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Player Bio:
John Kimball Scott took advantage of the thin air of Denver as a high school punter and kicker, but his exploits in the SEC near sea level show his leg strength is not simply a trick of the Rockies. It didn't take long for his long legs and full extension to flip the field for Alabama. As a true freshman, Scott led the nation in gross punting average with 48 yards per kick, and placed 31-of-55 kicks inside the 20-yard-line while only allowing five touchbacks. He was a 2014 Ray Guy Award finalist, first-team All-SEC selection, and first-team Freshman All-American and All-American by numerous outlets. His average was down a bit in 2015 (44.2 gross), but he still put 25-of-70 kicks inside the 20-yard-line. Scott bounced back to average 47.2 yards a kick as a junior (ranking third in the FBS), placing 25-of-64 punts inside the 20 and garnering second-team All-American and first-team all-conference honors. Scott was a first-team All-SEC selection as a senior, averaging 43 yards per punt, forcing 27 fair catches on 54 punts while also putting 27 inside the 20 yard-line. Scott has kickoff experience, as well; he performed that duty 34 times in his first three seasons (12 touchbacks) and then all 99 in his final season (45 touchbacks). He's had two punts blocked in his career (one in 2015, one in the 2016 national title game).
 
Analysis
 
By Lance Zierlein NFL Analyst
Draft Projection: Rounds 3-4

Overview:
Four-year punter who is able to work for distance, hang time or placement whenever he needs. He's been a consistent performer who operates well under pressure and possesses soft hands to handle poor snaps. He has the talent and play traits to become a long-time NFL starter.

Strengths:
  • Impressive 45.6-yard career average per punt
  • Handled kickoff duties this season
  • Has a big leg and can kick for distance or hang time
  • Produced impressive hang time (4.55) and punts returned rate (9.1 percent) this season
  • Dropped 25 percent of his punts inside the 10 and 51 percent inside the 20
  • Has flip-flop tool at his disposal
  • Had just four touchbacks total all season
  • Soft hands adjust to snaps outside of his frame
  • Holds for kicks
Weaknesses:
  • Deliberate approach
  • Can be a shade slow with his touch to toe times
  • May have to expedite his operation time in the pros to avoid blocks
  • His high inside-the-20 percentage benefitted from fortuitous rolls
  • Below average touchback percentage on kickoffs

 

Great ideas rooted in love.(R)

Last edited by Rusty
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Grave Digger posted:

Really good punter though. Vogel was pretty up and down, but I thought he showed flashes of being really good. I don’t like burning a 5th on a punter, but Scott seems like a guy who will lock down a punting job for a decade. I guess it’s worth investing in never having to invest in a Punter for a long time.

BJ Sander good?  With a 6 or a 7th, sure but a god damn mid round pick?  

I get the angst over taking a freaking punter this high. Probably would have been there in the sixth or seventh.

On the bright side, Scott has a cannon. A hair under a 46 yard average over four years is pretty hot. 90 of his 231 kicks were over 50 yards. Impressive hang time. And he can kick off.

Playing at 'bama, he's been in high stress situations before. Saban doesn't keep him for four years if he's not dependable. 

Honestly, he might be able to kick it to the moon. I'd have rather taken a guard. This wasn't much of a year for edge pass rushers after the top few, so I don't know of any guys that would have been available down here, but you can never have too many healthy slabs of beef to fight it out for the right to protect the franchise. Do that, and you really don't need to punt that much. 


Henry posted:

Go through the history of the draft and show me the success rate of picking a kicker in high or mid rounds.  I can think of one, Janikowski, and he scored points. 

Thomas Morstead, Mike Scifers and Shane Lechler were 5th rounders. All 3 really good punters. Nick Harris was a 4th rounder. Dustin Colquitt and Brad Maynard were 3rd rounders. Doesn’t mean we should have picked Scott, but it’s not like there aren’t success stories for mid/early round specialists. 

I will say this about Scott, he was a real weapon for Bama. Ive seen him completely turn field position on the opponent many times. Their defense deserves a lot of praise obviously, but Scott made life easier on them throughout his career. If the plan was to draft a punter this early, im at least glad they drafted this punter.

Last edited by Grave Digger

And that’s a great point if GB isn’t severely thin at OL with plenty of decent options at OL on the board. 

Cant take a punter there. Needed as many OL bodies as possible to try and restock a pretty bare cupboard. Some decent edge guys on the board as well. 

GB simply doesn’t have the roster to justify a punter. Especially in round 5

Folks: 

The punter's second most important job on the GBP is to hold for Mason's Crosby's FGs. That operation (LS and holder) wasn't good enough last year. This kid might have shown our scouts the moxie needed to be automatic in that role.

Every ****ing point counts big time in the N-F-L.

Mason's money  when the other parts of the machine are even remotely close to being in synch. 

Just ask Jerrah Jones. 

Last edited by ilcuqui
lambeausouth posted:

Bears have loaded up on D front seven prospects: a pair of OLB, a DE and a DT. After losing Rodgers last year, you would think BG would be doing everything possible to make sure Aaron doesn't get hurt and miss half the season again.

It wasn’t the OL’s fault he got hurt though and Rodgers has been charged with more sacks than his OL I would be willing to bet. Our starting 5 is very good, our depth at G is okay, our depth at Tackle is mediocre. Is anyone deep at Tackle though, quality pass blockers are not ways to find. You get competent players to fill in as needed and give them help or sign/trade for a starter if it’s long term.

Grave Digger posted:
lambeausouth posted:

Bears have loaded up on D front seven prospects: a pair of OLB, a DE and a DT. After losing Rodgers last year, you would think BG would be doing everything possible to make sure Aaron doesn't get hurt and miss half the season again.

It wasn’t the OL’s fault he got hurt though and Rodgers has been charged with more sacks than his OL I would be willing to bet. Our starting 5 is very good, our depth at G is okay, our depth at Tackle is mediocre. Is anyone deep at Tackle though, quality pass blockers are not ways to find. You get competent players to fill in as needed and give them help or sign/trade for a starter if it’s long term.

I know Rodgers got hurt out of the pocket, but going forward, I'd want to do everything possible to make sure he didn't get hurt. Is Cole Madison strong enough to stay at right tackle in the NFL? Or is he more likely to transition to guard? If he's a guard, and Bulaga goes down again (likely), who's protecting Rodgers at right tackle? 

We can't count on Bryan Bulaga playing 16 games in '18. I'd say there's a 15% chance that happens. When you have a Ferrari at quarterback, you insure the F out of it. We added Jimmy Graham, a red zone weapon, but he's not much of a blocker. I would like to see the Packers add a blocking tight end. We don't have a real blocking tight end, either. 

 

Last edited by lambeausouth
Henry posted:

So you'd take a flyer on a punter before an OLineman?  The successful players you can't count on one hand?

I would draft BPA. Forgoing that  for need is how you end up with John Michels and Justin Harrell. If JK Scott was higher than Jamil Demby and Sam Jones, then so be it.

**Spoken as somebody who has no idea what Gute's draft board even looks like.

vitaflo posted:

Looks like I'm the only one who likes the pick.  He's got a cannon leg and is an instant starter.  Any OL drafted in this spot isn't starting any time soon and would be a project anyway.  Their chance at an impact OL this year was a couple rounds ago and they didn't take one.

I won't go as far as saying I like the pick... but I understand it.  A good punter can flip the field and/or pin a powerful offense deep in their own zone.  

This kid has a big leg and if he can produce, he'll impact Packer games in a good way for the next decade.  

Brak posted:

I don't think our OL is all that bad.

One Buluga injury from looking pretty shaky.  Hopefully Madison can be successful if called on and maybe Murphy is better than last year but I sure the hell don't want to revisit the Don Barclay days when you already have Spriggs sucking up a spot. 

I'd rather be a little shaky on the punter position than the oline. 

Am I ecstatic over the pick? No. I audibly guffawed when the tracker updated. However, I cannot and will not speculate on the opportunity cost of this pick until actual pads go on. The facts, however, are this:

  • He was not taken in Rounds 1-3
  • The Packers did not trade up to get him
  • He was not selected at the expense of an obvious can't miss player (unless you put Deon Cain in that category, but they already took a WR)

 

For these reasons, I with withhold any outrage and panic until meaningful football happens. Meantime, I'll pull up a spot on the couch and watch.

Rusty posted:

Am I ecstatic over the pick? No. I audibly guffawed when the tracker updated. However, I cannot and will not speculate on the opportunity cost of this pick until actual pads go on. The facts, however, are this:

  • He was not taken in Rounds 1-3
  • The Packers did not trade up to get him
  • He was not selected at the expense of an obvious can't miss player (unless you put Deon Cain in that category, but they already took a WR)

 

For these reasons, I with withhold any outrage and panic until meaningful football happens. Meantime, I'll pull up a spot on the couch and watch.

Well I'm laid up in pain for the last three days.  I'm gonna bitch like a 3 year old and have Pakrz make me a sandwich. 

Opie Whizburger moniker is branded and trademarked.

Grave Digger posted:

Draft a starter vs a backup. I’d rather have an instant starter over a definite backup. David Bakhtiari and Josh Sitton weren’t sitting at this draft slot, I like Scott’s potential over everyone else’s. Sounds like Gute does too.

A bad punter can cause as many problems as a bad backup RT.

Okay, so I'm not done.  He isn't an instant starter. How fickle is the punter position?  He is very likely the starter but if Vogel beats him out and they keep him because of the draft pick, well, that ****ing sucks.  If that's the path then let's suffer along with Opie Whizburger until he improves because screw that 2 punter crap again. 

Why isn’t he an instant starter? Unless he completely melts down or suffers amnesia, at worst you’re getting an improvement over every punter we’ve had since we let Jon Ryan walk. Scott isn’t some big leg developmental UDFA, he’s a polished big leg that has consistently demonstrated great accuracy and power. 

Henry posted:
Rusty posted:

Am I ecstatic over the pick? No. I audibly guffawed when the tracker updated. However, I cannot and will not speculate on the opportunity cost of this pick until actual pads go on. The facts, however, are this:

  • He was not taken in Rounds 1-3
  • The Packers did not trade up to get him
  • He was not selected at the expense of an obvious can't miss player (unless you put Deon Cain in that category, but they already took a WR)

 

For these reasons, I with withhold any outrage and panic until meaningful football happens. Meantime, I'll pull up a spot on the couch and watch.

Well I'm laid up in pain for the last three days.  I'm gonna bitch like a 3 year old and have Pakrz make me a sandwich. 

Opie Whizburger moniker is branded and trademarked.

I had a steroid injection in my back Thursday afternoon, and they blew apart a cyst pressing up against my spine. I'll pass ya a Vicodin. 

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