Members of the 2018 Rookie Class continue to shine, if not dominate this pre-season.
MARCUS DAVENPORT/DE/Saints made his Saints debut and though he did not dominate play he held his own, and certainly displayed once again his freakish athleticism. From the Saints perspective I have to believe they are hoping/expecting that DAVENPORT will be rolling at full tilt by the end of October. I still say he has the size and athleticism to play like a guy named CLOWNEY in Houston.
The RAMS are in a situation whereby the percentage of their Salary Cap committed to their star players is getting a bit daunting. In essence that scenario forces them to fill the roster with journeymen vets and Rookies. This will be the biggest challenge facing GM LES SNEAD over the next few seasons. It also means that the star nucleus must stay healthy and out on the playing field every week. The bubble will really break (IMO) when QB/GOFF comes off his Rookie contract and will have to paid like an elite vet NFL QB. See the Sea Hawks situation in recent years with RUSSELL WILSON achieving star QB pay.
In the meantime, the good news out in SoCal is that Rookies continue to emerge this month and look capable of filling in some complimentary roles right away. The latest to impress me is a player that I feel like they stole in Round 6. His name is JOHN KELLY/RB. He’s the guy I told you about in pre-Draft stories, who two seasons ago shared carries with one Alvin Kamara for the Vols. He does not have the speed of Kamara but he runs through and around people, and has very natural hands as a receiver. He’s been running as GURLEY’s primary fill-in this pre-season and keeps putting up nice combo numbers in receiving and rushing stats. In 2017 at Tennessee he rushed for 778 yards and caught 37 passes. Last weekend in the RAMS win over Houston KELLY carried the ball 15 times for 64 yards and 2 TD. He runs with power between the tackles and has nice burst once past the line-of-scrimmage.
On the other side of the ball a very productive collegian is also making noise as an ILB in DC Wade Phillips defensive unit. That would be 5th Rond Pick MICAH KISER/Virginia. KISER is a bit shorter than the NFL prototype at IB at 6′-and a fraction, and weighing 238 lbs. He hits hard and pursues from sideline to sideline. But the best part of his game for today’s NFL is his ability to find the ball with his eyes and run in space to provide coverage support. He has a very high FBI, which is quite handy in today’s pro game. He recorded 145 tackles in 2017 for the Wahoos. He has been very aggressive in pre-season play and recorded 5 tackles against Houston, not to mention a couple of PBU.
Considering that the RAMS did not have a draft selection until Round 3, they seem to be making up for it with the selection of productive players with their later picks.
One of the more interesting transition projects in the League is starting to show some serious long range potential in Kansas City. The Chiefs first selection in the 2018 Draft was in Round 2, at Pick 46 in DL BREELAND SPEAKS/Ole Miss. But the team announced his selection as being that of a LB. This prompted more than a few tweets and text messages within the Draftnik community that Draft Tuesday. SPEAKS is 6’3 and weighs 283 lbs, not your typical LB size. And his 4.91/40-time is less than one hopes for from a stand-up LB. But in the pre-season he has shown solid pursuit speed and appears to be on a learning curve at his new position. He’s not racking up a lot of tackles or sacks, but he is chasing the ball well and getting closer and closer to completing plays. He shows some of the edge speed that he recorded at the Combine, when his 2.07/L and 2.05/R were both in the LB range, and were faster than some elite edge-guys, including one BRADLEY CHUBB, who was 2.11/L and 1.89/R. It seems to me that the Chiefs see him as similar in size/skill ratio to a guy named TAMBA HALI, who served them well as a rush-OB for a decade. He looks to be getting better each week right now.
DA BEARS, as I have mentioned regularly over the past couple of years, have been retooling their entire roster. If their current young guys continue to progress (especially QB/TRUBISKY) they may be one more good draft in 2019 away from winning seasons. So far a draftee standout in pre-season has been JAVON WIMS/WR/UGA, who was taken in Round 7 based on his athleticism after only 2 seasons with the Bulldogs. He may have delivered his coming-out performance last weekend against the Chiefs. He used his nice size (6’3/217) and hand/eye coordination to explode for 4 catches, for 114 yards and 1 TD. His TD was an acrobatic catch in the deep end- zone, where replay showed that indeed he managed to get two feet down on a diving catch. Watch for him to gain a bigger and bigger role in their receiving corps as the season progresses.
More than a few folks were quite surprised a few weeks back when the Bengals cut starting S GEORGE ILOKA, whom the VIKINGS (former Bengals DC MIKE ZIMMER’s team) claimed on waivers. ILOKA had been a starter since his Rookie season in the League, but was known more for his heavy hitting tackling than his coverage skills. ILOKA was third on the team with 79 tackles last season. But in today’s pass-happy NFL coverage by your team’s S are imperative. Therefore, PBU and INT mean as much or more than tackles. And as a 7-year vet his cost to the always frugal team was more than a couple of Rookies combined. The BENGALS had signed a college tackling machine as an URFA, by the name of TRAYVON HENDERSON of Hawaii. At 6′, 208 lbs. Henderson represents a cheaper version of Iloka. HENDERSON recorded 55 tackles, including 2 sacks, 1 FF, 1 INT and 3 PBU last season for Hawaii. He fits the mold as an in-the-box S. Last weekend in the Bengals 26-13 W over the BILLS, HENDERSON recorded 4 tackles, including a sack. The team has added HENDERSON and JESSIE BATES (Round 2) to their Safety corps at probably the combined cost of Iloka alone. THat’s how the BROWN family rolls down in southern Ohio.
With their final pick of the 2018 NFL Draft the JETS selected RB/RS/TRENTON CANNON out of D2 Virginia State. CANNON was a star at the lower level of college ball, and showed great versatility. At 5’11/185, his size and potential durability may be a big question mark at the pro level. So the number of touches becomes the puzzle in fitting this young man into their NFL roster and depth chart. Cannon has shown some growing pains in pre-season action with some fumbles and mental mistakes, but his overall stat sheet from last weeks JETS loss to the Giants shows how versatile and handy he can be on a roster. He rushed 5 times for 23 yards, caught 4 passes for 30 yards, and averaged 23 yards per return on 3 kick-off returns. He can also return Punts in his spare time. Versatility is a virtue at the bottom of a 53-man NFL roster, and CANNON seems to offer enough to secure a spot.
Another versatile player, who is making it quite hard for his team to eliminate him from their roster plans is LIONS URFA BRANDON POWELL, a WR/PR/KR speedster out of Florida. He is only 5’9, 185 lbs., but may have the big play potential to earn himself a roster spot. In the LIONS 17-23 Loss to the Colts, POWELL did a little bit of everything. POWELL seems to be too elusive to coral out in the open field. Thanks to an 80-yard Punt Return TD, POWELL averaged 33 yards per PR on 3 attempts for the game. One of the biggest surprises in Camp has been his pass catching ability. He uses a combination of speed and quickness to get open and elude tacklers as a receiver. He caught 6 balls for 45 yards against the Colts. The LIONS top receivers are all over 6′ tall, except for GOLDEN TATE. That would seem to leave a spot open for POWELL to capture as the little guy, who can catch and act as a return man. If he can post some solid numbers in the final pre-season game, I’d count him as being on their final roster list next week.
That is about it for right now. And there will be no final pre-season game report after week four games have been played. The level of talent playing in the final pre-season games has become negligible in recent years. And my attention and eyes are headed over to prospects for the 2019 Draft, with the kick-off of the College Football season this Labor Day weekend.
Cheers
Pigskin
