Run Stopping DE’s…

[najacks]

I think the same thing. It’s very rare to see players that didn’t produce in college suddenly explode in the nfl. Clowney is a prime example of that. He was super hyped in college but looking at his film and numbers he never really took over games. Not at the same level as a guy like suh. And their nfl careers have pretty much mirrored how they were in college. Clowney would occasionally have great stretches of play. Then he’d disappear. Suh came in and dominated.

[TCLion]

@Motorcitymaniac

Please tell us what the tape says about a guy who had 5.5 sacks on a team loaded with talent. I want to see the logic that a guy who didn’t produce on a team with 19 five star recruits is going to come to the NFL and be a beast when he is the focal point of the Defense.

As a direct case in point, I would ask you to consider Jermaine Johnson’s stats going from Georgia to Florida State. I’m not saying Walker would achieve the same level of success, merely to consider it as circumstantial evidence regarding what everyone is saying about the Georgia scheme holding back statistical achievement.

Johnson’s 1 year at Florida State produced 70 combined tackles, 17.5 for loss, 11.5 sacks, and a sack to pressure rate of 30%. This is after playing BEHIND Walker at Georgia.

There’s legitimate reasons why people are projecting Walker the way they are, whether it true or not? Time will tell.

[stephenboyd57]

@TCLion

This is against the qualifier of looking within the scope of what the defender is regularly tasked with in the defensive scheme. That’s one of the things that makes guys like Walker so difficult to get a good read on, the tools are there, but he wasn’t asked to pin his ears back very often in the Georgia scheme.

Sounds like Ziggy at BYU. It’s tough to evaluate players properly that weren’t used to the best of their abilities in college.

[stephenboyd57]

@Mr.Peabody

PFF doesn’t even try to give an educated guess as far as assignment. That makes their scores unique, but they always need to be taken into context. They judge the result of the play, but give a ton of credit if the player is a direct part of the result. So when Thibs runs himself out of position and gets washed down the line and the runner runs to the vacated space…that’s not a huge knock on Thibs. Its viewed much the same as Walker setting the edge correctly and the runner having to try to dive inside a pile of bodies for no gain. Neither guy made or missed the tackle. So when Thibs uses that same aggressiveness and ability to play out of position to dart in and make a solo tackle on the runner, he gets a ton of credit for that. Walker staying true to the scheme and being a part of a gang tackle or allowing another defender to go in and make the tackle wouldn’t grade that well on the PFF scale.

I guess comparing it to basketball, a guy who gets a few dunks and blocked shots per game would grade higher than a better all around player who is sound on both ends of the court. PFF wouldn’t care if he got the blocked shot because he left his man, or that he spends so much energy trying to crash down and blocked shots he can’t close out on 3 pointers like he’s supposed to.

Very good breakdown of pff. I like the basketball comparison, as I coached HS basketball for 10 years. Stats often tell a lie in basketball. The eye test means way more, especially when it comes to defense.

Appreciate your knowledge of the game @Mr.Peabody

[Mr_Bob_Dobalina]

This Alex Wright dude looks like a really intriguing project player at both DE and DT…Wouldn’t mind nabbing him in the 5th if he’s still there.