If you haven't watched the Gruden Camp, I highly recommend it. Gruden is one of the great offensive minds of this generation and he puts the pressure down on this year's class of QBs to see what they are made of. On a side note, my gut says that this class of QBs will not be one of those great groups when their careers are over.
Drafting the Tide
It is now down to the crunch and the players have done all the hoops and hurdles for the scouts and GMs that would take them. McShay is high on Bama's class this year with 3 guys in the 1st round. But he is an idiot according to fans....
Personally, I think it is a stretch for 3. 2 might be if the trades start picking up this weekend. McClain is the sure bet as a first round pick. Where he goes, well that part is more a mystery because if the trades that are rumored happen do happen, he could go around the 11th pick or fall around the 17-20 range. With the Broncos parting ways with Marshall, Dez Bryant is hard to pass on. Personally, I think for McClain, the team and scheme is more important than the draft number. In a 4-3, he's going to be good, but he's made and thinks like a guy in a 3-4 and will be better off with a Pittsburgh or San Diego or Cowboys defense than someone like San Fran or Arizona that plays in the 4-3 and would ask McClain to move around more.
I know a lot of folks are putting Kareem in the 1st, but really Cody has more of a shot than he does because there are more teams who are going to be drafting for future needs in the later half than immediate need. Like Rolo, Cody will be attractive to 3-4 teams and they just happen to be at the bottom of the board. The trick here is that San Diego has a late 1st and an early 2nd round pick. Do they wait and get Cody for cheaper? If they are in a bind with their salary budget, probably. It also depends on which running backs are still on the board. LT's departure and Sproles being a buck fifty soaking wet will require them getting a quality counter punch to him.
Jackson has the skills, but is he a 1st round pick? The issue for him is kinda the same. He is a cover 2/tampa 2 guy. Some teams play man every down and won't look at him. The Vikes are liking him, but they like Robinson from FSU as well. That may be a coin flip or coach's preference there and then KJ falls on to round 2 and is a nice pickup for a Chiefs or Bucs team in the early second.
If that happens, Arenas's stock really kinda falls for a while because those teams are the teams that would have burned a 3rd on him. If those events happen, Mike Johnson is the next off the board in the late 3rd early 4th range. A team like Philadelphia may have an interest as they are starting to rebuild for the long run. Washington and the Dolphins as well as the Fins are parting ways with Smiley. Ironic. Arenas and a team like the Bengals who play a lot of nickel and other teams like the Bucs and Vikes who play a lot of multi sets will have an interest in him for corner, but if teams are looking return man, the Pats may be into him because Welker is out for a long while.
After that, Bama fans you may not see another guy til the late 6th or 7th if at all. Peek's 40 time was too slow to burn a pick on before the bottom of the draft. Marquis Johnson ran well but didn't separate himself from the drowning pool of players like him. Deaderick and Washington may be a late pickup for a team trying to fill scout team needs for a while, and Upchurch may get a last second pickup for the same cause, but none of them have done anything in workouts to get noticed and their game films aren't an ESPN highlight reel.
Regardless, from where the draft class was 2 years ago to now, it is a vast improvement...
A Day 10 things I'll watch for...
1. Secondary play
It will not be a situation where you will see the 5 starting d backs together because the "Star" may be on the other side, or playing another position. I will be watching to see how they handle situations where the blitz hasn't disrupted and how they handle playing on the island for a bit.
2. O Line v. D Line
Both sides have some holes to fill and it will be interesting to see who has the advantage. Depending on injuries heading into the game or the coaches' desire to play starters, we may not see much here as far as quality 1s on 1s after the 1st or 2nd quarter.
3. How many snaps for Sims and Jackson?
At first, I was surprised to see Sims paired with McElroy, but last year they did a similar pairing. McCarron and Jackson will pair up and it will be interesting to see how the snaps are divided. I guess it is needless to say, if AJ throws a touchdown, there will be a quadrant of fans who beckon for him to start because he's the only hope. All prodding aside, this game will give us a feel for how the coaches see the 2s and 3s there.
4. Special Teams... are there any?
Gotta feeling that my dislike for special teams play continues, but I like being wrong in these situations.
5. DJ Fluker- over/under weight guesses
Fluker is much like Cody and Smith. If he can control his weight, he will be all that fans and scouts hype him to be. If he cannot, he is nothing more than space filling. All rumors say he's down and in better shape, but this one kinda needs to be monitored in July too.....
6. After Julio, do any of the receivers look ready to be the 2nd option on a consistent basis?
It has been a constant issue for 2 years, and probably will for this year. The QBs have yet to find a solid backup option to Julio if he's covered. Maze has been it at times, but as history shows, for every Florida game, there is a Texas game. Hanks is the same way, after MSU his looks were almost non-existent. Bowman's out, so Norwood's big chance is now. Same for Dial and Williams at TE.
7. Can AJ show the complete game or is the game management still shaky?
I can't remember where I read it, but one poster mentioned listening to Gruden and McCoy chirp play calls out and the level of difficulty there was to it. It can be in a complex offense. This offense isn't super complex but it isn't vanilla. AJ has the physical game down. He has the arm. He has the height. He has the presence in the pocket. Saban has mentioned it, and it is what they are wanting him to grow and improve.....the dreaded phrase for some.....game management. If he is confident in the huddle and confident in leading the 10 guys with him, that hurdle is over. If there is a lot of confusion or missed assignments (blocks wrong way/wrong route ran), then that's where they are still working on him. Also, a lot of folks talk about him in the closed scrimmages, it is a different animal when there are x thousand watching over x hundred.
8. Can Dareus be stopped, and if not is it more him or the lineman across of him?
That's always a hard thing to watch and figure out. Of course he won't be able to light a QBs Christmas tree, but if he gets 5 real sacks and not 5 tags, we are watching either a great thing coming or a bad situation on the strong side. Gut says great thing for what it is worth.
9. When Bama goes nickel, who plays next to Donta?
Nico's been bruised up a lot in practice, and Jordan has shown flashes of ability to hold it down, but Harris has been the will in nickel primarily. This is important to know because last year the will had to do a lot of different things and flipping players around to get that matchup is a tip off that good offenses will catch. I think even if Nico was healthy, he'd go out on nickel and dime situations because Harris is faster.
10. Can Richardson and Ingram take the game over and put the QB talk to bed?
Nothing would make me happier than to see both of them ground it out and take the focus off the passing game, but this is spring and you chuck the shit out of it more than you ever would in the fall.
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