We made our yearly pilgrimage to football mecca, arriving last night. We aren't leaving until Saturday so we will get 4 solid days of practices to watch, very exciting! Okay here are my thoughts and observations from Day 1 (Tuesday)...forgive me if these thoughts are a little scattered, I'm writing them down as I remember them:
- Datone Jones is a big dude, but he's a very different body type from our other DL. Pickett, Raji, Jolly, Boyd, and Miller are big guys who are thick in the midsection. Pickett is the tallest, but he's still a round individual. Jones is tall with a leaner midsection (compared to the other DL), but has tree trunks for arms and legs. He's the tallest DL from what I saw with Jolly and Wilson being around the same height. Jones is a monster though. He doesn't have the sheer girth to hold up as an interior player full time, and I don't think they are going to use him that way. I saw him line up as a 3-technique, 5-technique, wide 9, and standing up wide as an edge rusher. And you know what, he made each one of those positions look easy. I saw him put Lang on his butt in 1on1's, and he made some of the camp bodies look like high school kids. He definitely plays his butt off also, didn't see him let up or go easy in any drills. I came away really impressed with him.
- It's clear, if you didn't already know this, that the Packers want to stifle the Pistol offense. Every drill I saw where they used some form of scout team offense, that offense was in some variation of Pistol. They through runs, option runs, trick plays, and passes at the defense. The 49ers won't be catching the Packers off guard this year.
- Matthew Mulligan seems like a keeper. Didn't get to see him block in individuals, but he was surprising as a receiver. I figured he would be big and slow like Bubba Franks, but he has some athleticism. I think he will sneak up on some teams this season. I think he's an upgrade over Crabtree right now.
- Didn't see anything from Eddie Lacy that would make me doubt his effort or attitude. He worked hard in individual drills. I got to see a lot of the pass pro drill that matched RBs against the OLBs who simulating an edge rush. Lacy definitely held his own, I don't think I saw him lose...keep in mind he never faced Clay or Perry, but he did stifle Dez Moses. His body type, to me, is somewhere between Najeh Davenport and Brandon Jacobs. He's not as tall as Jacobs, but he's bigger than Davenport. Jonathan Franklin really struggled with this drill from what I saw. He got beat by Perry, called him out to go again, and Perry schooled him again. He lost another one to Andy Mulumba also. That doesn't necessarily mean he won't get better, I remember Brandon Jackson got whooped a couple times his rookie camp and ended up being a really solid 3rd down back.
- The CBs really compete. Hyde was always around the ball as were Means and Nixon and they attacked it very aggressively. We will either give up some plays or rack up the INTs this season. These guys all go hard.
- Andy Mulumba still has my vote as the surprise UDFA that makes the roster. He looked like he belonged. He's tall and lean and seemed really smooth and natural dropping into coverage. He showed really good speed off the edge also. He seems like a guy they will keep in the 53 so he doesn't get plucked from PS.
- I thought Barclay struggled a little as an interior OL. He played some Center and some RG and didn't fair well in 1on1's. He seemed badly out of position. Seemed like he couldn't handle the bull rush from the big boys. He didn't get much work at Tackle from what I saw.
- Datko isn't long for this team. He got whooped consistently by starters and camp bodies. Then again he struggled badly around this time last year and turned around later, which he may do. He looked rough though.
- Raji looked good, I mean REALLY good. He was noticeably quicker and was completely unblockable. He's primed for a big season IMO.
- The #1 D seemed to be: Raji/Pickett/DatoneJones on the DL, Matthews/Hawk/BradJones/Perry at LB, Shields/Hyde/Burnett/McMillan/House at the DB spots (with Hayward and Williams out). The #2 D seemed to be: Daniels/Jolly/DatoneJones on the DL, Mulumba/Lattimore/Manning/Moses at LB, and an assortment of DBs rotating in and out.I can say Jolly and Pickett worked exclusively at NT.
- Speaking of Jolly I thought he looked fine out there. He was big, but he's always been big. He seemed to play with energy and got along well with his teammates.
- It seems obvious to me that Coleman is the far superior QB to Harrell, but I am merely an amateur. His passes were tighter and more accurate, especially on the deep balls. Harrell's deep accuracy was pitiful IMO. Coleman looked more comfortable, more poised, and more athletic. Harrell may be a smart guy and a nice guy, but he doesn't have the talent. Coleman made some Aaron Rodgers-eque passes (fit through tight windows) in some of the 7on7 drills.
- Tavecchio and Crosby were equal IMO. Crosby was more accurate from closer to the goal post, Tavecchio had a couple bad shanks, but he got more accurate the deeper they went. He made a couple from 60. Tavecchio gets more air under his kicks, they seem to really get high while Crosby's kicks are not as high but travel further after going through the goal post. Both were accurate, I don't know which way or attribute is better. Crosby seems to have a better leg though.
- I came away really impressed with Bahktiari. He can play, he just needs to add some weight and get some experience. He looked really natural in drills as a LT and RT. He stifled Perry in 1on1's.
- The weather was great! Great day for football!
....grave diggr is a bigger dumdum then I thought