East-West Shrine Practice: Monday (East & West Squads)

by Chris Kouffman (@ckparrot)   Home, sweet home.  This year, the East-West Shrine Game and week of practices are being held in St. Petersburg, FL.  This is pretty close to where I live in Tampa, and so I am loving the “commute” to and from practices.  Sad to say, no practices in a hotel ball [...]

2011 East-West Shrine Game: Pre-Game Primer

We’ve finished up our practice reports for the week of East-West Shrine Game practice. But, I know some of you like the more generalized overview. Here we’ll compare positions, declare advantages, predict a winner, and give you a list of 10 prospects to watch and why you should watch them.

2011 East-West Shrine Game: Alen’s West Wrap-Up (Day Four)

Today was the final day of practices for the East-Week Shrine Game week and it has been a pleasure viewing the NFL prospects. Lets start and end this week’s thoughts with a run down on some players that I noticed today.

2011 East-West Shrine Game: CK’s West Wrap-Up (Days Three & Four)

We’ve reached the end of our road with the East-West Shrine Week. There have been plenty of ups and downs, vomit and flat tires, Hooters wings, touchdowns and Tebow-Messiah stories, but all good things must come to an end. As I look back on the week of practice I keep reminding myself of one sad fact: most of these guys aren’t going to make it. You’re really looking at only a handful of guys that will get to the next level and make an impact. In speaking with ESPN’s Charlie Bernstein about the dominance of DT Marvin Austin during the week, he reminded me of this reality when he quipped sarcastically, “One thing we learned about Marvin is he can really beat up on some 6th rounders, I mean he can really dominate the trash of the Draft for sure.” Ouch. Sad, but very true. Last year, precisely 55% of the East-West Shrine roster went undrafted. Only 6 players from it were drafted in the top 100, and off the top of my head the only superlative rookie contribution came from St. Louis Left Tackle Rodger Saffold. I believe that the talent in this year’s roster is stronger than a year ago, although I’m not sure Marvin Austin will be the kind of player Saffold is, but even so that means most of these guys will be irrelevant within three years.

2011 East-West Shrine Game: CK’s East Wrap-Up (Days Three & Four)

We’ve reached the end of our road with the East-West Shrine Week. There have been plenty of ups and downs, vomit and flat tires, Hooters wings, touchdowns and Tebow-Messiah stories, but all good things must come to an end. As I look back on the week of practice I keep reminding myself of one sad fact: most of these guys aren’t going to make it. You’re really looking at only a handful of guys that will get to the next level and make an impact. In speaking with ESPN’s Charlie Bernstein about the dominance of DT Marvin Austin during the week, he reminded me of this reality when he quipped sarcastically, “One thing we learned about Marvin is he can really beat up on some 6th rounders, I mean he can really dominate the trash of the Draft for sure.” Ouch. Sad, but very true. Last year, precisely 55% of the East-West Shrine roster went undrafted. Only 6 players from it were drafted in the top 100, and off the top of my head the only superlative rookie contribution came from St. Louis Left Tackle Rodger Saffold. I believe that the talent in this year’s roster is stronger than a year ago, although I’m not sure Marvin Austin will be the kind of player Saffold is, but even so that means most of these guys will be irrelevant within three years.

2011 East-West Shrine Game: West Practice (Day Three)

Day three kicked off today and I managed to beat the NFL Scouts to the sidelines this time. It was a pleasure watching players practice today, albeit it was not a great practice. Let’s kick the third day report off with the West quarterbacks once again.

2011 East-West Shrine Game: West Practice (Day Two)

Day two of the East-West Shrine practices kicked off today and as I entered the practice field, I was greeted by Arizona OT Adam Grant, who happened to throw up right next to me. It wasn’t bad except that it was the longest and loudest throw up I’d ever witnessed. I said to myself, “welcome to the pros, young lad”.

CK’s 2010 Draft Reviews – Miami Dolphins Wrap Up

by Chris Kouffman I find draft grades to be all but meaningless.  They are purely a function of how you rated players prior to the draft, and which teams took your favorite players.  The notion that you could grade a draft after the fact, but within days of the actual event, is kind of absurd. [...]

2010 Draft Spotlight: Earl Thomas – FS – Texas

Earl Thomas is one of the most fascinating prospects in the 2010 NFL Draft. Well recruited out of high school where he excelled at tailback, receiver, returner and in the secondary, his stock has risen quickly since announcing his intentions to go pro as a redshirt sophomore. He started all 26 games at Texas, flipping between free and strong safety, although all 13 of his final season starts came on the strong side. He’s a player who splits opinions; no-one denies his natural athletic ability, borne out both at the Combine and the UT pro day, but concerns over his size haven’t disappeared.

Alen Dumonjic’s Mock Draft (v1.0) – 18/4/2010

Sam Bradford going number one overall is a given at this point. The Rams need a quarterback, they released Marc Bulger and have very few, if any, quarterbacks that are starting material on their roster. Bradford would help sell some tickets as well as be the face of the franchise.

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