I would say it’s the early in the down pressure we are giving up that killed our season. I’m not the least bit concerned about what we do on defense if we don’t fix the O-Line. I would rather just put up 40 plus evey week and play 2 high safeties and just hope for the best.
I was excited about the hype on Faulk and couldn’t wait to watch. I still have a couple games to go back and watch but I came away disappointed. I think I was more excited watching Jared Ivey in last years draft.
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I don’t think he was hurt. His production, IMO, was down because he moved around a lot IMO. He was asked to basically play a heavy a lot in the scheme. Faulk’s athleticism is one of those smooth types, fluidity not so much twitch. If he really is 285 that is something because I don’t think he LOOKS 285, but he has some treetrunk legs. So that is why I veer away from a comparison to Travon Walker a little, although they are similar in the way they were used in college all over the line. Rousseau would be the floor for my projection. I know you were referring to body types, but I think Faulk moves more fluid than Rousseau, and I think his upside is much higher. Especially considering that he is still going to be 20 when the NFL season starts. I would say that the one thing more so than some others this draft, is that Faulk has the sort of traits that scream upside vs most others.
I could definitely see them going this route. It really just depends on what they are going for. If they want an immediate pass rusher, he’s a better fit. (I like that he has that wrestling background.) And this is especially if they are more inclined to want to see production vs. upside. He does different things too. He can play some inside, but not like Faulk IMO. I think Dan might look at Faulk and see a disrupter that he can kick inside and find mismatches flush the middle of the pocket, etc. when needed too. I am super curious to see how they test though. My gut feeling is that unless they fell in love, or felt the need to make sure they get the LT of the future, its going to be hard to pass on Faulk at 17 because he is a day one run stopper with (probably) the sort of measurables they want to see, with high upside and a pretty high floor. Then consider he’s just a baby at 20/21 his first season. Will they roll the dice on a projection and salivate at what one of their coaches could do with him?
He was not but now is now on my TE radar.
Both LSU and Oklahoma fans seem to hate him unfortunately.
Lake McRee who can block was blocked at 19.58 mph ahead of the undersized Jared Kanak who is know for his speed.
Zavion Thomas the quickest accelerator. Noah Thomas pretty wild deceleration numbers for a 6’6” guy.
I really like that they track acceleration and deceleration. Croskey-Merritt had some insane deceleration numbers last year that really opened my eyes, especially after the tested so well at the notoriously slow-tracked Big 12 pro day. And it went a long way toward explaining a lot of what we see on tape.
You know I love Thomas, but with his specific strengths I only would have taken note if he DIDN’T dominate in an all-star game setting. WRs like him are set up for success.
Thought provoking. Though these “parlay” cross tabulation always make me think of that old Mark Twain quote about liars, damn liars and statisticians.
Well don’t forget Rousseau was widely seen as a top 5/10 guy coming into his final year before falling. And he was very young too, basically the same age in that draft as Faulk will be in this one (a month older relatively, I think). He’s STILL only 25.
It’s getting harder and harder to weed through all the metrics to figure out what sticks. Anything that will fit on a graphic, for instance, is an inherently tiny sample size. Something analytics people should be (and surely are) well aware of.
Ceyair Wright with a Zavion like acceleration time. Portends some high level potential in the slot. Think I’m moving in that direction. I have the sense that the coaching staff had gotten that sort of feedback and gave him far more reps in there.
And Brad and his guys are going to eat up this level of accountability.
https://x.com/masonkernmedia/status/1994533968436498831?s=46
A couple things about the Joseph one.
You know who his profile is by far the most like out of that group? Rumph, though I don’t even count him as a miss based off of his draft spot and injuries.
Also, it’s the 17% one season of pressure rate that seems like the faulty cutoff. What does 16-17% look like. My guess is that the chartist doesn’t want us to know that.
I do think Joseph is surprisingly physical and hangs in there in the run game. I’m a little surprised his grade was that high. But whenever I watched Tennessee I was left wondering why someone that twitchy wasn’t finishing.
If we’re looking for a AQM replacement he probably does belong in that bucket. Mason Reiger might as well.
I like that the Zebra MPHs remind us all of what a crock some of the in season numbers are.
We theorized that Ceyair was our target earlier in the year when our scouts were spotted at a Nebraska game. Not really sure who else it would have been.
Absolutely. The inherent flaw with graphics. You can put the cut-off wherever you want.
Josephs will be entirely dependent upon his range. If you’re talking round 3-4 (which is probably lower end, admittedly), I think he would be a really good find. If you’re talking 2nd… ehh, I’m not so sure about that. He is pretty good against the run “for his size,” but that’s still not very good overall. As a developmental guy who brings early heat though, I’d be fine with it.
My biggest issue is the way TEs consistently annihilate him, collapsing that side of the line. He seems to really lack spacial awareness, more often than not he seems utterly taken by surprise. And in today’s NFL most of the best offenses liberally use TEs and WRs that way. It makes me a little nervous.
I do too. The Big 12 combine is a nice little test of bona fide numbers vs narrative. My hunch is the latter wins out and they go back to their speedy, biased pro days soon enough. And honestly since the numbers likely don’t matter nearly as much as we think they do re: draft stock (really only in outlier-y situations), it’s probably fine overall.
At that time Nebraska was tbe only school we had been spotted at thrice. Of course that’s based on that same Ryan Fowler Twitter count. Not sure of the accuracy though it is a focus of his.
Pretty sure he’s identifying lower level scouts too, I did use him a lot last year in the visits thread.
True, in terms of development of a pass rush. But I think Faulk is stronger and much more violent overall. He probably has 20 lbs on Faulk and similar long arms. Run defense will never be a problem with Faulk. I can see the comp I guess. I’ve seen comps all over the board for him. Calais Campbell to Tyree Wilson. IMO, the combine is going to be big for Faulk.
Why is there no talk about Dani Dennis-Sutton? It’s still far too early for me to forecast but it seems to me if the players available don’t line up with our needs maybe a trade down would be in order. I would prefer DDS and an additional 2nd round pick over most of these guys at DE. I think the same could be said for guys like Tiernan and Ponds at other positions. Basically 2 of these guys over 1 in the first round.
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He is definitely on my radar. He fits what the Lions like IMO
Yeah we’ll see where Faulk checks in weight-wise. Like you said he doesn’t hold weight like a 285-pounder, and I think there’s a pretty good chance he’s not. Often it turns out they lied about the numbers and are actually much lighter. JTT for instance checked in ~20 pounds lighter than his listed weight, Ivey was ~15 pounds less, etc… Granted part of that is they lose weight to test, but I actually think it will hurt Faulk’s case if he checks in 270 or under. Especially if he doesn’t then crush the testing like Travon Walker did (and I wouldn’t expect him to).
Again, I like Faulk. Top 20 player on my board. So a lot of this is nitpicking. But we started this conversation with “which players would you trade up for?,” and for me at least, he isn’t one of them. If we took him at 17 though, I’d be just fine with it.
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You also can’t discount coincidence. The confirmed games through tbe time of that tweet were Cincinatti (when it was the only high level game going on), @UCLA and USC. UCLA is the odd one. The other two it makes perfect sense for the Lions to be there simply in a general sense.
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