2009 Senior Bowl

Now that the offseason is officially upon us, draft prep is under way. The combine is 2 weeks away. We don't have a 1st round draft pick, so the first couple of guys we'll draft were likely playing in the Senior Bowl.

Did anyone watch it, and/or the practices? Thoughts? Impressions?

I had too much going on to catch the practices or most of the game. I tried to watch the DLs, but the only guys who stood out to me were 1st round projections.

 

I gotta get some info on this.

Anyone?

 

I evaluate purely off of combine numbers.

Seriously though I didn't catch much other than Raji whipping everyone they put in front of him except the center from Cal (i think).

 

http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2009/1/31/743363/where-s-the-beef-2009-s-cr

The first thing you need to know about the 2009 class of defensive tackles is that (say it with me) B.J. Raji is gone. Forget about him, get him out of your head. Save the "if we still had or 1st round pick" talk, it wouldn't matter, he is gone, gone, gone. A shallow class of run-stuffers and a stellar week of Senior Bowl practice have allowed Raji to skyrocket up everyone's draft board. Save for a full-blown combine disaster, Raji will be snapped up in the first ten selections. Raji has in fact been so impressive, rotoworld.com is reporting that he may be among the Lions' considerations with their first overall selection.
Nose tackle may be a primary need for the Cowboys, but they can not go into this draft married to the idea of grabbing one with the 51st pick. The value simply may not be there. The second tier cloggers have a history of sliding, (see Gabe Watson, and Alan Branch) so there is a chance that Raji's linemate Ron Brace could fall to the Cowboys in the second round. If not, the Cowboys may have to take a long hard look at Clemson's Dorell Scott in the third, or take a late round flyer on a small school guy like Stillman's Sammie Lee Hill. With that said, we are still early in the process, and draft positioning will change dramatically after the combine.
I wouldn't consider any site to be the bible on player evaluations, but in all my years of being a draft junkie, draftcountdown.com has been one of the more reliable sites. Their projections always turn out to be pretty accurate. Here is a list of this year's top defensive tackle prospects, in the eyes of the draftcountdown.com staff.
1. B.J. Raji, Boston College- 6-1, 323
2. Peria Jerry, Ole Miss- 6-2. 290
3. Evander Hood, Missouri- 6-4, 295
4. Sen'Derrick Marks, Auburn- 6-2, 296
5. Ron Brace, Boston College- 6-3, 324
Complete list here

 

the portion of the game I saw, Mack was powerful (I believe he had been playing at guard also). I'll paste in some analysis for reading:

 

day 2

 

Yes.

 

mel kiper lists Pat White as the fifth best QB available.

 

Here's a dickload of Senior Bowl analysis

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2009 Senior Bowl Journal
This event is held in Mobile, Alabama right near downtown and was a week long line of events. From practice each day, to press conferences involving players and coaches, to the actual game itself it was a memorable experience for me. Coaching the North squad was the Cincinnati Bengal coaching staff and coaching the South squad was the Jacksonville Jaguars coaching staff. I arrived the Sunday before the first day of practice, which was held on Monday. Before the practice was the official weigh in. There I met Matt Mcguire who writes for Walter Football. We discussed many different players and events throughout the week and I was able to learn quite a bit from him.

Weigh In

The weigh-in was the most awe-inspiring event the whole week in my opinion. It was held at the Convention Center right across from the hotel where the players were staying. Players lined up and walked across a stage in front of hundreds of us scouts, general managers, and coaches. Some of the people I saw at the event were NFL legend Bill Parcells accompanied by Dolphins Head Coach Tony Sporano & GM Jeff Ireland, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones accompanied by Head Coach Wade Phillips, Bucs head coach Raheem Morris, draft expert Mike Mayock, and Packers general manager Ted Thompson. Seeing these guys doing the same thing I was doing was pretty neat that's for sure.

There were some pretty out of shape guys coming in mainly some offensive lineman(Trevor Canield, Andy Levitre, Jason Watkins) all were extremely flat with no real definition, and appeared out of shape. The most impressive bodies go to DB Keenan Lewis, LB Nic Harris, DB Derek Pegues, LB Clint Sintim, RB Andre Brown, RB Rashad Jennings, RB Cedric Peerman, and the most impressive guy to me was LB Brian Cushing from USC. The guy was flawless, extremely cut up, and displayed a very well proportioned body and hardly any body fat.

Practice & Game

Next up on Monday's schedule was the first practice of the week. The North practiced the same time as the South at two different locations so I was only able to catch the North practice. I'm going to sum up the entire week of practice as well as the game with my most impressive players and the least impressive (which players helped or hurt their stock the most). Keep in mind that there were just five practices, one in helmets and shoulder pads(Monday), two in full pads(Tuesday & Wednesday), and two in just helmets(Thursday & Friday). Practices featured hundreds of locals, as well as the same and more NFL people from the weigh in. Some added names that I saw at practice were draft expert Todd Mcshay, ESPN's Michael Smith, former Browns GM Phil Savage, and scouts from almost every NFL team.

The game I sat in the press box and had a great view of the action. My notes are included in my assessment of my "Risers & Fallers" listed below.

The 7 best players at the 2009 Senior Bowl

1.)DT B.J. Raji - Boston College

2.)C Alex Mack - Cal

3.)OT Michael Oher - Ole Miss

4.)LB Brian Cushing - USC

5.)LB Rey Maualuga - USC

6.)DT Peria Jerry - Ole Miss

7.)WR Brian Robiskie - Ohio State

Risers & Fallers

Quarterbacks

Risers

1. Pat White- White was fairly consistent all week and with no quarterback overly impressing me, Pat showed very good rotation on the ball, above average arm strength and mediocre accuracy. White reminds me a little of former Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith in that they are both 6'0", both have similar college numbers(Smith career completion percentage is 62.7 and White's is 64.8 and yes Pat White attempted more passes as well) Aside from that, coming out of college Smith has shown he can throw the ball more effectively downfield then White has which is correct, but after this week of practice paired with White's MVP performance in the game including a beautiful touch pass to the corner of the end zone for a 39 yard score, I think White at least deserves a shot. Being the realist that I am, I don't see that happening, so expect whatever team that drafts this guy to have the "Wildcat" as a part of their playbook(if they were smart). White had the chance to play some receiver this week but declined, if he does not line up at the WR position at his pro day then I see him falling down draft boards. Right now White's value is a mystery, but if he shows he has a good pair of hands he could get drafted on the first day. He's too much of a play-maker to fall past the 3rd round in my opinion.

2. Rhett Bomar- I thought Bomar had a decent week of practice, displaying the strongest arm of any quarterback on either roster. Like i said before, i felt QB was one of the least impressive positions here, and i do not think any of these guys merit a first or second round pick.

Fallers

1. Nathan Brown- Central Arkansas- I asked myself more then once this week why this guy was invited instead of some of the other Seniors out there. He appeared lost at times, was very inconsistent with his throws. A team could draft him purely as a project.

Running backs

Risers-

1. Andre Brown- N.C. State = At 6'0" 224 Brown possesses great size and appeared in excellent shape. He showed me this week what i kind of already knew watching him in college, he is a tough hard nosed runner who will fall forward. Brown has good leg drive, very good strength for a back, and will pick up those hard earned yards for you. It will be very interesting to see his 40 time. I see Andre as a definite first day pick, possibly a 3rd rounder.

2. Cedric Peerman- Virginia = At 5'9" 210 Peerman has what a lot of NFL team's appear to be looking for, a guy with a low center of gravity. Cedric has big strong legs to go along with his equally strong upper body. He has very good leg drive and will make someone miss as well. One play that stood out during the game, Peerman juked LB Rey Maualuga out of his shoes, then broke LB Brian Cushing's tackle. Seeing Peerman in street clothes you would think he is a Marine. He comes off as a very serious man and he plays like it. I like this guy a lot.

3. Jeremiah Johnson - Oregon = Johnson really improved as the week went on. He showed very good hands and a second gear that not too many guys here had. At 5'8" 198, Jeremiah has good balance and can be an effective 3rd down back, especially catching balls out of the backfield. He has value in the 4th-5th round for sure.

4. Korey Sheets- Purdue = Sheets was relatively quiet during the week of practices, but come gameday, he showed great kick returning ability as well as good leg drive breaking a few tackles as well.

Fallers

1. James Davis- Clemson = Not that he had a bad week of practice, but Davis didn't really do anything to stand out from the rest of the pack. Coming into the week, Davis had the most buzz(aside from Rashad Jennings). At 5'9" 207 he fits the mold, but he was the worst at catching balls out of the backfield, and didn't show that ability to separate as much as I would have liked to see.

Fullbacks

Risers-

1. Tony Fiammetta- Syracuse = Fiammetta is 5'11" 246 and plays the game with a mean streak. Not only did he show good blocking skills, particularly against the pass, what impressed me most about Tony were his soft hands out of the backfield. One of the most impressive plays i saw all week was during team drills, Fiammetta chipped DE Larry English and decleated him. English took a few moments to get up while Fiammetta engaged another man almost instantly after his block.

2. Eric Kettani- Navy = Eric is a more versatile fullback then Fiammetta with more quickness. He plays with a very high motor and being from the Naval academy it isn't too much of a surprise. Him and Fiammetta will make NFL rosters next season.

Wide Receivers

Risers-

1. Brian Robiskie - Ohio State = Robiskie showed that his father's position as Atlanta Falcon receivers coach has made a difference in his game. His route running was the best on either squad, and his hands were as good as anyone's. Brian showed a solid grasp of the position and was clearly the most polished receiver here. The question with him is his ability to get separation from defenders with his lack of great speed. Running great routes and understanding the position will make up for that and he will develop into a solid possession receiver at the next level.

2. Patrick Turner -Southern Cal = Turner is 6'5" 221 and came into the week with a huge void in his production throughout his college career. I'm not sure what happened at USC, but here he showed what you would expect from a man with his amazing size. He screened off defenders in the air using his big body, caught the ball at its high point, and had good body control. I'm not sure what makes this guy any different then former teammate Dewayne Jarrett who has been a huge disappointment with the Panthers, but if he has that drive to get better everyday hes a definite first day pick.

3. Mike Wallace - Ole Miss = Wallace had a good week of practice, but the game is where he showed his game changing speed. Wallace was the recipient of Pat White's touchdown throw, Wallace blew by CB Deangelo Smith on the play for the touchdown. Wallace who is 6'0" 189 can be a very good slot WR at the next level. He has separation speed, good hands, and is a tough player.

Fallers

1. Derrick Williams - Penn State = As a receiver, Williams showed he has trouble getting in and out of his breaks effectively. He showed mediocre ball skills and average hands all week. He tries to use his body to catch the ball more then his hands. Gameday he put on display his game changing ability in the return game which is where i see him making an impact on the next level.

 

Looks like there is a good bit of DB depth in this years draft. I've said it before but the best value towards the end of the 2nd is possibly a CB or S which depending on what we do with Lucas could be a definite possibility. Not seeing the D-lined depth.