McShay-Kiper Draft Podcast

[Guest Aloysius]

You can listen to it here, but you could also skip it & read this summary:

 

Senior Bowl

McShay: Talent at the Senior Bowl was underwhelming, said it was frustrating that Laurinaitis, Michael Johnson didn't participate. Raji, Larry English helped their stocks; people now talking about English as a late 1st Round pick)

 

Kiper: Called it "a glorified East-West Game", said the lack of talent benefited USC LB's & lesser-known guys like USC DE Kyle Moore, who stood out. Also noted that the lack of solid QB's affected the offensive output during the game.

QB's

Stafford

Kiper: Some people in the NFL like Stafford, others think he's the next Kyle Boller - question his accuracy and instincts. But he improved his TD/INT ratio, completion %, so he may be more of a Jay Cutler.

 

McShay: Stafford's more mobile than expected, still inconsistent, needs to learn touch underneath, trusts his arm too much

SanchezKiper: Impressed by Sanchez's accuracy on the move

 

McShay: Sanchez is a really good fit for a WCO: quick feet, good decision-making, quick release, less importance placed on arm strength. However, the lack of success of underclassmen QB's scares NFL people

 

Kiper: Carroll was angry because Sanchez listened to "people like Matt Leinart" over him. The Cassel comparison is irrelevant because he sat for three years before playing.

DE Rankings:Kiper:

1. Orakpo - When healthy, is a force. Pegged him as 4-3 DE, but said that "maybe can play on his feet"
2. Maybin - Most intriguing, is a "combo guy" and those guys usually contribute immediately. But because Maybin was a one year wonder, he's more of a roll of a dice.
3. Brown - had multiple sack games, but wasn't a big factor in others

McShay: (Noted that there's not a lot of separation between these guys)

1. Maybin - Upside, great motor, emotional leader, gets off the line faster than any d-linemen in college football

2. Orakpo - Durability is a concern

3. Brown - Concerned about Brown's height (he's not 6'4", may be under 6'2")

USC LB's:McShay: All three could go in the mid/late 1st Round)

• Maualuga - Scout said he's like "fishing with dynamite"; will have to be surrounded by guys who will clean up the mess. When he doesn't read it right away, he runs 100 MPH into the LOS and tries to blow things up. Mentioned Denver as possibility
• Cushing & Matthews - versatile, good fits for a 3-4 (Cushing even as a SAM). Pats & Jets are possibilities.

Kiper:

• Maualuga - more consistent this year, but less big plays (maybe 20 to Detroit)

• Cushing - chiseled but not very durable (maybe 23 to NE)
• Matthews - somewhere in picks 23-32; at worst, one of the first 2-3 guys taken at the top of the 2nd

WR's:Kiper:

• Crabtree - Larry Fitzgerald type, best player of the draft (maybe 4 to Seattle)

• Maclin - runs like he's shot out of a cannon (maybe 7 to Oakland)

• Harvin - Reggie Bush at WR, durability issues will hurt draft stock (maybe Jets at 17)

McShay: St. Louis could take Crabtree; Seattle, Jacksonville, SF are other teams in top 10 looking for a receiver

 

Ramses Barden:

McShay: Barden didn't have a great Senior Bowl week, slow getting in & out of routes, early Day 2 pick

 

Kiper: Mike Williams' busting hurts Ramses Barden. Dobson Collins out of Gardner-Webb is another I-AA receiver to keep an eye on (more of a late round guy)

RB's: Moreno vs. WellsMcShay: Moreno, because of concerns about Wells' motivation and durability

 

Kiper: Not big on taking RB's in Round 1, but would roll the dice on Wells' upside

Most difficult guy to get a read on:Kiper: Michael Oher, thought he was going to be a top 5 pick: sometimes looks like a top 2-3 pick, other times can look like a disappointment. In a LT, that'll get your QB killed. Will be a late 1st round pick.

 

McShay: Vontae Davis, all the physical tools to be an elite corner, but didn't get any better this year (lazy, poor footwork)

 

(As an aside, McShay mentioned that he's not sure Malcolm Jenkins can play corner in the NFL)

[JewDago]

it's funny; mcshay's saying that there's not much separation between the OLBs/DEs in a way reflects what i think: i'm not comfortable with any of them. maybin's small for an edge guy and is a one-year wonder. brown beats up on inferior competition but gets handled by guys with ability, and orakpo's got injury issues and may not fit in the 3-4. however, out of the three, i'm the most comfortable with orakpo. he's the only one, to me, that's strong enough to be a 3-4 guy. i think kiper has the order correct.

 

it's very disconcerting that brown gets handled when he faces guys who are good because NFL scrubs are the guys who handled him in college. he needs to be far from our radar.

 

i like the maualuga/dynamite fishing analogy. it seems incredibly accurate.

 

i don't think we can afford to go LB in both of the first two rounds. we really need to go RB in the second if we expect to have any sort of consistently productive ground game this year. lewis is too slow and harrison can't carry the load on his own, though, to be fair, the feature back model doesn't really work in today's NFL.

 

the WR debate is a bit of a non-issue for us because the only guy who really matters is crabtree. if he's there, we auction him. that's it. we can't really consider taking him for two reasons: this is a deep, deep draft and we need to stockpile picks in it for the long-term health of the team. trading down will ultimately help our team more than getting one guy, especially if we plug our hole at ILB through FA. curry is pretty much the only acceptable pick at five unless we're stuck with crabtree, but i wouldn't be disappointed at all in a larry fitzgerald.

 

i wouldn't mind us spending a pick on ramses barden. even if he's not fast at all, he can learn to use his body to shield DBs from the ball and make the catch. it's what he'll have to do to be successful in the NFL. i'd like to see him do it for us and not for another team.

 

last, i agree with mcshay on moreno over wells. some things can't be taught or learned. heart and desire are definitely two of those things, and moreno has both while wells has neither. maybe wells will be inspired by teams passing him over in the draft and will use that as motivation for the beginning of his career, but i see him flaming out once he gets a signing bonus and never making anywhere near what he could out of his considerable talent.

 

and michael oher will end up being either a RT or G in the NFL. with the way he got handled in senior bowl practices, i see him dropping pretty fast. he may have the physical skills, but they don't translate to his play on the field. vontae davis can work through his complacency. he's played at a high level before and can do it again. and jenkins will make a hell of a FS. he'll be what antrel rolle should have been, something close to ed reed.

[Guest Aloysius]

Pretty much agree with everything you said, especially about the OLB's: I'm most comfortable but Orakpo, but even he may not be a great fit for 3-4 OLB.

 

Also really like the Maualuga analogy. But if he's a guy who needs to be surrounded by good talent who will clean up his mess, it doesn't seem like he's a good fit for us.

 

Kiper's giving Rey to Detroit is interesting: in Jim Schwartz's system, the ILB is more of a two down run-stuffer, which might make Maualuga's issues in coverage less of a concern.

[Guest mz.]

Good wrap-up, guys. No mention of Curry at all?

 

I'm starting to become VERY concerned that there isn't anybody at all for us to take at 5, ESPECIALLY if both Curry and Crabtree are gone. If that's the case, we probably won't even be able to trade out of the position b/c, let's be honest, what is someone going to trade up to 5 to get???

[JewDago]

if both curry and crabtree are gone, there will be a bunch of tackles for us to pick from who i don't currently know much about, but one of them will have to be a good fit, there's orakpo, who i think is the best pass rusher in this draft and would like more than everette brown who might have success or aaron maybin who is pretty much a guaranteed bust, there's jeremy maclin, who will be a decent WR with great speed and return ability, there's knowshon moreno, who's likely the best RB in the draft, and there's also malcolm jenkins, who would solve our pressing issues at safety and give us tremendous flexibility in the secondary.

 

of all these guys, orakpo, moreno and jenkins would be my top three in that order.

 

if crabtree's gone, there's no way anyone's trading up because plenty of guys will fall out of the top ten and no one before san fran is going to take sanchez. without crabtree or curry, we're looking at an unimpressive set of choices in the top five.

[JewDago]

I would trade Edwards to SF for Patrick Willis and then draft Crabtree is he was still there

because the niners would ever make that trade.