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https://mattwaldmanrsp.com/2018/01/25/2 ... ice-day-2/

2018 Senior Bowl North Practice (Day 2)

by MATT WALDMAN2 MINS AGO

Matt Waldman’s Rookie Scouting Portfolio recaps the performance of the offensive skill players on the second day of Senior Bowl practices.

The second day of Senior Bowl practices typically ramps up the volume of meaningful reps. A well-prepared evaluator that has watched his or her share of tape on each player isn’t expecting massive improvement or decline.

After all, each technical skills often take weeks — if not months or years — of practice to develop. It’s like watching grass grow and unless you’ve taken LSD, you’re rarely going to see it happen. If a player does exhibit improvement with a technique, expect that behavior to be inconsistent in game situations until there has been time and effort for the player to truly get it ingrained in his game.

If a player is learning something new in practice, expect mistakes or slower, measured execution. In theory, this is the setting for this to happen.

However, that’s a loaded statement for an event where players enter this week with the expectation of scrutiny that could raise or lower their draft value in many parts of the league and NFL media. As a result, some players are playing ‘not to screw up’ instead of taking chances with new ways of doing things — if the new way of doing things is simple enough to change in the first place (refer to the ‘like watching grass grow’ statement).

This is the perspective I encourage you to cultivate when reading the practice reports from Days 2 and 3.

North Quarterbacks
A popular Josh Allen video making the rounds is Allen and Mayfield before practice navigating some ground pads to simulate drop and pocket footwork. At the end of the footwork movement, they throw the ball into a net with squares about the width of a receiver’s hands.

However, the video is of Allen throwing the ball over the top of the net from 10 yards away. New drills force players to overthink and failure can ensue. In the beginning, this is the design of all exercises — otherwise, they are unnecessary.

The Allen failure is another layer of evidence indicating that he’s not used to sliding, climbing, and side-stepping pressure and delivering the ball with control and accuracy. For me, this is one of the most important components of pocket play. If a quarterback can’t reset and fire an accurate ball, his ability to avoid pressure doesn’t matter nearly as much.

This exercise wouldn’t be of consequence if Allen consistently demonstrated the skill to do what I described above. Yesterday’s slide, reset, and throw of the deep out was the first time I’ve seen it from him with multiple game exposures. Others I chatted with between yesterday and today’s practice also noted this play and had the same reaction, which tells me my chances may be low of seeing him exhibit this skill in other viewings despite the fact that I’ll do the work to find out.

In addition to this display of inaccuracy, he was wide on 2-3 consecutive throws because he was leaning through his releases early on — a common and often symptomatic of a quarterback lacking stability in his legs while executing his follow-through.

Other than a one-step climb and throw across the middle to Mike Gesicki, Allen didn’t do it today. However, he had some positive moments. He kicked off practice with a well-thrown deep fade to Allen Lazard who beat his coverage untouched up the left sideline into the end zone. He found Lazard again on a curl that the Iowa State receiver dropped.

For the most part, Allen exhibit similar positives and negatives as seen on his tape. He had two receivers open in the left outside flat and threw the ball between both targets making it difficult to tell whether he was high and behind the shallow option or low and outside the deeper target. On the next play, he effectively set up a tight end screen to Tyler Conklin who exhibited good quickness after the catch to work around two blocks and up the sideline.

Later in practice, he overshot Troy Fumagalli up the seam into the arms of the oncoming safety for an easy interception. And he ended his 11-on-11’s by flushing to his left from pressure, rolling to the flat and waiting until the last second to fire the ball into a tight sideline window to Justin Watson.

Athletically, the play was impressive. However, it appeared that he could have delivered this target earlier to make an easier play for the receiver.

Like the next player below, Allen’s greatest issues that will determine whether teams are to love him or leave him won’t likely be exposed during practice. However, he displays the baseline tools of an NFL quarterback even if I have much higher expectations for a franchise-caliber prospect.

Baker Mayfield is off the best start of the North quarterbacks. He’s consistently been the most accurate and exhibited some maneuverability and sound decision-making. At the same time, noting he has done here has been as telling as his tape — so far, his practice performances have demonstrated that when the defense can’t pin him into the pocket and force multiple reads while maneuvering from pressure, he makes good decisions and executes. This is the mark of an NFL-caliber prospect with tools a team can work with.

Mayfield began practice with a completion to DaeSean Hamilton that as a little high but still an easy target. He followed up with a target to a receiver who couldn’t make the one-handed catch while taking contact with the coverage — I believe it was Jaleel Scott but I was paying more attention to Mayfield here. Later in the segment, Mayfield hit Watson after the receiver worked free to the inside.

In the following series, Mayfield hit Braxton Berrios on a curl that Berrios dropped. On the next play, Mayfield was behind his receiver on a short out.

Later, Mayfield went deep on an out-and-up, hitting the receiver for the completion but with the ball placed behind the target and forcing an adjustment that may have been intended as a back-shoulder placement based on the leverage of the coverage but considering it was the first day of practice, I’m can’t give a definitive answer. He also hit Jaleel Scott with a pinpoint throw an out at the left sideline.

When pressure arrived from the edge, Mayfield climbed and slid to his right and rolled to the flat. He finished the play throwing the ball away. He was pressured on the following play after initially looking to his right. Once again, he climbed from pressure and this time found Akrum Wadley near the sideline.

The third time the defense earned pressure on Mayfield, he hitched twice in the pocket, saw a wide-open middle of the field and took off for about 25 yards before a defender reached him. I didn’t see an open option and while I could go to the film room to verify, I have plenty of tape at home in game situations that don’t make it necessary.

It was a good day, but I’m still seeing multiple targets that are less than pinpoint and would have been problematic against tighter coverage. We’ll see if Day 3 yields greater comfort, rapport, and confidence.

Tanner Lee’s practices have been filled with highs and lows. He began the day with accurate throws to Hamilton and Berrios but Hamilton dropped his slant and Berrios was late breaking outside. Hamilton made up for his mistake with a reception of an on-time out.

One of Lee’s best throws was a beautiful skinny post to Michael Gallup. He continued the trend with a well-timed slant to Hamilton and also hit the slant with pinpoint throws to Watson and Scott, although Scott dropped his.

When Lee went deep, he was late and short to Lazard and it gave the defender position to knock the target away. He was also late and inside Gallup on a deep route up the right sideline.

Then the ‘however’ emerged. Lee misread underneath coverage just like he did on Tuesday and threw an interception to the flat defender. Even so, he followed up with an on-time crossing route to Hamilton. He finished the day with a ball high and behind Cedrick Wilson who had told a good story with his route to set up a break to the inside.

Lee looks like the type of prospect who gets drafted and you see contribute later. All of these quarterbacks in Mobile look this way to me on film. The problem is that most have much higher expectations for some o them.

Luke Falk is the forgotten man of this group but he has held his own. One of his best throws was a skinny post to Lazard that was as good as any throw his teammates made during this session. While he underthrew Gallup up the right side and was high on a dig route to Berrios, Falk also made a trio of mature decisions that stood out.

The first was a slide from pressure to with a quick toss off-platform to Jaylen Samuels. Falk had to slide again to his right when his first read fell down. The quarterback bought time outside the pocket and found Lazard on a comeback up the right sideline with pressure on his trail. And when pressure came from his right, Falk slid to his left and found his tight end in stride on a crossing route.

I’m interested in following Falk’s career track as he competes for a foothold on a roster during the next 3-4 years.

Running Backs

Akrum Wadley is the quickest and most fluid runner in agility drills on either roster. He used one of those trademark jump cuts today to avoid penetration in the backfield on a high toss that nearly went through his hands a step before making that evasive maneuver. Other than a check-down I mentioned earlier, Wadley’s only other notable play was a head-on hit at the line of scrimmage that he bounced off to the left end for a few yards.

Kalen Ballage made a good cutback from left to right on a run but even so, his change of direction was still a little slow. It was something I’ve noticed at times on tape as well as the beginning of practice when working through agility drills. There’s just a little less stability to his C.O.D. at this point in his career. If I were his agent, I’d call Rischad Whitfield, the Footwork King, for some tutelage. The most notable thing about Ballage’s practice was some praise from his position coach for using his pads better on a pass protection drill that focused solely on technique.

Jaylen Samuels: The Wolfpack runner has had some encouraging moments this week — especially today. He made multiple good decisions to reach a crease or make a second cut in the crease to extend plays. The quickness is there when he’s not thinking through a drill or in a wholly unfamiliar situation. While his execution of footwork and agility drills is a little less than top speed, Wadley is the only one better on this roster.

Wide Receivers
Jaleel Scott has some notable plays on tape as a pass catcher but his practices this week are filled with drops and unrefined routes. His practice session began with instruction to keep his hips down on a turn during a speed out. Then he juggled a pass at chest level and never controlled it as he exited the boundary.

Scott recovered with a nice effort to fight through contact on a tightly covered route inside the numbers but later dropped tightly covered target he tried to make with one hand. Mayfield later hit Scott in the chest up the left sideline but the receiver let it bounce off his frame incomplete.

DaeSean Hamilton: If the target is within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage and thrown with general accuracy where coverage can’t hit him hard, Hamilton’s winning the reception this week.

Cedrick Wilson: The Boise State vertical threat flashed that good rocker step again today but when he was forced to deal with press coverage and use a different move, he couldn’t win early enough to be a factor. He got tied up by his opponent on a route where he was late to get his head around to the quarterback on a target that whizzed by him incomplete. Against off-man coverage, he was able to tell an effective story with a set up of a defender to get inside but Mayfield placed the ball behind Wilson’s break. In fact, three other quarterbacks placed the ball behind Wilson on a variety of targets today.

Allen Lazard: Exhorted to use his size and play “big-man ball,” Lazard was at his best when he muscled through contact or when there was no contact at all. He led off with a deep route untouched through the release and stem to catch Josh Allen’s first target in stride for a TD. Although this play and bailing out Falk on a scramble drill with a comeback up the right sideline where his best moments as a pass catcher, Lazard played to his size a little better than yesterday. However, this might not have happened if he didn’t begin the day trying to make a defender miss and the Broncos’ receiver coached pulled him aside and told him to play to his size.

Michael Gallup: When his quarterbacks could find him within the rhythm of the play, he was in the right spot to catch the ball. If I saw every rep, he only dropped one target today.

Tight Ends
Mike Gesicki: He’s been a smooth, reliable option on short and intermediate routes thus far. I haven’t seen him in situations that required much manipulation on his part to get free.

Tyler Conklin: His quickness and agility after the catch was notable on a screen. He wasn’t targeted much today in scrimmage conditions.

Find more of Matt Waldman’s annual coverage of the 2018 Senior Bowl can be found here at the Rookie Scouting Portfolio.

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Tuesday XOS 2018 Senior Bowl DB Film Review


Jonah Tuls

By

Jonah Tuls
Published on January 24, 2018



MOBILE, Ala. – The Senior Bowl has many benefits, but arguably the best thing in Mobile is the XOS All-22 film room they provide for the media and scouts in attendance. Watching these prospects live is important, but getting the different of angles from the end zone and sideline is just indispensable to the evaluation of these practices.

For the entire Senior Bowl week of practices, I am doing a XOS film review series of the defensive here in Mobile. Each review will be released the day after the practice highlighted in order for me to get a thorough, in-depth of each cornerback and safety from the All-22.
Tuesday | Cornerbacks

– Jamarcus King from South Carolina had an up and down day for the most part. Finding out where he won and lost on Tuesday was not hard. His press man coverage in the one on one matchups was very good, but he was exposed in off man coverage. In fact, Boise State’s Cedrick Wilson toasted King on two consecutive plays with an inside-out double move. The only way King can consistently win in man coverage is if he gets his hands on the receiver to control the route, not when he is asked to be a reactionary player in off.

– Watching them live, I thought both Levi Wallace and Isaac Yiadom were just average with a handful of good and bad reps, but the All-22 told a little bit of a different story. Both players were better than I thought on Tuesday, and I think each have wide receivers fits at the LOS with active hands and physicality. Wallace’s frame is more thin than I would hope for, but he was able to hold his own with contact. His off man reps were also fairly consistent. I didn’t count a play where he was truly out of position. The same goes for Yiadom, but I thought he was happy to initiate the contact and make the receivers uncomfortable at the LOS. These guys were two of the best cornerbacks on my notes in the one on one matchups.

– While he did end up getting hurt with an ankle injury, Western Michigan’s Darius Phillips was largely underwhelming all day on Tuesday. He was beat vertically a couple of times in man coverage, something that rarely happened on his in-season tape. His click and close ability was hampered by late reactionary quickness and multiple false steps, leading to consistent separation in off man coverage between him and the receiver’s hip pocket. Lastly, he just simply didn’t play the ball well in the air. This was his best trait throughout his collegiate career, but it seemed like Phillips had day one jitters. When you combine the fact that he measured in poorly at 5’9 along with his weak performance on Tuesday, his draft stock could be going in the wrong direction.

– Tuesday was not a good first impression for the small school guys. Michael Joseph, Taron Johnson, Danny Johnson, and D’Montre Wade all had their fair share of struggles. I don’t know if the stage was too big for them, or if they were trying too hard to make a big play, but all four looked out of control or sluggish. Weber State’s Taron Johnson played both inside and out, but he was all over the place with his technique. His reps were really hot and cold, and his attempts to get physical with wide receives at the LOS backfired. The other three in Joseph, Wade, and Danny Johnson just looked late and sluggish in off man coverage and press, consistently getting beat deep and on in-breaking routes.
Tuesday | Safeties

– The best two safeties on the field were easily Armani Watts and Kyzir White. They were able to carry the tight ends down the field in man coverage and click and close on underneath routes. The big difference between the two is that Watts looked much more comfortable in the back end in zone coverage, especially as the deep middle centerfielder. Whereas Watts was able to use his range to navigate from sideline to sideline naturally, White looked lost and hesitant. There was a play where he missed his assignment and left a tight end down the seam wide open, but it was not capitalized upon because Josh Allen missed it.

– The two position-flex guys here are San Diego State’s Kameron Kelly and South Alabama’s Jeremy Reaves. Kelly has a safety background who switched to cornerback, while Reaves is the complete opposite. Both players received reps at both positions, but primarily at safety. The one on one matchups against the tight ends were up and down for Kelly, but Reaves was consistently efficient in this environment. Against the wide receivers, Kelly’s hip stiffness was obvious, and I think the Senior Bowl is doing him a favor playing him more at safety. For Reaves, he looked confident in the nickel, but he was also quite handsy and a little too physical down the field with receivers.

– Tray Matthews may be the biggest surprise for me this week, regardless of position. He looked great on Tuesday against the tight ends in man coverage, something he was not at all asked to do at Auburn. He was basically an outside linebacker for the Tigers in 2017, but he showed on Tuesday that he has the athleticism and coverage traits to play in the box in man coverage at the next level. On the hoof, his physical build is impressive, and he found himself on the hip pocket of every man he went up against. This performance puts him squarely on my radar now.


https://www.ndtscouting.com/tuls-tuesda ... lm-review/

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Ledyard | Senior Bowl Practice Wednesday All-22 Film Notes
Jon Ledyard

By

Jon Ledyard
Published on January 25, 2018



One of the many benefits of being live on location at the Senior Bowl in Mobile is the access to the XOS film room, which features All-22 film and several incredible camera angles of all practice tape, from 1v1s to 11v11s. This allows us the opportunity to focus in on technique and details of line play, especially in the OL/DL 1v1 pass rush situations.

After watching all of North team practice from Wednesday, here are some of the big observations I made about a few players:

-South Carolina CB Jamarcus King has really struggled all week. He’s not a terrible athlete, but he’s extremely out of control and overcommits to every stem from a receiver in man coverage, whether down the field or off the line of scrimmage. Hamilton beat him with a stutter-step outside-in release, and King turned away from him toward the sideline in order to get vertical and recover. That’s a big no-no for a corner, as he creates more separation between himself and the receiver and makes recovery a lot tougher.

-Iowa State wide receiver Allen Lazard had a great practice on Thursday, but he lives and dies by his ability to win in the air in contested catch situations. He just isn’t explosive enough to sell vertically against off coverage, and his releases are a little bit sloppy and improvised. I would almost play off coverage against him because I’m not afraid of him vertically, and that would allow corners to break on his underneath patterns and make plays on the ball.

-Lot of high throws from Luke Falk to all levels of the field. I counted at least six overthrown balls from the intermediate to deep portions, something that has been an issue in every practice and continually on tape.

-Love DaeSean Hamilton’s routes and nuanced release. He clearly understands how and where routes should break, and he knows how to improvise as needed. One of his circle routes was beautifully run, and he worked back to the ball alertly to make a great hands catch and set himself up to separate from a potential tackler closing on his back. But his hands are crazy inconsistent, and he’s probably dropped more passes than any other receiver here.

–Isaac Yiadom is interesting. He’s a big, long corner who does a nice job of using his size and length to jockey for position on vertical routes. Yiadom wasn’t really tested by speed in 1v1s, but he did a great job of boxing receivers to the boundary and getting his eyes around to make plays on the ball in the air. He’s gotta finish with more interceptions in those spots, and he might no have the athleticism to mirror and match in man coverage.

-Love how Baker Mayfield treated receiver-defensive back one-on-ones, practicing moving from a progression to one side of the field to the receiver working a longer developing route against man coverage. The ability to re-set quickly and make plays downfield against tight coverage with clean mechanics are one of the many things that sets Mayfield apart from the rest of the group here.

–Fred Warner has been one of the big winners of the week, with three terrific practices in a row. Here’s three consecutive plays by Warner in 11v11 team period:

-Terrific recognition of a play action middle screen to Tyler Conklin, blanketing the receiver.

-Pin-and-pull run scheme to the strong side, Warner chased the play from the backside, sifted through trash with terrific burst to close and drop the running back for a loss.

-Counter trey, Warner read his guard on the pull and chased him through his backside gap to get to the back in the backfield for a second consecutive tackle-for-loss.

–Kemoko Turay’s ankle bend is insane. He eats up space up the arc with his long strides, than finds a way to corner through contact due to his unreal ankle bend to dip under contact at the top of the arc. His tilt to the edge is insane, and his ability to wrap around the corner and maintain his balance is borderline special. There are other concerns with Turay on tape, especially as a run defender, but he looks like an interesting talent when you unleash him as a pass rusher.

–Mason Cole’s best position might be a center, but there’s a very real concern with this. His snap consistency and accuracy is all over the place. During 1v1s, he consistently snapped off to the left, eventually forcing Scott Quessenberry (the ‘quarterback’) to move over and stand behind the left guard in order to catch Cole’s snaps. Then he did the same thing to Tanner Lee in team drills. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before. That’s going to be very concerning to NFL teams, especially considering how Cole has struggled in other aspects this season.


https://www.ndtscouting.com/ledyard-sen ... ilm-notes/

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Tuls | Day 3 Winners from the 2018 Senior Bowl
Jonah Tuls

By

Jonah Tuls
Published on January 25, 2018



MOBILE, Ala. — The third and final day of practices from the 2018 Senior Bowl is in the books, and multiple players shined in front of the large crowd of NFL general managers, coaches, scouts, and media members across the country on Wednesday at Ladd Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama.

Mike Gesicki, TE, Penn State

– At 6’5, 242, Mike Gesicki looks the part of an NFL tight end. He looks great as a receiver on tape, and his play in Mobile this week has all but confirmed that.

The Thursday practice featured a lot of one and matchups in the red zone for the tight ends and safeties, and Gesicki was able to dominate every opponent he lined up against. Hawaii’s Trayvon Henderson has arguably been the best safety in man coverage this week, and Gesicki was able to get the best of him at the catch point and with fluid routes.

Some may say Gesicki is a linear receiver who can only challenge defenses vertically, but he had uncanny nuance to his routes and breaks on Wednesday. There was one rep against Henderson where he had a mean outside-in hesitation double move that opened up a slant for a touchdown. He really closed out a great week with this performance on Thursday.

Austin Corbett, OG, Nevada

– The most versatile offensive lineman, or prospect for that matter, in Mobile is Nevada’s Austin Corbett. Through three practices for the South team, he has taken snaps at all five positions on the offensive line. He does not just have position flexibility, but he was actually really good at tackle, guard, and center throughout the week.

The third and final practice was his exclamation point on a great week. Not only did he bury defensive tackle Poona Ford in the ground on two consecutive reps at center, but he then moved outside to right tackle to throw Marcus Davenport on the ground. With how talented he is and the fact that he could possibly play any spot on the offensive line, the hype train should get hot quick with Corbett.

Cedrick Wilson, WR, Boise State

– My vote for the most improved prospect of the week goes to Boise State’s Cedrick Wilson. He got more and more comfortable against press coverage throughout the week and looked like one of the smoothest route runners on the field. If you ask these cornerbacks who the hardest players to guard in off coverage were, I bet Cedrick Wilson would be one of the receivers on that list. He eats up space fast, and puts the cornerback in a tough spot because he basically forces him to either lunge or move forward or play as a reactionary player.

This is why Wilson is able to create so much separation in space. His unpredictability as a route runner at 6’2 is pretty rare, and I think he helped himself a lot this week.

Chandon Sullivan, CB, Georgia State

– Chandon Sullivan had a bit of a learning experience the first two days here in Mobile, getting a taste of what it feels like to go one on one with James Washington and other big name receivers, but he settled down on Thursday. In fact, you will have a hard time telling me he was not the best cornerback on the field in the final practice.

A lot of the one on one reps were in the red zone, and he held his own against the bigger receivers. He used the sideline as his ally, was hip to hip with the receiver, and attacked the ball better than anybody at the catch point. One of the biggest strengths from Sullivan’s tape at Georgia State was that he knew how, when, and where to attack the ball in the air. He showed that on Thursday, and he looked a lot more controlled in off man coverage, showing excellent reactionary quickness and staying on top of routes.

A great bounce-back performance for Sullivan, who should be able to build off of this and enter the game with considerable momentum.

Isaiah Wynn, OG, Georgia

– All of the talk and hype went to Will Hernandez this week, but Georgia offensive guard Isaiah Wynn may have a case as the most dominant offensive lineman here this week.

Wynn is a brick wall, and his Thursday performance was just another shutout on the resume this week. His mobility and lateral quickness excites ZBS teams, but he also has the power and vise-grip hand strength to excited power/gap teams. He’s played both left and right guard this week, stonewalling almost every rusher in the one on ones.

Both of the LSU defensive tackles tried to bull rush him on Thursday, which ended as you would expect in that they did not move after the point of initial contact. Both Wynn and Hernandez locked their draft stock into the top 50 with their respective performances this week.

https://www.ndtscouting.com/tuls-day-3- ... nior-bowl/

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