2012 Senior Bowl Game Player Analysis

Posted by Andy Miley on 01/29/2012 | 0 Comments

Tags: 2012 Senior Bowl, 2012 rookies, dynasty football, keeper leagues, dynasty leagues, rookie drafts, joe adams, vick ballard, zach brown, quinton coples, juron criner, tj graham, aj jenkins, dan herron, marvin jones, doug martin, jeff fuller, brian quick, isaiah pead, deangelo peterson, chris polk, devier posey, chris rainey, gerell robinson, brandon weeden, russell wilson

The Senior Bowl (http://www.seniorbowl.com/) has been a part of the college players transition to professional football since 1950.  This game has raised the profiles of future NFL players and the charitable efforts in Mobil, Alabama.  I will be analyzing some of the players in the Senior Bowl who stood out to me.  I tend to focus on the offense, but I discuss a few outstanding defenders as well.  If you are looking for Senior Bowl practice notes, please check out http://www.draftcountdown.com/ and/or http://www.rookiedraft.com/ and follow @ShanePHallam and/or @RookieDraft (aka Joe Everett) on twitter.  Shane and Joe were great interviews on my Dynasty Blitz podcasts (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dynasty-blitz) breaking down some of these players before the all-star game circuit.  Today, I will be discussing many of the key players that hopefully will transition to the NFL and make an impact on your fantasy teams.

WR Joe Adams (Arkansas) - Adams was one of the most dynamic players on the field.  He demonstrated good hands, separation from the defenders, and turned up the field quickly with explosion. The sideline is his friend and he uses whatever position he is on the field to help set up his blockers. Adams has a great spin move, but he did cough up the ball on his second catch of the day in mid-spin. If an NFL team can keep in him constant motion ie: returns, in the slot, reverses, etc. I think he could grow into a Percy Harvin type player.

RB Vick Ballard (Mississippi State) - Ballard impressed me with his constant leg churning once contact was made.  He moved the pile, put his head down and was a willing and effective inside runner.  Ballard did throw a jump cut or two to keep the defenders honest.  I see a lot of the current play of Willis McGahee in Ballard.

LB Zach Brown (North Carolina) - He is a very quick and agile playmaker.  Brown blew up a screen using his great vision and speed to get there before the blockers had time to set up.  The knock on him is he isn't a big physical presence, but can take good angles and lower his pads to limit the offense from blocking him.  He reminds me of a much less physical James Laurinaitis.

DE Quinton Coples (North Carolina) - Coples is a very athletic defensive lineman.  His motor seems to run fast at times, but he also takes some plays off.  He was impressive when he just reached back and snagged Kellen Moore for a sack.  Coples showed off his vertical range as he batted down and/or tipped a few more passes.  He also showed the ability to use his enormous wingspan to make tackles while being engaged with an offensive lineman.  With the right defensive line coach, he could be a monster like Jason Pierre-Paul.

WR Juron Criner (Arizona) - He leaped up and attacked the ball in the air.  I was impressed with his strength and his ability to find a spot in the defense and sit down.  Criner caught the ball well in traffic (between three defenders).  On his TD catch, Criner showed great body placement by shielding the defender away from the ball.  This is another receiver that I need to watch more of his game film.

WRs TJ Graham (NC State) and WR AJ Jenkins (Illinois) - These are two intriguing wide receivers that I didn't get a good feel of during the game.  Both showed good hands, speed and quickness, but neither stood out to me in a good way or a bad way.  I am looking forward to seeing more film and watching them at the combine.

RB Dan Herron (Ohio State) - He was a decent straight-ahead runner with almost zero wiggle to his game.  Herron took what the offensive line blocked for him and demonstrated some power running.  He doesn't have good vision and tends to get caught up in the trash at the line of scrimmage.  I don't see more than a #2 NFL running back which is not very valuable in fantasy circles.

WR Marvin Jones (California) - I really like Jones. He reminds me of an Austin Collie with his speed and separation from the defensive backs.  Jones had a great TD catch in front of the defender which was a result of him trailing the QB throughout the entire play.  His future is bright in the NFL as a #2 WR.

RB Doug Martin (Boise State) - I am trying to understand why we didn't see more of him in the Senior Bowl.  He did not touch the ball until the end of the second quarter.  Martin ran well behind his pads and keep on moving forward by keeping his legs driving.  He made defenders pay that tried to arm tackle him as he either spun out of those or ran right through those tackle attempts.  He isn't as elusive as Ray Rice or as powerful as MJD, but he has that similar swagger about him.  He reminds me most of Fred Jackson and I know he is 5 inches shorter than Jackson, but their skill sets are very close and they both have a good combination of quickness and power, but not élite at either.

RB Isaiah Pead (Cincinnati) - Pead did his best work returning two punts.  He followed his blocks well, looked good in space and was quite shifty.  By showing good vision and sideline awareness, he made the most of those returns.  Pead took a pitch off tackle and used a jump cut to get away from defenders while running determined down the sidelines.  I can't put my finger on it, but he reminded me of running back Rashad Jennings from Jacksonville.

TE Deangelo Peterson (LSU) - He showed good hands, could catch in traffic, and looked like an oversized WR.  Peterson may be more of a developmental TE like Owen Daniels was as Daniels didn't see much of the field his rookie season.

RB Chris Polk (Washington) - He ran the ball with power and showed decent vision reading his blocks.  Polk is a sturdy straight ahead runner, but did not look dynamic.  He might have a short fantasy power back life similar to Rudi Johnson or Mike Alstott.

WR DeVier Posey (Ohio State) - Posey caught the ball cleanly, used his body to get separation and quickly turned up-field.  He does have concentration issues as he missed a sure TD catch that bounced off his hands.  Later in the game, Posey gave up on a ball in the end zone by stopping his route short, this resulted in an interception.  It could be the quality of quarterbacks that he worked with at Ohio State, but he needs to show better field awareness if he wants success in the NFL.

WRs Brian Quick (Appalachian State) and Jeff Fuller (Texas A&M) - Both Quick (6' 4" 225 lbs) and Jeff Fuller (6' 4" 217 lbs) made a couple good catches, but did next to nothing after the catch. Neither could get good separation or showed any agility.  Perhaps they should hit the weight room to bulk up so they could find roles in the NFL as move (joker) tight ends.  They could find that it is much easier to get separation from safeties and line backers in the NFL than from corner backs.

RB/WR Chris Rainey (Florida) - Rainey is a small tweener at 5' 8 3/8" and 174 lbs.  He could have the fastest 40 time in his class, which could be anywhere from his claimed 4.1 to 4.3 seconds.  Rainey is very quick and elusive, but doesn't show great vision as he tends to cut inside when he should be breaking plays outside.  That could be his running back mentality, but he needs to make peace with the idea he is more of a slot WR than a RB in the NFL.

WR Gerell Robinson (Arizona State) - He is a big guy (6' 3" 223 lbs) who showed great separation from his defenders.  Robinson impressed as he helped his quarterback, who was scrambling, by using the sidelines and taking his route longer to get open.  Robinson was impressive in his long TD catch as he read the blocks well, swatted a defender out-of-the-way, and powered his way into the end zone.  His upside in the NFL may be Vincent Jackson, but I haven't seen enough of him to think he can get there.

QB Brandon Weeden (Oklahoma State) - Weeden looks like a very natural quarterback who doesn't get flustered with pressure.  He generally sees the field well and can put the ball in places for the receiver to get to the ball.  My concern is he presses the ball into areas that he shouldn't.  Because of his unusual rookie age of 28, Weeden wants to force plays instead of taking what the defense gave him. In an environment with a system and receivers that he knows well, Weeden could be very equipped to put pressure on a defense.  Unfortunately, this was an all-star game where that was not possible due to time constraints.  Weeden reminds me of Matt Schaub in that he does many things well and can be a good starter in the NFL, but will have difficulty being great.

QB Russell Wilson (Wisconsin) - I really wanted to like Wilson.  He is very athletic and can move around the pocket well.  At 5' 10 5/8", he is already considered under-sized. Wilson did not make good decisions with the ball as he threw an interception and fumbled the ball more than once.  Also, he does not have a good feel of the pocket as it collapsed around him; this could be costly with his ball handling in the NFL.  Unless he has a strong QB coach, I am not sure if he will become an NFL starter.