Official pick your rookie sleeper thread.

[Swaggasaurus]

Mays. He’s NFL ready, but unspectacular and this is why he didn’t go earlier in the draft.

Folks may have questioned the transfer to Tennessee, but dudes dad was suing UGA because his finger was partially cut off at the school in a chair. Lots of drama there and he needed to get out.

[Ricky Spanish]

23 hours ago, stbugs said:

It’s so dumb. Look at how many rookie starters and rookies with almost half the snap counts. I get that people hate Rhule, he’s certainly not shown he’s a competent coach yet, but there’s no example of a rookie stand out who hasn’t been played. BC is always thrown out there and maybe he could have played more but he started 6 games and played 45% of all offensive snap counts even though he got 4 snap counts the first 4 weeks. We signed 2FA OL to start and we went 3-1 with the offense scoring, so it’s not really not surprising he didn’t play early. After that, he played 2/3rds of the remaining snaps excluding a game he missed due to injury. That’s the guy most often used as an example that Rhule won’t play rookies. The other is Brown, an overweight 6th rounder. I hated that pick over Trey Smith and if you asked me after watching the Senior Bowl, I would have said Brown is the least likely Senior Bowl player to be able to contribute in 2021, total future project.

Somehow there appears to be these new myths that Rhule wants Sam to start and hates Corral and that Rhule really wants Mayfield. I haven’t seen one iota of proof but stuff like this now has me wanting Rhule to finish out his deal just to see the whining.

My issue with BC was not that he wasn't on the field enough, it was that he wasn't on the field at the right spot enough. 

In his limited play at LT, he outplayed Cam Erving. When we were out of contention for the playoffs is when the Rookies and younger guys should have been implanted in the line to make some sort of improvements. It wasn't like the line was going to look worse than it already did. 

So with the fact that the line looked as horrible as it did when we went out and got two FA OL on day one of free agency, along with not playing a rookie LT actually at LT because of "Short arms" even though he outplayed one of the day one FAs when he did get time there, ALONG with Rhule's comments about Slater and his own issues with "Short Arms" when he went on to have a pro bowl caliber season as a Rookie makes Rhule look completely incompetent at evaluating offensive lines. 

So it's not really any one issue when it comes to the line, it's the sum of all the shitty parts together. 

[kungfoodude]

43 minutes ago, stbugs said:

Well, the team thought he was a better guard (2nd round grade versus 3rd as tackle) and one would hope that Fitterer was smart enough to look ahead (anti-Hurney draft a tackle during a weak class strategy) and see that we likely will land a top tackle. Given that and the fact that we weren’t a playoff team it was a smart call to try and get him some G work. Unfortunately, he didn’t look as good, but let's be honest, we weren’t not taking Iky because of BC so he’s either the swing tackle or a starting G. If he hits at LG the OL is better but who knows.

It is an assumption BC at LG is an improvement. Honestly, a very big one. 

My guess is that he is not going to be ready to make that transition as a starter for 2022. I still think he ends up being the top bench option. 

[shaqattaq]

1 hour ago, stbugs said:

Oh, I agree. I meant if he hits, i.e. plays well at LG, it improves the OL. IMHO, given their backgrounds and potential, I am hoping Mays takes the spot with a higher ceiling and BC is working on his C technique and being the primary backup tackle.

I think BC and Mays are back up LT and RT, respectively. LG is still very much still up in the air, with BC, Mays, Elflein. and Erving all competing. Although, IIRC, Elflein was decent at center last year but pretty dismal at LG. Also, I haven't seen enough of Brown to grade him yet.

[iamhubby1]

9 minutes ago, shaqattaq said:

I think BC and Mays are back up LT and RT, respectively. LG is still very much still up in the air, with BC, Mays, Elflein. and Erving all competing. Although, IIRC, Elflein was decent at center last year but pretty dismal at LG. Also, I haven't seen enough of Brown to grade him yet.

 

Yuppers. Brown COULD solve that LG enigma. He is the wildcard. It would be huge if he could come in and fight for that spot. Compete well enough that even if he loses, he becomes a solid replacement.

[shaqattaq]

4 minutes ago, iamhubby1 said:

 

Yuppers. Brown COULD solve that LG enigma. He is the wildcard. It would be huge if he could come in and fight for that spot. Compete well enough that even if he loses, he becomes a solid replacement.

He DID start at Alabama at LG in 2020, that's a big deal. I just worry about a man his size coming back from a knee injury that kept him on IR half of last season.

[iamhubby1]

2 minutes ago, shaqattaq said:

He DID start at Alabama at LG in 2020, that's a big deal. I just worry about a man his size coming back from a knee injury that kept him on IR half of last season.

 

Oh yeah, there are concerns. But hey, it is basically all in his hands. If he puts in the work to become a NFL Lineman, the future is there in front of him.

 

I have been thinking of life with him, and Icky side by side. Oh Wee Mayne baby.

[Basbear]

1 hour ago, iamhubby1 said:

 

Yuppers. Brown COULD solve that LG enigma. He is the wildcard. It would be huge if he could come in and fight for that spot. Compete well enough that even if he loses, he becomes a solid replacement.

Brother I seen some recent OTAs clips and my former guy Brown looked bigger than his rookie year.....the bad bigger. Im done talking him up as a sleeper RG. I want to play Corbert next to Ickey so he has a young proven vet he can grown with. That leftd RG open......and once I seen Brown, it still is.....I dont even know if he makes the team now.....

 

[iamhubby1]

1 minute ago, Basbear said:

Brother I seen some recent OTAs clips and my former guy Brown looked bigger than his rookie year.....the bad bigger. Im done talking him up as a sleeper RG. I want to play Corbert next to Ickey so he has a young proven vet he can grown with. That leftd RG open......and once I seen Brown, it still is.....I dont even know if he makes the team now.....

 

 

That truly is too bad. I had such high hopes for him this year. Well, damm you for this. It's all your fault. lol

[Basbear]

2 minutes ago, iamhubby1 said:

 

That truly is too bad. I had such high hopes for him this year. Well, damm you for this. It's all your fault. lol

I expected him in his first NFL off-season to show up in better shape, no excuse for that not to be. Hes still got a punchers chance aka one of the freaks that looks vastly out-of-shape but doesnt play that way. But me talking him up is over and I hope he is renting for his living arrangement.. 

[iamhubby1]

3 minutes ago, Basbear said:

I expected him in his first NFL off-season to show up in better shape, no excuse for that not to be. Hes still got a punchers chance aka one of the freaks that looks vastly out-of-shape but doesnt play that way. But me talking him up is over and I hope he is renting for his living arrangement.. 

 

Well, I did notice you have yet to give him a nickname. I guess I should have taken that to be a bad sign. lol

[poundaway]

12 hours ago, kungfoodude said:

 Most of those guys had to get burn because our roster was complete trash

Yes.  Yes it was.

[kungfoodude]

31 minutes ago, Basbear said:

Brother I seen some recent OTAs clips and my former guy Brown looked bigger than his rookie year.....the bad bigger. Im done talking him up as a sleeper RG. I want to play Corbert next to Ickey so he has a young proven vet he can grown with. That leftd RG open......and once I seen Brown, it still is.....I dont even know if he makes the team now.....

 

I don't know if you listen to the 4 Man Rush podcasts but Matt Wahle(who may know a few things about being a successful NFL lineman) has said a few times that being way overweight coming into the NFL is a HUGE red flag. You should already have had the discipline and work ethic to make that not be an issue. If it is, you aren't doing something right. 

I tend to agree with him. That's something you should have been able to clean up in college.

[kungfoodude]

9 minutes ago, stbugs said:

He was surrounded by 1st round picks everywhere. All he had to do was get in the way. I know 95% of the people in here don’t watch the pre-draft events but his movement during the game was a gigantic red flag. How many rookies have to put out press about dropping 20 pounds after the Senior Bowl if they didn’t completely look awful and overweight.

Yeah and he isn't an isolated case. There are a couple of these guys just about every draft that struggle with weight/conditioning issues prior to the NFL. It's very rare that they don't continue to struggle with it. 

You need to be disciplined and be ambitious enough that you do anything necessary to be at your peak performance. Otherwise your NFL dream wasn't ever that big. It was just a thing you did because you happened to be good at it for a while. 

Edited May 31, 2022 by kungfoodude