects to be a RT. He is a phenomenal 2 way blocker with outstanding footwork, great technique, and great body positioning. He's played RT 3 years at Michigan and probably isn't moving to blindside, which is why he's a 3-4 rounder right now. Dion Dawkins I've had a couple of chances to see. He is a rock on that Temple line, granted the 3 games I saw him in were against Navy and a couple of other bum schools. And he could slay said bum players. He's a 2-3 rounder right now, but I can see him easily shooting up boards to late 1st. Reminds me a lot of current Houston LT Duane Brown. Brown went to VT, wasn't highly thought of, then made a great jump with great workouts to late 1st round. Garrett Bowles is jumping up a lot of draft boards already. OT from Utah. His knock so far is that he needs some weight, and that he'll be 25 in week 1, a bit old for a college kid. Garrett and Barnett are edge rushers. Allen and McDowell are the top 5 techs. If your quarterback isn't there at #3, I'd go Allen or McDowell. I highly doubt Garrett will be there. If the browns pick Trubisky, they deserve more mediocrity......I'm just not sold on him--but I was wrong on Wentz.
I'm not either and while I liked Wentz, I'm on record as saying I wouldn't have spent a first round pick on him let alone trade the haul of draft picks the Eagles gave up to get him and really didn't like Goff, still don't. 2013 was the last time a QB wasn't taken in the top 5, at least one and that is the only draft in the last 10 years that happened. Trubisky seems to be this years candidate. The league knows that without one, you can't win and anyone who gets any kind of high grade will be taken in the top 5. The top 3 teams with picks all are desperate to find that franchise QB. I just think people are going to convince themselves that Trubisky can be the guy. I still think Watson can push his way back up to the top of this draft and if not, think he will be like Teddy Bridgewater where he goes later in the first round to a good team. If he beats Alabama tomorrow and looks impressive doing it, think a lot of teams are going to fall back in love with him again like they were prior to this season.
Rudolph said he was staying at OSU. Mahomes is another guy similar to Webb getting a lot of love for some reason. Plays in the same offense as the other 1 read QB's. I liked him going into the season but watched a few of his games this year and came away unimpressed. Project QB who won't be able to start right away in a system that hasn't translated well to successful QB's and is always in shotgun. Better options in my opinion, may deserve round 3 or 4 consideration if he's still there but some have him rated higher than Watson. Opinions on these QB's this year are all over the place. Expect the underwear Olympics to sort some of it out, but this guy doesn't really impress me on film.
I did a write up on Rudolph earlier in the thread. Mahomes.....if you care about being a "winner," he's not your guy. Some people factor that it, and if you go to Chicitysports, some idiots think Jay Cutler shouldn't be here because he isn't a winner..... What's truly intriguing, yet alarming about him is that he played all of 2016, a year he set records with a grade 2 sprain of his acromioclavicular joint (AC Joint) in his throwing shoulder. Proper rest and healing process and his arm should be better, and he's a kid who's got some zip as it is. I like his quick release, and that he keeps his eyes downfield. He makes some nice plays under pressure, and is elusive. He was seemingly cerebral, though a few times when calling an audible when WV showed blitz I don't quite recall if he was late identifying it or his offensive line had trouble with the change. Not good for a home game, but signs of intelligence, something I value in a guy going forward. I havent picked up too much film of him outside of Texas Tech versus West Virginia, and he........made some mistakes that game. Rolls right, throws across his body left. He doesn't like to slide.......that's bad at the NFL level. There's something imperfect about his game, and it depends on what you prefer--but the few times I've seen him, he looks like a backyard football guy. Choppy, nothing looking pretty, but plays get made. He has some almost-Tebow-esque ugly throws/plays. His mechanics also need some work. When the ball gets snapped he holds it low, near his hip, mid oblique level on a lot of plays. And for an athletic guy in a shotgun, read option/spread offense, he really sucks at selling play action/read option. EIther that or this WV end has senses unlike other defensive players, I'm going with the former. I'll watch more film, he has a lot more bright spots to me than most of the quarterbacks coming out, but a lot of stuff that needs fixing too. [video]https://youtu.be/o_b7SYXw-zU[/video]
For those that don't understand our don't know why I'm so high on Deshaun Watson, if you watched the NC game last night or have a chance to watch the replay, please do. Not only was it a great game, but he played great. Dont have time for a break down but man did he play well.
Were you pleased to see Alabama's dominance broke aggie? What do you think about some of the techniques Saban uses, like ex NFL players at practise etc?
I was personally rooting against Alabama (also had a monetary interest of significance because I believed Clemson would win and I am a degenerate gambler) but think Alabama losing is good for college football. Too much dominance of one team is never good for any sport but only when it comes to championships. I don't hate Alabama, just like I don't hate the New England Patriots like a lot of people, I admire what they do. So I was pleased to see them lose but they will be right there again next year and I only hope Pace is able to get some players off that defense, they are phenomenal. I have no problem with what Saban does, because there is nothing he is doing that isn't within the rules. I think Saban pushes everyone to be better because they have to try and keep up with him and that makes the game better. Use former players if you think it makes your team better, he runs Alabama like a professional sports franchise. I find it admirable whether or not I personally like the team or not.
He really turned it on after their first score. Throughout much of the 1st quarter he wasn't very good. He's easily in the conversation to go to the 49ers if the Browns are taking Trubisky a guy they really love. Saban knows his wheelhouse. A loss this year isn't going to mean much, because Bama will be back next year. But one thing that's REALLY stuck out to me, and this is going to be technical with X's and O's, is how he runs his offenses. So college football, pretty much if you want to be a relevant team you have to run an RPO offense, or Run, Pass, Option. Every team has done it, Clemson, Bama, Ohio State, Washington, and countless others. One major rule change from College Ball to the NFL is linemen down field on a pass. You've probably seen the penalty of "illegal lineman blocking downfield" or "Ineligible WR downfield" called on an OLineman at the NFL level. That's because at the NFL level, only 1 lineman is allowed to go downfield. In college, you're allowed 3. That's one of the key reasons the WR screen is so effective in college, but not in the NFL. It helps when you have the LT, LG, and pulling G or C 5+ yards downfield as opposed to the left tackle swinging out. It also confuses defenses, because when you're playing linebacker or safety at the NCAA level, when you see the OLinemen running at you, you used to think "its a run." And a decade ago that was the case, but no longer. That's why if you run an effective enough RPO offense, you can fuck up a team royally, because you can make a really good secondary/safety/linebacker group look lost. As this applies to Saban, he hates the 3 linemen downfield rule, and has wanted the NCAA to change to what the NFL does. Since coming back from the Dolphins to the NCAA, and until this year really in depth, he's been "protesting" by going NFL style, or the 1 down linemen, whereas this year he's blended in the 3 men rule. Matt Bowen, Trib contributor and former Bears safety goes on Boers and Bernstein every week during football season, and he explains this far better in depth if you look up the podcast for yesterday's show. Clemson deserves a ton of credit, but one thing overlooked was how their defense made a freshman quarterback look like a freshman. Nobody is talking about that today, just about Watson, Sweeney versus Colin Cowherd, Bama choking, etc. That #99 guy on Clemson, Clelin Ferrell gets the game ball from me if its not Watson. He was unstoppable against Ohio State and again against Bama. He put on a Julius Peppers type performance, where it didn't show up much on the stat sheet, but what he did to limit that freshman quarterback, Jalen Hurts was just remarkable.
I thought i mentioned him in another post as well but if i didn't in meant to. He was a beast against Ohio St and every big game i watch Clemson in this year, he has showed up. The kid is huge and fast for a redshirt freshman, he will be a top 5 pick in 2018 if he comes out. He was working Cam Robinson until he hurt his ankle. I agree 100% Patg, definitely an undersold part of that game. I don't think Venable gets anywhere near the credit he deserves for what he has done with that defense pumping out a lot of top notch NFL players as well. One of the great defensive minds in college football.
https://www.all22.com/nfl/nfl-execs-clemson-qb-deshaun-watson-no-1-draft-pick So as i predicted prior to the NC game, Watson is now on a meteoric rise to the top of the draft. It absolutely amazes me how a performance in one game can completely change people's opinion on a guy. This is why listening to most experts is useless, they are all prisoners of the moment. If you had hesitations on Watson before the NC game, it shouldn't change by one performance. Some saying before the game, he wasn't even worth a 1st round pick. I didn't, i watched film on most of his games and liked what i saw. I personally like him more than any other QB in this draft. That wouldnt have changed based on his performance in one game. Just absurd to how quickly people change opinions on a guy. Scouting and player evaluation is extremely detailed and happens over a long period, not after 1 game. Watson was taking bullets because of expectations and how many games he has played. The more games you play, the more people tend to nitpick. Shows up in every big game, great intangibles, great pocket presence, great leader and in my opinion, a good arm and great athletic ability. A lot of the knocks on him were similar to that of Dak Prescott and how many GM's want a re-do on that? I don't know how you watch Trubisky, Kizer and Watson play in games and don't think Watson is the best QB of the 3. A lot of people fall in love with size, arm strength and "potential" even though what's on film is really mediocre, aka, Jerred Goff/Blake Bortles/Blaine Gabbert to name a few. This is why i put so much emphasis on what they do on the field, and all Watson has done is win.
Be careful though, while winning is something positive, it can also be misleading. Cade McNown in his 2 years as a starter at UCLA went 10-2 and won the Rose Bowl in 97 and lost it in 98. Tim Tebow. Danny Wuerffel. Shane Matthews. John Brantly. Rex Grossman. Chris Leak. Jesse Palmer. Pretty much every quarterback (sans Cam Newton for a year he rode the bench) from the University of Florida for the last 2 decades won in college and hasn't amounted to shit at the NFL level. I hesitate to put Newton in that Florida group because he maybe played 1 series a game when Tebow was the starter. I understand the desire to compare/contrast to Jay Cutler, someone most fans dub a career loser. Vanderbilt sucked when he played, as did Denver, and we know what he hasn't done in Chicago. And to some people the grass is seemingly greener. But we cant make that mistake/assumption/distinction that winning in college is somehow a factor to winning at the NFL level. Deshaun Watson has a lot of positives to him, but Clemson also put a damn good team around him. What elevates him to me are his abilities. That he can locate a medium-long pass 12-15+ yards downfield with accuracy. That he's talented enough to have the ability one play to put zip on a ball so it goes in a tight window the DB cant get to to a streaking Artavis Scott, and the next have the perfectly thrown jump ball to his big WR, Mike Williams that nobody can get to. That he's cerebral and intelligent enough to run a complicated offense at teh college level while making correct reads and finding his guys. That he can identify pressure, escape, and use his legs to extend and make a play. Watson gets it. That's why I like him. And he's seemingly smart enough to be ready for it at the next level. He's an outstanding choice at #3 to me right now. I hate to feel the need to keep repeating this because a lot of fans overlook this, but Prescott wasn't some diamond in the rough. He was a late 1st/early 2nd rounder until the night of his pro day, he decided to make the really stupid decision to have a couple, get behind the wheel, get pulled over and charged with a DUI (later dropped well after the draft in July) and resist arrest on top of that. That's why he went in the fourth round. This time last year the mock artists had him in the late 1st and early 2nd, ahead of Paxton Lynch and Carson Wentz, who wasn't on the radar yet and behind Goff. And that's why I understand Pace passing on him multiple times, especially when he looked like a completely incompetent twat with the whole Ray McDonald situation. Draft day Pace would have been killed by people playing the character card. Hindsight will always be 20/20, but at the time, I completely understand why Pace passed on Prescott, and at the time I agreed with it. Trubisky I've already stated my opinion on for now. He needs a lot of work. Kizer......its hard for me to put my finger on. I naturally hate Notre Dame, but he made a lot of plays for them. They were a bad team this year, and grossly overrated last year and this kid kept them in a lot of games. What sours me on Kizer, and hopefully Schefter or someone else can shine light on this as we get into the more nitty-gritty background stuff--but I seriously want to know if there were any underlying reasons why he was benched in the Stanford (a top 4 Notre Dame rival) game down 14-7 in the 3rd quarter that havent been mentioned. Brian Kelly told the media "it was to spark our team." Well A--it didn't work and B--why are you benching your best quarterback? Malik Zaire has a nice set of wheels, but is garbage as a passer. To me that sounds like bullshit. I think there's more to it than that--but I have no proof. Brian Kelly is a major weasel of a coach, but he's smart enough to put his best guys on the field at all times, no matter what the shady background. To bench your best quarterback in the name of "morale" isn't something I buy. And on top of that, Kizer told everybody he was getting out of ND as fast as he could. And he has done so, even though to me he needs 1 more year in college to polish it up and go #1. If there are issues with Kizer, like attitude or disobeying orders/playcalling--I want to know. I'd guess he and Kelly likely hated each other, but you'd never know. IMO, drafting Kizer automatically has to come with at least 1 year of him sitting on the bench learning.
