Senior Bowl Day One
Posted: January 23rd, 2012 | Author: Tommy Lawlor | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 31 Comments »Good day down here in Mobile. Got to see a lot of really good players in action. I didn’t get a great feel for the Eagles having special interest in players. Juan Castillo and Brett Veach did spend a few minutes chatting up Texas LB Keenan Robinson. He played MLB and SAM for the Longhorns. He measured in at 6’3, 240 and has the game of a SAM. Better in coverage than against the run.
Juan and Veach spent a lot of time together. They checked out the LBs extensively. Mike Zordich was focused on DBs, as you would imagine. Juan talked to a lot of people. You can tell he’s a well-respected coach. Still no word on his future, but he will be some part of the defensive staff, if not the DC. I don’t think you send him to Mobile to scout players if you don’t intend on keeping him around in some form.
Eagles personnel consultant Phil “Don’t call me Viv” Savage spent several minutes talking to DE Jake Bequette. Jake is 6’5, 264 and would fit here nicely as a DE. Phil is the color analyst for Alabama football games and might have just been talking to Bequette in a friendly way (SEC pals). I wasn’t close enough to hear them talking, but the conversation seemed more normal than most times when kids talk to scouts and the get very formal (Yes sir to every question).
As to some players of interest:
DE Melvin Ingram – 6’2, 276 – South Carolina — If the Eagles want an athletic, versatile guy, Ingram is the way to go. Natural athlete. Quick off the ball. Was able to beat blockers inside and out, as well as with bull rushes. Looked fluid in the movement drills. Can play DT or DE. Might remind you of Anthony Hargrove, who was with the team last summer.
LB Zach Brown – 6’1, 236 – UNC — I had concerns about his tackling coming into the week. Brown didn’t ease those as I watched some LB drills. He was catch-tackling, meaning he paused before contact and “caught” the ball carrier. That can be worked through with coaching…sometimes. Very athletic.
LB Emmanuel Acho – 6’1, 235 – Texas — Played MLB in some 4-3 sets and ILB in 3-4 sets. He was more of a WLB at Texas. Interesting guy. Looked really good at the weigh-in. Very cut and muscular. I hope he plays MLB in the game. It would be interesting to see if he could give the Eagles another choice at MLB (as a non-1st rounder).
LB Sean Spence – 5’11, 228 – Miami — Best compliment I can give to this guy…he’s a natural LB. He was born to play LB. I love guys like that. Spence has some pop when he tackles, whether in drills or game action. Lacks ideal size, but a tough, physical player. He’s like a better version of Brian Rolle (forgive me, son). I’m sure the Eagles like him, but since he’s almost certainly a WIL I don’t know if the Eagles would draft him. If Spence was available in the 3rd round or somehow fell to the 4th, he would be awfully intriguing because we simply need to improve the LB corps as a whole.
CB Brandon Boykin – 5’9, 183 – Georgia — He isn’t big, but has a muscular build. Seemed to have a solid day on the field. Did get to field punts. Not sure about kickoffs. Could be of interest at slot/RS.
TE Ladarius Green – 6’6, 236 – La-Lafayette — If the Eagles want a big target to create matchup problems, Green could be of real interest. He’s got skinny legs and isn’t ready to be an in-line TE in the NFL right now, but could be a good “chess piece” type of player and someone to develop. He took a big hit on a crossing route today, but got up okay. Flexed out in the slot and looked good running up the field.
WR Joe Adams – 5’11, 174 – Arkansas — Turned out to weigh much less than expected. I had him projected around 190. The good news is that he’s an explosive speed guy. Being light doesn’t kill his value. It may keep him down in the 3rd round. If DeSean walks and the Eagles add a veteran WR with size (since the FAs are bigger guys), Adams could be a target. He can be a RS and WR. He’s tougher than DeSean (insert joke here) and could be good value as a role player and returner. Adams flashed his speed on the field.
I only got to see the South team today. The next 2 days I’ll be able to watch both squads.
Finally, after all these years, we have Eagles centric commentary from the Senior Bowl. Really excellent information. Glad you are down there Tommy.
Nice to see the staff is on board my KEENAN ROBINSON 4 SAM 4EVA! train.
Some things I noticed looking at weigh in numbers maybe you can provide further insight on the matters.
Doug Martin- 5’9, 219lbs?! Thats a dense ass little dude. Forget the Honey Badger, Muscle Hamster ain’t playing around.
George Iloka- 6’3.5, 222lbs. Grown ass man status. Hello.
Matt McCants- Dude has little itty bitty hands. Like straight up out of that whopper commercial tiny. Could affect his ability to velcro. Coutney Upshaw and Lavonte David also round out the small hand non CB/K group. But I see it as less of an issue w/ LBs than an OT.
Bobby Wagner- Barely even six foot may affect his value.
McCants actually has a pinky deformation on both hands which hurt his hand measurement. heard it is not a big deal.
@OptimumScouting
Eric Galko
Also of Note: Matt McCants of #UAB had just 8 3/4 hands, but he has a pinky deformation on both hands, so that # isn’t as big an issue.
I’m not sure that the new CBA allows rookies to be signed 4EVA, we’d have to check with Sam.
This is what his deal will look like. Howie can gladly use it.
WE the Philadelphia Eagles in order to form a more perfect Linebacking core, do resolve that we <3 Keenan Robinson, in a non weird way. We sign him to a 25 million dollar contract with the terms of this deal being 4EVA!
P.S.- If Andy Reid/Juan ruins you, we are tremendously sorry. But we kinda need that money back. Thanks
That is a revolutionary approach. On 01/23/12, Disqus<> wrote: D3FB wrote, in response to A_T_G: This is what his deal will look like. Howie can gladly use it.WE the Philadelphia Eagles in order to form a more perfect Linebacking core, do resolve that we <3 Keenan Robinson, in a non weird way. We sign him to a 25 million dollar contract with the terms of this deal being 4EVA! P.S.- If Andy Reid/Juan ruins you, we are tremendously sorry. But we kinda need that money back. ThanksLink to comment A_T_G wrote: I’m not sure that the new CBA allows rookies to be signed 4EVA, we’d have to check with Sam. —– Options: Respond in the body to post a reply comment. To turn off notifications
Loving this Tommy! Can’t wait to read more over the next few days leading up to the Senior Bowl. I’m really interested in Boykin. Not a fan of Joselio (never really have been), and think Boykin could be a good option for the slot. Return ability is also a plus because production in that area was lacking this year. Thanks again for doing this and to those involved in getting you there!
Agree 100%
I know this sounds like something your mother would say to you, but I’m seriously really happy you’ve been able to go to the senior bowl. You deserve it with as hard as you work and all that you provide on this blog.
Also, I didn’t feel as awkward telling another man I was really happy for him after reading this little ditty on Emmanuel Acho: “Looked really good at the weigh-in. Very cut and muscular.” 🙂
Yeah, I think Tommy opened a very uncomfortable door with that commentary. Case in point: “Grown ass man status. Hello.” from a comment above.
Personally, I am holding out for the weigh ins, measurements, and 3-cone drills from the cheerleader prospects.
Well played sir,
George Iloka is not a man w/ a grown ass. He is a grown ass man. As in he is a very large man. And internet 101 is swear often. It makes your point seem so much tougher.
ATG: Thank you for pointing that out, I missed the grown ass man comment until you pointed it out.
D3FB: I agree on the cursing. How about cursing and using all caps when you do it. That’s just downright scary. Somebody curses with all caps and they’re not getting any argument from me.
SHHH! Don’t tell Morton you POOPYHEAD!
If DeSean is gone I would love to have Robert Meachem and maybe Ted Ginn (although after yesterday he may be a much higher priority for the 49ers). Those two would probably still be cheaper than DeSean if he’s asking for enough money that we actually let him go.
I’m a big fan of taking a project at TE. I’m not familiar with the draft class, but after what happened to the position this year, there might be more than a few reaches with everyone trying to find the next Graham or Gronk. Usually don’t like projects, but if there’s a tight end out there who’s 6’4+ and still hanging around at round 4, go for it.
Agree with that. NFLdraftscout has Ladarius Green as a 3-4 prospect, but I could see people looking at his height and reaching for him earlier. Having said that, he runs about the same 40 time as Gronk but is 30lbs lighter; I’d be interested to see whether he can maintain the speed after he inevitably bulks up.
What I am interested in finding out from those that have seen him is what his hands are like? If he’s able to consistently make catches, having someone that stands 6ft6 would be well worth looking at as a RZ threat.
If we lose desean I hope we do better than that. I actually think WR would be right along with LB as first priority if we lose desean. If we had drew breese I wouldn’t worry about WR so much but Vick needs good WRs
I agree, I just don’t think that it’s realistic. I found a WR free agent list and broke them down into 2 (ish) tiers. Tier 1 – guys that could actually replace Desean. Tier 2 – guys that are still good, but not as good as Desean. Based on who’s available, the only Tier 1 guy I think we could get would be V-Jax because of him not wanting to be in SD. All of the other guys are too important to their teams to have them hit FA. And if we’re looking to replace Desean through the draft, you’re gonna have to spend our #15 on a WR. I think even if you wait until the top of the second round you’re a lot better off with a guy like Meachem than to hope you have lightning strike twice and have Desean 2.0 fall through the first round without being picked up by anyone.
Tier 1
Dwayne Bowe
Marques Colston
Vincent Jackson
Mike Wallace
Tier 1.5
Jordy Nelson
Stevie Johnson
Tier 2
Reggie Wayne
Deion Branch
Mario Manningham
Robert Meachem
Wes Welker
Ted Ginn
Brandon Lloyd
The Senior Bowl: a.k.a. The Cliff’s Notes to the Draft.
While other teams actually pore over game tape of numerous prospects from a wide variety of schools, the slacker students that the Eagles are just scan the Cliff’s Notes and find themselves contented with a C- grade on draft day every year. Why bother researching and studying anybody who wasn’t at the Senior Bowl? Let’s just draft the entire North and South squads!
I actually agree with some of your posts and appreciate the fact that they’re well written and thought out and at times raise interesting points, but stuff like this reminds me why so many people here generally dislike you (including me).
[…] a long conversation with Texas LB Keenan Robinson. Tommy Lawlor of IgglesBlitz noticed it too and gave his thoughts on Robinson. Phil Savage also talked with DE Jake Bequette (4-5) from Arkansas.The Eagles (and every other […]
What’s your opinion of Quintin Coples? Is he worth trading up for?
Oddball Question for Tommy:
What do you use to take notes when scouting players? Do you have a system, materials, etc. you stick with?
Quote of the Week:
Somebody on Blogging the Beast: Jimmy Kempski you better be hanging out with Tommy Lawlor down there
JimmyK: Tommy watched me get blackout drunk last night.
Haaaaaaah, who was it that was saying something about the Patriots and their luck the other day? Let the conspiracy theories begin:
http://deadspin.com/5878655/billy-cundiff-rushed-his-kick-because-of-an-error-on-the-gillette-stadium-scoreboard
The team that cheated it’s way to 3 super bowls may have operated not completely on the level on Sunday? No way……..
On the play described by Suggs just seems like an honest mistake as it is often not clear what the refs have decided (players should never use the scoreboard but the down markers as they should always be 100% correct)
LOVE LOVE LOVE it that you are in Mobile, and are able to give us your nuggets directly… Spy away Tommy!
Scott Wright from draftcountdown really likes Bobby Wagner and has for a while. Thinks he’s a highly underrated prospect. Another lower key LB prospect that he like is James Michael-Johnson from Nevada. He came in at a hair over 6’1″, 249 with long arms. I’d like to hear about these guys from your prospective, Tommy!
A report on OLB Demario Davis (Arkansas State) would be appreciated, too. Big fan, think he has NFL starter ability.
[…] a long conversation with Texas LB Keenan Robinson. Tommy Lawlor of IgglesBlitz noticed it too and gave his thoughts on Robinson. Robinson would likely project as a SAM in the Eagles […]
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