A Look At The "Gregory Rousseau Could Be Aaron Maybin 2.0" Projections/Comparisons

[Success]

Maybin's big thing was his "quick 1st step."  In college, he blew past people at the LOS because of quickness.  One trick pony, and without other strengths, he didn't break through in the NFL.

 

It looks like Rousseau has a pretty good arsenal of techniques and tricks - he can bull rush guys, blow by them w/ speed, spin & turn.  He has a good motor and stays with a play even if the 1st move doesn't get him there.  And just great instincts, from what I saw.

 

I'm sure most here have seen the highlights, but I'd encourage everyone who hasn't to check them out.  He's what the defense needs.

 

[BringMetheHeadofLeonLett]

I saw a Ted Hendricks comparison in one scouting report.... probably for the length, but still, love that!

 

Needs a 70's porno 'stache tho

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

This is a thing people are saying? Lol everyone and their mother knew Maybin was too small to play linebacker let alone defensive end.  Rousseau is an absolute freak of nature hes big and fast.  Not sure what we were thinking with the Maybin pick maybe we thought we could bulk him up and it just didn't work out.  I think rousseau will be phenomenal at best and average at worst which is exactly what you'd want with the 30th pick Maybin was a huge risk that early in the draft that had a super low floor 

Edited April 30, 2021 by Generic_Bills_Fan

[Malazan]

Wait for my thread, "Debunking that Gregory Rousseau is the next IK Enkampali"

[Brennan Huff]

8 minutes ago, Dr. Football said:

 

Margus brother Mike is also extremely raw 😂

[Bills92]

Comparing any 'bust' type player to a player with the current organization is just not fair to those 'bust' players

 

  Unlike past regimes (especially those during the drought), this regime actually has impactful plans, process' (Yes I said the P word) and most importantly a commitment to develop young talent.  I tend to believe that if we had a McBeane (Competent) type regime back in the 2000's.. Maybin could have been a star...  Losman could have had a viable NFL career... and Eric Moulds would have been a HOF'r. 

 

 

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

5 minutes ago, jeremy2020 said:

Wait for my thread, "Debunking that Gregory Rousseau is the next IK Enkampali"

Lol its such a foreign concept for us to have a late first round pick after being pretty bad for over a decade.  If we end up on the low end of rousseaus potential and hes just a serviceable starter that's still a good result.  Yea we'll all complain about the hall of fame guy or two that got picked late in this draft but im sure every team does that haha 

[Dont Stop Billeiving]

19 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Is there really a myth?  The only comparison is that they only had 1 good season 

 

11 minutes ago, MJS said:

This is not a thing. No need to even say it is a myth.

 

11 minutes ago, ProcessAccepted said:

Personally I hadn't heard of the myth. Maybin's name never came up as a comparable to Rousseau in any coverage I've watched or read. That said I'd only need to look at the gameplay stats to see that they are not the same guy. When you factor in that Rousseau has only played the position for about one season you can only wonder how high the ceiling can be.

 

4 minutes ago, BuffaloRebound said:

What is the point of this thread?  Might as well compare Rousseau to Erik Flowers.  He’s about as relevant as Maybin.  

Fair enough, I've adjusted the title as my wording was probably a bit off.

 

After reading through the 37+ pages of the Gregory Rousseau thread, I saw double-digit posts expressing worries about Rousseau being the same as Maybin and comparing them in some way. Thought it might be interesting to actually break it down based on their measurements/test results/stats and see what the differences were.

[Sherlock Holmes]

39 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

Should have drafted Orakpo

 

Clay Matthews

[Big Turk]

His comparables in the scouting reports I read were:

 

Danielle Hunter 

Arik Armstead 

Montez Sweat 

 

Another said he had the upside of becoming Chandler Jones and another said his potential is perennial All-Pro.

 

Those are pretty good comparisons.

Edited April 30, 2021 by Big Turk

[Seasons1992]

What you have forgotten, is that the (at the time) marketing manager took Maybin in the draft. 

 

A real NFL GM took pick #1 last night. 

[TailgateChef]

45 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

Should have drafted Orakpo

 

That still irks me.  I was at the stadium for the draft, and there was a collective "Huh?!" from the 25,000 people there.

[Mat68]

57 minutes ago, Dont Stop Billeiving said:

First off, I have to confess something. My initial reaction to the name that followed 'The Buffalo Bills select...' wasn't a overly positive one. My eyes kept getting wider as Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, Teven Jenkins, Elijah Moore, and others appeared to be falling to us (Greg Newsome going to the Browns was a real gut-punch for me personally though) and I was almost certain that one of those prospects would be the pick at #30.

 

However, as the surprise wore off, Gregory Rousseau has made more and more sense. While he undeniably has some bust potential as he's a raw, inexperienced prospect, Rousseau has a lot of traits that the Bills love (versatility, high football character, freakish physical gifts, etc.) and the reports are that coaches love this kid and his character/work ethic/intangibles. His length and ability to find the football are elite and we could really choose to view his limited number of snaps as a positive thing (converted WR/safety whose best football is ahead of him). 

 

Looking through the main thread about the pick, I noticed more than a few references/doubts and comparisons to Aaron Maybin, a seemingly good human being who is now an artist and elementary school teacher (true story!), but unfortunately for us, was an extremely disappointing football player. To my eye, I don't understand these comparisons as they look like very different defenders, but I thought I would dig into the numbers and see what happens. Here goes.

 

Gregory Rousseau

Height- 6’ 7” (technically 6 foot 6 5/8 inches)

Weight- 266 lbs

Arm Length- 34 3/4 inch arms (11 1/8 inch hands and a wingspan of 83 1/4 inches)

Stats- Career (14 games)- 59 total tackles, 19.5 TFL, 15.5 sacks, 1 PD, and 2 FF.

Combine Results- 4.68 40 Yd Dash (with a 1.57 10 Yd Split and a 2.71 20 Yd Split), 4.45 Shuttle, 7.50 Three Cone, 30" Vert Jump, 9'-7" Broad Jump, 21 Bench Reps.

Relative Athletic Score (RAS)- 7.75 (out of 10)

 

Aaron Maybin

Height- 6’4”

Weight- 245 lbs

Arm Length- 35 1/4 inch arms (10 inch hands, spent about 15 minutes trying to find his wingspan, but couldn't locate it)

Stats- Career (26 games)- 61 total tackles, 24.5 TFL, 16 sacks, 4 PD, and 4 FF.

Combine Results- 4.64 40 Yd Dash, 4.38 Shuttle, 7.52 Three Cone, 38" Vert Jump, 10'-4" Broad Jump, 22 Bench Reps.

RAS- 6.44 (out of 10)

 

In summary, Rousseau is a significantly taller and heavier player who despite his poor pro day (I saw reports and other posters who mentioned that he fell on his vertical and had to run his three cone drill multiple times which wore him down a bit), still tested as a better athlete than Maybin when comparing their Relative Athletic Scores. Rousseau has slightly shorter arms, but he has larger hands and I think it's fair to assume he has a longer wingspan given his height advantage and build. In a relatively small sample size for both players, Rousseau's stats are much more impressive on a per game basis. 

 

Hopefully, if you were concerned about Rousseau becoming the next Maybin, I’ve at least managed to mitigate your doubts. I believe Rousseau has some prototype-level physical gifts that you can't teach and a ton of untapped potential. While Maybin had tweener size and was never a plus run defender, Rousseau's build, length, and effort allows him to set the edge effectively and his size enables him to line up across the defensive line which is very valuable. Rousseau is still a raw, unrefined prospect in many respects and he may not have a huge impact from Day 1 given how new he is to playing defense, but I trust the coaching staff to develop him and the kid seems like a process guy who will work his tail off to reach his enormous ceiling. It's a big swing, but I'm come around to seeing it as a worthwhile one. 

 

Thanks for reading and Go Bills! Good luck to us all tonight!

Maybin played much smaller and never was able to keep weight on.  If Maybin couldnt get around the edge he was swallowed up.  At Rosseau's size he is a unicorn.  I went from unsure to more I see more I like.  

[Logic]

With all due respect, other than "raw edge rusher drafted by the Bills", I don't see any Aaron Maybin comparison AT ALL.

They're completely different as players and completely different in size and athletic profile.

Maybin was 240 soaking wet, but probably played at Penn State closer to 220-235. He looked like a defensive back. He had great get-off and not much else. 

Rousseau is a monster of a man, weighs 266 (and probably still isn't done growing), and looks like an oak tree. A lot of his sack production came when he rushed from the interior, which was decidedly not the case with Maybin.

Again, other than the position they play and the team that drafted them, I see zero point zero similarities. 

[Seasons1992]

3 minutes ago, Logic said:

With all due respect, other than "raw edge rusher drafted by the Bills", I don't see any Aaron Maybin comparison AT ALL.

They're completely different as players and completely different in size and athletic profile.

Maybin was 240 soaking wet, but probably played at Penn State closer to 220-235. He looked like a defensive back. He had great get-off and not much else. 

Rousseau is a monster of a man, weighs 266 (and probably still isn't done growing), and looks like an oak tree. A lot of his sack production came when he rushed from the interior, which was decidedly not the case with Maybin.

Again, other than the position they play and the team that drafted them, I see zero point zero similarities. 

 

All of this. People I know around here have been asking today "thoughts on your pick?" and I'm like "Dude is a tree and hopefully disrupts offenses for the next 5 years on a regular basis." Maybin was a "good god why did we take him."

[Buffalo_Stampede]

1 hour ago, No Place To Hyde said:

The name I think about is Margus Hunt, not Aaron Maybin. Hopefully this coaching staff gets more out of Rousseau than the Bengals got out of the tall, strong and extremely raw Hunt. I think they will...but Hunt is my "worst case" comparison.

Why? Tall guys? Lol. There's nothing else similar about them. Hunt was a senior that did little in college. But yeah I guess that would be a worst case. 

Edited April 30, 2021 by Buffalo_Stampede

[jayg]

https://nflcombineresults.com/playerpage.php?i=23109

 

[T master]

Can't say that didn't cross my mind but 2 things, first Rousseau's reaction was entirely different than Maybins then his motivation seems to be much better too . A guy that at 17 took more classes to go to college sooner so he could get more time to learn his new position and passed with colors .

 

If your that motivated i'd say he will be that motivated to be better while on the field ...

 

 🙏 But hey a little prayer can't hurt !

[Dont Stop Billeiving]

16 minutes ago, Logic said:

With all due respect, other than "raw edge rusher drafted by the Bills", I don't see any Aaron Maybin comparison AT ALL.

They're completely different as players and completely different in size and athletic profile.

Maybin was 240 soaking wet, but probably played at Penn State closer to 220-235. He looked like a defensive back. He had great get-off and not much else. 

Rousseau is a monster of a man, weighs 266 (and probably still isn't done growing), and looks like an oak tree. A lot of his sack production came when he rushed from the interior, which was decidedly not the case with Maybin.

Again, other than the position they play and the team that drafted them, I see zero point zero similarities. 

Completely agree. Very different physically and in the way they rush the passer/play the run.

 

Also, another huge potential difference is that Rousseau seems to love the game and works really hard by all accounts whereas it turned out that Maybin's true passion was art. Major factor in why Rousseau could reach his ceiling and Maybin never did. 

[BuffaloBillsGospel]

The only one who will prove us right or wrong is Gregory Rousseau and if it doesn't work out then it was a 30th overall pick, you have to swing for the fences and hope for the best.