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FordFairLane's 2021 Draft Prospect Big Board

FordFairLane

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Sorry I haven't been on much but I was able to get my big board up. Please feel free to use it on the site like last year. I am 99% done with just some tweaks here and there but feel free to comment. I would be happy to explain my rational for my rankings. I have not watched every single prospect but am still watching the tape I can find on youtube. Lots of later round prospects only have their "highlight reel" so it becomes cumbersome trying to find some raw footage.

 

slashsteel

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Thanks for your time and effort.
 

slashsteel

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I am thinking Lance and Fields don't make it out of the grey area -first. Just a QB starved league that with lower rookie contracts don't mind taking need chances. Ford is your rankings more of what you perceive over what perhaps NFL teams might perceive their value?
 

FordFairLane

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I completely agree others will have them higher or just because QB is such a valued position jump earlier than perhaps the rankings suggest. When I first started doing this a few years back I made the conscious decision to value a player on what I see not by what will likely happen. To be honest I could see Trask sneaking into the first with a team like the Lions or even Redskins in need of a QB long term but perhaps not getting one with their first. Both have enough firepower to sneak back into the end of the first. Because after Trask there's a pretty big drop off in talent.
 

FordFairLane

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Here's what I saw from Fields, Lance, and Trask. Fields has all the talent in the world physically but still in the Ohio State offense will need time to develop. He doesn't read the defense well or get past his primary target often. Both are things that will come in time but if you compare him to Lawrence, Jones and Wilson all three come from more pro like systems and regularly come off their primary receivers.
Lance reminds me of a poor mans Lamar Jackson. He is a better passer at this stage in his development but he is a one read and run QB. Jackson gets away with it because of his exceptional running ability but if Jackson would ever get a high ankle sprain he'd be one of the least effective QB's in the league. Lance also plays against very weak competition. It was hard to judge his skill set when he plays against Western Illinois and Youngstown St. I gave Josh Allen a similar grade for the same reasons. Allen after a cold start to his NFL career has adapted and is one of the best in the NFL. Lance could as well but he is still a risk.
Trask is just an old school QB. Everyone wants their QB to move and the best you are going to get from him is a five yard scamper now and again. He does have a big body, good arm, quick delivery, and superb accuracy. I feel a team that wants to throw it from the QB position will maximize his potential but not every team is going to value his skill set.
 

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so Marquez Stevenson doesn't even rate to be on your board? (WR out of UH)

UH only played a few games last season due to Covid,...I posted his game against Navy in the thread below for Cope (with the time stamps for his plays

 
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**** Coolie's pimped tricks
 

FordFairLane

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so Marquez Stevenson doesn't even rate to be on your board? (WR out of UH)

UH only played a few games last season due to Covid,...I posted his game against Navy in the thread below for Cope (with the time stamps for his plays


Right now I would throw him in that 6th/7th round grade group. I only got to see his tape vs South Florida 2018 and his Senior Bowl practice so not a lot to go on. He beat up on 5-8 4.61 40 Ronnie Hoggins pretty good but nothing much more than that. It isn't a big sample size so I would not call myself an expert on him. He also has not had his pro day as I believe Houston is set for April 9th. I personally feel he runs a 4.6ish which would solidify my late round pick ranking but if he runs his self proclaimed 4.38 I will have to find some full game film and single him out. I do know he has been hampered by poor QB play so those are always tough to gauge. I feel he has backup slot and return potential.
 

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Right now I would throw him in that 6th/7th round grade group. I only got to see his tape vs South Florida 2018 and his Senior Bowl practice so not a lot to go on. He beat up on 5-8 4.61 40 Ronnie Hoggins pretty good but nothing much more than that. It isn't a big sample size so I would not call myself an expert on him. He also has not had his pro day as I believe Houston is set for April 9th. I personally feel he runs a 4.6ish which would solidify my late round pick ranking but if he runs his self proclaimed 4.38 I will have to find some full game film and single him out. I do know he has been hampered by poor QB play so those are always tough to gauge. I feel he has backup slot and return potential.
if he runs a 4.6 I would be shocked the guy is very fast. Maybe not 4.38 fast, but fast. I posted two game videos in the thread I linked above. His game against Navy and Tulane with time stamps on plays the ball goes his way. He takes a KR to the house and has a nice end around sweep in the Tulane game.

He has gotten a lot better about catching with his hands since 2018, especially on crossing patterns, But he still loves to catch the deep ball with his body.

Yeah his pro day is on the 9th
 
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FordFairLane

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if he runs a 4.6 I would be shocked the guy is very fast. Maybe not 4.38 fast, but fast. I posted two game videos in the thread I linked above. His game against Navy and Tulane with time stamps on plays the ball goes his way. He takes a KR to the house and has a nice end around sweep in the Tulane game.

He has gotten a lot better about catching with his hands since 2018, especially on crossing patterns, But he still loves to catch the deep ball with his body.

Yeah his pro day is on the 9th
I'll take a look. Like I said I am not an expert on him just small sample size. And where you get drafted has no indication of where you will end up on the spectrum of how good a player you are in the NFL. I mean AB was a 6th round pick, Tyreek Hill 5th, Donald Driver 7th.
 

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I'll take a look. Like I said I am not an expert on him just small sample size. And where you get drafted has no indication of where you will end up on the spectrum of how good a player you are in the NFL. I mean AB was a 6th round pick, Tyreek Hill 5th, Donald Driver 7th.
oh I understand that. The draft is a crap shoot. GMs role the dice and take their chances. I was just curious why he wasn't on your board at all. I've pimped him several times and posted the videos in the thread above and I know you read EVERY post I make. Hell you have Payton Turner on there, I'm not sure if he will be drafted as an edge guy or a DT...but he should go about where you have him if he performs well on the 9th.
 

FordFairLane

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oh I understand that. The draft is a crap shoot. GMs role the dice and take their chances. I was just curious why he wasn't on your board at all. I've pimped him several times and posted the videos in the thread above and I know you read EVERY post I make. Hell you have Payton Turner on there, I'm not sure if he will be drafted as an edge guy or a DT...but he should go about where you have him if he performs well on the 9th.
I do normally read your Houston post but as I stated earlier haven't been on much as of late. I think Payton is probably a 4-3 end and ideally Left DE. He to me has a lot of upside potential and getting him in an NFL weight room and on a proper diet could transform his body and game to new heights. To me he has way more potential than Stevenson because of his physical prowess. I mean you can't teach a guy to be 6-6 270lbs. Now again I only watched two games (Tulane and UCF) but he dominated the Tulane game even though the quick tempo UCF offense hindered his pass rush ability the first time they held the ball longer than 2.5 seconds he got a sack forced fumble that turned into a defensive TD.
 

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I do normally read your Houston post but as I stated earlier haven't been on much as of late. I think Payton is probably a 4-3 end and ideally Left DE. He to me has a lot of upside potential and getting him in an NFL weight room and on a proper diet could transform his body and game to new heights. To me he has way more potential than Stevenson because of his physical prowess. I mean you can't teach a guy to be 6-6 270lbs. Now again I only watched two games (Tulane and UCF) but he dominated the Tulane game even though the quick tempo UCF offense hindered his pass rush ability the first time they held the ball longer than 2.5 seconds he got a sack forced fumble that turned into a defensive TD.
If you watch the Navy game I put in my other thread, Turner has a solid game against their run heavy offense. Going into 2020 he dropped some weight since he was told he would be playing less inside than the year before. He was quicker and still plenty strong. Getting in an NFL training room with better coaching and nutrition advice will likely help him more. In the 5 games played he had 10.5 TFL and 5 sacks

I think if you watch more of Stevenson, you might elevate him a bit...if not, that is fine also.
 

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so Marquez Stevenson doesn't even rate to be on your board? (WR out of UH)

UH only played a few games last season due to Covid,...I posted his game against Navy in the thread below for Cope (with the time stamps for his plays

UDRFA.......
 

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I just read an article that the Steelers sent the big man himself, Captain Cool Shades, to the OSU pro-day to look at Trey Sermon as a backup option in the event they can't nab Najee or Travis, and they were talking about him being an option in round two. I'm a HUGE Penn State fan and I can tell you that Sermon didn't worry me one bit. He has poor balance, average vision, and no home run speed. His only positives are good hands as a receiving threat and he has quick burst ability. If you touch him he goes down like a sack of potatoes. In my mind, there are three options at running back (Najee, Travis, Javonte) and that's it, but we all know how much Tomlin loves him some OSU players.

If the Steelers draft Trey Sermon our Running game will be...well..."The Standard"

h0f6pas019sz.png
 

FordFairLane

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I just read an article that the Steelers sent the big man himself, Captain Cool Shades, to the OSU pro-day to look at Trey Sermon as a backup option in the event they can't nab Najee or Travis, and they were talking about him being an option in round two. I'm a HUGE Penn State fan and I can tell you that Sermon didn't worry me one bit. He has poor balance, average vision, and no home run speed. His only positives are good hands as a receiving threat and he has quick burst ability. If you touch him he goes down like a sack of potatoes. In my mind, there are three options at running back (Najee, Travis, Javonte) and that's it, but we all know how much Tomlin loves him some OSU players.
If the Steelers draft Trey Sermon our Running game will be...well..."The Standard"

h0f6pas019sz.png
Trey Sermon in the second wouldn’t be a good pick. Not the worst. But I don’t see that much difference between him and Snell. He’s a little better athlete and though he doesn’t have long speed he has a good short area burst. I put him in that 3rd/4th round bubble and feel if we don’t go RB before and snag him in the 4th we got good value. Probably be more of a RBBC in 2021 though if we don’t snag one of the top 3 though.

Elijah Mitchell is a guy I hope they have their eyes on. They must’ve watched him after drafting Dotson last year. I’ve been high on him for a year now and he just solidified himself as a premier athlete at his pro day.
 

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He'd be a decent pick in the 3rd but we need one of the top 3 RB's, period. We need a 3 down starter. Pick one in the 1st or use next years third to move up to get one in the 2nd. Sermon definitely had balance, vision, and breakaway speed against Northwestern and against Clemson. He doesn't have a lot of tape but he was more than impressive in the last 2 games he played against good defenses. If we are relying on Snell to be our No. 1 RB, we are in deep ****.
 

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He'd be a decent pick in the 3rd but we need one of the top 3 RB's, period. We need a 3 down starter. Pick one in the 1st or use next years third to move up to get one in the 2nd. Sermon definitely had balance, vision, and breakaway speed against Northwestern and against Clemson. He doesn't have a lot of tape but he was more than impressive in the last 2 games he played against good defenses. If we are relying on Snell to be our No. 1 RB, we are in deep ****.
We're talking about a guy who was second on the OSU depth chart behind Master Teague. He only played due to Teague's injury, and he wasn't all that impressive until the Northwestern game. Clemson **** the bed and Dabo's team just wasn't prepared for that game (**** talking from players and overlooking OSU).

What happened to Trey Sermon at the National Championship game? He was put right back at the #2 roster spot in favor of Teague, getting only 1 carry in the game. Spending a 1-4th round pick on a backup RB who had two great games to close out his season is just the kind of dumbassery we come to expect from Captain Cool Shades.
 

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If we don’t get Harris or Williams I personally go RBBC route. Snell can pound, Ballage can catch, McFarland can fall down two yards behind the line of scrimmage. But Elijah Mitchell Can do a little of everything. He's only 201 pounds so I don't know if he can be a bell cow but if Snell pounds out 5-6 carries and ballage snags 4-5 catches I could see Mitchell getting 10-15 touches and handling that type of load no problem.
 

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We're talking about a guy who was second on the OSU depth chart behind Master Teague. He only played due to Teague's injury, and he wasn't all that impressive until the Northwestern game. Clemson **** the bed and Dabo's team just wasn't prepared for that game (**** talking from players and overlooking OSU).

What happened to Trey Sermon at the National Championship game? He was put right back at the #2 roster spot in favor of Teague, getting only 1 carry in the game. Spending a 1-4th round pick on a backup RB who had two great games to close out his season is just the kind of dumbassery we come to expect from Captain Cool Shades.
Pay attention. When he got his chance he looked good. I'm not saying he's our saviour but I don't want anyone but the top 3 in the 1st or trading up in the 2nd round to get them anyway. We need a legit starting RB which we DO NOT have on the roster right now. And, check your facts. Sermon had 1 carry because he got injured, not because Teague took back over. If we're not going to pick a RB in Rd. 1 or 2, we may as well stick with what we have until next year because it isn't going to help us. Just ride with scrubs like Snell, Ballage and McFarland and hope one of them somehow improves dramatically. McFarland is your best bet there since he was a rookie last year with no OTA's, camp or pre-season. With an entire offseason this year, he should be much improved. Enough to start, probably not but definitely enough to split the backfield.
 

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Pay attention. When he got his chance he looked good. I'm not saying he's our saviour but I don't want anyone but the top 3 in the 1st or trading up in the 2nd round to get them anyway. We need a legit starting RB which we DO NOT have on the roster right now. And, check your facts. Sermon had 1 carry because he got injured, not because Teague took back over. If we're not going to pick a RB in Rd. 1 or 2, we may as well stick with what we have until next year because it isn't going to help us. Just ride with scrubs like Snell, Ballage and McFarland and hope one of them somehow improves dramatically. McFarland is your best bet there since he was a rookie last year with no OTA's, camp or pre-season. With an entire offseason this year, he should be much improved. Enough to start, probably not but definitely enough to split the backfield.
I am paying attention, and you're all over the place. Organize your thoughts before touching the keyboard.

We are in agreement that the Steelers need one of the top three backs. I'm not in favor of the Steelers picking Sermon or any other RB who will simply join the Steeler's stable of average horses. Sermon is a wasted pick and I stand by my assessment of him.
 

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I am paying attention, and you're all over the place. Organize your thoughts before touching the keyboard.

We are in agreement that the Steelers need one of the top three backs. I'm not in favor of the Steelers picking Sermon or any other RB who will simply join the Steeler's stable of average horses. Sermon is a wasted pick and I stand by my assessment of him.
My thoughts are organized. You said Sermon was benched when you actually had no clue. He was injured. My guess is he would have put up 100+ in the Championship game and solidified his spot in the draft but life happens. The Steelers really need to get Harris or Etienne in Rd. 1 and then trade up in Rd. 2 for the best OL they can get their hands on. That is really their best option as things sit right now. I've been saying that for weeks and weeks now.
 

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Not knowing a hell of lot about the college guys entering the draft, I do rely on you guys.

Question. 2-4 months ago a heck of a lot of you guys were predicting Leatherwood as our pick in the 1st. Why has he come out of favour?
 

slashsteel

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Not knowing a hell of lot about the college guys entering the draft, I do rely on you guys.

Question. 2-4 months ago a heck of a lot of you guys were predicting Leatherwood as our pick in the 1st. Why has he come out of favour?
It was more of if he was a G or a T and some senior bowl struggles seem to suggest G. Which we aren't in need of in comparison to LT and C.
 
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