Kemoeatu a Panther

From Scouts:
Kemoeatu has very good size and excellent strength in both his upper and lower body. He has long arms, makes great use of his hands and gets good separation from blockers. He does a great job of shedding and going to the ball. He has the versatility to line up at the defensive tackle spot as well as the nose tackle position in the 3-4 scheme. He does an excellent job of playing a two-gap control style and it is difficult to knock him off the ball. He shows that he is capable of controlling the line of scrimmage in the run game and has very good play recognition. He is a powerful tackler and is capable of getting a good push in the middle as a pass rusher. While he can control the line of scrimmage, he lacks initial foot quickness and explosiveness in his get off. He is very limited in running ability and does not have the range to make plays on the sideline. He will not run many plays down, and is not a guy who is going to penetrate the running lanes and be a disruptive force. He does not show much in terms of pass-rush technique other than a strong bull rush. He plays with a good level of intensity and if he can improve his quickness and running ability, he can develop into a very solid player in the middle.

 

fixed

 

Yeah, until blackcatfan corrected me, I was thinking that roster bonuses pro-rate as well. Also, his total contract value has been reduced from the $27 million reported earlier today to $23 million. So that might leave it looking more like:

Year 1: $2.2 million ($1 mil base, $1.2 mil signing bonus)
Year 2: $2.7 million ($1.5 mil base maybe?, $1.2 mil sb,)
Year 3: $5.2 million ($2 mil base, $1.2 mil sb, $2 million roster bonus)
Year 4: $5.7 million ($4.5 mil base, $1.2 mil sb)
Year 5: $7.2 million ($6 mil base, $1.2 mil sb)

It all really depends on how the bases escalate and where that roster bonus is, but if it looks something like this then it would most likely figure to be a two year deal for $8.5 million (with $3.6 mil of dead cap in '08). Or if the roster bonus comes due next season, then it's likely a three year deal for around $12.5 million (with $2.4 mil of dead cap in '09).

 

I'm pretty sure it's a 2nd year signing bonus, $2 mil, not a roster bonus, but we'd probably guarantee the bonus if it were in year 2 or 3 anyway.

 

Like the signing, but the money seems a little high. On the positive side, he's a guy who should help keep blockers off the LB's...especially Morgan. Doesn't mean it protects him from injury by any means, but it will help him statistically...I think.
Kemoeatu may not get the sacks, but I like his ability to drive interior lineman back and disrupt the pocket.

 

If he can do that, it would be great, but it's not something he's shown the ability to do so far.

 

I haven't seen him play, but the scouting report posted above said he could do it.

 

Maybe not consistently, I don't remember who they were playing this year in the two games I watched. He seemed to be at least somewhat disruptive in those games.

 

No, it didn't. It said that the bull rush is his only pass technique, but it doesn't say that he's consistently capable of collapsing the pocket. That said, I'll review the Ravens games I burned just to make sure.


Ok, I reviewed a couple of games and I can officially say that Kemoeatu sucks balls when it comes to rushing the passer. He didn't collapse the pocket at all, even against the Browns, and was regularly the defensive lineman furthest away from the quarterback by a pretty good margin. Honestly I'm a little discouraged about his run-stopping too, because he's not as stocky and powerful as you would expect someone 350 to be. Because he's 6'5", a lot of that weight is actually in his upper body so he doesn't appear to anchor and hold quite as well as a Ted Washington or Sam Adams. That said, he's definitely not getting run over by anyone.

 

OK, so maybe we rest him on the obvious passing downs. Maybe that means he can play almost all of the run down plays.