Mel Kipers top 25

Corners have grown.

The problem though, is you still have to be able to turn with your hips quickly to react to the route. That was the problem with Jammer. Big guy, sub 4.4 speed, strong, about 6'2. But routes aren't all straight lines. Cone drill is actually more important than the 40, and most big corners don't do well in that.

And then of course the most important thing is what you see on tape, how smart and instictive a player is. Along with O line and quarterback, a corner has to be a fairly smart player to know all the coverages and where he should be, as well as recognizing routes.

Urlatcher and Ray Lewis, as well as Al Wilson, have 4.4 speed, and you'd never put them at corner. Fields has that sort of speed coming out of college, and yet coverage skills was the weak part of his game till he got here.

So speed and coverage skills aren't the same thing.

 

Yeah, that's a hard part. The hard part Rashard had, that I didn't expect him to have. He had basically everything else - though of course when a player fails you can't look past his small-college pedigree, either - including some toughness you don't always see with guys like that. And a few plays made early on suggest that he could've handled making plays in the right atmosphere.

 

Rivers makes the new Top 25

25. Philip Rivers, QB, N.C. State (6-4½, 230) | previous ranking: NEW to Big Board
Rivers has been a constant on my top-five Heisman list all season because of his phenomenal '03 performance. Look at his numbers: He's completing 72.3 percent of his passes, with 3,740 yards, 29 TDs and just six interceptions. Rivers has great size and a good arm, though his lower release point could be a question mark and his footwork is not polished. But he makes up for that low release with an incredibly quick, hair-trigger release.

Rivers is accurate, smart and an excellent leader with great instincts. And keep in mind, he's achieved his success this season with three key offensive components in and out of the lineup with injuries (LT Chris Colmer, WR Sterling Hicks and featured RB T.A. McClendon). Rivers is reminding people of Bernie Kosar, who had an awkward release and lacked great footwork but found success in the NFL.

 

What a difference a couple of months makes.

 

that list doesn't mean much. if all those were taken in the top 25, at 26 and below we would be looking at Roethlisberger, Sean Taylor, Kellen Winslow, Mike Williams, Vince Wilfork, D Hall, Rivers, Udeze, Tommie Harris, Reggie Williams, R Starks, Steven Jackson, Chris Gamble, Shawn Andrews, D Dockett, Michael Jenkins, Carrol, and Clayton and more great ones.