Merk
April 20th, 2006, 9:07:30 PM
April 18, 2006) -- The college games are a distant memory, the bowl games, All-Star games and Scouting Combine are long gone, and the personal workouts and pre-draft visits are just about over as teams are making their final preparations for the draft. Now, as club executives sit and look up at their draft boards, they realize that many players have similar or identical grades and there still is work to be done to separate all the players that are grouped together. Now is the time for the scout or coach with a special knowledge of a certain player to stand up on the soap box for a young man and bring something to the table to differentiate one man from another.
Anyone who has been around a team's draft room with just a few days or weeks to go before the draft knows how important it is for the club staff member with the strongest feelings about a certain individual to stand up now or forever hold his peace. It is a form of campaigning for a guy who needs a push right now. If the information provided sparks an interest among the rest of the group in the room then further video study will be initiated or a late visit to the player will be ordered.
Because of my daily radio show at Sirius Radio, the interviews I do for NFL.com and my preparation for NFL Network spots, I talk with many of the draft eligible players each year. A few club executives have asked me about certain individuals and it is something I take very seriously. This pre-draft season has been very revealing when it comes to certain players, and if I were in a draft room this week, there are a few players I would jump up for and defend off the things I have learned about them over the past four months.
The first question on my mind is always: Would I want this guy on my team? Is there any rare athletic ability that gives him the tools to succeed? Is there a humility about the player that convinces me he will stay hungry? And is he bright enough to survive in the world of professional football? You might enjoy what I learned about the following players:
1. Manny Lawson, LB, N.C. State: Here's a college defensive end rising up the draft boards for good reason. He's 6-foot-5, 241 pounds and runs a 4.4 40-yard dash. His 17 sacks in the past two seasons tells a little of his story about the kind of athlete he is, but a conversation I had with him recently told me a lot more. Lawson was offered a basketball scholarship to Davidson College coming out of high school, which tells me he will not struggle in space dropping back in pass coverage in a 3-4 defense. As a high school track-and-field athlete, he triple jumped close to 50 feet and long jumped just under 25 feet, making him one of the best jumpers in the country. As a college defensive end, he was a member of N.C. State's 4x100-meter relay team. Imagine a 6-5 defensive lineman on a sprint relay team -- that is rare! He finished up our conversation telling me his post-football career plans involve his other love, architecture......................
http://nfl.com/draft/story/9382793
Anyone who has been around a team's draft room with just a few days or weeks to go before the draft knows how important it is for the club staff member with the strongest feelings about a certain individual to stand up now or forever hold his peace. It is a form of campaigning for a guy who needs a push right now. If the information provided sparks an interest among the rest of the group in the room then further video study will be initiated or a late visit to the player will be ordered.
Because of my daily radio show at Sirius Radio, the interviews I do for NFL.com and my preparation for NFL Network spots, I talk with many of the draft eligible players each year. A few club executives have asked me about certain individuals and it is something I take very seriously. This pre-draft season has been very revealing when it comes to certain players, and if I were in a draft room this week, there are a few players I would jump up for and defend off the things I have learned about them over the past four months.
The first question on my mind is always: Would I want this guy on my team? Is there any rare athletic ability that gives him the tools to succeed? Is there a humility about the player that convinces me he will stay hungry? And is he bright enough to survive in the world of professional football? You might enjoy what I learned about the following players:
1. Manny Lawson, LB, N.C. State: Here's a college defensive end rising up the draft boards for good reason. He's 6-foot-5, 241 pounds and runs a 4.4 40-yard dash. His 17 sacks in the past two seasons tells a little of his story about the kind of athlete he is, but a conversation I had with him recently told me a lot more. Lawson was offered a basketball scholarship to Davidson College coming out of high school, which tells me he will not struggle in space dropping back in pass coverage in a 3-4 defense. As a high school track-and-field athlete, he triple jumped close to 50 feet and long jumped just under 25 feet, making him one of the best jumpers in the country. As a college defensive end, he was a member of N.C. State's 4x100-meter relay team. Imagine a 6-5 defensive lineman on a sprint relay team -- that is rare! He finished up our conversation telling me his post-football career plans involve his other love, architecture......................
http://nfl.com/draft/story/9382793