Flugel

Speaking of washed up, Hallmark fired Cupid when they found an unparalleled love someone had for Barkley on this board. Rumor has it Cupid was last spotted trying to talk Tom Coughlin into Leonard Fournette's long term future in Jax. Unfortunately, Coughlin already got the Love Po. Stay tuned for what a GREAT kid Kareem Hunt is... Good thing too; because we haven't had a Mother Teresa on the roster since Josh Gordon left us for a cup of coffee in New England....

Had me at "The Scottish Hammer." If Farmer was still here the first thing that would come to mind is "yeah but is he sober?"

Good point Tia! Bowles DOES use a lot of 1 gap in his 3-4 especially when he's had the personnel to green light it. For example, when he took over the DC position in Arizona - he made a lot of guys upfront really happy he didn't square peg the round hole Horton preferred to do all the time. Your better Coordinators don't stay married to 1 scheme for an alignment. That was a big reason he was hired by the Jets that got stale with Rex's preferred schematics in the 3-4. Bowles will vary the 1-gap vrs 2-gap schemes up front depending on personnel as well wide side of field/formations faced. Pettine said he didn't always agree with Rex when he was his DC either. All that said, Vita Vea will be on the Nose in Tampa. Now I have to edit the rest because I got it all wrong yesterday. Vea isn't best suited for 2 gap Meat and Greet at line of scrimmage. He's actually best suited for 1 gap Beat and Eat in the backfield. Here's the pre-draft scouting report reflecting this: Vita Vea, 6-5/332 Defensive Tackle Washington Vita Vea Scouting Report By Charlie Campbell Strengths: Surprising athleticism Explosive defender Good instincts Very disruptive Physical force at the point of attack Tough run defender who can hold his gap Excellent run defender Good burst off the snap Has some pass-rushing skills Collapses the pocket Can destroys guards and centers with a bull rush Flashes speed to run by them Very strong Very quick for his size Closes well for a heavy tackle Ability to shed blocks Frees up edge rushers, linebackers Can play with good leverage Uses bull rush to push the pocket Perfect fit as a 3-4 nose tackle Good fit as a 4-3 tackle Eats up double teams Good motor Gives a second effort Awareness Upside

This won't cure Vag's feminine itch; but NFL Channel Analyst Curtis Conway agrees this guy was the steal of the draft in round 5. I sure get the sense Saban felt like if he returned for his senior year - his football program would have put another LBer in the first round of an NFL Draft.

Exactly. They did draft DT Vita Vea in round 1 of 2018. Ironically, he had a nagging leg injury that kept him sidelined for the first 5-6 weeks or so. Then he had to gradually increase his reps. Near the end of the season - he started to look like the solid starter they hoped he'd be. More irony? He might even be better suited to play NT when they switch to a 3-4 under Todd Bowles in 2019. He's not Buster Hymen with the penetration; but he'll fill 2 gaps real good according to Miss Behavin...

Well said! Believe it or not, it was frequently brought up on local radio throughout 2018 when his career wear and tear was sidelining him once again. A big part of his depreciation on the field is he's never healthy enough to get back in some semblance of the football shape he used to be in. I'm thinking their FO pretty much had this in mind when they drafted Vita Vea out Cal in round 1 last year. The radio hosts are constantly reminding callers that making 6 Pro Bowls for the Bucs when healthy isn't exactly pond scum. I'm guessing social media isn't giving him the kinder, gentler either... Right now, the Bucs are so financially challenged in their cap that they can't sign anyone without removing McCoy's cap hit from what's being said. When their salary cap is at check mate with a 5-11 record, their fans gotta realize there's way bigger problems than 1 symptom (McCoy). They might have to put Carl Nassib in charge of their cap; and that ain't good... All that said, I think we should go after him after Tampa has to cut him. He wouldn't start over Richardson or Ogunjobi; but he could give us reliable depth/rotation reps with fresh legs. I remember back in the 1978 when we had Greg Pruitt, Cleo Miller and a young Mike Pruitt - we signed a 31 year old Calvin Hill who many were calling Calvin Over-the-Hill due to his bad knees and overall wear and tear. However, whenever we called on him - he ended up contributing 7 TDs (6 pass 1 run), 623 yards from scrimmage and the most yards receiving per game from any of our RBs. He was a much better story here than his book cover promoted at the time. Maybe it's just the fan in me talking; but I think McCoy can bring a very similar reliability to the same career back to the wall situation Hill came out of. Reading and hearing all the hate after 6 Pro Bowl efforts puts a very talented football player back into a something to prove mentality. I wouldn't mind us being the beneficiary of that kind of thang.

And you didn't inhale what you were smoking before you posted that. Now I gotta go change the batteries you wore out on my bullshit detector...

Production improved in 2018, which is WHY he started and stayed on the field. A lot of other LBs that don't think they can start for a team that frequents National Championships choose to play at schools like Michigan. What part of Nick Saban's panic attacks about the kid entering the draft didn't you understand? If you look at passes defensed in 2018, Mack had 7 while both of the Devins had 6. Do you know what beats speed? Instincts. And they aren't measuring it at the combines or the workouts. Ray Lewis wasn't discovered with a stop watch. Shazier was though. The problem with that is film showed he tackled way too frequently with the crown of his helmet. Now, before you James Harrison me - Shazier doesn't have the neck circumference of an oak tree to survive the Harrison style of play; so he didn't. Over the years (inclusive of Ohio State), Shazier missed a lot of tackles with the head down not seeing what he was supposed to be tackling. I heard he was a great kid though... Here's some more highlights of mack:

I found this piece of an article really interesting: According to Alex Byington of the Montgomery Advertiser, Saban made several last-ditch efforts to get Wilson to return for his senior season at Alabama. The Crimson Tide coach even reached out to Wilson’s mother and godfather, Todd Dowell, for assistance in keeping the linebacker in school. For Saban, it came down to one thing, Wilson needing more time and experience to become ready for life in the NFL. In response to that issue, Dowell asked Saban a question the coach must not have been prepared to answer. “You’ve had him three years. What are you going to do in a year that you haven’t done in three?” Dowell asked Saban. “He couldn’t answer.” ****************************************************************************************************************************************** My guess is if the kid sucked - Saban doesn't beg like that. No need to. He only goes to that length if he has high expectations for Wilson.

That wouldn't suck at all Gips!

Aside from the hits, do you know what really jumped out at me in the video? He's got a collage of INTs telling me he's pretty freakin good in coverage. He may not have the foot speed of Bush or White; but if he has elite 1st step instinct he can be just as effective/better in zone coverage. For example, PFW indicates White and Bush both had 6 passes defensed in 2018 while Mack Wilson had 7.

I heard an interesting spin from Peter Schrager about what Seattle is trying to do. They just made Wilson the highest paid player so they prefer to build around the mid-late rounds of the draft (even drafted Russell Wilson in the 3rd rd the 1 year all the mock drafts only had eyes for Luck and RG3 in gotta-have round 1 territory). Not only that, their GM is either the next Jed Clampett striking oil by accident with all the late round gems he landed or he's pretty freakin good at doing that. Applying this to us as much as we can, we've been signing the rock star FAs in the last 2 years while we also found our franchise QB at the 1st pick overall (who's going to demand a much bigger contract within the next few years if the success continues). If you can draft in the mid-late rounds and find the buried treasures that went undrafted - you can perpetuate a healthy salary cap like Seattle did for a decent length of time. Let's hope we do something like that this year.

😄 Hoorta doesn't drink and drive. That's getting FedEx'd.

That or he borrowed Gipper's cell phone...

I'm not sure any 1 game is going to change anyone's opinion that is already skeptical; but thanks for sharing that matchup. Here's another highlight showing clips from throughout his college career that prolly won't change any conclusions already made either.

Really good points Nero! For example, even a dynasty builder like Bill Walsh drafted Hofstra QB Giovanni Carmazzi instead of Michigan QB Tom Brady. Or the Pittsburgh franchise that drafted their way to a dynasty didn't take Pitt's Dan Marino in the 83 draft when the QBs for the Steelers were Terry Bradshaw (in his final season), Mark Malone, and Cliff Stoudt. April is way too early for final conclusions on a draft pick. That said, the streets of Nashville just reminded us fan isn't just a prefix of fantastic!

Lindy's Draft Guide has him as the #3 rated ILB as a true junior in 2018 with a 2nd round projection. Here's a video I found: I still fondly remember when Greg Loyd tried to spear Kevin Mack. More specifically, Loyd took a field trip to Mars and woke up to smelling salts thinking he was in Pluto. The poor knuckleheads that had to carry his asss off the field had to say "Welcome to Cleveland!" In honor of the warm fuzzies, here's a song for the new badasss in town named Mack:

There's 2 choices with a piece of shit: 1. Let it float and stink -or- 2. Flush it bye bye to the sewers

Wow! It's gonna be a lot of fun to watch this trio of corners (in our extra DB packages): Denzel Ward, Greedy Williams and Terrance Mitchell - especially behind an improved pass rush.

I get the surprise of a prospect being drafted ahead of the projections; but I don't get your level of protest over it at the 80th pick overall. Way too much Ticky-Tacky about Takitaki regardless of what Flip Flop Digest, the Weird Herald and your other football sources are telling you. Here's the stats for the OLB we drafted: 2014 11 GP 19 TFL 4.0 TFL 3.O SACKS 0 PD 1 FF 2015 6 GP 21 TKL 7.0 TFL 3.5 SACKS 0 PD 1 FF 2017 13 GP 79 TKL 12.5 TFL 5.0 SACKS 2 PD O FF 2018 13 GP 118 TKL 9.0 TFL 3.0 SACKS 3 PD 0 FF During the 2017 and 2018 seasons he started, he had 21.5 TFL, 8 sacks, 5 passes defensed and 197 tackles. As a part timer in his 1st 2 years, he had 11 TFL, 6.5 sacks, and 40 tackles. Looks like Takitaki can bring the sacky-sacky and tackles for losses for the right taker. Let's see what happens before we go skydiving without parachutes...

Just telling it like it is! I hit the deck LMAO at the Chocolate Laurinaitis. It only makes sense to share a video with Vanilla Chocolate Ice doing the lyrics and music (that people may wanna mute) of his 2017 season at Illinois. I agree with your analysis. Understanding what we saw in the previous video of his senior year, this guy sure comes up with a lot of turnovers defending the pass for a MIKE. Great assets to bring to an NFL Defense in a passing era. I hope he didn't transfer to Maryland just to get on the Ratbirds' radar. But if he DID, I could see that plan getting intercepted by Dorsey-Doe.

Nice job with that Mike! I read the same story during my lunch hour at work yesterday. I've always felt there's something to be said for a guy with something to prove. Aside from the speed thing, the thing that jumped out at me was the kid that was looking for his next meal and place to sleep loved to work out through it all. I have a feeling that work ethic quality portion of his determination impressed Alonzo Highsmith while the 4.3 speed didn't hurt.

Here's a video of Watson that isn't hard to look at but you might want to mute the Ghoolie-esque lyrics...

Mitchell, when healthy last year, looked to be top notch for a #2 corner. If a rookie can come in here and beat out Mitchell, that would make our top 3 corners as good as any in this league (especially with an improved pass rush). That wouldn't suck at all... As outrageous as this sounds - the problem wasn't depth at corner last year. It was injuries to our depth (during the time we went without one or both starters at corner). Both guys named Gaines got injured to the extent Randall had to be our 3rd corner during some of our games. That's just REAL bad luck when you can only commit so many active roster spots to the position.

Tell, you what Mike. When you told me LAST SPRING you had this feeling OBJ would be a Cleveland Brown within the next year - I thought you got into your grandson's glue. Another time you brought it up, I didn't want to buzz kill those nice cold Leg Humpers you were powering down. All I could say is I'll believe that when I see it. I almost called you an ambulance when you said "Just remember who told you first." Well done my man! Way to go Dorsey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!