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Dan offers up notes today on Ryan Kerrigan, Vernon Gholston, Stephen Paea, the 225-pound bench press and Jeff Cumberland. Enjoy . . .
If Purdue’s Ryan Kerrigan is there at 30, there is a good chance the Jets pick him, but there are some scouts who don’t see him as a 3-4 outside linebacker.
“He’s not a quick-twitch athlete,” said NFL Network’s Mike Mayock.
He did run a 4.67 forty at the combine at 267 pounds.
But remember Vernon Gholston ran under 4.6. However, his transition from 4-3 end to 3-4 NFL linebacker didn’t work out.
Gholston had straight-line speed, and was bad at changing directions. Kerrigan isn’t much different.
But the big difference is Kerrigan has a much better motor than Gholston. And Kerrigan has the mindset, “I will not allow myself to be blocked.” That is something that makes Pittsburgh Steeler OLB James Harrison so good. He has that “I can’t be blocked” mentality, which is so important when rushing the passer.
Gholston was way too content staying blocked. He didn’t have that eye of the tiger, which is so important if you are going to shed the block of a 6-6, 320-pound powerful NFL tackle.
Heck, Gholston had issues shedding a Hines Ward block in the Jets-Steelers regular season game.
Gholston is a wonderful kid, but that might be part of this problem. He’s too nice to be an SOB on the football field.
But all of this Kerrigan talk might be a moot point because he will likely be gone when the Jets pick.
Kerrigan is very similar to Chris Long. There are motors, than there are All-World motors. Long and Kerrigan have 3.0-liter supercharged V6 motors . . .
Oregon State DT Steve Paea set a bench press mark at the combine by lifting 225, 49 times. While that is very impressive, generally the guys that lead in this department don’t pan out, like Ohio State’s Mike Kudla and Texas El-Paso’s Leif Larsen. Remember them? Probably not.
The NFL isn’t about weight room strength. It’s about functional football strength. If you can lift a ton in the weight room, but that strength isn’t displayed in your play, it’s meaningless.
But Paea does have a pretty good bull rush, so it does look like he can transfer the strength to the field.
And remember, this guy is work-in-progress. He came to the states at the age of 17 from the Island of Tonga to pursue “The American Dream.” So Paea is still honing his football skills.
I don’t think the Jets will pick him at 30 because at 6-1, 300 pounds, he’s not a great fit for their defense. He’s not big enough for 3-4 nose tackle, and he’s not tall enough for 3-4 end . . .
The release of veteran tight end Ben Hartsock clears the way for either Matt Mulligan or Jeff Cumberland to grab the #2 tight end spot.
Mulligan is the better blocker and Cumberland is the better receiver.
But while the Jets love Cumberland’s potential as a receiving tight end with his 4.5 speed, he’s not a bad blocker. Remember, he’s 260 pounds, and a scout I know who followed him in college, said he wasn’t a bad blocker in school.
With the Jets, he just needed work on his technique, and after a year with position coach Mike Devlin, he made a lot of progress. Remember, Devlin is a former NFL offensive lineman, so as a tight end coach, he’s excellent at teaching blocking.