REAL FOOTBALL Thread

[striker42]

Montana does not play slow football. Thats...a terrible take.

They are one of the better suited teams to pick from in FCS. If the kid can play all those spots there, he can play in the league. He may be slow to diagnose or over pursue just flat out because he lacks experience at the LB spot.

Andersen went to Montana State. But it's not about whether his team plays "slow football", it's what is the speed of the game the competition is bringing. Big Sky as a whole just isn't going to be as fast of a game as say the ACC which isn't going to be as fast as the SEC which isn't going to be near as fast as the NFL.

It doesn't matter if Andersen ran a 4.4 or a 4.8, if he's slow to diagnose plays he's not going to be successful. Can Andersen learn the position and adjust to the speed of the NFL? Absolutely. I'm just saying that a lot of elite athletes from the top conferences can't adjust to the speed of the NFL. Andersen is starting at a deficit having so little experience and not playing against elite competition so it makes it even harder for him.

[cajunrevenge]

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.

That really sounds like a scouting report for Marques Colston. I think Londons best role is as a big slot receiver. If they have a #1 WR then Pitts and London coming out of the slot I could see that working really well.

[zbhargrove]

Why did we take a blocking TE at all?

I mean i know its a throw away pick, but... a blocking TE ?

AS offenses call for a good blocking TE and we don’t have one. Hurst is gone and Smith retired. Fitzpatrick is a monster of a TE and will help quite a bit acting like another Oline member on running plays. He also has great hands and is 6’7” so he could be yet another large red zone target if the other guys are covered too well.

[striker42]

That really sounds like a scouting report for Marques Colston. I think Londons best role is as a big slot receiver. If they have a #1 WR then Pitts and London coming out of the slot I could see that working really well.

I feel London is almost redundant with Pitts. Pitts does everything London does only better. What we're missing is a true deep threat. It's another reason why I felt Wilson would have been better if we were set on WR.

[Tapate50]

Let’s all relax. It won’t likely matter anyway.

If a guy that athletic from Montana st rides the pine, we are really talented at LB

[zbhargrove]

Andersen is going to be an absolute star if he stays healthy.

[striker42]

Read this from a scout about Andersen:
"He’s no good. He’s got tons of stat production but he has no idea how to play. Kind of stands around and when he finally sees it he goes and runs. Straight-line guy. Plays upright. Gets caught up in blocks. Doesn’t change direction well. Doesn’t shed well. Very disappointing."

All people are talking about with Andersen is the athleticism. Athleticism will do him very little good if he doesn't know what he's doing out there.

He could be the most athletic LB ever and he'd still ride the pine if he can't diagnose plays or get off blocks.

[Tapate50]

Read this from a scout about Andersen:
"He’s no good. He’s got tons of stat production but he has no idea how to play. Kind of stands around and when he finally sees it he goes and runs. Straight-line guy. Plays upright. Gets caught up in blocks. Doesn’t change direction well. Doesn’t shed well. Very disappointing."

All people are talking about with Andersen is the athleticism. Athleticism will do him very little good if he doesn't know what he's doing out there.

He could be the most athletic LB ever and he'd still ride the pine if he can't diagnose plays or get off blocks.

He has barely played LB.

Relax. People said Deion Jones couldn't play in the league because he couldn't tackle.

[striker42]

He has barely played LB.

Relax. People said Deion Jones couldn't play in the league because he couldn't tackle.

The good thing is that what he's lacking is coachable. He's just super, super raw.

Here's where I'm at with Andersen. First, Andersen's athleticism gives him a super high ceiling but he will have to develop his skills and knowledge at LB significantly as well as adjust to the speed of NFL play to be successful. How much of his ceiling he's able to achieve will be directly related to how well he learns and adjusts. That's not really a controversial take.

Second, a ton of players never reach their potential simply because they never can adjust to the NFL game. The amount of skill required and the speed derail a lot of careers. So any player you draft has a very significant chance of never being worth their draft status just because they don't adjust or can't refine their skills enough.

Third, the more raw the player the more difficult the adjustment. Players who are raw not only have to adjust to the NFL game like any other rookie, they have to do so while simultaneously trying to learn things more polished players have known for years. Learning on the fly is difficult. This makes the bust rate of raw players even higher.

So putting all that together, Andersen is super raw and so has a much higher than normal bust potential. The normal NFL bust rate for draft picks is high (I've read it's as high as 50%). So it's a much better than 50% chance that Andersen busts. If he hits he has star potential but there's probably a 65-75% chance that he's nothing more than a special teams player who sees the field at LB only in certain packages. To me the reward doesn't outweigh the risk in the second round. If he was a third rounder I'd be a huge fan of the pick.

[Tapate50]

We get it.

No need to write a novel.

They guys a full blown top 2% athlete in the NFL. Lets just give him a shot.

[zbhargrove]

Read this from a scout about Andersen:
"He’s no good. He’s got tons of stat production but he has no idea how to play. Kind of stands around and when he finally sees it he goes and runs. Straight-line guy. Plays upright. Gets caught up in blocks. Doesn’t change direction well. Doesn’t shed well. Very disappointing."

All people are talking about with Andersen is the athleticism. Athleticism will do him very little good if he doesn't know what he's doing out there.

He could be the most athletic LB ever and he'd still ride the pine if he can't diagnose plays or get off blocks.

Way to cherry pick the one negative scout write up out there. I already read that blurb. I also read the 3 or 4 others in the piece praising him. Once he learns the playbook and gets more LB experience he will be a star. Dude is super smart too with an amazing football IQ from all reports. Was also high school valedictorian. But again I’m fine with him proving you wrong on the field. You’re weirdly desperate to already close the book on his failure. He will be a star. How about lay off the novels and wait for the results… Weren’t you also the one guaranteeing Kyle Wright would suck for his career too?

[zbhargrove]

London and Pickett tied for best odds to win offensive ROY

[zbhargrove]

We get it.

No need to write a novel.

They guys a full blown top 2% athlete in the NFL. Lets just give him a shot.

It’s very strange he has to write the novels to triple and quadruple down how the guy is gonna fail without seeing a snap. He won’t start rookie year but will be a special teams standout. When we finally move on from Jones, he will be a LB star.

[striker42]

We get it.

No need to write a novel.

They guys a full blown top 2% athlete in the NFL. Lets just give him a shot.

I'm all for giving a crazy athlete a shot. I just think he went a round early. I don't think the front office put enough weight to the risk.

[striker42]

Way to cherry pick the one negative scout write up out there. I already read that blurb. I also read the 3 or 4 others in the piece praising him. Once he learns the playbook and gets more LB experience he will be a star. Dude is super smart too with an amazing football IQ from all reports. Was also high school valedictorian. But again I’m fine with him proving you wrong on the field. You’re weirdly desperate to already close the book on his failure. He will be a star. How about lay off the novels and wait for the results… Weren’t you also the one guaranteeing Kyle Wright would suck for his career too?

I'm not closing the book on him. I'm saying he's a high risk player and I don't like spending a second round pick on a player with that high of bust potential. I don't know what he'll be, no one does. Again, 50% of draft picks bust. Raw players bust more often. So the odds are he busts. If he reaches his potential he'll be a star, I've just been burned too often by raw toolsy guys to count on him to be a success. I also don't think the Falcons should be taking that kind of risk given their number of holes.

And I've always loved Kyle Wright and have held out hope he would be successful. I was down on Ian Anderson. But Ian came up big in the playoffs so he was worth the pick no matter what happens from here on out.

[Tapate50]

I'm all for giving a crazy athlete a shot. I just think he went a round early. I don't think the front office put enough weight to the risk.

We know.

For a guy only playing LB for two years, he sure is pretty damn good.

LB is like CB where you need a few years to "see" all the fits and blocking schemes (for CBs its routes, fakes, etc...) they can throw at you. Experience there matters.

Like I said, he is probably one of the best athletes in the class. He will likely be fine. People take fliers on athletes all the time.

[striker42]

We know.

For a guy only playing LB for two years, he sure is pretty damn good.

LB is like CB where you need a few years to "see" all the fits and blocking schemes (for CBs its routes, fakes, etc...) they can throw at you. Experience there matters.

Like I said, he is probably one of the best athletes in the class. He will likely be fine. People take fliers on athletes all the time.

I'm fine taking fliers in the third round, I just don't like second round fliers when the team has as many holes as the Falcons do.

By all accounts he's a smart kid so hopefully he can develop and learn. He's a Falcon now so nothing to do but hope for the best.

[Tapate50]

I'm fine taking fliers in the third round, I just don't like second round fliers when the team has as many holes as the Falcons do.

By all accounts he's a smart kid so hopefully he can develop and learn. He's a Falcon now so nothing to do but hope for the best.

Well yeah!

[zitothebrave]

We know.

For a guy only playing LB for two years, he sure is pretty damn good.

LB is like CB where you need a few years to "see" all the fits and blocking schemes (for CBs its routes, fakes, etc...) they can throw at you. Experience there matters.

Like I said, he is probably one of the best athletes in the class. He will likely be fine. People take fliers on athletes all the time.

CBs is easy. COME AT ME!

[striker42]

What are y'all's feelings on Ridder? I'm a kind of split. On the one hand, I love his talent and think getting a QB with his arm strength, athleticism, and track record is and absolute steal in the third round. Getting a high talent guy who could pay off big at the most important position in the game is awesome. However, I worry this could lead to a bad situation if Ridder isn't the guy.

If Ridder isn't going to be a franchise QB, I hate the idea of wasting several years trying to develop him and missing out of elite QBs in the draft those years. If we still had Ryan I would feel better but we're in a tougher situation now. We need a QB.

So what are your thoughts on him? Is he the guy? Is he the next Andy Dalton? Is he destined for a practice squad?