In a year where the quarterback everyone is predicting to be selected first overall, decides to stay and finish his degree, you know full well there is room for many surprises come NFL Draft time. The rumors have been fired up non-stop, and I would like to comment on a few and share my opinions on the topics at hand.
Many people around the situation have one big question, how do we know this isn't a big smokescreen? Of course, this very well could be, but from a credited source from Schefter at ESPN and reports that head coach of the Arizona Cardinals Ken Whisenhunt was seen chatting to Von, it is safe to say this former Texas A&M stud could shoot up many draft boards into a top five selection.
If I am the Arizona Cardinals, there is no way I am making the play for Von this early in the draft. The Cardinals have the fifth selection come April, and really need to address many other issues on their football team. There is obviously a big premium on having guys who can protect your quarterback -- and who can get after the opposing quarterback in the NFL. However, drafting a player like a Von Miller doesn't necessarily bring you an all-around complete player to play in the 4-3 defense that Arizona runs.
Miller finished with an impressive eleven sacks, and sixty-eight total tackles in his 2010 season despite battling some injuries throughout the year. This was just one year removed from Miller boasting up an astonishing seventeen sacks in 2009. There is really no argument and debate that this senior of Desoto, Texas can't get to the quarterback. My big concern, and this is the general consensus around the entire NFL scouts at this point in time, what about the running game? At times, especially against LSU in the Cotton Bowl, Von absolutely disappeared and appeared to get bullied against a very physical SEC running attack from the Tigers. How can he hold up against the big mammoth type of offensive linemen in the National Football League? That is the question that needs to be answered from the 6'3, 237 pound stud.
Theredzone.org and NFL Network
In a statement that can't make last year's 2nd round pick Jimmy Clausen feel very secure about his job, Carolina Panthers' GM Marty Hurney indicated that quarterback is the team's No.1 need going into the 2011 draft. Joseph Person of the Charlotte Observer reports Hurney made that observation Tuesday while watching Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Alabama.
This rumor actually kind of puzzled me, but I have to come to understand this blurb for myself as a move of "blowing smoke" by the Carolina Panthers. There is no doubt in anybody's mind that in the 2011 Draft the Panthers would have selected the gun-slinger from Stanford Andrew Luck, heck, they even said it themselves they would have made the move for him with the first overall selection. Luck staying in school didn't help their predicament at the quarterback position, and now leaves them in a whirlwind of possibilities leading up to this Draft. The most obvious two situations I see the Carolina Panthers diving into include the Panthers selecting the number one player on my board A.J Green the wide receiver from Georgia, or taking the monster defensive tackle Nick Fairley from Auburn.
Blaine Gabbert is a young man who has received a lot of attention from ESPN analyst Todd McShay, and this had generally lead to the amount of hype he has seen from NFL Draft junkies. Blaine has a lot of the physical tools needed to succeed in the NFL, and he has scouts absolutely admiring his very quick release of the football. Gabbert has just as many critics as believers at this point in the entire process, and I would be classified as one of them.
There is a real chance that the former Missouri Tiger signal caller could fire up the boards himself, and land himself a Top 10 selection, but I wouldn't be fast to pull the trigger on him personally. I have Blaine ranked 4th in my quarterback rankings (soon to come, stay tuned!) behind the likes of Cam Newton, Ryan Mallett and even Jake Locker. This guy played in a spread offense, but not only was it a spread, this guy rarely chucked the football down the field, and in fact I am willing to bet Missouri ran screens almost more than any team last season. Truthfully, we don't know what Blaine can do under pressure when he has to put that football in a tight window across the middle of the field in the NFL. The tape doesn't show us it. Along with that, I am not very high on his footwork coming out of the spread. It is a bit sloppy, and he really doesn't always look confident when he is forced to make a throw in the fifteen to twenty yard range.
As the buzz continues around the National Football League and the Senior Bowl events in Mobile, Alabama, continue to check us out for news and opinions on the 2011 NFL Draft!
Written by Kristian D'Ignazio of Smashmouth Draft Inc.
