NFL.com Article on draft prospects

[Wraith]

From Pat Kirwan of NFL.com

"The college games are a distant memory, the bowl games, All-Star games and Scouting Combine are long gone, and the personal workouts and pre-draft visits are just about over as teams are making their final preparations for the draft. Now, as club executives sit and look up at their draft boards, they realize that many players have similar or identical grades and there still is work to be done to separate all the players that are grouped together. Now is the time for the scout or coach with a special knowledge of a certain player to stand up on the soap box for a young man and bring something to the table to differentiate one man from another.

Anyone who has been around a team's draft room with just a few days or weeks to go before the draft knows how important it is for the club staff member with the strongest feelings about a certain individual to stand up now or forever hold his peace. It is a form of campaigning for a guy who needs a push right now. If the information provided sparks an interest among the rest of the group in the room then further video study will be initiated or a late visit to the player will be ordered.

Because of my daily radio show at Sirius Radio, the interviews I do for NFL.com and my preparation for NFL Network spots, I talk with many of the draft eligible players each year. A few club executives have asked me about certain individuals and it is something I take very seriously. This pre-draft season has been very revealing when it comes to certain players, and if I were in a draft room this week, there are a few players I would jump up for and defend off the things I have learned about them over the past four months.

The first question on my mind is always: Would I want this guy on my team? Is there any rare athletic ability that gives him the tools to succeed? Is there a humility about the player that convinces me he will stay hungry? And is he bright enough to survive in the world of professional football? You might enjoy what I learned about the following players:

1. Manny Lawson, LB, N.C. State: Here's a college defensive end rising up the draft boards for good reason. He's 6-foot-5, 241 pounds and runs a 4.4 40-yard dash. His 17 sacks in the past two seasons tells a little of his story about the kind of athlete he is, but a conversation I had with him recently told me a lot more. Lawson was offered a basketball scholarship to Davidson College coming out of high school, which tells me he will not struggle in space dropping back in pass coverage in a 3-4 defense. As a high school track-and-field athlete, he triple jumped close to 50 feet and long jumped just under 25 feet, making him one of the best jumpers in the country. As a college defensive end, he was a member of N.C. State's 4x100-meter relay team. Imagine a 6-5 defensive lineman on a sprint relay team -- that is rare! He finished up our conversation telling me his post-football career plans involve his other love, architecture.

Santonio Holmes has gone from overlooked high school player to likely the draft's top WR.

2. Santonio Holmes, WR, Ohio State: This young man was almost as impressive to talk with as Lawson. Here's a 5-10 wide receiver that is either the first or second receiver on every draft board in the NFL. He was passed over by every Florida university coming out of high school because he was 160 pounds. He should have never left the state coming out of Belle Glade High School, where he ran 46.8 in the 400 meters and high jumped 6-10. Imagine a 5-10, 160-pound kid clearing a bar a foot over his head!

3. Maurice Drew, RB, UCLA: I talk with this young man every week and, like Holmes, he wears a chip on his shoulder very nicely. He's 5-6 and laughs when he tells me some pro coach measured him at 5-7. He's not afraid to let you know he compares favorably to Reggie Bush as an athlete and by no means does he sound cocky. Drew comes from a great family, never misses his scheduled time slot to talk with me and never forgets a thing that we have discussed in the past. Character and professionalism just ooze out of this short but not small young man.

4. Reggie Bush, RB, USC: Why a quick segment on the top pick in the NFL draft? Because he carries himself as a very humble young man that doesn't assume he's the top football player in America. I have talked with Bush many times and there are two things that jump out at me the most: his total focus to doing things the right way all day every day, and how much NFL owners who meet him are going to feel comfortable paying him a ton of money because he is a safe pick -- and a man with integrity.

5. Vernon Davis, TE, Maryland: The first time I spoke with Davis, I was so impressed at his engaging style. He is articulate and immediately I felt like I was talking to a future superstar. Tom Brady made me feel that way the first time I sat down with him and discussed football. Guys who played against Davis describe him as a freak. I prefer to look at him as a rare athlete with an incredible score of 85 when you combine his vertical leap (42 inches), standing broad jump (10-8) and his bench-press reps (33). I challenge any NFL scout to go back 10 years in the draft and find 20 guys with an 85 that weren't defensive linemen.

6. Davin Joseph, G, Oklahoma: Talking with Joseph was like talking to an NFL line coach. He's played against the best, remembers everything about every opponent he faced in his four years at Oklahoma, and has an opinion about all of them. Successful NFL offensive linemen usually are some of the brightest guys on a team and Joseph will fit right into that mold. He recalled little subtleties about Oregon's Haloti Ngata from his junior year, stunts that former USC defensive tackle Shaun Cody used in the Orange Bowl two seasons ago, and what his blocking plan would be when he faces Michigan's Gabe Watson again. Any team who interviewed Joseph walked away knowing he was a sure bet to have a long NFL career.

Eric Winston is more focused on becoming a good pro than worrying about draft rumors.

7. Eric Winston, OT, Miami: I talk with Winston every week at Sirius Radio and it is refreshing to here a guy speak about the reality of not controlling the draft process. Winston hears all the whispers that USC tackle Winston Justice has moved past him after a great Pro Day but he is unfazed by the rumors. Too many young men waiting for the NFL draft are listening to all the draft talk and whispers about their stock rising and falling. I get off the phone with Winston every week more impressed than the week before about his maturity. He knows people think his arms are too short and that he had a slow start to his senior season coming off an injury, but I guarantee you he will compete at a high level in the NFL and he has the brains and personality to take criticism and get better.

8. Mathais Kiwanuka, DE, Boston College: I first met Kiwanuka on the sideline of a Senior Bowl practice when he was having a bad day against D'Brickashaw Ferguson. We talked for close to 10 minutes and what impressed me most was his pride and desire to handle a bad situation the best he could at the time. What I saw was a guy who is not going to be satisfied to just have a big payday in late April at the draft and fade into the sunset as a bust. Later on this spring, months after that day in Mobile, Ala., I spoke with Kiwanuka again and I went right back to Ferguson. He told me how much he learned from those three days of frustration against the top tackle in the draft and he was working hard to grow from what the Virginia tackle exposed in his pass-rush skills. Anyone who heard that interview would walk away confident that Kiwanuka is a player that will self-correct at the pro level, and that is a critical trait to have to survive.

9. Mario Williams, DE, N.C. State: The top defensive end in the draft is a kid from a good family with good values and a sense of humor. I asked Williams how often the opposing offenses slide the protection to him and he chuckled and said close to 90 percent of the time. He laughed because he knew former teammates Manny Lawson and John McCargo wouldn't agree. By the way, when I told them what Williams said, they laughed too. Williams will be the top graded player on a number of draft boards -- ahead of Reggie Bush -- and when I told him that might be the case, he was so quick to say that's nice but really doesn't mean a thing if he doesn't play well when he gets to the NFL. By the way, that rare score of 85 which I mentioned when I discussed Vernon Davis, well, Williams also had an 85. I mentioned to him how rare that score was, and instead of thanking me, he mentioned where he thought there was room for improvement!

10. D'Brickashaw Ferguson, OT, Virginia: Talking to Ferguson felt like talking with a local pastor of a church. He's grounded and is a kid who has great respect for his parents. He loves to tell the story about how his parents named him after a character from a movie they watched and how they wanted him to be different. He reminded me so much of an interview I did with Jonathan Ogden when he was coming out of UCLA. There was no doubt that after his 12 to 15 years in the NFL, Ferguson is destined to do much more important things off the field.

11. Bobby Carpenter, LB, Ohio State: The son of New York Giants running back Rob Carpenter leans on his dad for advice and it has paid nice dividends so far in his career. I interviewed Bobby Carpenter for close to half an hour, and when I was finished I felt the same way as I did after getting to know Lofa Tatupu. Tatupu is the son of a former NFL player and it was no surprise he quickly became the leader of the Seahawks defense. He knew about pro football from a very young age and so does Carpenter. I left my time with Carpenter thinking he's got as good a chance to be a middle linebacker and lead a defense as Tatupu did coming out of college.

12. Michael Huff, DB, Texas: Probably the best interview I did all year was with the senior defensive back from Texas. If there was ever a "blue chip" guy in a draft, it's Mike Huff. He has it all -- the intangibles, the production and the athleticism to be a great pro. Heck, I felt like I was talking to a 10-year veteran. There are not many John Lynch-type guys who come into the NFL with the whole package, but Huff is such a man. Talk about guys I would love to have on my team, Huff would be the captain!

13. Tye Hill, CB, Clemson: I have really come to respect Tye Hill. I first met him at the Senior Bowl when he told me he decided to play to prove he wasn't some track guy. A chip on his shoulder is always a good place to start with me. By the way, he was a 47-second 400-meter man in high school and a college 100-meter champion. He knows his 41-inch vertical leap makes up for his 5-9 height and his closing speed at the Senior Bowl tells me he has the physical issues covered. What's more impressive is his desire to be a great pro. He looks for advice, takes suggestions and wants to learn from the older guys who have been around.

14. Anthony Smith, S, Syracuse: The Syracuse defensive back is a bit under the radar screen, but his performance down at the Senior Bowl sparked my interest. He plays much faster than his advertised speed, and the more tape of him I watched, the more intriguing he became as a player. After I got the chance to talk with Smith in person and on the phone, the more I thought this is a guy who would be a steal in the third round and a wise choice in the second round. He reminds me so much of Jay Bellamy when he came out of Rutgers years ago. Bellamy was thought to be to slow but 10 years later he's still collecting pay checks in the NFL.

15. Owen Daniels, TE, Wisconsin: I ran into Daniels down on a beach in Florida. He was sitting with my brother, a high school coach in Illinois, and they were talking ball. Daniels is a former quarterback now finishing up a decent career as a 254-pound move tight end for Wisconsin. Talk about smart and capable of understanding option routes against coverages, I'll put Daniels' FBI (football intelligence) up against anyone in this draft. He will fit into an NFL team like Chris Cooley fits in Washington.

16. Victor Adeyanju, DE, Indiana: I can't finish up this report with out a quick shot at the Indiana defensive end. I have been lucky enough to talk to Adeyanju close to 10 times since his season ended. He has pass-rush skills, the smarts to play some 3-4 outside linebacker, and the personality to last in the NFL. As Eric Winston told me, "Victor is really hard to fool on the screen pass and draw and he rushes the passer real hard." Adeyanju is another young man with a great family and a foundation to last in a league where more talented players fall to the wayside because they can't handle success.

So, there it is, my 16 trips to the soap box to try and add a little something to the story being told about a few players in this draft. If nothing else, maybe, just maybe, someone decides to do a little more work on the guys mentioned above. Or even better, they already knew all about them."

Just a little documentation. I believe strongly that the two most important attributes of any successful Pro Football player are attitude (including desire to play the game) and intelligence. Jimmy Johnson was once quoted as saying "Shoot me if I ever draft a dumb football player." Maybe that is what draws me to the sport, baseball players and basketball players (to some extent) can get by on pure athletic ability, football is so complex that pure athletic ability is not enough, Cases like Brady, Montana, Zach Thomas, Peyton, Jimmy Smith ect. none of these guys were the most athletic or best pure talents they simply out-worked and out-thought their competition.

[ArmyBengal]

Manny Lawson, LB, N.C. State: Here's a college defensive end rising up the draft boards for good reason. He's 6-foot-5, 241 pounds and runs a 4.4 40-yard dash. His 17 sacks in the past two seasons tells a little of his story about the kind of athlete he is, but a conversation I had with him recently told me a lot more. Lawson was offered a basketball scholarship to Davidson College coming out of high school, which tells me he will not struggle in space dropping back in pass coverage in a 3-4 defense. As a high school track-and-field athlete, he triple jumped close to 50 feet and long jumped just under 25 feet, making him one of the best jumpers in the country. As a college defensive end, he was a member of N.C. State's 4x100-meter relay team. Imagine a 6-5 defensive lineman on a sprint relay team -- that is rare! He finished up our conversation telling me his post-football career plans involve his other love, architecture.

Sounds good by me !!!!

WHODEY !!!

[HairOnFire]

Loved the mention of Anthony Smith. He's far more productive than ANY safety you could mention, but he's never included when the top prospects are kicked around. Great instincts, very smart, and a massive hitter.

[TJJackson]

Manny Lawson gets high praise again - love it

[TecmoFever]

Good read. I wish I was a GM. I'd load up on as many smart guys with good attitudes as possible. Oh wait, the New England Patriots have already done that...and what kind of success have they had?