Tom Brady has watched his Patriots fight their way to a 5-3 record through the first half of the season, and in actuality, he's pretty darn happy with where he currently stands.
While everyone focuses on the marquee players that will be drafted on day one this Saturday, the key to building a winning team is by acquiring 5-7 impact makers. It was Marques Colston last year, who will it be this year?
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By Jeff Risdon
I got my first taste of Tebowmania. Normally the stadium stands are scantily filled with small groups of NFL personnel people and a few hardcore fans. Today Ladd-Peebles had at least 2,000 fans watching, and they weren?t there to see anyone but #15.
Tebow did better on Tuesday than his first day, and it came out that he is battling strep throat, which is (allegedly) why he ducked out of Media Night last night. He has clearly worked hard on his footwork and looked okay--not great, not bad--in that respect. The accuracy was better and he kept the ball higher in his motion than on Monday. He still looks like he?s shot-putting the ball at times though.
Ole Miss RB/WR Dexter McCluster is the star of the South team. His short-area quickness is off the charts, and he does a great job of presenting a target and then taking it away from the defender. He became the source of some debate on the fencerow as to whether he will be an NFL RB or WR--very similar to the conversations about Percy Harvin last year. McCluster shows surprising toughness for his size and is an eminently coachable player, and I see that making his versatility even more valuable.
Alabama DT Terrence Cody is one big man, and not in a good way. He weighs in at 370 but ?looks every cheeseburger of 400? as one NFC South coach joked. He did very little to dispel the notion that he is nothing but a 2-down middle of the line clogger, showing little burst and seeming content to just occupy blockers. His lack of flexibility and mobility was highly evident as the team stretched together. I had previously compared him to both Shaun Rogers and Ted Washington, but Cody is not nearly as quick with his hands or as agile as either of those two.
One SEC defensive tackle that stood out in a positive light is Tennessee?s Dan Williams. He consistently won the hand battles inside and showed good leg drive and a nice little variety of head and shoulder moves, very quick for a bigger guy (6?2?, 329). He reminded one AFC North defensive coach of Dan Wilkinson, who once upon a time was the #1 overall pick coming out of Ohio State.
USC TE Anthony McCoy made a couple of excellent full-extension catches and showed a rare burst for a TE of his size (6?4.5?, 249). His feet are textbook on route running and he displays very nice body control, no wasted motion. McCoy looks like a Jason Witten-type tight end, a player that splits out nicely but will struggle as an in-line blocker. He got rag-dolled by Troy DE Brandon Lang when he lined up tight, and Lang isn?t the most physical guy.
Lang and LSU T Ciron Black engaged in some spirited battles. Black showed quicker arm extension than I ever saw at LSU and moved reasonably well for his girth, doing a nice job engulfing Lang whenever he tried to venture inside. Lang made a nice shoulder dip and got under Black?s lunge, and he also disengaged quickly on run plays.
Florida State safety Myron Rolle made a couple of real impressive hits in pass coverage and showed better hip flipping ability and footwork than most people thought he had. He?s not the physical specimen that Taylor Mays is (nobody compares to Mays), but Rolle fills out his pads nicely and seems very fluid athletically for a rocked-up body that took the last year off to study at Oxford.
Speaking of Mays, it seems people are finally coming around to my long-held position that he?s not anywhere close to an elite prospect. He looked incredibly stiff and almost comes to a dead stop coming out of his backpedal and cannot change direction once he?s beyond his second step without looping wide. A couple of sage voices in the crowd wondered aloud why he isn?t playing linebacker--one of whom has assembled a Super Bowl-winning team.
Kentucky CB Trevard Lindley did not have a great day. He looked uncomfortable when asked to not give so much cushion and often takes a false step coming out of his backpedal. He does have a very nice closing burst and good field awareness. Florida WR Riley Cooper got Lindley?s feet crossed with a nice hard cut, though the Robinson throw went to the other side of the field.
East Carolina P Matt Dodge is completely all or nothing. He had a couple of high boots that turned over and flew 55-60 yards with great hang time, but the majority of his kicks were low, short wobblers--including one that got whacked behind him by South Carolina LB Eric Norwood. Dexter McCluster showed incredible fast-twitch responsiveness and waterbug-like cutting ability as a returner. Andre Roberts of The Citadel looked very natural fielding punts, including a tough short one that he caught with his hands on the dead run. Roberts also atoned for an early drop with a couple of very nice routes that showcased his body control. He plays bigger than his 5?11?, 192 frame.
While the punt team took the field, all three QBs gathered in the end zone and spent intensive time taking snaps under center. Zac Robinson continues to struggle with dropping back with the ball in his hands, like he isn?t comfortable with it yet.
I didn?t get as much time as I wanted watching the action on the field, as I got caught up in a conversation about the ongoing labor negotiations with a couple of very interesting, influential people. The tone was not positive but also not hopeless, and I?ll delve into that more this offseason.
Seen talking after practice:
Once the Tebow crowd got set up it got much easier to grab guys off the side, but the on-rush of cameras and star-struck gawkers and Tebow haters made it very difficult to get on the field.
Seattle was talking with John Jerry and Mike Johnson, both interior offensive linemen.
Cleveland swarmed South Florida safety Nate Allen, who had a nice practice.
Jacksonville, Oakland, and Baltimore all talked to Alabama CB Javier Arenas.
Buffalo and Denver quickly isolated Alabama TE Colin Peek.
The Jets--who canned some coaches yesterday--met with Dekoda Watson, Myron Rolle, and Patrick Robinson, all from Florida State. A couple of their staffers spent a good portion of practice talking to Bobby Bowden, who is much shorter in person than I anticipated.
Tennessee talked to Georgia DT Geno Atkins and South Florida DE George Selvie, though the latter seemed like a case of old friends catching up.
