| 16 February 2010
So I was browsing through the internet looking for Chicago Bears stuff to blog about, looking for that spark of an idea to write about to help unlock the writer's block. I came across this link to an article by the late great Bill Walsh and how he evaluates talent and players for each position in the NFL draft. I think this is the perfect article to share with most of you prior to the start of NFL combine because most of us are looking forward to the NFL combine. In addition to looking forward to the combine there's going to be a lot of people that are individually evaluating a lot of the players and coming back with their own impressions of each player.
I freely admit that I too will be doing my own combine observations and posting them here on this blog each and every day. Watching the combine live, taping it and watching the play back even more.
I think one of the most interesting revelations about Walsh and the way he evaluates talent is how much it differs from what most fans desire in their wants and desires. Obviously there are certain attributes that most fans have picked up on over the years of NFL talking heads talking about potential draft picks, attributes that have become the norm.
Some of those attributes are quick feet and agility for offensive linemen, arm strength and quick release for the quarterback, speed and agility for a running back and so on.
Often times there are aspects that a lot of fans think are required for the position and often over looked. Examples of attributes that are often hyped up are the size that a typical interior offensive linemen should have. Most fans want the bigger wide body mauler type of offensive linemen, an ideal size for some fans would be 6-5 350-pounds for the interior...the term road grader often gets thrown about a lot.
While size and strength is important for offensive linemen some of the greatest interior linemen were never all that big. Players like Olin Kreutz, Jay Hilgenberg two centers that played for the Bears that were no where near the size talked about by Todd McShay or Mel Kiper Jr.
Walsh as an example prefers his centers to be in the mold of a Kreutz or Hilgenberg or Josh Beekman. Offensive guards nearly the same thing, it's more about athleticism than sheer girth or size. A desire to have your guards be quick so they can pull, trap, or fire off the ball and run five yards down the field to pick up a linebacker, or to jump outside to help out an offensive tackle on a blitzing LB, or to hit a quick stunting three-technique DT.
There are places for bigger and stronger offensive linemen now too with the emphasis on the two gap players in the 3-4 defense but you still can't under estimate just how important technique is in those same smaller offensive linemen. Olin Kreutz has arguably positioned himself for a call to Canton with his long and successful career, and Kreutz has relied mainly on his technique versus sheer size and strength.
An example of a player whose stock will rise based simply on his combine workouts will be Taylor Mays as a safety. Mays is as big as most linebackers and as strong and even faster than most of those linebackers. At 6-foot-3 230-pounds, Mays is expected to light the combine world on fire with a blazing fast 40-yard dash time to go with with his size.
Mays however doesn't have nearly the same instincts for the football both in coverage and to make tackles as the player rated ahead of him, Tennessee's Eric Berry. Mays will likely outshine Berry in the combine, but what could likely make Berry the better prospect is his natural instincts and ability to read and react to the ball.
Berry by comparison will only measure in at around the 5-foot-10 210-pound range, what some would consider too short for a safety prospect but his instincts for the position are undeniable, instincts that far out weigh the athleticism that Taylor Mays brings to the table.
But enough of my rambling, the true measure of this is let you inside the mind of the late great Bill Walsh and to get a glimpse into what he is looking for when evaluating talent.
Walsh covers every position and discusses each trait he prefers in a player at length
Bill Walsh, How I evaluate each position
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