08-15-2017, 01:50 PM
(08-15-2017, 01:09 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: The surprising part is, as much as his shortcomings are pointed out, regardless of the report, he was still considered a 1st or 2nd round pick. Even with all the negatives and maybes.
Not surprising though that a team would value athleticism. Quickness and speed...any coach believes he can teach/correct the fundamentals of the technique. That's probably a bigger flaw than anything.
I've watched a few TAMU games in the past and a couple recently. The biggest thing that pops out to me are how easily it seems he gets off balance and how tall he plays. He seems/seemed to engage and bow his back after absorbing contact. It's never looked pretty.
I'm always a little reluctant to engage in these kinds of discussions when i'm not completely confident in what i'm fighting for. I get everything you're saying. You're critiquing his technique and his ability to improve it. Where it was and where it still is. I'm looking at it more as Ced the football player. Snap by snap, is he keeping his guy off his ball carriers. In that department, i don't see how anyone can say he's not improved from last year. Albeit, one half of one preseason game.
The surprising part is, he shouldn't have been a first round pick. His tape was never that good. Teams got enamored by his measurables and hype. It happens all the time.
Teams are run by humans. They make mistakes and have flaws too.
He never had the right kind of quickness but they raved about his athleticism so people bought it.
The biggest issue with Ced is that he was a first round pick when he never should have been. He was injured and had serious technique issues. He was a project from day 1.
Plenty of OL guys (Duke Manyweather, Geoff Schwartz etc) have been saying there is a problem in the league with identifying and developing OL. Part of it starts in college and there is a problem in the NFL too.
Teams that get it, seem to always strike gold there. Other teams...not so much.
Extreme example is Dallas.
Why does Dallas always seem to find great talent?
Tyron, La'el, Martin, Cleary, Fredrick...etc
Because they get guys who have a clear defined set of traits that are great for building a productive offensive linemen.
Remember, people thought they were insane drafting Travis Fredrick (I was one of them) and they proved everyone wrong.
They were ahead of the game in scouting and developing OL.
