Combine Observations DL/LB

[Clackwoods]

After watching the combine today I came away impressed in a few people.

DL Best- Brian Orakpo (Got hurt, but looked good prior to that, Best looking DL of the day)

Terrance Taylor (37 Reps, looked great in drills, great round 3 pickup for us, could play NT in 3-4)

Connor Barwin (Had a ridiculous day, they project him as a Mike Vrabel type player)

BJ Raji (Looked good, but not good enough for number 6)

LB Best- AAron Curry (Please god let him fall to 6)

Clay Matthews (If we get him in round 2 I would do a backflip. He had the best workout of the day outside

Curry)

James Laurinaitis (Looked solid across the board)

If I were picking at number 6 I would go Aaron Curry, Jason Smith, Orakpo, Crabtree, and Moreno in that order.

These are the guys I thought were impressive! What are your thoughts?

I will be posting on the other positions as well, I just missed yesterday so i am going to watch the replay on Wednesday!

[Clackwoods]

Another note,

A Bengals coach was running some of the linebacking drills, I originally thought it was Zimmer, but it was Jeff Fitzgerald and he was intense and louder than any other coach their. It was pretty motivating to see him out their.

[CJBestInAFC]

I want Orakpo. You got Jeanty for another season if no one matches, which wont happen because Jeanty isn't great of a starter. We were one of the worse at rushing the passer and this guy is a freak athlete. I like Barwin a lot too, but if they feel Andre Smith is too much of a gamble, Raji will probably be good but we have good depth at Dt, I think SAM backer is the weakest position in the front 7. He is a better version of Pollack.

[HAPPYJAQ]

Another note,

A Bengals coach was running some of the linebacking drills, I originally thought it was Zimmer, but it was Jeff Fitzgerald and he was intense and louder than any other coach their. It was pretty motivating to see him out their.

That was awesome to see. It's no wonder that our LB's were once a weakness and are now considered a strength. That said, I'd like to see us get a guy that can rush the passer and develop him into a Terrell Suggs type, whom he worked with and developed in Baltimore.

Curry, Maybin, Barwin and Orakpo all looked good. This is a very weak year for 4-3 ends, but there are a lot of pash that could make a difference.

I think Maybin may end up being the best player in this draft when it's said and done. He bulked up to 249 and ran in the 4.6's. He's built like a WR and could easily gain 10-15 pounds and still be effective. His explosiveness reminds me of Merriman and Woodley.

Orakpo is the kind of guy that you draft and he immediately gives your defense an identity. He'll probably be a solid 3 down player at either DE or OLB.

Barwin looked like the best athlete in the draft and I think he could be one of the first real 2-way players in the NFL in a long time. He could come in and play in your "long" situations right away, on both sides of the ball. He'd be nice in the 2nd.

Curry is a Pro Bowler, in the Derrick Brooks mold. He might not be a great pash-rusher but he'll be a consistent player and make plenty of plays. He'll be long gone before we pick.

Raji looked quick and that's really all I expected from him. Nice bench reps, showed he's got some functional strength. He's the young Sam Adams with less pash rush, plain and simple. He'll make up for his lack of sacks as a pro with making every other player on D better, simiar to Casey Hampton in Pittsburgh. You really can't measure the value of guys like that on your team and we haven't had that in the middle of the D-line since Krumrie.

[Baraka]

sidbury and english look to have the size of a 4-3 end and both have had pretty good combines.

[Whur CHad At?]

English will thrive in a 3-4 not 4-3

[BlainThePain]

I have a feeling that Connor Barwin might be Marvin Lewis' second stab at getting that Peter Boulware-type outside linebacker. I seem to remember reading about Marvin gushing about Barwin at the Senior Bowl and with the workout he just put in at the combine, it looks like he has the athleticism to convert to linebacker. When we drafted Pollack, it came out that one of the big reasons Marvin thought Pollack could convert to linebacker was because of how well he ran the short shuttle (Pollack ran a sub 4 short shuttle if I remember correctly and that is better than a lot of corners will do). This year Barwin ran one of the best 40's of the defensive ends and ran the best short shuttle. His 40 and short shuttle are pretty much identical to Clay Mathews and Barwin is 16 pounds heavier. When Marvin was a linebackers coach with the Steelers he had Kevin Greene and when he was with the Ravens he had Peter Boulware, both are linebackers that were constantly attacking the line of scrimmage and I think Marvin is still looking for that guy. My gut says look for us to take Barwin in the second. I just saw on NFL Network that Barwin also ran the best 3-cone drill of the defensive ends. Barwin is looking like a pretty good prospect to me because he obviously has the athleticism, he produced in college, and he offers versatility in that he could probably take snaps at linebacker, defensive end, and tight end for us. I also think he could be a beast of a special teams player in that he could be on kickoff coverage and be a good blocker on kick returns.

[Clackwoods]

I have a feeling that Connor Barwin might be Marvin Lewis' second stab at getting that Peter Boulware-type outside linebacker. I seem to remember reading about Marvin gushing about Barwin at the Senior Bowl and with the workout he just put in at the combine, it looks like he has the athleticism to convert to linebacker. When we drafted Pollack, it came out that one of the big reasons Marvin thought Pollack could convert to linebacker was because of how well he ran the short shuttle (Pollack ran a sub 4 short shuttle if I remember correctly and that is better than a lot of corners will do). This year Barwin ran one of the best 40's of the defensive ends and ran the best short shuttle. His 40 and short shuttle are pretty much identical to Clay Mathews and Barwin is 16 pounds heavier. When Marvin was a linebackers coach with the Steelers he had Kevin Greene and when he was with the Ravens he had Peter Boulware, both are linebackers that were constantly attacking the line of scrimmage and I think Marvin is still looking for that guy. My gut says look for us to take Barwin in the second. I just saw on NFL Network that Barwin also ran the best 3-cone drill of the defensive ends. Barwin is looking like a pretty good prospect to me because he obviously has the athleticism, he produced in college, and he offers versatility in that he could probably take snaps at linebacker, defensive end, and tight end for us. I also think he could be a beast of a special teams player in that he could be on kickoff coverage and be a good blocker on kick returns.

Barwins combine numbers are here:

http://www.footballsfuture.com/2009/combine/de.html

He had an excellent combine, plus he is a local product so I am sure he would love to play for the Bengals. If he is their in the second (Which I doubt) he will defiantly garner some attention from Marvin. The only thing is that the coaches at the senior bowl mainly played him at TE which may be what some(Including the Bengals) project him at. Their is so many ways that the Bengals could go in the draft, I think our options will be a more lot clear when the FA period dust clears!

[Clackwoods]

sidbury and english look to have the size of a 4-3 end and both have had pretty good combines.

I forgot about English in my original comments, he probably would have been my next best D lineman!

[BlainThePain]

I have a feeling that Connor Barwin might be Marvin Lewis' second stab at getting that Peter Boulware-type outside linebacker. I seem to remember reading about Marvin gushing about Barwin at the Senior Bowl and with the workout he just put in at the combine, it looks like he has the athleticism to convert to linebacker. When we drafted Pollack, it came out that one of the big reasons Marvin thought Pollack could convert to linebacker was because of how well he ran the short shuttle (Pollack ran a sub 4 short shuttle if I remember correctly and that is better than a lot of corners will do). This year Barwin ran one of the best 40's of the defensive ends and ran the best short shuttle. His 40 and short shuttle are pretty much identical to Clay Mathews and Barwin is 16 pounds heavier. When Marvin was a linebackers coach with the Steelers he had Kevin Greene and when he was with the Ravens he had Peter Boulware, both are linebackers that were constantly attacking the line of scrimmage and I think Marvin is still looking for that guy. My gut says look for us to take Barwin in the second. I just saw on NFL Network that Barwin also ran the best 3-cone drill of the defensive ends. Barwin is looking like a pretty good prospect to me because he obviously has the athleticism, he produced in college, and he offers versatility in that he could probably take snaps at linebacker, defensive end, and tight end for us. I also think he could be a beast of a special teams player in that he could be on kickoff coverage and be a good blocker on kick returns.

Barwins combine numbers are here:

http://www.footballsfuture.com/2009/combine/de.html

He had an excellent combine, plus he is a local product so I am sure he would love to play for the Bengals. If he is their in the second (Which I doubt) he will defiantly garner some attention from Marvin. The only thing is that the coaches at the senior bowl mainly played him at TE which may be what some(Including the Bengals) project him at. Their is so many ways that the Bengals could go in the draft, I think our options will be a more lot clear when the FA period dust clears!

I wouldn't be so sure that Barwin won't drop to us just because of how many linebacker prospects there are in this draft. You have Curry, Maualuga, Sintim, Laurinitis, Maybin, Brown, English, and Cushing who will all probably go before Barwin and you have other prospects like Clay Mathews, Tyrone McKenzie, Jason Phillips, and Michael Johnson that could possibly go before Barwin. Orakpo might also be drafted to play linebacker in the pros. We have the 38th pick in the draft and it looks like there are 8 to 13 linebackers that will be drafted before Barwin.

On a side note, my favorite sleeper pass rusher in the draft just turned in a great workout. Lawrence Sidburry Jr. of Richmond. He produced at the college level even if it was against lesser competition, he had the longest arms of any d-linemen at the Senior Bowl, he is a great athlete, and he is smart. He graduated with a bachelors in computer science and a minor in mathematics. I just took calculus 2 (a class you need for a computer science degree) which most people think is the hardest division of calculus, and it takes a smart person with a good work ethic to get through that class. To give you an idea, there were around 20 people at the beginning of that class and only seven of us passed.

[Kazkal]

double post

[Kazkal]

Another note,

A Bengals coach was running some of the linebacking drills, I originally thought it was Zimmer, but it was Jeff Fitzgerald and he was intense and louder than any other coach their. It was pretty motivating to see him out their.

Thats why we need give him real playermakers to work with

I want Orakpo. You got Jeanty for another season if no one matches, which wont happen because Jeanty isn't great of a starter. We were one of the worse at rushing the passer and this guy is a freak athlete. I like Barwin a lot too, but if they feel Andre Smith is too much of a gamble, Raji will probably be good but we have good depth at Dt, I think SAM backer is the weakest position in the front 7. He is a better version of Pollack.

Be interesting if they would have Orakpo go to the joker style roll or if they would use geathers who seemed to play best lighter and limited downs.

[Thurmanation]

Barwin Highlights

Definatly the most under-rated player i've seen this year.

[Kazkal]

Underrated? he's been getting nothing but praise since the senior bowl...

[Clackwoods]

Barwin Highlights

Definatly the most under-rated player i've seen this year.

He absolutely destroyed Rutgers. That was pretty impressive tape, I really like his play recognition. I wouldn't mind taking Smith/Moreno/Crabtree in round 1 and then getting him in round 2. Maclin just reminds me of Troy Williamson which I don't like.

[HAPPYJAQ]

I think people will be surprised at how high he goes in the draft. I put him in the 15-20 range, where the pash rusher rush will begin. I'd be happy with Orakpo, Maybin or Barwin, as my top two rushers in the draft. I think a rush LB/DE is as big a need (if not a bigger need) as RT and it's much harder to get guys that can rush the passer. At the LB position, we don't have a guy who's natural there. A guy that can get 9-12 sacks on defense will turn the Bengals into a top 10 unit and help us win the field position battle that we often times lose.