thebandit27

Good topic IMO. Darby does lack some of the measurables that McDermott seems to like--he's not tall and he doesn't have the apparent requisite length that he likes. However, Darby does have some of the play characteristics that make him a good fit. He's physical, collapses and breaks down well in run support, and he protects the sideline well; all of those traits are staples of Cover-3 packages. I also like that McDermott's scheme seems to be built to protect corners from having deep responsibilities while playing in man, which really exposed Darby last year. What I'd absolutely love to see is for a 3rd corner like Seymour, Wright, or even someone yet to be signed like Alterraun Verner to play well enough to earn the boundary job and allow Darby to kick into the slot. I think Darby is an ideal slot corner in this league, and I don't mean this as a knock on him. I think slot corner is the toughest position to play on defense, and he's got the speed, fluidity, and run support ability to be one of the best slot corners in the league. Just FYI, Lawson is a very close comparable to Charles Johnson, who has had a lot of success in McDermott's scheme. Charles Johnson at the 2007 combine: 6'2", 270 lbs, 4.84s 40-yard dash, 1.63s 10-yard split, 33 bench reps, 34" vertical, 118" broad, 7.50s 3-cone Shaq Lawson at the 2016 combine: 6'3", 269 lbs, 4.70s 40-yard dash, 1.64s 10-yard split, did not bench, 33" vertical, 120" broad, 7.16s 3-cone As for Ragland, he's a bit behind Thomas Davis and Luke Kuechly in terms of COD skills, but I'm hopeful that he can make that up by dropping some mass and getting down to the 235-240-lb range.

Here's a few plays that highlight Poyer: http://waitingfornextyear.com/2016/09/browns-film-room-ravens-week-2/ He's mainly playing in the slot here. Ironically, Poyer had a much better game against the Patriots: http://waitingfornextyear.com/2016/10/cleveland-browns-patriots-film-room/

Try checking here: http://waitingfornextyear.com/category/cleveland-browns-film-room/

"Bomb for Baker"

The biggest offender that I've noticed is that most trainers have one way to teach, and that they believe that their one way is the only way that works. They do this with exercises (if you don't do XX, you aren't going to get results), diet (you need to eat small meals every 2-3 hours or else the world will end), recovery methods, etc. etc. A healthy lifestyle isn't complicated. I have my own system that I believe is the simplest, most efficient, and furthest-reaching, but I'm not going to be so rigid as to try to make it fit for everyone. You need to know when to bend things to fit your client, and which things aren't negotiable. Most trainers I've seen are terrible at it.

That's 80% of trainers regardless of how they look. If I had a dollar for every piece of horrendous advice I've heard trainers give over the years, I wouldn't need any clients anymore.

I work with athletes regularly, and I tell all of them the same thing: if I haven't done what you're trying to do, or I don't look like you're trying to look, then do not let me mentor you.

I say that based upon the idea that the vast increase in number of attempts will almost assuredly lead to vast increases in volumetric stats like yardage and TDs, whereas YPA appears to be wholly unrelated to attempts, and is therefore a qualitative indicator (as opposed to the others, which are quantitative). Even as recently as Mahomes you've seen guys who have their entire career YPA range between 8.0 and 8.5, which falls right in line with that of the Chase Daniels of their respective day. Case-in-point: the only other passer in the Big 12 that had a YPA greater than 9.0 in 2016 was Mason Rudolph, who came in at 9.1. After that, you get to Mahomes, who had a YPA of 8.5, and Skyler Howard, who managed 8.2. The others all fell below 8.0.

I'd agree if we were looking at volumetric numbers like passing yards and TDs--one of the reasons I look at YPA is that it is automatically contextual.

I don't know about that--Daniel never crested 8.2 YPA in college, whereas Mayfield went for 9.4 as a Sophomore and 11.2 as a Junior. Mayfield is also light years ahead of Daniel in terms of protecting the football.

Those seem to be the two most common knocks on the guy, yeah. I'm not starting from that place though--if I were to rank them now, I think he'd be my QB1

Of course they do--they have nearly $10.5M right now I'm definitely not down on MIller--this is merely an opportunity to add a guy that I feel is a good football player

Perhaps--I actually think Miami makes a ton of sense. Went to school there, and they still have a sizeable need at guard after moving Tunsil to LT full-time.

Anyone have interest? http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2017/05/15/chargers-release-orlando-franklin/

Chopped, Top Chef, and Man v Food were the best, with a nod to the Iron Chef shows as well.

I'm sure I'll look at him, yeah. I've taken a few glances, but not a deep dive. I have reservations about his ability as a pure passer, as his short and mid-range passes are erratic as all get-out.

I greatly prefer the Stampede drum corps; the Jills add absolutely nothing to my game day experience.

My initial summary on Browning was "Excellent mechanics, gutsy, great timing, decent athlete, reads whole field, average arm, loses zip on some interior throws, size leads to tipped balls, can he speed up process?"

I think perhaps we're mis-communicating...I agree that the past failures were wrought from poor resource allocation. It made no sense to let Nate Clements walk just to draft his replacement, same with regard to Jabari Greer. As you know, I felt the same about Gilmore. What I won't do, however, is label the current strategy of team-building as a mistake until I see how it plays out on the field.

He reminds me of Paxton Lynch for some reason...which doesn't bode well for his long-term grade on my board.

FWIW, he knocked his written apology out of the park: http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/2/28/14769044/baker-mayfield-arrest-apology-oklahoma-sooners Turning to his physical stature, I'm not sure. I think he'll be in the conversation based on skill (I've thought very highly of him since his TTU days), but his size will affect it for sure. It could end up a Trubisky situation in that regard--where Mitchell silenced any concerns by measuring in at 6'2" at the combine. Either way, if Baker goes out and continues to show poise, accuracy, and decision-making, I think he'll be fine as long as he crests 6'0".

It's definitely something to monitor, however (after reading the story), I think you can probably file that under "kid got drunk and acted like a drunk kid" for now... Now, if it turns out, over time, to be part of a larger pattern of behavior, then yeah, I'd steer clear.

In what's sure to be a most boring retort, John: I completely agree with most of that. The only place we even partially disagree is that I have no problem moving up for Zay if they truly felt that he was significantly better than the next-best WR.

I've done initial work-ups on Mayfield, Rosen, Darnold, Allen, Browning, Rudolph, Falk, Thorson, Fitzgerald, Speight, Stanton, and Francois thus far If I have to give a top grade, right now it goes to Mayfield, but I've identified 7-8 that I want to watch closely.

All anyone needs to know about the value of the CB position in the NFL is that it's the 2nd-highest paid position by AAV behind QB. If someone intends to read that, and then marginalize its importance, well, I think that person would be off their proverbial rocker so to speak. As far as White's selection goes, how about we let him participate in an NFL contest before we conclude that he's anything? FWIW, he was--get this--No. 27 on my top-100, so for me, the value matched the slot perfectly. As for the impact that corners can have on the game, let's not be ridiculous here; there are plenty of examples: - The Giants drafted Eli Apple 10th overall and signed Janoris Jenkins, and their defense went from 24th overall in YPA against in 2015 to 7th overall in 2016--they also won 4 more games and made the playoffs. - The Jaguars drafted Jalen Ramsey 5th overall, and their defense went from 28th overall in YPA against in 2015 to 2nd overall in 2016 - Do I even need to reference the impact that Marcus Peters had on KC's defense? This is just a small sample. You can get mad at previous player selections like Whitner, and say that they were the wrong players. Fine. That's reasonable. To say that the position isn't (a) worth a certain level of investment, or (b) falls below what are very clearly lower-paid and lower-valued NFL positions, would be the height of folly IMO.