PFF might just know what they were talking about.
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McNeil played 87% of his total snaps at heads-up nose tackle this year, making his production nothing short of incredible. Only one player since 2014 has produced a higher PFF grade at 0-technique than McNeil’s 90.5 this season (former Mississippi State Bulldog and current Tennessee Titan Jeffery Simmons in 2017).
McNeil won 10% of his pass-rush snaps at nose tackle, an impressive figure in its own right, but the reason for his success is all due to his run defense. He was a constant disruptor and fully deserved the 92.1 run-defense grade on the year.
10% feels low. I admit I don’t know what they mean when they say “won”. Does that mean sack? Sack, pressure, and/or hurry? I dunno.
I have high hopes for him. I know he’s not Suh, but I’m pumped to see what this cat can do.
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Give me 1989 Jerry Ball.
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That’s what was in my head, as I typed. I really do love watching a big ol’ fat dude just smash other humans on the football field. People keep talking about him at FB in short yardage. I wold love that.
I’m most excited to see our trenches maul human beings. I wanna see Trey Flowers get the respect I feel he deserves too, and Onwu and McNeil will help him. Last year it was too easy to scheme around our DL, no matter who was on it. This year, we have an adult at DC.
I was really surprised to see both him and Nixon still available when we picked in the 3rd. Nixon would have been a redundant pick after we took Levi. Alim and Levi with a hopefully healthy Flowers and the addition of Brockers, Romeo and hopefully a healthy Hand…this DL could be damn good sooner than expected.
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Fingers crossed. IMO, it all depends on the rooks. I have no faith in Hand’s health.
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I was thinking we might pick Nixon, too. Didn’t realize that he fell all the way to the fifth round. Carolina thinks they got a steal, but this write-up suggests he’s having some impact, but still a long way to go.
He really took a big step forward last season, too bad he didn’t get to play against Michigan or Missouri. Not sure I would call a guy that was in the top 10 of Mel Kipers first mock draft a “Hidden Gem”, but there you go.
I thought he dropped because of legal reasons at Iowa?
Not true, we have a poster that pushed that narrative and claimed he was kicked out of school, etc, and couldn’t provide a single source that could verify his allegations.
This was floated around after the draft, and I question the validity esp saying that the IOWA staff didn’t have favorable remarks. Even if you don’t like the guy why would you throw him under the bus? No actual allegations tied to any single event? No one in IOWA saying anything negative about the guy?
“In speaking to team sources, there were major character concerns with Nixon that sunk his draft grade. Some teams had dropped him from their boards because of his character issues, and the feedback from the Iowa staff was not positive. Nixon is going to have make some serious changes with his off-the-field habits in order to stick in the NFL and avoid suspensions.”
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There were definitely some red flags with Nixon.
Daviyon Nixon is still a defensive tackle for the Iowa football team.
For now.
The sophomore from Kenosha, Wisconsin, is taking classes this semester but is “considering his options” for transferring, Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz said at a Thursday news conference. Nixon has entered his name in the “transfer portal” that coaches around the country can look at.
Nixon did not play this season after transferring from Iowa Western Community College. The intent was for him to get his academics in order. He would be in line to play a big role on the 2019 team after starting defensive tackles Matt Nelson and Sam Brincks graduated.
Nixon had a learning disability, which was identified in high school:
Dummy. Stupid. Idiot. Sped Boy.
Kids can be cruel. Sometimes they have no filter, just let words fly that hurt someone.
Really hurt someone.
That’s what Daviyon Nixon feared when he was a junior in high school. The Iowa defensive tackle was diagnosed with a learning disability that was holding him back in the classroom and subsequently causing him to act up at times.
You care what your peers say and think about you, especially when you’re a teenager. He worried that he’d be an outcast, called things he wasn’t.
‘When I first found out I had a learning disability, it kind of hurt,’ Nixon said. ‘Basically I felt like I had a label on my back. I wasn’t the smart guy. I was stupid, I was dumb, things like that. My parents quickly made me realize that it’s not that I’m slow or dumb or anything like that. I just learn differently than other people. That opened my eyes.’
In speaking to team sources, there were major character concerns with Nixon that sunk his draft grade. Some teams had dropped him from their boards because of his character issues, and the feedback from the Iowa staff was not positive. Nixon is going to have make some serious changes with his off-the-field habits in order to stick in the NFL and avoid suspensions.
I quoted Walter’s article in my reply and my same take applies, WHERE is ANYONE from IOWA or from the media actually naming a specific issue other than saying, “Off the field”? What does that mean if there is no context? There is no “there, there” w/o context. I totally don’t believe the IOWA staff had anything bad to say because even if you DID have issue’s with him it only makes your program look bad by throwing him under the bus on his way out the door. What would perspective players think about a team that treated their players like that? Does anyone seriously think that a guy who was in Mel Kipers Top 10 is somehow immune from the press printing dirt on him if they had any? A poster here accused IOWA of a cover up. Really, so instead of ONE story about a player with issue’s NOW you have TWO stories, one about the player and another about the team that covered it up. But somehow, the press gave IOWA and Nixon a pass. LOL, yeah, totally believable.
Have the humility to confess that you simply don’t know. NFL teams have access to far more information than any fan on this forum. There’s a reason a guy with 2d-3d Rd level talent fell to Rd 5. If it wasn’t Nixon’s ability, then it was obviously another concern.
Granted, unlike Reuben Foster or Derrius Guice, Nixon’s problems aren’t as public or well-documented, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Maybe Nixon will grow up in a hurry … or not.
It’s true some guys mature over time and manage to overcome their issues. LeGarrette Blount is one who comes to mind . The guy rushed for 1002 yards, a 7.3 ypc average, and 17 TDs in 2008. However, he was suspended twice while at Oregon, including for the 2009 season where he suckered punched a Boise State opponent and hit his own teammate after a game.
Although Blount clearly had the talent to be drafted and was projected as a 4th-6th Rd guy, he went undrafted. His rather lengthy pro career turned out ok.
Anyway, I’d rather have the two guys we have than Nixon.
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It doesn’t take any humility to say I don’t know, and it doesn’t take much thought to wonder why if there were potential problems does no one mention them? Can you think of any other circumstance where someone fell because of conduct issue’s but no one ever once said what they were? LOL, Nixon’s “problems” aren’t public or well documented…AT ALL.
Just reading very quickly, it sounds to me that Nixon’s “problems” stem from a learning disability. I mean, let’s admit it, a learning disability can be the unfortunate root cause of some bad choices in life. Also, a learning disability can limit what you can expect out of your God-given talent. Just simple things like knowing the play book, translating that into getting yourself in the right position, recognizing formations, etc etc. could all be affected. You gotta feel for the kid, I hope he can work through it.
And something like that isn’t going to be made public for obvious reasons. I might be missing something else, but I don’t think there HAS to be something else.
It may just be rumors as this guy suggests:
Off-field Issues –
I did read in several online articles that there were unsubstantiated rumors of an altercation in the dorms, but again they are just rumors. I searched extensively through the local media in Iowa, and multiple online sporting news websites and I could not find any mention of a police report, or any social media posts regarding an altercation. I do not fore see this being an issue but I felt that it needed to be addressed.
However, NFL Security and/or individual team security can easily do more research that a guy with a keyboard an internet connection.
I remember there was an LSU defensive player who was characterized as “lazy” by multiple sources including weight room personnel. His draft stock dropped like a rock and the guy never made it in the NFL.
So are these reporters just lazy or what. An incident in the dorms. Just how hard would it be to find out what that incident was? Believe it or not there are people who don’t like football players, any football players. And they live all over campus, including the dorms. There are reporters who don’t like football, but somehow the U of I was able to what, buy them off? This guy says several online reports, why not quote them? It seems like several guys that have “a keyboard and an internet connection” seem to be using each other as “sources”. This is what happens when players are linked to incidents with no proof, remember La’el Collins?
“He signs a three-year, fully guaranteed deal worth $1.7 million, not counting the possibilities of a high tender or performance bonuses. Still, Collins has lost nearly $15 million because of a murder case in which he hasn’t been deemed a suspect or a person of interest.”
How’s he doing in the NFL?
That’s not a particularly good example of a guy dropping on mere unsourced/unsubstantiated rumors because he was wanted for questioning by police in a double homicide of his ex-girlfriend and there was a ton of publicity (as this story details).
https://www.si.com/nfl/2015/05/15/lael-collins-nfl-draft-dallas-cowboys-murder-investigation
And your example of Blount WAS a good example? A guy who had publicly screwed himself and there was absolutely no doubt as to what happened? The way you worded this is pretty interesting, “he was wanted for questioning”. That actually takes a much different tone than, “he was questioned”. The police themselves said that he wasn’t a suspect, "“We made the decision that we needed to pull him out of the draft festivities,” Smith says, “and put him on a plane back to Baton Rouge to meet with our lawyer and our private investigator to accelerate a meeting with police.” Did they WANT to talk to him? Yes, but “wanted” is indicative of something else. And that’s how things escalate.
Two guys who went into the draft whose stock fell, costing one of them $15 million. The other, a guy who was defensive player of the year in the Big 10, has rumors that there was an incident in the dorm and drops to the 5th round? How much did that cost? Sorry, I just don’t get it.
Can’t help you there.