Leading pass rush candidates with short arms

[....lybob]

Dumervil and Harrison have short arms, so they must suck.

 

I checked out both Freeney and Dumervil and they both apparently have rather long arms as compared to their height.

 

 

His 6-foot-6 wingspan allows Elvis Dumervil to keep opponents at arm's length. He isn't so fortunate holding teammates at bay.

 

"All those jokes," the Denver Broncos sackmaster lamented with a wry smile and shake of his head last week.

 

He has been kiddingly called "Gorilla Arms" by fellow linebackers. Told he can scratch his kneecaps without bending over, too.

 

 

Wesley Woodyard, one of the in-house stand-up comics at Broncos headquarters and Dumervil's position mate, takes it a few feet farther.

 

"His arms are definitely the longest I've ever seen," said Woodyard, adding that he thinks Dumervil might be shorting himself at least 24 inches on fingertip-to-fingertip measurements.

 

"I think he can touch the ground standing."

 

Dumervil is doing both, actually, for Denver (6-1) heading into Monday night's showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers (5-2) at Invesco Field at Mile High.

 

He still gets his fingertips dirty as a down lineman in passing situations, something he has done with regularity for years as a squatty defensive end. Yet with Denver's switch to the 3-4 alignment this season, Dumervil has learned to play in space as an outside linebacker.

 

And while his legs still generate power and speed, his top-shelf talent is augmented by arms that, well, easily reach the top shelf.

 

Sorry, Elvis.

 

"It's huge, in all honesty," said Dumervil, considered an NFL "tweener" at a listed 5-11 and 242 pounds. "I'm shorter than most guys I go against, and so it gives me somewhat of an advantage."

[smapdi]

Everyone who keeps saying the Upshaw cannot get to the passer need to go back and look at his numbers

 

He put up 17 sacks the past 2 seasons in the SEC

 

This year, he played on one of the dominant defenses in the NCAA. Alabama only faced 720 snaps all year because they were such a dominant unit which Upshaw was the leader of.

 

When you break down the numbers and level the playing field (sacks and tackles for loss PER PLAY), Upshaw finishes 2nd of any of the major DE/OLB prospects in this draft. I posted the full list in another thread. I believe he had 1 negative play every 25 snaps. The kid knows how to get into the backfield and wreak havoc. I don't think he should be punished because the defense in which he led was so dominant that they faced the fewest snaps of any of these other guys being talked about. He had at least 100 less snaps compared to these other guys; sometimes 200 less snaps. He simply had less opportunities to get after the QB then these other prospects but was still quite productive in that aspect

 

Courtney Upshaw is just the total package IMO. 4 year guy with 2 national championships under his belt and was the defensive MVP of this years National Championship. He has the imposing size and build of a fearsome NFL OLB.

 

He is the safest pick IMO; a can't miss. At worst, you're going to get a Talley type LB out of him. I think he has the ceiling of a Terrell Suggs type OLB that can go out there and wreak havoc on QBs. He doesn't take plays off and is a vocal leader of that dominant Alabama defense.

Edited January 24, 2012 by ShhitGoose

[jjmac]

Alshon Jeffery.

 

I've read that he might fall to the 2nd round.

[Sisyphean Bills]

I checked out both Freeney and Dumervil and they both apparently have rather long arms as compared to their height.

Yeah, but Elvis is only 2' tall, so 29" arms ARE long. You're correct; he was a bad example.

 

Kyle Williams was criticized for having stub arms.

 

Adrian Grady is a short armed guy from Louisville -- I'm going to sue that website in a moment. .