Sunday, September 8, 2013

4 Late Round Rookies You Should Get to Know

My name is Deverell King. I live in Portland, Oregon where I was born and raised and I have absolutely no credentials as a football scout whatsoever. But I've been a fan of the game for as long as I can remember. And for about the last 5 years I've spent lot of my free time breaking down potential NFL players for fun. And I recently decided that if I'm going to keep spending so much time breaking things down for myself I might as well let someone know what I think. And that's about all you need to know about me. For the foreseeable future I'll spend most of my time here breaking down college and occasionally high school football players and giving my best estimation of what they'll amount to if they get a shot in the league.

But with the first Sunday of the NFL season only hours away I thought I'd start by talking about some guys that will be playing on Sundays this year. There are plenty of websites and bloggers out there with draft grades so i'm not going to get into all of that. Today I'm going to introduce you to four rookies selected in the later rounds of the draft that I think will make a big impact this year and going forward.

1. Bacarri Rambo - Safety - Washington Redskins (Round 6 Pick 23)

The first thing I should say is that i'm a Georgia Bulldogs fan. So call me a homer if you will and i'll completely understand but i'm still going to say what i have to say about this guy.

Much like the offensive line, safety is a position where success is usually measured by the amount of times that a player's name isn't called. Safeties are the last line of defense and there are guys that make careers on being that guy who just doesn't make the big mistake. But while there's a lot to be said for not allowing big plays from the offense, the safeties that you remember are the ones that make big plays of their own. Players like Ed Reed, Sean Taylor and Jarius Byrd. Rambo proved again and again during his college career that he's an impact player that excels at creating turnovers. In his 47 career appearances in college Rambo tallied 16 interceptions, six forced  fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries and also scored three touchdowns.

The Redskins selected Rambo in the 6th round with the 191st pick in the draft making him the 17th safety selected. Most sixth round picks have to scratch and claw just to make the 53 man roster. Not only did Rambo make the roster, he's now the starting free safety for a secondary that could showed last season that they could use some reinforcements. The Redskins finished the 2012 regular season as the 30th ranked pass defense. 

So what should you expect to see from Bacarri Rambo as a rookie? Well, you'll see some mistakes that might result in big plays. But you'll definitely also see him force some turnovers and give good support in the run game. But I can say with confidence that by the end of the 2013 season (barring any injury) that Bacarri Rambo will be a household name. 

2. Quinton Patton - Wide Receiver - 49ers (Round 4 Pick 31)

Patton was an extremely productive college player. In two years at Louisana Tech Patton brought in 183 passes for 2,594 yards and 24 touchdowns. Some would argue that Patton's production should be handicapped since he played in Conference USA. But before you scoff at Patton's numbers you should look at his performances against a few schools in more notable conferences. In 2012 against Texas A&M Patton reeled in a whopping 21 catches for 233 yards and four touchdowns. Against Mississippi State in 2011 he caught 11 passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. That same season he caught five passes for 67 yards and a touchdown against a solid TCU defense in the Poinsettia Bowl.

When I watch Quinton Patton I see Reggie Wayne. He's not overwhelmingly fast or large but he knows how to create separation and how to make a nice target for his quarterback. Patton's ability to get a clean release from the line of scrimmage is one skill that will give him a leg up over other rookie receivers and may catch some NFL cornerbacks by surprise. 

Look for Patton to take over Marlon Moore's role pretty quickly. Patton should quickly become one of Colin Kaepernick's favorite targets. Kaepernick to Patton is a combo that we should all get used to hearing.

3. Andre Ellington - Running Back - Cardinals (Round 6 Pick 19)

Andre Ellington sits 4th all-time on the Clemson career rushing list. In his time at Clemson Andre Ellington rushed for 3,404 with a 5.2 yards per carry average and 33 touchdowns. He also added 69 receptions for 605 yards and two touchdowns.

Ellington possesses elite speed and agility. The main knock on him coming out of Clemson was his size. Ellington measured in at 5'9" and 199 lbs at the NFL scouting combine. It's fair to question whether a player of his physical stature can handle the beating that any starting NFL running back has to take. And mAybe Ellington won't be a guy that can carry the ball 25 times every game. But how many backs like that are there left in the NFL? I see Ellington as a guy that could handle 15 carries per game with some passes sprinkled in. 

Currently Ellington is listed behind Rahard Mendenhall, Ryan Williams and Stepfan Taylor on the Cardinals depth Chart. But even though he's buried on the depth chart he is clearly the only back on that roster with any big play ability. Ellington has too much talent for the Cardinals to leave him on the bench for too long. Once Mendenhall dances his way into Bruce Arians' doghouse and Ryan Williams inevitably ends up on the injury report, it will be up to the pair of rookies to carry the load. And Ellington is just flat out more talented than Taylor. It may be late this year but Ellington WILL get a shot and when he does he won't disappoint. 

Jordan Mills – Tackle – Chicago Bears (Round 5 Pick 30)

The Chicago bears are loaded with talent on the offensive side of the ball. Jay Cutler has one of the most live arms in the league. Combine that with the Pass catching ability of Brandon Marshall and second year pro Alshon Jeffery and Tight End Martellus Bennett with the impact that a healthy Matt Forte can have and you’ve got what should be an elite NFL offense. The bears biggest problem is and has always been their complete inability to keep Jay Cutler off of his back.

Brandon Mills measured in at 6’5” 319 lbs at the nfl scouting combine. Mills’ balance in pass protection is very impressive. He doesn’t panic against good edge rushers and allow them to run him up the field and cut back inside. He stands his ground and lets the pass rusher try to beat him around the corner and gives them a good shove that sends them flying past the pocket. It’s the little things that Mills seems to excel at and it’s these little things that I think will allow him to excel.

When I watch Mills run block the thing that I notice first is that he has a feel not just for exactly where he needs to move the guy in front of him but also has a feel for what the running back behind him sees. He knows when to turn a guy and how far to turn him. He knows how long to hold a block before trying to get to the second level. And when he knows that all he needs to do is eliminate the guy in front of him…look out because the big guy can move. Mills is starting at right tackle and look for him to be the starter when the season ends.



Look for these guys to all make an impact this season, some earlier than others. In the coming weeks I plan to start getting into some current college players. Thanks for reading.