Ram-ble's analyses of
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Torry Holt is 6'0", 190 lbs.
Runs a 4.48 forty, but did faster in his individuals at 4.36-4.44 depending on whose watch
you watch.His college productivity was spectacular, capped by a senior year of 88 catches for 1,604 yds, averaging a terrific 18.2 per! Had 11 Td's.
My analysis is fairly simple. I think he may well be the best player in this draft, as the Rams draft board said. Yes, maybe better than Rickey, Edge, and all those QB's. And, he may also be better than Champ Bailey. Certainly, he plays the more impact position.
He's just spectacular. Like they say, he's got it all. No holes.
I just kept thinking, while watching Holt's tapes,...."incredible"!
He's always open, and truly could've had a couple more bombs in every game I viewed, but was missed by the QB. Had severly beaten his man, but was overthrown.
He has a great swim move of the line, where he knocks the bump-and-run CB off of him. Will serve him well in the NFL(remember Eddie K. struggling?)
What enables him to seemingly be always open is he plays at full speed all the time. He comes off the line full-tilt, and then cuts without losing any speed. This is a rare quality. Jerry Rice is the best at it. I can't say Holt is as good, but he may be very close. Isaac Bruce has it. Holt may be as good as Bruce at this.
Then, Holt has another really, really secret ingredient that's s-o-o important, but so rare. He runs thru the catch, not slowing to catch the ball. If you think about it, a sprinter who blasts off, then slows or stops to catch the ball, then re-fires his engine..........will get nowhere. Ron Brown was bad here. Kennison too.
Holt tho is alot like the best ever at this, Rice. Jerry just never slows. He's looking to score AS he's catching, and his playing speed shows it. Holt's the same.
Might be an obvious explanation for this. At least, in part, it might be due to Holt's HUGE hands. He's got the longest hands you'll see. Wears size 10 gloves!!!
Plus, Holt is so strong. He plays with a fierce determination and real, real strength that he just ignores tackles and is headed for the goal line. Again, like Jerry Rice or Antonio Freeman.
He just oozes "great athlete" when you see him move. You can just tell.
So, I have nothing to criticize.
Torry Holt may well be the best player in this draft.
Dre Bly is 5'9 7/8" and 186
lbs. He's clocked in 4.50 for the forty, which is below average. Now, there were reports
that he had some very impressive workouts just before the draft. And so, his time may have
really improved. But, all I saw was a 4.47 workout on a quick track. So, I'll stick with
that below average 4.50.As you know, he had a poor senior year, which culminated a declining career, with his freshman year his best.
The rationale on Bly is that he is a great cover guy and great interceptor who just got overweight and tried too hard to compensate for the personnel losses on a great Carolina defense in 1997. So, the draft pubs say he would've been a top 15 pick, except for that weight gain and senior year.
I don't buy it. At least all I can do is tell what I saw. And it wasn't pretty. He was beaten and beaten and beaten in his senior year.
He just looked slow, played slow, especially when the receiver got a step. Bly would then be dead. He'd never catch up and often he'd lose further ground.
And, I didn't see a heavy ballplayer. He looked facially thin. He looked in shape. But, maybe he was too heavy.
He played bump-and-run all the time at North Carolina, or at least virtually all the time. He appears to really know how to play that defense and he really does show an uncanny ability to anticipate and go for the interception. A Ryan McNeil but even better there. And, his hands are the best. He touches it, he intercepts it.
I watched a couple games from his junior year, 1997. He did fine, only because in these the opponent didn't throw his way. The pass rush of Vonnie Holiday, Greg Ellis, etc. just rushed everything. And, the oppponents also went after the other DB's. So, I wasn't given alot of confidence there really.
My view is this in a nutshell. Based on what I saw, I don't like him as a cornerback. I could see him maybe as a fair nickle. But, if he indeed had way better forty times than 4.50, then I'd reconsider. And give him a chance.
The final thing is I'm disppointed that we didn't trade down if we insisted on Bly. He wasn't on top of our board, according to Vermeil. And, I don't guess he was on top of anyone else's either. Seems like we could have dropped down, picked up a little, and taken this Bly flyer. And, if someone else "stole him", which I doubt, we still could have gotten a fine DB.
Don't get that off-season euphoria with our second round expedition.
Rich Coady, Texas A&M Safety, is 6' 0 1/2 ", 210lbs. with 4.58 speed.
Some have him at 4.53 in the forty. These times and his size are an excellent combination. That's safety with darn good speed.
He also worked out superbly at the Combine and in the individual workouts, doing very well in many of the drills. For example, he did 20 reps and had a 36" verticle.
Coady IMO is a bit of an enigma. I'll explain.
He looks the part. He's a big looking safety, who has a real presence on the field. Nice size, nice build, nice athleticism. He tackles very well. He is mis-described as a Ronnie Lott/Toby Wright hitter. He's not. He's a solid tackler, with one very important characteristic. He's got very strong hands. So, if he grabs you, you go down. Let me tell you about hands for a second. Strong hands are one of the highly undervalued qualities of a player. Ted "The Mad Stork" Hendricks had maybe the strongest pair I've seen. Brad Van Pelt too. These guys totally controlled their side with their hands. No one ran to their side! Hands are a little less important in a DB, but they still matter, shedding blockers and making sure tackles.
Coady moves nicely, fluidly. And his stats show him making 7-10 tackles a game. O.K. He also is "of good character", a Vermeil-type. Hard worker, good intangibles.
Now, for his negatives. He has a tendency to over-run the running play, flashing up toward the line-of-scrimmage, only to be in the wrong hole or place as the RB runs by. Sound familiar? Maybe, we recruit for that?!?!
I also saw him be responsible for missing a punt blocker from his end position against Ohio State in the Sugar Bowl. Cost them the game, probably.
The enigma thing has two parts. First, it's very hard to evaluate Coady because Texas A&M plays a two-deep zone all the time. He's so deep to begin the play that he isn't asked to be an 8th man against the run. So, he's not very involved on the run. And, against the pass, he's a REAL safety, again deep, deep, the last defense. So, he again isn't asked to be involved, and he isn't.
The second enigmatic piece is where he was drafted. I gotta believe we could have gotten him later, maybe the 4th or 5th round, or certainly later in the 3rd. Shoulda traded down.
So, do I like Coady? I can't say. He's got the measurables. I just haven't seen him in our defense. Some say you better want him for zone defense, because he struggles in man. I never saw him even asked!
So, I say you have to trust our scouts and coaches here. Let me end by saying I do trust them here and O.K. the pick. Don't heartily endorse it, but go along. Just wished we traded down.
Joe Germaine, QB, Ohio
State is 6' 1 1/4", 210lbs. Looks thin and very, very young. Like a high schooler.
Ran a 4.79 forty with a 32" verticle. Both fine for a QB.First a little Ram-bolian philosophy about QB's and the draft. I like taking one EVERY year, somewhere. I don't care where. Always looking for "the answer". I mean the "great QB", like Montana, Marino, Elway, Unitas, etc. Or the "winner QB", like Bob Griese, Bart Starr. I have no interest in drafting a nice backup QB. And, I'd draft one EVERY year til I hit the jackpot.
Is Joe Germaine what I'm seeking? Read on.
You didn't have to go far. He is!
At least, he has a real chance, IMO. I can't guarantee it, but I suspect it and will watch s-o-o-o closely. I promise you tho I won't take 4,5,7,12,15 years to decide.
His stats are impressive. 59%, 25TD's and only 7 ints. That's from memory, so it could be inexact. But it's close. Had 7 senior games over 300 yards.
I'll get right to what I love, and how I'll forever envision Joe. He sets up quicker and more daintily than any QB I've ever seen. He looks like Bambi(not Lance Alworth, the real freakin' Bambi) bounding gracefully and so quickly, precisely to the pocket. And he gets there absolutely perfectly balanced, looking downfield.
Now pause and think! What does this mean? Why does this matter?
Well, Germaine has now given himself an extra fraction of a second over the ordinary QB. And, he's looking downfield. What happens because of the extra time is Germaine becomes very relaxed, stress-free, always scanning. And, when he decides to throw, this relaxed demeanor enables him to throw his ball, just like he does in practice.
All this, in my opinion, is what Bill Walsh loves. Walsh is a fanatic for fundamentals, balance, technique. Dan Fouts said in the Sugar Bowl, "Joe Germaine has perfect mechanics. Just perfect!" You know, these same qualities are what allowed Montana and Unitas to play relaxed, their game. Even at crunch time. Montana's Super Bowl winning pass to John Taylor against the Bengals was that "in a bottle".
Back to Germaine. When he throws, he throws without effort, and with a judgment of touch. He strides beautifully and yet compactly into his throw. The ball usually is a tight spiral too. All plusses.
A question mark is his accuracy. He's not ALWAYS pin-point. He gets in streaks of missing. Yet, Montana was that way at Notre Dame. I believe Montana was like 54% and, if you didn't know, split the college starting job. I believe Germaine can really improve his accuracy, with hopefully-pro coaching on top of his perfect fundamentals.
Joe is especially adept at always hit*ing his man in stride on the swing pass. That's a difficult pass too, because of the angle. He seems to hit that pass every time. I can see a Ram-version "Roger Craig" bolting downfield!
Also, Germaine has the marvelous quality of courage. He absolutely doesn't flinch when being smeared. He simply delivers his pass and takes the hit. No Everett-like bailing out with this guy. In the 1997 bowl game against Florida State, Andre Wadsworth and friends just leveled Joe play-after-play. He just threw every ball his way. And kept getting up. Fabulous!
This kid is bright too. Wait til you hear him speak. This is a student of the game and a leader by example. In fact, he's been described as "bringing an offensive co-ordinator's mentality to the game, something he wants to be after playing". Love that!
On the negative side, the accuracy question is one. Also, of course, is his size. Can he be what I want at his size? I don't know. Some can. Many can't. His arm strength is fine to my eye, but it certainly isn't Jim Drunkenmiller's(like that?). We'll have to see about that too in the pros.
I'll save some of the deeper significance of drafting Germaine for a separate post some day soon.
But suffice to say, Great pick! I'm hoping for "the answer" with my guy, Joe Germaine!
Cameron Spikes, OG, Texas A&M, is an excellent prospect. He does many things extremely well, but has areas of weakness. He was recently measured at 6' 3 1/4" and 326 lbs. That's up from the 314 lbs he was earlier carrying. But, at 326, according to Kiper, "He ran an eye-catching 4.95 forty." He also did 23 reps and had a 32 1/2 verticle. Both just fair. Yet, he's called "one of the best testing athletes". Might have done the other drills very well. Because of this, some thought he might be a second-rounder.
Well, I've watched him now in a number of games, and here's what he shows. The thing that jumps out at you is he's got feet that NEVER stop moving. They're always moving like he's blocking a blocking sled. . Especially on running plays. He powerfully drives his man frequently, and those feet keep moving, moving, moving. An excellent drive blocker. Explosive.
That's my image of him.................................... blocking a blocking sled, which happens to be a human being!
Next, his assignments at Texas A&M require alot of inline pulling, where he pulls from his left guard and blocks over his own RT. So, it's not power sweep pulling, more trapping. And, he does that too very well, hitting his moving target mostly. Co-ordinated.
On any assignment, he can go get the LB, again a moving target. Does it well.
His other noticable positive is he has a nice low base, playing in a low squat position, starting the play with balance.
His problem area lies in his pass blocking. Now, overall as a pass blocker, he does some things good, but not all. First, be aware that he gave up zero sacks this year. So, he SHOULD be a good pass blocker. But, I've seen quite a few "sacks" that ended up as severe hurries because the QB got rid of it.
What he does well on pass protection is he often gets his attacker solidly off the snap and moves those dainty feet and mirrors nicely. Also, he can pretty quickly slide off his man and get someone else that he sees coming free.
But, what he has problems with are rushers who get on his edge. When Spikes doesn't get the guy squarely off the snap, they get the QB. They slide of him as he just can't regain the block. And, this happens quite frequently. Especially with quick rushers. And he'll see a helluva lot more of them in the NFL. You know who has this problem big-time? Wiegert! In fact, I believe Wiegert is worse here.
Now, we fans hope and actually believe that Hanifan can coach that out of him. I'm a fan too. So, I hope too.
But, bottom-line, he's an excellent prospect, a steal for the 5th round!
I will evaluate our #6 draft choice, Lionel Barnes, DE Northeast Louisiana. Again, I'll have to do it from what I've read, rather than tapes. I looked and looked and can find no tape of Northeast Lousiana in '98. Got Southwest Louisiana, which to my mind should also have Lionel. But it doesn't. I do have tapes of all our other picks, though.
I have very mixed feelings on Lionel and will reveal a key factor that will ultimately tilt me negative on "Bad News Barnes". Man, he would be a real hit in St. Looey with that nickname. Would bring back St. Looey's finest hour in sport.
Lionel sounds like a pass rusher, with the pubs saying "very good athlete", "quickness and upfield burst are his best assets", "basketball player", "quick feet", "very good agility and balance", "consistently quick first step", "explosive DE who has the quick first step and speed to get the corner", "very good closing burst","tough".
His negative descriptions are "gets engulfed at the POA on runs at him", "raw", "tends to play high", "better athlete than player", "does not identify play due to inexperience".
His size/frame is good, described as "very good natural size with very good height, average weight, and a large unfilled frame". He's 6'4 1/2", 264 pounds. "Can add 20 lbs." "Has very long arms".
His workout showed a good 4.8 forty, but a 9'4" broad jump and 34"verticle(both so-so).
So, what's not to like? Seems like a fine, actually ideal, developmental prospect. And, he had 8 sacks in his FIRST YEAR of college ball. He did however play some football in Europe in high school. He said himself he dominated that Europe thing at the tight end position. His basketball in community college was also impressive, averaging 13.1 pts per game, but a whopping 12.2 rebounds.
He's compared to a great, great draftnik favorite. A guy from just last year that we all wanted. The Cards got in the 7th round. George "Jomo" Cousins.
But, again why am I negative?
First, look, I LOVE defensive ends, good, bad, or indifferent. The Rams heritage is great ones there. So, I'm always looking for the next one. I won't settle for Grant Wistrom. I won't settle for Kevin Carter. I won't settle for Fred Dryer.I won't settle for Jack Youngblood even.
I want Deacon Jones. My guy, and yours too if old enough, was the best ever. And a 14th round draft choice! So, "Bad News Barnes" would be a 6th round equivalent.
And, this kid does seem to have real potential. Worth a 6th round shot.
Now, my reason. According to the info on him, he's 27 years old. Born 4/7/72!
I no like that(if true as I assume it is).
Posted by: RAM-BLE on Thu Apr 22 23:47:40 EDT 1999
In Reply to: Re: #6 PICK LIONEL BARNES -:- Posted by: RAM-BLE on Thu Apr 22 23:43:24 EDT 1999
Message:
Billy Truax,
Yes. If Barnes is 23 years old, rather than 27, I do like him as a developmental, high potential/high risk prospect. But, in the 6th round, I say risk it.
As I said in the original post, what's not to like?
I watched Rodney Williams in a number of games. And, man, what a punter!
He's a thin kid, who is very athletic.
He really gets phenomenal hang time on just about every kick. They are absolutely unreturnable, because when the ball finally comes down to the returner, just about every player on both teams are surrounding him, waiting for the ball to come down.
Also, he's great at kicking them inside the 20. Does it alot. The ball comes down so straight, because it's so high, that it doesn't bounce into the endzone. This propensity, however, hurts his average because alot of these are 30-40 yarders.
His kicking motion is a two-step/quick three-step drop. Hard for me to distinguish. And, he gets his power from absolutely complete leg extension, kicking his leg high above his head.
I only have one reservation. He gets the ball off quickly, very quickly, but he strides a full 5 yards from catch to delivery. Those 2-3 steps take him 5 yards. Now, I haven't compared that to other punters, but it seems excessive. So, he starts 15 yards deep, but delivers the punt only 10 yards behind the line-of-scrimmage. Looks like he's vulnerable to blocked punts. Now, I didn't see any at Georgia Tech, but a number of times I saw Williams have to short-leg-it because he could see the rush was about to block it. In these situations, he got poor/fair yardage punts. His motion was so short-legged that it, of course, screwed up his style.
Now, I've read that Gansz has worked with him, and in the first day supposedly improved his technique 100%. Maybe it was correcting this. Because, to me, he needn't correct anything else.
That one reservation I'll put aside. I believe Williams has such natural ability AND athleticism that the problem is fixable.
And so, I absolutely LOVE this pick. To get the #2 ranked or #1 ranked Punter at pick #253, the next to Mr. Irrelevant is a steal! We got the best or next best player at a position with our last pick! That's great. And, if we took some other position, the pick would've been a real longshot anyway.
And, Rodney Williams has been described as having all the elements of greatness. I'll quote the draftbooks.
He's got "tremendous leg strength". Makes some "Ray Guy kicks". For those of you too young, Ray Guy is like Gretzky. Guy was a #1 pick as a punter for Oakland. And was worth the pick. Just boomed them, and gave the Raiders a huge field position advantage.
Williams is a "very good athlete", playing high school track, soccer, basketball, and football as a DB/WR.
I love his size. He's small. I mean only 6'0 189lbs. Why? Because he's agile, quick, and that'll help him getting them blocked. In fact, he's said to have a very quick release. And, drops the ball well from his hand to his foot.
His stats were very good. Averaged 45.6 and 42.5 his last two years, with lots inside the 20. He's said to really be able to pooch high downable punts.
And, even better, his net was 40.6 and 40.1 his last two years, meaning hardly any returns against him.
His negatives are simply that he also makes horrible kicks, shanking some. He's not fundamentally sound. All that seems truly correctable. Needs coaching. And we got Gansz.
So, we get a likely starter, a potential All-Pro IMO with Mr. Irrelevant Runner-up!
We have a shot at a MONSTER DRAFT with our 1999 picks.
First, you must realize how poor our drafting has been way before Vermeil and with him too.
Our late round picks have all busted just about for centuries.
Yet, the other teams get a lot of really excellent players in rounds 5,6, and 7. You all know about Terrell Davis and Jamal Anderson, but it goes WAY beyond that. Teams have key players taken there. The Travis Hall's are common. The draft he was in had about 10 excellent players taken in round #6 alone.
But, back to the "MONSTER DRAFT". It's a legendary concept that actually has been sighted and "proven" to exist. Like UFO's, Nessie, Buchsbaum, Bigfoot, Bengal fans, Crop circles, etc.
The Cowboys have had MONSTER DRAFTS in the past. The Steelers had the most famous one with Swann, and 10 more great, great players.
The most important point is that is what can get a team to the bigtime...if talent ever can.
Well, we got a shot, despite our drafting track record.
Reason I say that is our #5, #6, and #7 picks are "looking real, real good" in early returns.
#5 Cameron Spikes is "running with the first string" at the end of mini-camp. Vermeil says if he keeps it up, he's a starter.
#6 Lionel Barnes really showed good pass rush skills, even against the Pillsbury Doughboy, Pace. Beat Big Orlando a few times.
#7 Rodney Williams was very impressive too. Gansz clocked some great hang times, including a 5.5 second hang time.
So, if the end of the draft turns out to be excellent, all we need is the top to work out. Maybe, we get real lucky there....and The St. Louis Rams 1999 draft goes down as one of those "MONSTER DRAFTS"!!!!!!!