NFL's Future

Preceding the 2012 season, most of the chatter on the defensive front involved the two most productive units of the past decade. Both the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers were said to be approaching the finality of NFL defensive dominance. Age and attrition were to set in, which would force both squads into a low-key rebuild. Defenses like the Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, Houston Texans, and the rival Cincinnati Bengals, were all set to bide for the once elusive title of the “#1 defense”. While all of those prospective teams most certainly did their part, in the end, it wasn’t enough to unseat one of the incumbents.

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As a huge fan of the defensive side of the ball, I’ve grown accustomed to names like Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and Terrell Suggs terrorizing offenses for the Baltimore Ravens. Not to be outdone, Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu, James Harrison, Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel, have coerced many opponents into offensive obscurity. It’s uncanny to see two teams so similar in production, yet complete polar opposites in how they operate. Read the rest of this entry » «Schemed to Death: “Blitzburgh” – ‘Steel’ Number One»

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The 2013 NFL Draft proved to be a deep class of receivers with 28 pass catchers hearing their name called throughout the three days in April. The 2014 class may not be as deep but it doesn’t lack for top end talent.

The 2014 NFL Draft could feature a pair of headliners if, as many expect, Marqise Lee and Sammy Watkins jump ship early to enter the professional ranks. The underclassmen could provide the wow factor of the class but the senior class features a handful of talented options.

After the break check out our 2014 NFL Draft wide receiver rankings. Read the rest of this entry » «2014 NFL Draft: Wide Receiver Rankings»

Johnny Manziel: Already the most polarizing prospect since Kellen Moore. My quarterback rankings and top 100 for the 2014 NFL Draft shed some light into my feelings about the A&M quarterback. Aggie Nation jumped all over me and back again for my “uncanny knack for f—ing stupidity” (as one emailer put it) as it relates to my ranking of Johnny Football.

This post is two-fold. One, to explain that ranking a redshirt freshman that played one year of college football is pure speculation–nothing more, nothing less. The second is to show Aggie Nation that J.F. has a future in another sport if this football thing doesn’t work out.

After the break, check out Johnny’s ability on the diamond. Read the rest of this entry » «Johnny Football goes yard»

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The 2013 NFL Draft wasn’t exactly a strong one at the running back position. After Trent Richardson headlined the 2012 draft, we were without a signature back for April’s draft.

The first running back didn’t hear his name called until the 37^th pick and only five backs were taken in the top hundred picks. Is this a clear sign of the NFL offenses evolution or just a down year?

With most of college football adapting spread/zone schemes, we are beginning to see a more hybrid receiver/running back evolve with speed being the name of the game. The 2014 senior class lacks the top end talent but there’s several candidates to push the envelope of this notion of evolution of the position.

The underclassmen backs is headlined by a hybrid straight from the Chip Kelly up-tempo zone scheme but doesn’t lack for traditional workhorse backs.

After the break, check out our 2014 NFL Draft running back rankings. Read the rest of this entry » «2014 NFL Draft: Running Back Rankings»

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The only guarantee when looking ahead a year to the next year’s draft is that things are sure to change. The 2013 NFL Draft was expected to be a strong quarterback draft in May of 2012. Names like Matt Barkley, Logan Thomas, and Tyler Wilson littered the top of draft boards early in the process. Things didn’t work out so well for the 2013 class and we saw Barkley and Wilson fall into the fourth round and Logan Thomas didn’t enter the draft after a subpar (at best) season.

The 2014 NFL Draft is expected to give fans everything 2013 didn’t – headlining top end talent consisting of a once in a generation defensive talent (Jadeveon Clowney) and the potential for an elite quarterback (Teddy Bridgewater).

This group is sure to change as the 2013 college football season progresses but with a fairly strong group of senior quarterbacks, I’m certain teams will have their pick of quality quarterbacks in the 2014 NFL Draft.

After the break check out our early 2014 quarterback rankings. Read the rest of this entry » «2014 NFL Draft: Quarterback Rankings»

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Rookie minicamps are an equivalent form of evaluation as roughly the NFL Combine or pro day workouts. Let’s face it – it’s a bunch of guys running around aimlessly against other guys doing much of the same. Yet every year we fall prey to the victimless NFL crime of overstating the value of the rookie minicamps.

From DeAndre Hopkins in Houston to a slew of undrafted free agents from every NFL city there is rampant praise being thrown around and hopes have never been higher for some.

Hopes in Oakland rest with Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson, who’s had praise heaped on him at an alarming rate after a couple of minicamp days.

Wilson was taken in the fourth-round of April’s draft, which was two rounds later than most draft evaluators had him pegged. Wilson was widely regarded as a top ten pick entering the 2012 season but a series of unfortunate circumstances led him to be picked apart and subsequently see his draft stock plummet. All that in mind, it shouldn’t come to the surprise of anyone that Wilson is ahead of the ‘curve’. Read the rest of this entry » «Could history repeat itself for Matt Flynn?»

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I’m guilty of it. You’re guilty of it. We’re all guilty of it in one way or another. Society has an infatuation with whatever’s new.  Last seasons prematurely tagged, “Greatest QB draft of all time” is a premium example of this. Fans were in a frenzy with this new “Pistol” offense, and the “read-option” play. Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson and first-year starter, Colin Kaepernick – redefined what the QB position would look like henceforth. The shortsightedness of NFL fans have seemingly left out the guy who I think will be the best of them all. That man is Cam Newton.

The one thing that irks me about our culture as a whole, is that we often times let personal feelings get in the way of giving a true judgment of an individual. Out of all the noted new-age, duel-threat QB’s, Cam Newton is by far perceived to be the least likable. I believe this to be due to a multitude of instances and preconceived notions, some I will detail later. The most poignant of which being his rocky college career.

Once thought to be the successor to Tim Tebow and the high-powered Florida Gators, Newton found himself in trouble for a myriad of situations including: The theft of a laptop, alleged payments in the form of cash, and moreover an alleged academic fraud centered around a term paper. The culmination of these incidents prompted Newton to transfer to a junior college, where subsequently he dominated the lower level of competition. Read the rest of this entry » «Schemed to Death: Cam Newton “Leader of the New School”»

In my mind its never too  early to start predicting the future. As long as we keep in mind that guys like Matt Barkley, Tyler Wilson, Sam Montgomery (to name a few) littered the top 10 of our rankings at this time last year.

It’s worth noting that we are in the infancy stages of the evaluation process with only a handful of these prospects receiving much more than a glance. We opted to flesh out the redshirt sophomores, although there are some intriguing and talented prospects in that group that could be looking to make an Aldon Smith like impact on the 2014 NFL Draft.

After the break check out our first top 100 release for the 2014 NFL Draft. Read the rest of this entry » «2014 NFL Draft: Top 100 Preseason Rankings»

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New York Jets

TEAM NEEDS: QB, OLB, CB, OL, TE, RB

John Idzik had his work cut out for him when he took over the Jets from Mike Tannenbaum. The Jets had dug themselves in a hole with overpriced contracts and some so-so drafts. Since the Jets struck gold in 2006 (D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Nick Mangold) and in 2007 (Darrelle Revis), they have whiffed in round one (jury still out on Wilkerson and Coples).

Idzik’s splash in the offseason came when he traded Darrelle Revis to the Buccaneers, acquiring an extra first round pick in the draft. Losing Revis hurts but Idzik and the Jets didn’t have much of an option as they attempt to dig out of cap hell.

For what they had to work with the Jets didn’t do a bad job in free agency. The cap strapped Jets had to let a significant haul of players walk in free agency but replaced them with low cost options. They were able to find a new pair of starting guards in Willie Colon and Stephen Peterman, made a trade for Chris Ivory, and made three underrated signings on the defensive side of the ball in Antonio Garay, Antwan Barnes, and Dawan Landry.

All things considered it was a successful offseason heading into the draft as they were able to fill a couple of holes with solid veterans, on the cheap.

After the break, check out a pick by pick analysis of the Jets 2013 NFL Draft selections. Read the rest of this entry » «New York Jets 2013 NFL Draft Recap»

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Teddy Bridgewater – Louisville

Height: 6030

Weight: 218

Age when drafted: 21

Hometown: Miami, FL

Position: QB

Collegiate Number: 5

Combine notables: N/A

Games Viewed: 2012 – North Carolina, South Florida, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Florida 2011 – West Virginia

BACKGROUND:

Teddy Bridgewater played his high school football at famed Miami Northwestern High School, which has churned out NFL players for over a decade. Bridgewater took the QB reigns as a sophomore from Jacory Harris. He was the 6^th rated dual-threat QB in the 2011 recruiting class and had offers from most major schools.

After initially committing to the Miami Hurricanes, Bridgewater switched to Charlie Strong and Louisville shortly after Randy Shannon was let go from Miami.

Bridgewater would take over as starter for Louisville in the fourth game of his true freshman season. He would not look back in a season in which he was named Big East Freshman of the Year after throwing for over 2,000 yards and 14 TD’s. As expected, Bridgewater struggled some with decision-making in his freshman season which led to 12 picks.

Bridgewater was officially on the national map following a freshman season that had many buzzing about his future potential. As an encore, Bridgewater would improve on his numbers and overall game as a sophomore.

Bridgewater was a spread quarterback at Miami Northwestern that primarily played out of the shotgun. He would transition to a more pro-style offense at Louisville where he played under center most of the time. It was clear in Bridgewater’s sophomore campaign that he was much more comfortable in the offense and under center running play action and throwing on the move and from traditional drops.

Bridgewater would lead the Cardinals to a Sugar Bowl win over Florida in this sophomore campaign. A season that would see him throw for 3,718 yards, 27 touchdowns, and throw just 8 interceptions. Read the rest of this entry » «2014 NFL Draft: Teddy Bridgewater preseason scouting report»