I'm more excited about the UDFA class than the actual draftees...one of the most boring drafts we've ever taken part in. I was excited about Fackrell until I watched him out on YouTube clips. Guy looks incredibly passive. Has skills and is smooth out in space but I saw no heart or desire in what he does. Does a lot of just standing around and is coming off the ACL injury.
Trevor Davis has to be the pick especially based off his performance at the rookie mini camp and our desperate need for speed in the receiving game. He showed great hands and speed. KO returner is now a devalued position. I'm not sure most fans understand just how obsolete KO returners are with the new KO rules. Touchbacks could be a thing of the past with the ball coming out to the 25 if you kick it out of the endzone. The new strategy is presumably to do short pop up kicks to try and pin the returner deep. It's going to be awfully hard to return the ball if there are going to be pop up kicks, or if the kickers decide just to blast it out of the endzone. The speed guys like Janis and Davis thrive on long lead ups to gather speed. Speed will be far less useful when you can't get a big head of steam anymore.
The guy I'm excited about is S Kentrell Brice out of La Tech. Guy can't cover all that well but he's lightning fast and tracks runners very well and delivers some big hits. His form is terrible but he's like Chuck Cecil back there just trying to blow guys up. Our D could use some nasty to it and he's one to do it. He can rush the passer pretty well with his speed, too. Would love to see him as an in the box safety for us, used for safety blitzes and up closer to line of scrimmage to stop guys like Adrian Peterson.
From thenewsstar.com...(Brice took advantage of his pro day)...
Brice, known for his humble demeanor and quiet personality, made a loud, lasting impression on NFL scouts at Tech's Pro Day with a 42-inch vertical leap, a 4.38 40-yard dash, 21 reps on the bench press and a 11-1 broad jump. His individual performance served as one of the main highlights during Tuesday's four-hour long workout that featured 20 players from both Tech and Grambling.
"It was a surreal feeling," Brice told The News-Star on Saturday. "It was a long process sitting around waiting and not seeing your name called but knowing you had a team that really liked you and they came in and worked you at and didn't have the opportunity to get you but they still liked you. It shows they really cared. They showed the most love for me and I felt it was the best place for me."
---I've seen the guy in interviews and he's about as dumb as they come but man can he run and hit. Another Nick Collins measurables type. I hope he's more Nick Collins than Jerron McMillian.
Just to compare Nick Collins with this guy. Collins ran 4.36 vs. 4.38 for Brice, but Brice was hand timed. Brice bested Collins vertical jump by 2" and his broad jump by 15" and Brice did 10 more reps on the bench than Collins. Brice runs like Collins but is much stronger and can out jump him vertically and horizontally. Brice is one heckuvan athlete even better than Collins was. They both weren't very bright but one got drafted in Round 2 and another not at all. Will be fun to see how Brice looks as we go along.
Worst start to highlight vid ever...takes 30 some seconds to see the guy actually make a play...
Ted Thompson sits on his hands per former GM: "because they’ve had 25 fricking years of great quarterbacks. Of course it works. Try it without a special quarterback."