Chris Baker expected to sign with Bengals

[3wt]

(03-08-2018, 03:22 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Yep, and I'm thinking we take Edmunds....

I kind of hope not.

He's the type of guy with the potential to derail an attempt to upgrade the team:   a high ceiling guy with incredible measurables, but who a number of guys in the media (Ross Tucker [with Greg Cosell in agreement if I remember correctly] expressed concerns in a podcast that he does not play like his measurable and appears to have problems with recognition and decision-making).

Drew Boylhart from the Huddle Report:

CONCERNS -  "Tremaine struggles mentally on the field and this suggest that he doesn’t do a lot of film work or…he struggles to bring what he does in practice to the game. He really looks lost out there at times and does not show leadership skills because of this issue. That being said he might look lost because he went to class and studied and that means it might take some time for Tremaine to catch up on the field mentally but when he does he will impact big time. The talent, size, speed, and unique cover skills say so."

and even Lance Zierlein in his very positive review in NFL.com:

"WEAKNESSES:Instincts are average and relies on athletic gifts. Can be a step slow to diagnose. Lured by misdirection. Will take random downhill paths that trap him in the quagmire. Patience is lacking. Races ahead of plays and voids his leverage and run fits at times. Needs to add more upper and lower body strength. Average base strength and high center of gravity create issues holding up at the point of attack. Needs to be quicker to punch in order to maintain clearance. Mental busts in man coverage hurt his team. Takes time to process moving pieces."

I think he's a high risk/ high reward player.   He has the potential to be all world, but when the mental part of his game comes into question I get very concerned.   I mean if it's just a matter of learning what he has not been exposed to, fine.   But if he just doesn't have it upstairs there's no cure.   I think of Gresham, Ogbuehi and Brian Bosworth.  Given the failures of our last several whiffs I don't think we should take the risk.

I really like Rashaad Evans.   12 is high for him, but I think he is a very reliable pick that doesn't have the high end measurable, but plays really good on film.   He'd be a big upgrade in the middle that would change our defense.  Really high floor and possible higher ceiling than folks think.   Reports are that he has really grown in the last 2 years.

I'm very concerned he'll be a Steeler.