Bear Hands

"I want dawgs" "We're just here to be positive and take our best foot forward, oh gosh, oh golly, look how beautiful it is outside today" Let's hope it's all what it seems--in other words: coach and player speak to the media lol

Yeah can't discount that he can't bring a cocky, beat the world mentality when his back's against the wall. But you're also right, this kid is super coached. That's what growing up in Pasadena under a heavily directed football life at one of the OC's better HS football programs will get you. Also - I still can't imagine what his HS commute was like. Yeesh.

Let's keep it chill. Same goes for the Claw guy, especially.

Seems like we’ve got more than “dawgs” or whatever. This class seems like a good crop of guys with some heavy life experience and came out stronger. Just seem like good people too. Really hope this is a high end class. XL, Brooks, and Wallace and Sanders could all be high impact guys and quickly.

That’s a pretty good comp mentality wise. And you’re right, to expand on that— if you’re not the ra-ra team hype man, not the late night film guy, not the physically imposing guy, not the cannon, not the hyper athletic playmaker..it gets tough when there’s so few boxes that you check and the ceiling can only be so high. He can be successful in the right environment but that’s not what you want with this type of investment. Its going to be a hugely important year for him.

Yep. I’m not trying to be an excessive Bryce dissenter, but it is pretty apparent he’s not one of those hyper football junkies. He’s a very even keel dude that approaches it professionally and calmly. Not game junkie. For him it’s his job and he’s there to perform as best he can.

He confirmed in his presser he doesn’t look for extra motivation from being left out of stuff like primetime games and whatnot. That he’s just there to do his darnest. Good optics answer, but it is nice to have a guy who doesn’t like being disrespected and takes it as motivation. I want fire and an edge to this team - hope someone on offense can bring it.

I'm very excited about these two.

Given how much of a hype guy he is, not great hearing from him that the offense was “rusty” but we’ll see.

This is hard knowing what we saw last year but with a new staff, OL, and weapons...but the same QB. 1 Saints game, Giants, Denver, 1 Bucs, & 1 unexpected We're back to 5-12. Maybe 4-13. I'd be concerned with 3-14 or worse.

You nailed it with Pelaton instructor lol

Not to mention we had the pick the Texans traded for to draft Nico lol

I'm seeing what you see. A quick way to make it very apparent to even the casual is to just watch clips of Brees, Kyler or Russ and then go to Bryce. It's what makes the larger media narrative that he's fine and we didn't give him enough super short-sighted. He doesn't have a deliberate, sharp or efficient drop back. He has this shallow walk and skip so he doesn't get back effectively enough to give himself lines of sight. His demeanor and style should be reserved for a guy that's 6'3 plus. He got used to this because he would roll out so much in school and find Jameson or Burton on the fly. And because he gets lost in these shallow, collapsing pockets, he has nowhere to go and gets super frenetic.

At the end of the day, it's a no for me. The speed & quickness in NFL clean pockets is not the same and he just looks overwhelmed to be able to stand in the pocket and make basic throws. He just can't at times. Bad OL or WRs be damned. It was pretty obvious. Poor mechanics, off balance throws, bad decision making, average arm. The field felt like it was 200 yards watching him. Surprisingly tough and has a good head on his shoulders, but that doesn't just offset his poor performance as a #1 overall selection. That's where I'm at, and I'll gladly be wrong if he comes out swinging. But am I saying he can't be a guy a team like SF could insert and make work? No. He has the mentality, but it's right there for us to see now. At his best, he's a middle of the road starter that could be on a playoff squad, maybe. Big maybe. And that's just the reality. I don't see any traits that he's going to take the team on his back and win games. Personally, the Bears game was the final straw for me. He's positioned himself into "prove-it" territory rather than, the idea that we saw flashes but he was hung out to dry.

Yep. It’s that or you work him in motion and get him the ball quickly, early. With his downfield play, even if he’s got the ups, you want to be throwing him open and leading him, like any receiver. A big detriment to Bryce’s game last year and in college was his deep ball accuracy. Hopefully it can improve with a guy like XL. Because he can beat man with his speed and muscle—he’s a third down vertical threat for sure. A problem is are these going to be jump balls with no YAC potential or can we figure this deep ball game out with the kid at QB.

What we desperately needed was a quick zone beater which we got in Dionte. That was the bigger need to help handicap our chap at QB. XL is the large catch radius to make up for his strays and floaters so the team is trying to cover both ends that previously weren’t.

Both can be true and are. There’s no apologizing. The dude even lays it out.

So when his QB was inaccurate, he did the least with uncatchable balls. Being more of a body catcher and his lack of short area quickness, and Reich/Brown’s awful play designs, it makes sense why.

Zero in 2023. 4 in all of college in 140ish targets. 2.8% rate. And he was inline and out. Average is usually around 5-5.5%. Bad is 8%+ Best in NFL history catch rates (I.E. Ertz, Olsen, Reed) are sub 3.0% at their career volumes. So good indicator, but small sample size so far. But he is super reliable.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kilroyzkrystalball/

velocity discussion aside, it will definitely be interesting to see him this year, compare eye test to last, and what iffy tendencies carry over. We all will be able to tell fairly quickly if we're looking at the same guy as last season, or a refreshed prospect fitting better in a better situation. In short-It will be obvious if he's a fish out of water rather quickly after a full offseason in the big leagues long form- We saw a glimpse of maybe an above average/top-15 starter-level potential, at his best (and that was like 1 game). Otherwise, his "good" felt kind of like what you saw when the Raiders threw in O'Connell or the Giants with the Italian dude and they had their moments. The Colts and Texans were simply different teams, for the better, with their guys on the field respectively. My biggest concern is still-- let's say the conditions are optimal, what will Bryce do to take it to the next level and put the team on his back? I want to see glimpses of what that could be, not just elevated stat lines in a more friendly system. This is going to take more than mostly looking like the same guy and having a handful more Green Bay 2023-level games. This is about getting his feet and arm coordinated, footwork better, drop backs more consistent, pocket awareness elevated, throws more deliberate, reads/head movement in pocket, there's just a lot that needs to be kicked up a notch and it will be easy to see if it's the same guy or not rather soon.

Watching Sanders, I see a lot of Evan Engram to his game. The nice thing is he has a slightly bigger build and better upside as a blocker - so could line up in a few different spots. I really like his potential. Also - he's young. I'm telling you, a big playoff caliber program like that, with an up and down QB, doesn't just target a TE 139 times in his 27 college games before the age of 21 for no reason when they had Mitchell, Worthy, & Wittingham out there. Young, great ceiling, I really hope this kid can produce for us.

Thanks - good stuff

Good mentality, I've liked what I've seen in interviews between him and Brooks as well. Both of those kids should be good for this offense.