Alexander’s talent projects nicely to his potential to become a solid NFL CB. Watching him 2 yards off LOS and beginning his track of Mike Williams [#7 pick in ‘17] with flat feet and seeing him smoothly flip and run stride for stride like he’s Williams’ shadow with the sun at 12 o’clock is a thing of beauty.
In the ’17 Syracuse game he lined-up across from Sr. WR Steven Ishmael. Ishmael was a nice college WR [Set a bunch of team records], but did not get drafted. Ishmael is 6-2, 212 and ran a 4.59 at combine and the Exchange had him rated as #46 WR. He recently signed with INDY as an UDFA. Statistically, Jaire gave up 1 catch for 8 yards; but in 4 plays [at 1:00, at 1:25 a 2:03 and 4:06 in this
VIDEO ] Jaire had mediocre to poor coverage that would have seen Jaire give up 5 catches 150 yards and a TD if the QB play was better. On these 4 plays Jaire was poor or lazy with his technique: coming out of back-pedal too fast; opened up his hips too soon; lunging on a double move slowing his recovery; and taking long loping strides running back on an “angle” instead of shorter piston steps. In the Syracuse game and many others Jaire’s technique, like the play described above against Williams, was lazy to poor. However, because of the athletic disparity between Alexander and mostly WRs that have no hope of playing Sundays, Alexander was able to recover. Many of Alexander’s “signature plays,” like making an INT in man coverage in RZ against 2016 #7 pick Williams resulted from poor QB play. Williams broke on a short IN leaving Alexander 3 yards behind, Deshaun Watson threw way behind Williams and Jaire was able to close and INT.
Fact is, the Jaire exemplified by the college “tape” reviewed is simply incapable of playing in the NFL. Qualification for the more emotional: Jaire’s situation describes 99% of the college players drafted including Denzel Ward.
Outside of staying healthy, there is one thing and one thing alone will determine whether Jaire ends up a bust or selling ocean-view real estate on “Jaire Island:” his ability and want to take coaching. Trea Wayens has more athleticism and talent in his baby finger than Richard Sherman has in his entire body; yet Wayens rides the pines and Sherman is a perennial pro-bowler. This proves that a draftee’s mental aptitude is the single most important variable to determine if a kid is going to make it.
The trade-up for Jaire proved he was a long-planned target. He was not an afterthought occurring when all of GB’s targets were taken and a trade-down failed to presented itself. However, according to Nagler, who claims to know Jaire’s agent [John Thornton] very well, GB’s pick of him was a 100% total surprise, they had no idea GB was interested.
Prospects usually know which teams are sniffing. The prospect might get a call, for example, from their HS coach and/or present or past position coaches informing them that GB made contact. Scouts will spend extra time at events and all-star games and visit with the prospect multiple times on campus, etc. Much of this extra work is done after the scheduled season is over, which Jaire short-circuited this process by quitting before the bowl game and hiring an agent 2 weeks later. This made him ineligible for all-star games and all visits were scheduled thru the agent as opposed to scouts showing up on campus after speaking to someone at the university. This agent would have known just about everything concerning GB’s interest and there appeared to be none.
Gutekunst could have had this kid for an ENTIRE day on a visit. GB usually sends flunkies to pick up visiting players at the airport, would Jaire act like a douchebag and suddenly Eddie-Haskell-it once arriving at the complex? The agents know about and will warn about this “trick,” but ya gotta imagine there’s a ton of creative ways to learn how a kid acts when he thinks no one is watching. A ton could have been learned about this kid’s character with 2-3-4-5 campus visits or grabbing him in the hallway a couple of times for 5 minutes at the combine or just having a meal with him and talking about the mundane. I suspect Gutekunst strategized to sacrifice learning as much as possible about this kid as a subterfuge to GB’s actual interest.
A team possesses a legitimate interest in concealing their interest in a player; however, it is patently reckless to sacrifice every single extra critical opportunity to learn the most important things about a prospect. This was a huge mistake that should not be repeated.