AZ54 Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 After posting in Jason's "Best Mock I can do thread" about CBs I figured I'd just summarize what I see of the top CBs after watching film on Draftbreakdown. I'm copying what I wrote about Hargreaves in that thread. Among the top 4 CBs in this draft I could live with any of them. I'm just not confident grabbing one at #11. We could drop back to #20 and grab whoever is left and be just as well off IMO. That's kind of the way this draft is after the top 10 picks. Hargreaves... It's not necessarily size sometimes it attitude. Some guys just love getting into your grill and making you work hard. Others can do it but prefer to be off a bit and use their athleticism to get back into position to make the play. I feel Hargreaves is the latter. Watching games against Alabama, Ole Miss, and Tenn I see: Elite cat-like quickness, excellent burst. Good speed but not elite long speed. He does not have the extra gear to catch up to WRs in the NFL. When tackling he prefers to take out the knees. He is not (at least I haven't yet seen) a square up tackler. If he does not dive at your knees (good RBs will at times set that up and make him miss 2:10 in the Tenn video) then he will side-slip and grab and drag. His quickness and burst make him good in run support because he can cover 10 yards so fast to get where he needs to be. This guy is not going to ever be considered a shutdown CB IMO. His quickness will get him INTs when the QBs throws behind the WR. In press coverage I see a guy who will reach out and quickly try to mirror a WR. Can he jam someone at the LOS? Maybe, but I'd like to see it before I buy it. Let me clarify, I think Hargreaves is good in man coverage even right off the line but I consider press coverage as a CB working to delay the WR, or reroute him off the LOS. That may be semantics but IMO if you want a CB who can reroute a WR and hold up the timing of a play Hargreaves isn't that guy. He is the guy who will mirror the WR and undercut the pass at times which works great on simple out routes, or quick inside slants. I think on other routes downfield he will get beat early off the line and stacked by bigger/faster WRs. I'll be happy to see another team put him on an island against Kevin White. Scheme will make a difference with Hargreaves because if he has a good safety over the top he will work his magic on the short and, to a lesser extent, the intermediate routes. I don't exactly know what Fangio prefers to have. -------- Jackson... I watched a bit of William Jackson III today. I saw him at the combine and he impressed me with his movement skills but in games he plays a bit stiff, or maybe it's just his long legs make him not as quick twitch in cuts. There is a big drop off in response time to cuts between Hargreaves and Jackson. Hargreaves will match up well against someone like Antonio Brown, Jackson won't. Jackson would match up better against someone like Alshon Jeffrey, Dez White, especially downfield. Jackson is more willing to throw his body into a runner, it would help if he added another 10lbs to his frame. Jackson isn't that good at press coverage either but I think the mentality and frame is there to better grow into that skill. --------- Eli Apple has just a couple games to watch on Draftbreakdown: NIU, Mich St. If I could put Hargreaves skills on one side of a line and Jackson's on the other, Apple would fit in the middle. He's more willing to take on a RB straight up than Hargreaves but at times hesitates to do so. In coverage he's good at mirroring, probably quicker on breaks than Jackson, but he's often grabbing at WRs after 5 yards. It's going to take him some time to break that habit. I think he holds up better downfield against the bigger WRs than Hargreaves. --------- Mackensie Alexander... If you want attitude on your defense this is your guy. He'd fit in with the 85 Bears defense. He's not afraid to mix it up with WRs around the LOS. His quickness is not far behind Hargreaves but he looks to have a little more long speed than him. Neither are elite in long speed. At times Alexander will look to hit hard other times he's side stepping and grabbing like Hargreaves. Nonetheless he's more physical. What I like best is that Alexander really wants to contest the WR making the catch. He's not going to be a shutdown corner but he's the kind of player you like to have on your side in a game. --------- (skipping Kendall Fuller I just don't think we'll want any conflict in the locker room if Kyle struggles again) Artie Burns.... Classic track star playing football. He's got all the physical traits you want except he just doesn't like to hit people sometimes that leads to him missing tackles. He can cover for the most part. I just wonder how guys like this handle the next level where the physicality goes up a notch. --------- Xavien Howard... Good football player but his physical talent isn't close to the above players. He absolutely needs to be protected over the top because he just doesn't have the speed to keep up. He's physical around the LOS, no hesitation to jam WRs off the line, and has enough quickness to be effective against short to intermediate routes. --------- Will Redmond... Smaller version of Hargreaves. More physical, more attitude around the LOS but lacks the muscle to do much with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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