Working on the 2011 draft is tough, as it looks like there will be a strike. Will it be a lot of effort with no results? Everyone is guessing what this draft will be like w/o free agency, players participating, etc.. 2011 will likely be different and we have to roll with it. On with the draft observations…
After having gone through the first pass for creating a board, the quick takeaway is that this is a weak draft.
There are some good players, but I have seen few if anyone who is going to dominate anything. After watching about 6 hrs. of the combine, I feel that Julio Jones out of Alabama stole the show. The guy is 6’3 and 230 lbs and he is fast (4.37), strong and most importantly hr has ‘tude. He said he likes to hit. He says he likes to leave it all on the field and he likes to punish the D.B.s. That is very unusual for a wideout and a coaches dream. The question about Julio is his hands, but I saw him in the regular season and the combine. He seemed to have good “paws” so we’ll see. A.J. Green out of Georgia is rated higher. Although he’s very quick, athletic and tall he just didn’t wow me. He too was fast so we’ll see where he goes. It looks like top 7.
Cam Newton as expected is a work in progress. He is a super athlete but he has to learn to play under center, which he never did at Auburn. He is big. He is very fast for a quarterback. He has an Obama-like smile which some find infectious. His passing was poor as he barely hit 50% against no defender and his ball was not the tight spiral you look for. Newton,of course was expelled from Florida for multiple infractions including stealing laptops from the dorm and more. He convincingly said he was past all that but with the incident with his father and an agent fresh no one is just going to ignore that it happened.
I saw Mallet, who does have the big arm, but he interviewed poorly and now the old drug bugaboo has been raised. He sounded like a goof ball when he was interviewed. He is big and he can gun it but there is something lacking in him that is palpable. He will go top 20 if the drug thing is a canard, which I think will prove true. He has some of Eli’s balance issues and he throws wild high but someone will take him for his upside.
Mark Ingram was impressive. He is not particularly fast but he is very quick. He did have the very mediocre senior year. If anything he reminds one of Emmitt Thomas, who was underappreciated coming out of Florida with the same basic style and build of Ingram. There will not be 75 yard touchdown from him as he has the burst and power but lacks the speed.
Tomorrow- Part II.
Reminder- Today is the last day to email your favorite Giants Super Bowl (and reason/s why) for a pair of tickets to the Broadway show Lombardi.
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