hondo in seattle

In my mind, Lynch belongs in the "Hall of the Very Good."

With a few exceptions, I tend to blame offensive or defensive linemen only when they lose 1-on-1 battles. And LBs only when they miss tackles. Otherwise, it's hard to tell what went wrong without knowing the scheme/call.

Apparently that was what he was promoting at the event in Seattle yesterday.

A good article in the Bleacher Report about Moneyball in football says that analytics is already effecting the draft more than we might know and that Striker is one of the victims of the newer approach: "If you hate hearing about a quarterback's hand size, you'll loathe hearing about a linebacker's respiratory capacity. But scan the list of the well-regarded 2016 draft prospects who were selected late (Kenny Lawler) or not at all (Eric Striker, Jeremy Cash) and you will find that the stopwatch overruled the on-field performance." Curiously, the article points out that scouts have learned that the standing broad jump positively correlates with DE sacks (something about explosive fast twist muscles). http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2637858-moneyball-is-changing-the-way-nfl-teams-assemble-their-rosters

Marshawn walked past me at an event at the Century Link Event Center in Seattle today, minutes before I got the text saying he was officially retired. I considered saying, "Go Bills!" but he looked both unhappy and in a hurry. He had an entourage of maybe 5 or 6 guys dressed in business casual with a couple cops trailing.

Great find. Makes me feel guilty about those times I criticized offensive linemen. They all seemed to have chips on their shoulders about being unfairly judged by people who didn't know their assignments. Interesting that there's a perception that line play may not be getting worse but it's not getting better due to lack of technique and opportunities to practice.

"Meaningless" is definitely the word that comes to mind when talking about power rankings at this point in the off season. About as meaningful as 2017 mock drafts are right now.

Fair enough: The D regressed last year and part of the problem was late calls. But who is the real Rex Ryan? We've seen him do some really good work as a DC in Baltimore and as a de facto DC in New York. We've seen him produce some disappointing results too - both in NY and here. Yet his ex-players - who know him far better than any fan - seem to have confidence in him and his scheme. There are enough contradictory data points that I'm wait-and-see on Rex.

Cool stuff but where did you hear this?

I'm just curious.... What weaknesses in Rex's scheme have other teams exploited? How is Rex's 3-4 scheme inferior to other 3-4 schemes that are more successful? In what ways are Rex's ideas "antiquated"? I'm not saying you're wrong. But if you are going to make X-and-O assertions, you have to back them up with actual X-and-O facts and knowledge. Alternative theory: could it be that Rex was most effective in NY when he had good players and less effective when he had bad players? There's no doubt he screwed the pooch last year. But I'm interested to see what Rex will do this year with a modified roster and a "fully pregnant" approach. Getting some true believers like Ed Reed and - potentially - Bart Scott to help can't be bad.

I don't watch college football and can't comment on the NFL potential of any individual player. But it's hard to believe that not one of this year's dozens/hundreds of graduating offensive linemen will turn into a solid pro. Like many, I worry about our offensive line.

I think an elite running back like Shady on a Greg Roman offense is clearly worth 5% of the cap.

Interesting. But meaningful? Not so sure. If personnel guys thought these drills were useful predictors of NFL success, I'm guessing they'd ask to have them included at the combine.

And if nothing positive comes from it, there's nothing lost. It's a worthwhile experiment. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Beautiful town... though not the kind of place that you'd expect to spawn football heroes.

Thought the same thing... except Al would have drafted Listenbee in the first couple rounds just for his sheer speed.

“If you draft me, I’m going to bring a shot of adrenaline to your defense — a shot of energy,” Striker wrote in a pre-draft article for The Players’ Tribune. “I’m a high-motor guy on the field and a high-energy guy in the huddle, in the weight room and on the practice field. There are some things you can’t teach. You can’t teach heart. You can’t teach hustle. You can’t teach having a relentless motor that never, ever quits.” http://m.newsok.com/article/5495260

Seems like a great kid.... but 227 lbs and a 4.8 forty aren't a winning combination. Maybe a pro training regimen can make him bigger, faster.

I agree with this. It's debatable if Woods is a true #2. But we have a lot of depth. Little (161), Hankerson (107), Boykin (57), and Salas (46) all have more career receptions than Goodwin (20) who DW still seems to harbor hopes for. For a run-first team, I think we'll have enough weapons for TT when he does throw.

I voted for the Bills because I'm a homer and don't care to spend my time evaluating the draft of other teams. It seemed we did a good job of respecting BPA - and not over-reaching - while meeting some of our critical needs.

I know the OP is not saying Ragland will be the next Ray Lewis. Still, it's hard for me to wrap my head around the phrase "Ray Lewis type." What is the Ray Lewis type? A LB who can dominate a game? A defensive player so good that offenses have to scheme around him? I just can't bring myself to make any kind of Ray Lewis comparison. But do I think Ragland will be a good player on Rex's D. (Incidentally, cool highlight video... but I could live without the vulgar soundtrack).

It was nice to see BPA and need were balanced. But I'm always skeptical of the fan who knowingly says, "This player will be a star," or "This player will be a bum." The draft wouldn't be so interesting if we knew that kind of stuff. Very, very few college players are NFL-ready. Many need to get stronger and/or faster and/or bigger. Almost all of them need to improve their skills to succeed at the NFL level. Some of them will, some of them won't. No one knows with perfect clarity which ones will make the leap and which won't. Keep expectations in check? We're Bills fans. We know.

I noticed that too.

Another common denominator is that PFF gives all three picks "A" grades.

So far the draft is going as expected. We all knew DW was looking for help for the front 7. He got it - in a big way. We all knew DW would take a QB at some point and DW took Cardale in the 4th. What makes me happy is what others have noted: we didn't over-reach. We seem to be getting good value with our picks. And we're not wasting picks on medical or character long-shots or getting guys where we don't have a need.