(03-19-2017, 03:02 AM)Jpoore Wrote: Wondering why he is falling so far?? He was a consensus top 10 pick 5 weeks ago, but yet now hes at 17-18-19 in a lot of mocks and still dropping.... Is this due to his poor combine?? If he has an equally poor pro day will he fall to the second? Just a question ive been asking myself lately. Not a fan of his and dont want him but its still weird to me?
There's a number of issues causing him to drop. Scouts are questioning his ability to play 3-4 OLB, and he's not big or strong enough to play 3-4 DE or even reduce inside to 4-3 UT on passing downs. Basically, he's a pure 4-3 RDE and if that's not what you're looking for, he doesn't have much value. The lack of scheme versatility hurts his draft stock, big time, because his number of landing spots is limited. Think Grady Jarrett from a couple of years ago.
Another issue is that he's pretty much a one move wonder as a pass rusher. I haven't seen him beat a draftable guy with a bull rush, yet, and as others have touched on, he doesn't have an inside counter move. His only reliable move is rush outside and try to bend the corner, and even there, he is guessing at the snap count to try and make up for his lack of an elite get off. QB's who are good with the hard count will be able to neutralize him, to a degree. He can be undisciplined and I've seen multiple teams run screens right at him for TD's when he gets overaggressive and goes after the QB instead of recognizing the play.
On the plus side, the kid is a great finisher. I haven't seen a QB escape his grasp, yet.
Bottom line is, he will need at least a year in the weight room to develop the strength for an effective bull rush so he can mix up his rush. As a rookie, he is probably just a situational rusher, and will need the DT's to collapse the pocket to keep QB's from just stepping up in the pocket outside of his arc. He could be a fit for us, since we have Geno inside, but he just doesn't currently have enough ways to win for me to want him at 9. If he slides to the 2nd, I'd run that card up to the podium, though.