A scouts perspective

A scouts perspective

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Top 200 Prospects 2013 NFL Draft

Thanks to National Football Post...These are the top 200 prospects for the 2013 NFL Draft.

I love keeping this list as this is based off their performances of the entire regular season.  Bowl game performances, all-star games, combine results or interviews have not had a chance to influence their draft grades. 

In March, I will post a updated top 200 list to compare what players have risen or fallen based off factors that had zero influence on these played the game of football when it mattered.


Rank Name Pos School
1 Bjoern Werner DE Florida State
2 Jake Matthews OT Texas A&M
3 Star Lotulelei DT Utah
4 Luke Joeckel OT Texas A&M
5 Chance Warmack OG Alabama
6 Keenan Allen WR California
7 Kenny Vaccaro S Texas  
8 Sheldon Richardson DT Missouri
9 Taylor Lewan OT Michigan
10 Dion Jordan DE Oregon
11 Dee Milliner CB Alabama
12 Jessie Williams DT Alabama
13 Alec Ogletree ILB Georgia
14 Manti Te'o ILB Notre Dame
15 Jonathan Hankins DT Ohio State
16 Eric Fisher OT Central Michigan
17 Sam Montgomery DE LSU
18 Quinton Patton WR Louisiana Tech
19 Tler Eifert TE Notre Dame
20 Tavon Austin WR West Virginia
21 Jonathan Cooper OG North Carolina
22 Jonathan Banks CB Mississippi State
23 Ezekial Ansah DE BYU
24 Robert Woods WR USC
25 Oday Aboushi OT Virginia
26 Corey Lemonier DE Auburn
27 Zach Ertz TE Stanford
28 Geovani Bernard RB North Carolina
29 Kawann Short DT Purdue
30 Terrance Williams WR Baylor
31 Kevin Minter ILB LSU
32 Michael Glennon QB North Carolina State
33 Arthur Brown ILB Kansas State
34 Kyle Van Noy OLB BYU
35 Justin Hunter WR Tennessee
36 Brandon Jenkins OLB Florida State
37 James Tyler Wilson QB Arkansas
38 DeAndre Hopkins WR Clemson
39 Cordelle Patterson WR Tennessee
40 Geno Smith QB West Virginia
41 Matt Barkely QB USC
42 Jarvis Jones OLB Georgia
43 Barrett Jones CB Alabama
44 D.J. Fluker OT Alabama
45 Eric Reid S LSU
46 Khaseem Greene OLB Rutgers
47 Melvin White CB Louisiana-Lafayette
48 Cobi Hamilton WR Arkansas
49 Damontre Moore DE Texas A&M
50 Montee Ball RB Wisconsin
51 Xavier Rhodes CB Florida State
52 Stedman Bailey WR West Virginia
53 Cornel Carradine DE Florida State
54 Sharif Floyd DT Florida  
55 Anthony Barr OLB UCLA
56 Matt Elam ATH Florida
57 Justin Pugh OT Syracuse
58 Aaron Dobson WR Marshall
59 Slyvester Williams DT North Carolina
60 Andre Ellington RB Clemson
61 Margus Hunt DE SMU
62 Barkevious Mingo OLB LSU
63 Chase Thomas OLB Stanford
64 Akeem Spence DT Illinois
65 Tony Jefferson ATH Oklahoma
66 Lane Johnson OT Oklahoma
67 Joseph Randle RB Oklahoma State
68 Shayne Skov ILB Stanford
69 James Gayle DE Virginia Tech
70 David Amerson ATH North Carolina State
71 Da'Rick Rogers WR Tennessee Tech
72 Jordan Poyer CB Oregon State
73 Robert Lester ATH Alabama
74 Chris Harper WR Kansas State
75 Jelani Jenkins OLB Florida
76 Ticory Grissom NT South Florida
77 Richard Wagner OT Wisconsin
78 Aaron Murray QB Georgia
79 Marquess Wilson WR Washington State
80 Kenny Stills WR Oklahoma
81 Zaviar Gooden OLB Missouri
82 William Gholston DE Michigan State
83 Will Davis CB Utah State
84 Lawrence Warford OG Kentucky
85 Tyler Bray QB Tennessee
86 Jordan Reed TE Florida
87 Aaron Klein OLB Iowa State
88 Nico Johnson OLB Alabama
89 Jamie Collins OLB Southern Miss
90 Leon McFadden CB San Diego State
91 Corey Fuller WR Virginia Tech
92 Erik Manuel QB Florida State
93 Jonathan Brown OLB Illinois
94 Landry Jones QB Oklahoma
95 Brandon Magee OLB Arizona State
96 Dallas Thomas OT Tennessee
97 Travis Frederick OG Wisconsin
98 Zac Dysert QB Miami (OH)
99 Michael Williams ATH Nevada
100 Kyle Fuller CB Virginia Tech
101 Blidi Wreh-Wilson CB Uconn
102 Ryan Nassib QB Syracuse
103 Kyle Long OT Oregon
104 Quintin Williams ATH Georgia
105 Dennard Robinson ATH Michigan
106 Kevin Reddick ILB North Carolina
107 Michael Gillislee RB Florida
108 Michael Mauti OLB Penn State
109 Brennan Williams OT North Carolina
110 Mychal Rivera TE Tennessee
111 Stepfan Taylor RB Stanford
112 John Simon DE Ohio State
113 Bradley McDougald ATH Kansas  
114 Brent Russell DT Georgia Southern
115 DJ Swearinger ATH South Carolina
116 Etienne Sabino OLB Ohio State
117 Joshua  ATH Florida
118 Marcus Davis WR Virginia Tech
119 Terry Hawthorne CB Illinois
120 John Jenkins DT Georgia
121 Jacob Knott OLB Iowa State
122 Christine Michael RB Texas A&M
123 Sheldon Price CB UCLA
124 Brandon Williams DT Missouri Southern
125 Phillip Thomas ATH Fresno State
126 Ryan Lacy CB Utah
127 Chris Borland MLB Wisconsin
128 Dennis Johnson RB Arkansas
129 Jordan Hill DT Penn State
130 Cyril Richardson OT Baylor
131 Malliciah Goodman DE Clemson
132 Bacarri Rambo S Georgia
133 Hugh Thornton OG Illinois
134 Brian Winters OT Kent State
135 Cierre Wood RB Notre Dame
136 Devin Taylor DE South Carolina
137 Gerald Hodges OLB Penn State
138 Johnathan Franklin RB UCLA
139 Khaled Holmes OC USC
140 John Wetzel OT Boston College
141 Mike Buchanan DE Illinois
142 Joseph Fauria TE UCLA
143 Ryan Swope WR Texas A&M
144 Oscar Johnson OT Louisiana Tech
145 Anthony White NT Michigan State
146 Tim McDonald Jr ATH USC
147 Everette Dawkins DT Florida State
148 Wes Horton DE USC
149 Anthony McCloud NT Florida State
150 Seantrel Henderson OT Miami  
151 La'veon Bell RB Michigan State
152 Chris Jacobson OG Pittsburgh
153 Chris Norman OLB Michigan State
154 Phi Lutzenkirchen TE Auburn
155 Chris Gragg TE Arkansas
156 Kaleb Ramsey DT Boston College
157 Stacy McGee DT Oklahoma
158 Sean Porter OLB Texas A&M
159 Eddie Lacy RB Alabama
160 Darryl Stonum WR Baylor
161 Marquis Jackson DE Texas Southern
162 Datone Jones DE UCLA
163 Curtis McNeal RB USC
164 Devon Christopher WR Utah
165 Jamal Miles WR Arizona State
166 Josh Boyd DT Mississippi State
167 Chris Holloman ATH South Carolina
168 Donald Coles WR Virginia Tech
169 Keith Pough OLB Howard
170 Sanders Commings CB Georgia
171 Tyrann Mathieu CB LSU
172 Zach Mettenberger QB LSU
173 Marquise Goodwin WR Texas 
174 Kenneth Tate OLB Maryland
175 Ramon Buchanan OLB Miami
176 Michael Burkhead RB Nebraska
177 Johnny Adams CB Michigan State
178 Devin Street WR Pittsburgh
179 Kenjon Barner RB Oregon
180 Raymond Graham RB Pittsburgh
181 Xavier Nixon OT Florida
182 Nathaniel Williams DE Ohio State
183 Jared Smith DT New Hampshire
184 Brian Mulroe OG Northwestern
185 Markus Wheaton WR Oregon State
186 Montori Hughes DT Tennessee Martin
187 Desmond Trufant CB Washington  
188 Jonathan Bostic ILB Florida
189 John Sullen OG Auburn
190 Drew Frey ATH Cincinnati
191 Montel Harris RB Temple
192 Benjamin Cotton TE Nebraska
193 John White RB Utah
194 Alex Okafor DE Texas
195 Luke Marquardt OT Azusa Pacific
196 Matt Scott QB Arizona  
197 Joseph Vellanodt ATH Maryland
198 David King DE Oklahoma
199 Collin Klein QB Kansas State
200 Daimion Stafford ATH Nebraska

How will Ranger nation handle this team rebuilding?

Make no bones about it.  GM Jon Daniels and Inc. are rebuidling the Rangers roster.

They had a plan to try and quickly reload it and still be a contender in the AL West.  All those plans fell apart and they have decided to play all the kids.

Fresh off a season where Rangers ballpark set the record for highest attendance in club history, not going to be the case this year.  Unfortunately for hardcore fans, ticket prices will not be adjusted, mini game plans will not be adjusted.  You will be expected to pay the same dollar that most were happy to pay for a team fresh off back to back AL titles.

But how will fans react to paying the same increased amount for a rebuilding team, the team had a payroll of $120,510,975 in 2012.

If the team gets off a good start like it did in 2012, it won't matter.  People will pay for a winner regardless of the heat or commute from Dallas or Ft. Worth.  However what happens if the team gets off to a 8-15 start like the Angels did in 2012?

We have to expect this team is going to fall back to earth in a sense next year, they are going to depend on 3 rookies make serious impacts immediately (Profar, Olt and Perez).  They are depending on a starting pitcher to ace the staff after one year of major league experience, history suggest a sophomore slump will happen especially considering threw over 195 innings last year.  I suppose offensively the team will lean on Kinsler, Beltre and Cruz to be the focus, all of whom have durability questions or severe consistency issues.

The good news is the team has some interesting trade pieces to deal at the deadline if they are out of the running, mainly Pierzynski, Colby Lewis, Nelson Cruz and Joe Nathan.

If they happen to hang with the Angels in the west, they have the prospects and payroll flexibility to take on a plus quality player even if its a huge contract. I just don't see this team able to stick with the halos or even the defending division champs Athletics.

The franchise will ask for your patience and tell you how good Jurickson Profar, Mike Olt, Martin Perez and even Leonys Martin will be.  Fact is the odds of successfully hitting on a prospect is 30% so of the 4 mentioned, confident only one of them will be a top major league player.

The team should basically sell this season off, trade as many veterans at the deadline as teams will take, get your prospects and enter next offseason in a buying frenzy.  Trade those prospects for the right pieces to take this roster to the next level.

One disturbing trend I noticed during the 2012 offseason is a team fresh of a record payroll was scared to pull the trigger in free agency. The fact is GM Daniels is you will almost ALWAYS overpay in free agency for a quality player. You resign your own, trade for players or develop your prospects if you want to stay away from wide open free agency. They are going to try the cheap route in 2013 since the record payroll of 2012 did not yield the desired results.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Can't tell me the Rangers had this in mind

Reminds me to the Mavericks pipe dream of the 2012 offseason plan of signing Deron Williams, then trade for Dwight Howard to quickly build a contender. The plan fell apart and so did the backup plans.

The Rangers find themselves in a similiar state but with a few thankful alternatives I will mention shortly. They hoped to sign Zack Greinke to shore up the rotation and give them a dominating 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. Then use the farm system to acquire a top bat and allow them to move on from Josh Hamilton, the names involved were Justin Upton or even resign Hamilton.

The Rangers organization were involved in almost every rumor involving top players at the winter meetings but refused to trade any of the top prospects. Other teams moved on simply leaving the Rangers on the outside looking in. Greinke went to the Dodgers, Arizona acquired a average safety in a multi-team trade and decided they were better off not trading Upton and for kicks, Hamilton signed for 5-years with AL West rival LA Angels De California.

So incase you missed it, here's what the Rangers have done thus far.

Lost
Mike Napoli (deal still pending with Red Sox)
Mike Adams
Koji Uhera
Josh Hamilton

Traded away Mike Young

Signed
Joakim Soria (Recovering from Tommy John surgery)
AJ Pierzynski

This team is weak in the middle of the lineup with no bats that will intimidate opposing pitchers. Only Adrian Beltre has the bat to consistently beat teams with power  but he will have no one to protect him. Nelson Cruz is not the consistent power threat to be that kind of guy and AJ might fill that role but it seems wishful thinking at this point.

Management has been mute on the plans for Kinsler this year, his job at second is in jeopardy as Jurickson Profar will be given every opportunity to take his job at spring. Does he move to first base or left field? I like Kinsler's bat and I want him more in a role he can drive more runs in than a simple solo shot to start a game. I am against having him as a leadoff guy, would rather have Andrus in that role. I like the idea of Profar in the 9 spot with Andrus at leadoff, Murphy at 2nd followed by Kinsler, Beltre and AJ.

The team is also weak in the bullpen as well as the back end of the rotation. The team has said they will make Alexi Ogando a starter this year despite a huge hole as a 8th inning power relief pitcher. Ogando was an excellent starting pitcher two years ago but faded fast down the stretch. This team is going to have to win with pitching and defense, the offense will have trouble scoring consistently. I value starting pitching over a set up man, I'd rather have Ogando in the rotation where he has success at the ML level and acquire a veteran set up reliever prior to spring training. I understand the arguement need to be strong in the bullpen especially when team will have trouble scoring runs but same is true if you are down 4 nothing after two innings.

I expect Robbie Ross will become a extremely consistent reliever and become that set up man until Soria returns from his surgery to form a solid back end of the bullpen as well as a future closer in Soria when Joe Nathan heads to free agency next year.