Posts Tagged ‘Ndamukong Suh’

As with any other sporting event, we are naturally interested in crowning winners and losers for the NFL Combine. These are top level athletes known for their competitive fire and desire to win. There is no doubt that the prospects on the field this week were competing against each other in some form or fashion. For that reason, I think it is interesting to toss my two bits into the arena of opinion and name some winners and losers for this year’s Combine.

Combine Winners

Ndamukong Suh (NFL.com)

Bruce Campbell

Just a dominant overall performance by Campbell.  He looked fantastic in every drill on Saturday.  Did his workout catch the eye of Al Davis and the offensive tackle-hungry Oakland Raiders?

Ndamukong Suh

Talk about nimble…. Suh was like a dancing bear. It was absolutely evident that he was prepared to compete at the Combine.  32 reps on the bench could be a key factor in separating himself from Gerald McCoy who only had 23 reps.

Taylor Mays

NFL scouts in attendance said that Mays’ actual clocked time in the 40 was closer to the 4.24 than his official time of 4.43.  He was nearly as fast as advertised.

Jerry Hughes

Strength still a concern for Hughes, but there will be no questions about his athleticism and ability to transition to 3-4 OLB at the next level after putting on a display in agility during drills.

Eric Berry

Came in bigger and stronger than expected. His drills were very clean, and he ran a fast 4.47  in the 40, coupled with an amazing 43 inch vertical.

Trent Williams

Superb speed (4.88 sec) and fantastic footwork firmly plants Williams within the top 10 of the Draft.  The doubts concerning his height were squashed, too.  He is a solid 6′4” plus change.

Sam Bradford

Bradford has to be on this list, even though he didn’t work out.  He checked out medically, which means he is again a serious contender for the #1 overall pick.

Jahvid Best

Best ran the fastest 40 time of all the running backs (4.35 sec).  That is always a momentum shifter.

Jacoby Ford

Fastest man at the combine (4.28 sec) will catch the eye of evaluators.  Speed causes teams to overlook a multitude of flaws.

Dorin Dickerson

The Pittsburgh prospect was better than Jared Cook last year. Dickerson was the top tight end performer in the 40-yard dash (4.40 sec), broad jump (10′10”) and vertical leap (43 inch). He also posted great marks in the bench press ( 24 reps), 3-cone drill, and 20-yard shuttle.  Teams will be very intrigued by his athleticism.

Devin McCourty

Of all the defensive backs, McCourty looked the smoothest in drills. His strong suit is fluidity in his transition and breaks on the ball.  He made himself some money on Tuesday.

Ryan Matthews

An very good overall, especially for a big running back (6′0,” 218 lbs.) workout might have been enough to push Matthews into the 1st round.  He ran a fast 4.45 in the 40, and was a top performer in the vertical leap, 20-yard shuttle, and bench press.

Combine Losers

Joe Haden (NFL.com)

Joe Haden

His slow 40 time (somewhere around 4.58-4.62) shocked me.  His tape is fantastic, but he has to answer the speed questions to maintain top corner status.

Rolando McClain

Was the pulled hamstring a ploy?  Probably not, but I wanted to see McClain answer questions I have about his speed.

Carlos Dunlap

This was supposed to be his time to shine. But his workout was very average. He looked clumsy when moving laterally, and his straight line speed wasn’t near what was expected.

Dez Bryant

I want to know why he didn’t work out.

Anthony Davis

Concerns about his work ethic were confirmed by his lack of preparation.  Apparently, he looked soft in the middle, and his 23 bench press reps were not impressive for a man of his size.

Donovan Warren

An unofficial 4.58 sec in the 40 isn’t great for a cornerback. Warren wasn’t a top performer in any category.

Brandon Spikes

Another one of those guys who didn’t run for one reason or another.  This raises a red flag regarding his timed speed.  We know he is a great football player, but we wanted to see how good an athlete he is.

Dan LeFevour

No good reason given for not throwing.  Thes4e quarterbacks don’t seem to understand that scouts only want to see their footwork and delivery. Accuracy really doesn’t matter at the combine.

Rich Eisen

Good ol’ Rich…. I thought maybe this would be the year he broke 6.0 in the 40. Guess we will have to wait until next year. Hopefull, he will wear better exercise clothes than a suit next time.

On Thursday, April 22nd, we will gather together to witness the NFL Draft, appearing for the first time on prime time television. But assuredly, this will be a special occasion for yet another reason, an event which has been seen only once before, back in 1970. Barring catastrophe, two defensive tackles should join the elite, counting themselves among the rare few to be chosen in the top 5 of the NFL Draft.
These two fine players have waged a proverbial war in the trenches all season to be considered not only the best at their position, but the finest prospect of 2010. We all are familiar with the aptly-named Ndamukong Suh, who left an indelible impression on all who watched him almost single handedly throttle Texas in the Big 12 Championship game. But his peer, Gerald Mccoy, has quietly garnered attention from NFL evaluators for his talent for disruption.

What most people may not realize is just how little separates these two, a race that may not be concluded until negotiation time, just days before the Draft begins.

So, let’s take a closer look, shall we?

Ndamukong Suh’s rise to the top has been meteoric, to say the least. In August, all but the most astute were aware of the lineman from Nebraska. Seven months later, he is a household name, and the people’s choice for number 1 overall to the St. Louis Rams. His well-deserved reputation in most circles is such that it is quite uncommon to hear someone try to find holes in his game.  I mean think about it, the guy finished the season with 12.5 sacks, and led his team in tackles…as a defensive tackle, for crying out loud! All this led to him earning consensus 1st team All-American honors as well as being invited to the Heisman Trophy award ceremony, which hasn’t honored a defensive lineman this way since Warren Sapp. In addition to this high honor, Suh came away with virtually every other award imaginable: the Lombardi Trophy, Outland Trophy, Bednarik Award, and the distinguished Nagurski Trophy for defensive player of the year.

All the buzz and awards seem to point to the obvious fact that Ndamukong Suh will be the number #1 pick of the draft. The majority of draft sites, including high profile sites like ESPN, NFLdraftscout, and Scout.com consider Suh to be the best defensive lineman available in this draft. But in NFL circles, another name is thought to be more deserving of that spot.

Pro Football Weekly’s draft writer Nolan Nawrocki recently published his evaluation of the top underclassmen in the draft. And although I don’t endorse the order of some of his picks, his reasoning regarding one player in particular is quite intriguing:

1. Oklahoma DT Gerald McCoy — A strong, disruptive, explosive inside rusher who has been dominating the college football scene since he stepped onto the field, McCoy has warranted higher grades from NFL evaluators than Nebraska’s Ndamukong Suh and stands a legitimate chance to be the first overall pick in the NFL draft.

Gerald McCoy earned the respect of scouts early on in his career, to a point where he could have declared for the draft as a redshirt sophomore and still would have been considered a top 15 pick. However, he came back to school to earn his degree, and to improve his abilities for one more year. His production was more modest than Suh’s, recording 6 sacks and 32 tackles this season. He was a finalist for the Lombardi Award and earned 1st or 2nd team All-American depending on which source you look at.

This begs the question, how can Gerald McCoy still be considered a better pro prospect by NFL scouts than Ndamukong Suh? The answer is concealed within the game tape.

First of all, McCoy is viewed as a very polished, true 3-technique penetrator. He is very violent and extremely disruptive, slipping off blocks like water on rock.  He has solid character, works extremely hard, and is surprisingly durable.  And at 6′4, 295 (with a frame to hold more weight) he possesses the wide girth necessary to hold up in the interior. Most importantly, even though he doesn’t always make the big play himself, McCoy affects plays with frightening regularity, which is perhaps the number one reason why scouts love him.

In comparison, Suh is an extremely powerful player with great quickness and superior balance. He has been unblockable at times, even against double teams. Nevertheless, he is viewed as a somewhat raw prospect compared to McCoy because his form of dominance in the college game may not work nearly as well in the pros. His natural abilities are so great that he has been dominant at the college level without having to develop much of a pass rush repertoire. He relies too heavily on his strength, which could cause some problems when trying to acclimate to the pro game. In the NFL, strength alone is almost never enough to make a player great unless you’re a revolutionary player (which Suh could be). The offensive linemen are simply too powerful for a one-trick pony to beat consistently, especially one who weighs less than 300 pounds (and could very well weigh in around 285-290 at the Scouting Combine).  At best, he is going to need some coaching at the next level to learn how to beat linemen in other ways. In the worst case, he might be asked to make a position change to end, where he probably could be a dominant force just like Richard Seymour. If teams believe he can successfully make that position switch, thus playing at a level not unlike Richard Seymour, then his awesome value remains in tact.

I just can’t get that Big 12 Championship game out of my head. Gerald McCoy never was able to single handedly control a game like that.

Suh absolutely took over that game in a way that I have never seen before from an interior lineman. That is the tantalizing upside to which I previously referred.  My only question about that game is whether he can do such a thing consistently at the next level, because those Texas interior linemen had been a weakness for the Longhorns all season.

Ultimately, we have to factor circumstances into why McCoy may be selected over Suh. The first four teams in this draft (St. Louis, Detroit, Tampa Bay, and Washington) all run 4-3 defenses, which seems to favor McCoy. And now that we know the powers that be believe that Gerald McCoy has better realized ability than Ndamukong Suh as a defensive tackle prospect, it seems all is working in his favor right now. Suh’s potential may be greater, but his NFL readiness isn’t near that of McCoy.  And like it or not, that matters in this league. But can a team justifiably pass on potentially the can’t miss player of the decade?  Because that carries some weight, too.

Based on your experience, who is the better  pro prospect and why?

Recently, I was having a conversation with my friend Ty, author of The Lions in Winter blog, shooting the breeze about Lions-related news and some Draft morsels.  I told him about how I’ve been calculating strength of schedule for several of the league’s bottom feeders. He pointed out to me, the latest buzz about the draft is all about which team will get Ndamukong Suh. I’ve peeked around NFL fan forums and draft message boards to confirm this statement, and it most certainly is the case.

So here’s the truth. Week 15 of the NFL regular season has changed everything.

Before this week, there were 3 teams with a decent shot at getting Suh. Tampa Bay was holding the number 1 draft spot, until they smothered the Seattle Seahawks, and Cleveland was nipping at their heels with the number 3 slot. However, both teams miraculously won their games, thus pushing them both behind Detroit. Now, the draft order should look like this:

1. St. Louis Rams
2. Detroit Lions
3. Tampa Bay Bucs
4. Cleveland Browns

In order for the Lions to maintain this number 2 draft slot, they must maintain a weaker strength of schedule than the Bucs. Considering that the Lions have a nine game advantage over the Bucs with only two weeks remaining, it seems likely that Detroit will be selecting ahead of Tampa in April.

Right now, here is how each team stands in strength of schedule in terms of win-loss record:

Detroit Lions opponents: 115-108  (0.51570 %)

Tampa Bay Bucs opponents: 124-98 (0.55856 %)

Finally, the main reason that Detroit will land Suh in the draft is because St. Louis should be drafting a QB with the number 1 overall pick. This is a quarterback-driven league, and although the Rams need to upgrade their pass rush, they will decide to replace Marc Bulger with a young signal caller.

The only way that I see Detroit passing up Suh is if they are given a blockbuster deal worth at least two 1st round picks, and will allow the Lions to pick outside the top 10 for once.