Football Peter King: You have to go back to 1997 to find a draft like this one - Page 11

Deberg_1990 · 02-19-2013, 07:53 AM

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl.../?sct=uk_wr_a1

You'd probably have to go back to 1997 to find a draft like this one. That's the year Peyton Manning eschewed the prospect of going to the Jets first overall to play for Bill Parcells and returned for his senior year at Tennessee. One quarterback (shaky Jim Druckenmiller, 26th) picked in round one. Two backs (Warrick Dunn 12th and Antowain Smith 23rd) in round one, and four receivers in the first: Ike Hilliard seventh, Yatil Green 15th, Reidel Anthony 16th and Rae Carruth 27th. Yikes! What a horrible draft for point-producers. One star, Dunn, out of seven first-rounders.

That could repeat this year. It's likely Alabama's Eddie Lacy will be the only running back taken in round one. Tennessee's Cordarrelle Patterson leads the muddled pack at wide receiver, but how sure can you really be of junior-college transfers who play one year of major-college football, which is Patterson's profile?

The quarterbacks are a total mish-mosh at this point. One GM interested in acquiring a quarterback this offseason told me over the weekend, "I expect more attention on the quarterbacks throwing this year than on any other single thing at the Combine.'' Some think Geno Smith of West Virginia will go first overall to quarterback-needy Kansas City; one personnel man who studied all the top quarterbacks for a team in need of one last fall told me, "There's not one quarterback, including Smith, I would take in the first round."

Two points about that. If you need a quarterback, you can talk brave in February, but when reality sets in around draft day, and you haven't picked up a quarterback in free agency, all of a sudden the zits on Smith, Matt Barkley and other others don't seem as bad. And we're nine and a half weeks from round one. There's no way that Andy Reid and John Dorsey, the coach and GM for Kansas City, know what they're doing now. They need time to investigate and to watch tape on the eight or 10 quarterbacks.

But in some ways, 2013 should be a catchup year for the other positions. Opening day 2013 could feature 12 starting quarterbacks drafted in 2011 and '12; that's far, far above the norm in a game that values veteran arms at the position.

Now for a couple of notes about players at the Combine.

Alec Ogletree. The underclass inside linebacker from Georgia would be a clear top-10 pick with a clean resume. But he was suspended the first four games of last season for failing an offseason drug test, and then came the news Saturday night, via ProFootballTalk.com, that Ogletree recently was pinched for driving while intoxicated.

Ogletree and agent Pat Dye were smart to come out and beat the police blotter to the punch. As for the damage done by the arrest, Ogletree, who is a speed demon for an inside player, the kind of player who, if right, would be a perfect fit as a rare three-down inside linebacker for any team, has to convince teams they shouldn't be worried about a player who has tested positive, been suspended, and gotten a DWI in the span of about nine months.

Some GM is going to stake his reputation on Ogletree in the first round, most likely. Which GM? It would have to be a secure one. Green Bay's Ted Thompson or de facto GM Bill Belichick of the Patriots or Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome, all down near the bottom of the round.

Manti Te'o. The Notre Dame linebacker has spent a lot of time practicing football and practicing what he's going to say to teams. His last game, against Alabama, was a nightmare (he was awful, and overpowered), and then the whole fake girlfriend story came up, making him a national story and, in some quarters, a national joke. It won't matter much how he works out in Indianapolis. What will matter are the 15-minute interviews he'll have in formal evening sessions with teams, and in less formal settings, seeing coaches and personnel people at the stadium and around his hotel.

No men have more on the line, off the field, at the Scouting Combine than Ogletree and Te'o.

Finally, three players I'll be watching at the Combine, three with question marks and debatable upsides:

1. Quarterback Sean Renfree, Duke. No one's talking about him, but he completed 70 percent of his throws in six of 12 games for David Cutcliffe last fall, was a comeback specialist, and has the pedigree in a good pro-style offense to play early. Could he be more than a late-round flyer, this year's Ryan Lindley? We'll see.

2. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes, Florida State. A 6-2 cornerback in a league demanding cover guys who can play on islands more and more? Scouts want to see if Rhodes, who is a heady player with good bump skills at the line of scrimmage, has the speed to stay with fast wideouts. If so, he'll be a top-half-of-the-first-round player.

3. Running back Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina. After his devastating dislocated knee and torn knee ligaments in October, Lattimore, considered a certain first-rounder before the injury, is still in recovery mode. His surgeon, James Andrews, told Lattimore recently that he's going to shock the world. "I hear he's working out great,'' said Mayock. Lattimore believes he'll be healthy enough to start the 2013 NFL season. Is he's a fourth-round minefield pick? Or might some team desperate for a back go for him a round earlier -- or even late in the second round?

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl...#ixzz2LLwcLLId

htismaqe · 02-19-2013, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I agree 100%.

Unlike so many people, at this point in time, I'm advocate of the best possible QB option for the 2013 Chiefs season.

If that's Foles, or Alex Smith or Matt Flynn, Eugene Smith or Zac Dysert, whatever, I'm good with it.

Those people that state that Eugene Smith the ONLY answer are myopic fools.

Good thing that there's only like 1 or 2 of those people.

keg in kc · 02-19-2013, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I agree with everything you've said there. I'd rather have Geno as well.

But Alex is a nice player in his own right.

As to the Geno vs. Tannehill comps - Tannehill has more upside than Geno. Tannehill could be really really good. I still think he'd have been right up there with RGIII had he been a QB for his entire college career.

He has literally every tool you could ask for in a QB, he's taken well to coaching and he's shown consistent improvement every step of the way.

If Tannehill were in the draft, I might actually take him over Geno. Tannehill's upside is immense.

Jesus, the tannehill crap never dies.

Ace Gunner · 02-19-2013, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Jesus, the tannehill crap never dies.

I don't see the talent

patteeu · 02-19-2013, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNR

It's the QB at all costs crowd.

I and many others are saying that there is a pretty clear and OBVIOUS direction this team should go at #1. It's far more obvious than the draft "experts" make it out to be given the surrounding talent at other positions at the top of this draft, among other reasons.

This really isn't a case where WELL THAT'S JUST YOUR OPINION is a valid rebuttal or disagreement. And if Reid or Dorsey deviate from that strategy and it grants us a subpar QB like Nassib, Dysert, or Jones in this draft, there's going to be hell to pay.

"It's your opinion" isn't a rebuttal, but it is a fact.

htismaqe · 02-19-2013, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I agree with everything you've said there. I'd rather have Geno as well.

But Alex is a nice player in his own right.

As to the Geno vs. Tannehill comps - Tannehill has more upside than Geno. Tannehill could be really really good. I still think he'd have been right up there with RGIII had he been a QB for his entire college career.

He has literally every tool you could ask for in a QB, he's taken well to coaching and he's shown consistent improvement every step of the way.

If Tannehill were in the draft, I might actually take him over Geno. Tannehill's upside is immense.

I agree with you on a great many things. This isn't one of them.

**RealSNR** · 02-19-2013, 02:20 PM

I kinda hope Tannehill sucks a fat one and bombs out of the NFL. I wanted us to draft him last year, but since we didn't and that story came out about him not knowing the names of any NFL teams or where they belong in the divisions, I think he's a royal douche.

**RealSNR** · 02-19-2013, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by patteeu

"It's your opinion" isn't a rebuttal, but it is a fact.

Really? Whenever I post stuff about the non-QBs at the top of the 2013 class being garbage, I get met with "That's just your opinion" in response.

DJ's left nut · 02-19-2013, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I agree with you on a great many things. This isn't one of them.

Eh, that's fine.

He may never develop enough touch to be among the best in the league. But his arm is on par with anyone this side of Stafford and Kaepernick and his athleticism is there with anybody's.

I'm not sure how anyone can say he'll never be a good decisionmaker; the kid has very little time under center and showed a lot of progress last year.

He's a massive boom/bust pick, but if the bust is what he did last year and the boom is essentially a more mobile, durable Matt Stafford, I don't see what there isn't to like about him.

keg in kc · 02-19-2013, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNR

Really? Whenever I post stuff about the non-QBs at the top of the 2013 class being garbage, I get met with "That's just your opinion" in response.

I like when they say "we shouldn't draft a QB just because it's a need" and then immediately follow that up with "we should draft joeckel or fisher to replace albert".

htismaqe · 02-19-2013, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Eh, that's fine.

He may never develop enough touch to be among the best in the league. But his arm is on par with anyone this side of Stafford and Kaepernick and his athleticism is there with anybody's.

I'm not sure how anyone can say he'll never be a good decisionmaker; the kid has very little time under center and showed a lot of progress next year.

He's a massive boom/bust pick, but if the bust is what he did last year and the boom is essentially a more mobile, durable Matt Stafford, I don't see what there isn't to like about him.

That's totally fair.

I kind of see him in between. Kind of like Matt Ryan. Good enough to get you there every year but not really good enough to get you over the top.

DJ's left nut · 02-19-2013, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by htismaqe

That's totally fair.

I kind of see him in between. Kind of like Matt Ryan. Good enough to get you there every year but not really good enough to get you over the top.

And I don't see him ever being Matt Ryan; the physical skills are too good.

If he doesn't get over the hump, he becomes a Jay Cutler type - the guy that's always just a little too confident in his arm. He'll scramble around to stay alive, take too many hits and try to fire the ball into too many tight spaces. Suddenly he becomes an injury prone turnover machine.

Ryan's a smart QB that's merely good form a 'measurables' perspective. Tannehill owns the measurables but may never be a smart QB. That's why I see his 'middle ground' as Jay Cutler.

ndws · 02-19-2013, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SNR

I AM trusting the professionals. The reports are out there that nobody wants or gives a shit about Alex Smith.

I know quite a bit about Geno Smith. I know he's got a chance of being a really really good QB in this league. I and other professionals in the business know that it's an infinitesimally small chance that Alex Smith becomes as good as Geno could possibly be.

That's why teams will spend a first round pick on Geno (hopefully it's the Chiefs who do it). They WON'T be trading a first round pick to the 49ers for Alex Smith. And I doubt a team does it for a 2nd or a 3rd, either.

Not being a dick, simply not knowing anybody here...but you work in some capacity in professional football?

**RealSNR** · 02-19-2013, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ndws

Not being a dick, simply not knowing anybody here...but you work in some capacity in professional football?

Okay, take out the "other" in the sentence. Typo.

beach tribe · 02-19-2013, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoWalrus

Throw Camtasia Studio on it and grab the footage man. Trial version is free.

We would all appreciate it.

Ill try it when I get home.

htismaqe · 02-19-2013, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

And I don't see him ever being Matt Ryan; the physical skills are too good.

If he doesn't get over the hump, he becomes a Jay Cutler type - the guy that's always just a little too confident in his arm. He'll scramble around to stay alive, take too many hits and try to fire the ball into too many tight spaces. Suddenly he becomes an injury prone turnover machine.

Ryan's a smart QB that's merely good form a 'measurables' perspective. Tannehill owns the measurables but may never be a smart QB. That's why I see his 'middle ground' as Jay Cutler.

To be fair to Tannehill, I don't see some of the red flags when it comes to personality that I see with Cutler. Cutler is an A#1 douche.

02-19-2013, 07:53 AM
Deberg_1990 In Search of a Life Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: San Antonio Tx. Casino cash: $3914454	Peter King: You have to go back to 1997 to find a draft like this one http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl.../?sct=uk_wr_a1 You'd probably have to go back to 1997 to find a draft like this one. That's the year Peyton Manning eschewed the prospect of going to the Jets first overall to play for Bill Parcells and returned for his senior year at Tennessee. One quarterback (shaky Jim Druckenmiller, 26th) picked in round one. Two backs (Warrick Dunn 12th and Antowain Smith 23rd) in round one, and four receivers in the first: Ike Hilliard seventh, Yatil Green 15th, Reidel Anthony 16th and Rae Carruth 27th. Yikes! What a horrible draft for point-producers. One star, Dunn, out of seven first-rounders. That could repeat this year. It's likely Alabama's Eddie Lacy will be the only running back taken in round one. Tennessee's Cordarrelle Patterson leads the muddled pack at wide receiver, but how sure can you really be of junior-college transfers who play one year of major-college football, which is Patterson's profile? The quarterbacks are a total mish-mosh at this point. One GM interested in acquiring a quarterback this offseason told me over the weekend, "I expect more attention on the quarterbacks throwing this year than on any other single thing at the Combine.'' Some think Geno Smith of West Virginia will go first overall to quarterback-needy Kansas City; one personnel man who studied all the top quarterbacks for a team in need of one last fall told me, "There's not one quarterback, including Smith, I would take in the first round." Two points about that. If you need a quarterback, you can talk brave in February, but when reality sets in around draft day, and you haven't picked up a quarterback in free agency, all of a sudden the zits on Smith, Matt Barkley and other others don't seem as bad. And we're nine and a half weeks from round one. There's no way that Andy Reid and John Dorsey, the coach and GM for Kansas City, know what they're doing now. They need time to investigate and to watch tape on the eight or 10 quarterbacks. But in some ways, 2013 should be a catchup year for the other positions. Opening day 2013 could feature 12 starting quarterbacks drafted in 2011 and '12; that's far, far above the norm in a game that values veteran arms at the position. Now for a couple of notes about players at the Combine. Alec Ogletree. The underclass inside linebacker from Georgia would be a clear top-10 pick with a clean resume. But he was suspended the first four games of last season for failing an offseason drug test, and then came the news Saturday night, via ProFootballTalk.com, that Ogletree recently was pinched for driving while intoxicated. Ogletree and agent Pat Dye were smart to come out and beat the police blotter to the punch. As for the damage done by the arrest, Ogletree, who is a speed demon for an inside player, the kind of player who, if right, would be a perfect fit as a rare three-down inside linebacker for any team, has to convince teams they shouldn't be worried about a player who has tested positive, been suspended, and gotten a DWI in the span of about nine months. Some GM is going to stake his reputation on Ogletree in the first round, most likely. Which GM? It would have to be a secure one. Green Bay's Ted Thompson or de facto GM Bill Belichick of the Patriots or Baltimore's Ozzie Newsome, all down near the bottom of the round. Manti Te'o. The Notre Dame linebacker has spent a lot of time practicing football and practicing what he's going to say to teams. His last game, against Alabama, was a nightmare (he was awful, and overpowered), and then the whole fake girlfriend story came up, making him a national story and, in some quarters, a national joke. It won't matter much how he works out in Indianapolis. What will matter are the 15-minute interviews he'll have in formal evening sessions with teams, and in less formal settings, seeing coaches and personnel people at the stadium and around his hotel. No men have more on the line, off the field, at the Scouting Combine than Ogletree and Te'o. Finally, three players I'll be watching at the Combine, three with question marks and debatable upsides: 1. Quarterback Sean Renfree, Duke. No one's talking about him, but he completed 70 percent of his throws in six of 12 games for David Cutcliffe last fall, was a comeback specialist, and has the pedigree in a good pro-style offense to play early. Could he be more than a late-round flyer, this year's Ryan Lindley? We'll see. 2. Cornerback Xavier Rhodes, Florida State. A 6-2 cornerback in a league demanding cover guys who can play on islands more and more? Scouts want to see if Rhodes, who is a heady player with good bump skills at the line of scrimmage, has the speed to stay with fast wideouts. If so, he'll be a top-half-of-the-first-round player. 3. Running back Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina. After his devastating dislocated knee and torn knee ligaments in October, Lattimore, considered a certain first-rounder before the injury, is still in recovery mode. His surgeon, James Andrews, told Lattimore recently that he's going to shock the world. "I hear he's working out great,'' said Mayock. Lattimore believes he'll be healthy enough to start the 2013 NFL season. Is he's a fourth-round minefield pick? Or might some team desperate for a back go for him a round earlier -- or even late in the second round? Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/nfl...#ixzz2LLwcLLId
Posts: 66,914

02-19-2013, 02:20 PM	#156
RealSNR Special Teams ACE!!! Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Where the hell is SNR Casino cash: $2450208	I kinda hope Tannehill sucks a fat one and bombs out of the NFL. I wanted us to draft him last year, but since we didn't and that story came out about him not knowing the names of any NFL teams or where they belong in the divisions, I think he's a royal douche.
Posts: 90,268