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It’s time for another edition of Dan’s Draft Notebook with notes on Dontari Poe, Quinton Coples, along with other items. Enjoy. Just $7.95 a month or sign-up for a combo deal – magazine and website premium content at a big savings.
The Jets are in a great position to get a terrific player with the 16th pick of the first round.
The reason I say this, is because they have a few different needs, and a very, very good prospect, who fills one of those needs, perhaps in the Top Ten on the Jets board (remember all boards are different), is definitely going to slip to them.
LB Dont’a Hightower, S Mark Barron, DT Dontari “Edgar Allan” Poe, DE Quintin Coples, WR Michael Floyd, DE/OLB Melvin Ingram and OLB Courtney Upshaw – more than one of these guys is likely going to be there at 16. That Jets are in a great spot to land a very good prospect who will slip down to them.
Two players we haven’t discussed are Poe and Coples.
Poe is a freak of nature out of Memphis, who runs 4.9 at 6-3, 350 pounds, and did a mind-boggling 44 reps of 225 pounds at the combine. The guy is what George Young used to call “a planet player,” as in there are only a few athletes like this on the planet.
But right now, Poe is more of an athlete than a very good football player. With his size, speed and strength, he should have been a lot more productive, especially in a mid-major conference – Conference USA.
The Jets might feel his rare athletic gift are too much to pass up, considering his best position on the next level is probably 3-4 nose tackle.
As for Coples, he is a defensive end who is 6-5 3/4 , 284 and runs 4.7. Some scouts think, if his motivated properly on the next level, he could be a Richard Seymour-type 3-4 end. But that is a big “if.” He took a lot to plays off as a senior. Some think he was trying not to get hurt, with the NFL in mind.
The bottom line is – the Jets are going to have some good choices at 16 . . .
The Jets need to improve their pass rush, and with that in mind, if they pick a pass rusher, they should look for one who is good at shedding blocks, which is very hard to do on the next level.
Hey, most pass rushers can get to the quarterback when the coaches dial up a blitz where they are unblocked, or blocked by a running back. But that doesn’t happen very often. But as we seen with so many pass rushers that have worn green-and-white in recent year, not a lot of them were great at shedding blocks.
So with that in mind, which pass rusher in this draft is best at shedding blocks?
That answer to that, according to one talent evaluator, is Ingram . . .
We ran a Q-and-A with Montana cornerback Trumaine Johnson yesterday. You get the sense that he’d like stay at cornerback, but with his size, speed and loose hips, he could be a heck of a safety.
Did you know that at Montana, he had NO position coach his first three years at the school?
That certainly isn’t great for a players’ development, but I-AA schools have limited budgets
So his best football is probably in front of him, if he gets a quality position coach on the next level. . . .
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