REAL FOOTBALL Thread

[Tapate50]

Jamaar Chase was possibly the best WR prospect since Julio. I said at the time they should have taken Chase as Julio's replacement. And he was an AP as a rookie, so looks like I was right.

That was my take as well.

[zitothebrave]

Jamaar Chase was possibly the best WR prospect since Julio. I said at the time they should have taken Chase as Julio's replacement. And he was an AP as a rookie, so looks like I was right.

Wouldn't ahve been mad with Chase. He's a stud. But Pitts is a once in a life time TE. This is potentially Tony Gonzalez, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Gates, Jeremy Shockey, etc. This is a rare TE.

[Tapate50]

He might be.

Vernon Davis was pretty athletic too.

[zitothebrave]

He might be.

Vernon Davis was pretty athletic too.

Davis was a raw athlete though. Pitts is physically gifted and can play the position. David had route running concerns, hands concerns, etc. those aren't issues with Pitts.

[striker42]

I think Pitts is a good player, he was just absolutely not what the Falcons needed. A tremendously gifted TE who would make a pretty immediate impact is something for a team closer to contention than the Falcons. By going with him the Falcons put themselves further from contention. I'm generally for going BPA but the BPA has to make some kind of sense. Pitts was the BPA but he made no sense for the Falcons (unless the new regime thought they were closer to competing than they were). The whole reason Pitts fell to the Falcons was because the teams picking earlier had other needs.

If I was Terry Fontenot, I'd be shopping Pitts for picks. He'd be EXTREMELY valuable for a team that's in its window to compete. A second year TE that went over 1,000 yards receiving as a rookie could get multiple first rounders and the Falcons have so many holes they need all the picks they can get.

But the Falcons wont do that. Instead they'll keep him, make more bad decisions, and never be close to competing while Pitts is on his rookie contract.

[Carp]

Wouldn't ahve been mad with Chase. He's a stud. But Pitts is a once in a life time TE. This is potentially Tony Gonzalez, Rob Gronkowski, Antonio Gates, Jeremy Shockey, etc. This is a rare TE.

But even a rare TE isn't as valuable as an elite WR. Give me a Julio over Gronk all day, every day.

[cajunrevenge]

Pitts is valuable on his rookie contract. When he hits FA he will most likely want elite WR money. He might play well.enough to earn that money but you dont win by paying players what their production is worth.

[zitothebrave]

I think Pitts is a good player, he was just absolutely not what the Falcons needed. A tremendously gifted TE who would make a pretty immediate impact is something for a team closer to contention than the Falcons. By going with him the Falcons put themselves further from contention. I'm generally for going BPA but the BPA has to make some kind of sense. Pitts was the BPA but he made no sense for the Falcons (unless the new regime thought they were closer to competing than they were). The whole reason Pitts fell to the Falcons was because the teams picking earlier had other needs.

If I was Terry Fontenot, I'd be shopping Pitts for picks. He'd be EXTREMELY valuable for a team that's in its window to compete. A second year TE that went over 1,000 yards receiving as a rookie could get multiple first rounders and the Falcons have so many holes they need all the picks they can get.

But the Falcons wont do that. Instead they'll keep him, make more bad decisions, and never be close to competing while Pitts is on his rookie contract.

I mean I wanted Sewell. I get why we went with Pitts, though I think it's dumb.

Hoenstly I don't disagree I'd shop pitts 2. Put it out there for a team we'd trade him for 2 1s a 2 and a 3. Especially for a team who needs a weapon but is light on cash. Falcons just have no talent they need as many picks as they can get.

[zitothebrave]

But even a rare TE isn't as valuable as an elite WR. Give me a Julio over Gronk all day, every day.

I largely agree, but you win championships with a TE mismatch like that. the elite WR gets you to the playoffs but the mismatch gets you points when they matter.

[striker42]

And the Falcons take a WR. Granted the choices weren't great but a WR is still a bit of a luxury. No QB, an O-Line that let's more people through than the gates at Disney World, and a pass rush that purely aspirational. But man will the pass catchers run some pretty routes.

[Tapate50]

Not sure I loved much else on the board.

I kinda thought that was the pick all along but just not the guy out of usc

[zitothebrave]

Falcons are gonna suck for at least one more year. Need to build up the future. If London is the BPA I like it. But I would have taken Johnson or Cross personally.

[striker42]

Falcons are gonna suck for at least one more year. Need to build up the future. If London is the BPA I like it. But I would have taken Johnson or Cross personally.

The more I look into London the less I like him. He's big but he lacks top end speed and only has average acceleration. Half his catches were within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage.

What Kiper said was that while he made a ton of contested catches in college, that means he rarely had separation. If you can't get separation in college, the pros will be difficult.

London seems almost like a TE that happens to line up wide. More a possession receiver than a HR hitter.

The Falcons will be bad for a very, very long time with this staff and front office.

[cajunrevenge]

London was a terrible pick imo. There's some situations I think London can be good. If there's a dynamic offense I think London could do well as a third option. If he is paired with a dynamic deep threat like Tyreek Hill. Possibly with a QB with elite short game passing like Drew Brees was. If he doesn't have someone else to draw the focus of the defense I think he will bust hard. Honestly I didn't like any of the available options for the Falcons.




One positive thing that has come from the draft coverage this year is I can now tell who knows what they are talking about and who is guessing. No one with any inside knowledge or basic football knowledge thought the Saints were taking a QB in round 1 much less trade both first round picks for one. So this was very helpful in weeding out the people saying off their guesswork as inside knowledge.

[Tapate50]

it helps that pretty much only the pundits (that do this every year) hype qbs into the top 10 that have no business being there

[striker42]

London almost profiles more as a skinny TE who can't block than he does a WR. Look at his strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:
Tall with a big catch radius
Physical catcher
Great at making contested catches
Fights for YAC
Caught a ton of balls in the games he played in

Weaknesses:
Below average speed and acceleration
Almost half his catches were within 5 yards of the line
Tons of contested catches meant when he was going downfield he rarely got separation

That's the pass catching profile of a TE. A big possession receiver that can't outrun DBs but can catch passes in traffic and move the chains. That's a useful guy to have but not really a star, not worth a top 10 pick, and absolutely not something a team should draft that has as many gaping holes as Atlanta.

It's crazy to think the last two years the Falcons went for the same mold player with top 10 picks. Neither of which is a guy you can build a team around.

[zitothebrave]

London was a terrible pick imo. There's some situations I think London can be good. If there's a dynamic offense I think London could do well as a third option. If he is paired with a dynamic deep threat like Tyreek Hill. Possibly with a QB with elite short game passing like Drew Brees was. If he doesn't have someone else to draw the focus of the defense I think he will bust hard. Honestly I didn't like any of the available options for the Falcons.




One positive thing that has come from the draft coverage this year is I can now tell who knows what they are talking about and who is guessing. No one with any inside knowledge or basic football knowledge thought the Saints were taking a QB in round 1 much less trade both first round picks for one. So this was very helpful in weeding out the people saying off their guesswork as inside knowledge.

I mean everyone is just guessing unless they're in with the club.

London I think is better than what you say. But like I said, my only opinoin is he BPA. I think the fact that he occupies a similar role to Pitts isn't necessarily bad. If you couple those 2 with someone who can just move and create seperation it will create all kinds of miss matches. Which if Ridley ever plays for Atlanta again would be him.

Theoretically, if Atlanta sucks really hard this year and can draft one of the premier QBs next year, or honestly if he's there Malik Willis at 43 would be a good value pick to spend a year learning the system while Mariota gets rocked then you can draft a stud OL next year to protect Willis.

[zitothebrave]

London almost profiles more as a skinny TE who can't block than he does a WR. Look at his strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:
Tall with a big catch radius
Physical catcher
Great at making contested catches
Fights for YAC
Caught a ton of balls in the games he played in

Weaknesses:
Below average speed and acceleration
Almost half his catches were within 5 yards of the line
Tons of contested catches meant when he was going downfield he rarely got separation

That's the pass catching profile of a TE. A big possession receiver that can't outrun DBs but can catch passes in traffic and move the chains. That's a useful guy to have but not really a star, not worth a top 10 pick, and absolutely not something a team should draft that has as many gaping holes as Atlanta.

It's crazy to think the last two years the Falcons went for the same mold player with top 10 picks. Neither of which is a guy you can build a team around.

His speed isn't below average, his acceleration is. Which is a problem. The idea that every WR is around a 4.4 40 is I think a product of a bygone era. I think with the heavy focus on strong DL we'll see a slight move back to the more West Coast style offense of the 3 step drop and pass to alleviate that. FOotball is cyclical things go in and out of favor depending on talent.

[striker42]

His speed isn't below average, his acceleration is. Which is a problem. The idea that every WR is around a 4.4 40 is I think a product of a bygone era. I think with the heavy focus on strong DL we'll see a slight move back to the more West Coast style offense of the 3 step drop and pass to alleviate that. FOotball is cyclical things go in and out of favor depending on talent.

Hard to say for sure considering he refused to run the 40. When a player refuses to do that I have to assume it's because they're afraid it will hurt their draft stock. If he ran a 4.58 then he'd have been a second rounder and I think that's probably about where he'd have been. Houshmandzadeh came out in defense of London saying "Speed is overrated" which is a damning defense.

But either way, you're right that below average acceleration is a problem. It's more important to gaining separation than top speed. DBs usually run as fast or faster than even elite WRs. It's that burst to blow by a guy that's so crucial and London doesn't have it. He's a tall possession receiver which is not something that should go top 10, especially to a team with the Falcons needs.

[zitothebrave]

If London has good top speed (I would hope the falcons scouts adn coaches did their jobs to determine that) you can train burst adn acceleration. As I understand London is a 2 sport athlete and Basketball so being essentially forced to train under one should refine him.