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What I've done is create 4 comple mock drafts with the possible picks the Saints would make in each scenario. Each pick in each scenario is different. Enjoy.
Saints Collective Mock Draft #1
1 – 15. Datone Jones, DE, UCLA, 6’4 284lbs – rSR – 4.79 (3-4 or 4-3 DE). He has a very good motor, and he hustles down or across the field until the play is completed, even if initially blocked. He’s a fighter and scrapper. He had 62 overall tackles in 2012 and 19 tackles for loss – he also had 6.5 sacks. He is athletic and changes direction in space well. Also, he’s a secure wrap-up tackler who will pursue and chase to make tackles. He knows how to use his arms to keep linemen and fullbacks off of him when moving forward. He stays balanced and upright at most times on stretch plays and takes good angles – also shows good short area quickness and ball awareness. At times, he can bounce off a block using his punch and attack the ball-carrier. He has quick, violent hands to in traffic. He plays smart and aware and stays at home on option plays until last possible moment. He is a very versatile guy who can fit in an odd or even front, but is an ideal 3-4 DE. He has an explosive initial burst off the snap to penetrate inside gaps. When in motion, he uses his hands beautifully to attack and tear free from blocks. He has learned to use a variety of pass rush techniques and has the coordination to link them together. Even when he doesn’t make the tackle, he is quite disruptive. His numbers don’t tell the whole story – he eats up a lot of blocks to allow other players to make tackles. He also has enough power to simply bull over many offensive linemen into the backfield. When the ball is snapped, he shoots off the line with low pad level and is often able to knock offensive linemen around with a quick hand punch and power. He has excellent ball awareness and quick reaction skills. He locates the ball quickly and has natural quickness and power. He can flatten out down the line with very good lateral movement skills and get in on a lot of plays. In traffic, he keeps his arms extended and shows great leverage and awareness. He has excellent natural power and can eat blocks while sealing the edge. He is extremely effective in the running game because of his instincts and awareness and athleticism. He keeps his feet moving while wrapping up and has surprising agility to break down and make tackles in space or to eat up blocks so others can make the tackle. He has a ton of athletic upside. Datone had a great week at the Senior Bowl after making 2012 a breakout year in LA. He is just scratching the surface of his potential. He has the body to add ten more pounds of muscle. He plays smart and is very aggressive – he’s a hustle guy who plays to the whistle. His forward lean will, at times, cause him to get off-balance though, and savvy veterans will sometimes rip him down to get him to the ground. He needs to be more consistent with his leverage and his playing height. He will get stalemated at times and he needs to be more consistent in disengaging. He too often allows blockers to get into his chest and is inconsistent getting his hands up in the passing lanes. He lacks great explosiveness off the edge as a pure pass rusher and great bulk to handle double-team blocking inside consistently. He is the perfect complement to play opposite Cam Jordan and next to Akiem Hicks.
Datone Jones vs Stanford (PAC 12 CG) (2012) - YouTube
Datone Jones vs USC (2012) - YouTube
Datone Jones 2013 NFL Draft ProspectWatch - YouTube
3 – 75. David Quessenberry, OT, San Jose St., 6’5 306lbs – rSR – 5.05. He is a 3 year starter at LT who has very good to excellent athleticism. Throughout his career, he has gone one on one against some of the best pass rushers in the Pac-12 and Mountain West and has done extremely well. He has good overall strength to get into the defender's jersey and walk him off the line. He catches and locks onto pass rushers using his size and long arms, rarely getting ripped off initially. He also uses his length and footwork to prevent speed rushers from getting his outside shoulder. He can mirror pass rushers and is very quick with his hands. He has a solid initial punch that knocks smaller ends off their path. He has quick enough feet to get inside the shoulder of his man on runs away from his side and enough power to control their angle. He picks up inside blitzes well and is solid getting to linebackers when he can line them up. He is quick off the snap and keeps his head up. He plays hard and with low pad level and flashes a mean streak on the field. He will knock down defenders and work hard to get them to the ground. He is a hustle guy who is also solidly athletic. He has quicker feet than many of the tackles in this draft, and he has a natural knee bend and good awareness. He can go step for step with most pass rushers in protection. He can mirror ends while leveraging a strong punch and ride edge rushers around the pocket. He fights hard and works to get better. He will also chase down defenders to hit when his QB moves out of the pocket. He plays under control and over his feet and shows very good agility and quickness in his pass set –he is rarely caught out of position. He is pretty athletic and can keep his arms extended while smoothly sliding his feet. He moves extremely well to the second level and is always looking to hit someone. He is popular with QBs and RBs because he is always looking to make their lives easier. In short-yardage situations, he is able to drive off the snap and play with leverage and balance. He’ll also hustle downfield after plays, taking out defenders standing around and cleaning up piles when necessary. He is a little more natural in the run game than he is in the pass game purely because of his very good natural lower body strength. He needs to get stronger in the upper body and learn to extend his arms more consistently. However, because he played in a pass-happy offense, he must learn to explode from his stance in short-yardage situations more and really use his hands and strike the defender more consistently. He shows great vision and solid strength to anchor and dominate in both run blocking and pass protection, but he will lean in at times and allow rushers to get into his body. He will lose the leverage battle at times and get pushed into the quarterback by stronger, bigger pro defensive ends unless he uses his hands more effectively. He out-quicks a lot of guys but gets bull-rushed too often because of his arm extension inconsistencies. He has the physical and mental tools to play LT in the NFL and can switch to other spots if needed. He is smart and it shows on tape, but he is also relentless and that’s his dominate characteristic. He came into college between 240 and 250 pounds, and he doesn’t have the frame to get much bigger (310 to 312 will be his absolute max). Despite his natural lower body power, he doesn’t have very muscular or thick calves. He can get stronger in that area too. He has the ability to play any line spot except Center, but he is a natural left tackle prospect.
David Quessenberry vs BYU 2012 - YouTube
David Quessenberry (OT San Jose State) Senior Bowl - YouTube
4 – 109. Cody Davis, FS/SS, Texas Tech, 6’2 208lbs – rSR –4.43. He is an extremely underrated player who has started at FS for 4 years in a major conference and has been an All Big-12 selection all four years. He is often referred to as a SS because some idiotic website listed him as one, but he has started at FS for four years. He does come up to the line in blitz packages at times, and he could probably line up at SS if needed, but he’s a natural FS prospect. In 2012, he had 101 total tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 10 pass break ups, and 3 INTs. He had 49 starts at FS in his career. He is very quick, active and instinctive while in coverage, and he is constantly in on the action. He recorded 362 career tackles while at Texas Tech, and had 4 interceptions. He is a rangy player with the frame to add an additional 10 pounds of mass. He is very quick to come up in run support and is willing to take on blocks to get to the action. He is a very reliable tackler in the open field who flashes hitting ability. Runners generally stop in place when he hits them. He uses both arms consistently when tackling. He is a wrap-up tackler who looks to punch or rip the ball out to create a turnover, and he makes a lot of plays. He is instinctive in deep coverage and can cover a lot of ground quickly. He reads the quarterback's eyes and gets a good break on the ball due to his feel for the game and instincts. He is a gym-rat who studies film and is very football smart and school smart – he’s an Academic All-American. He competes for the ball in the air and can time his leap to catch it at its highest point – he had a 41.5 inch vertical leap. He has good vision and elusiveness with the ball in his hands – he had one 88 yard INT for a touchdown. He’s very much of a cerebral player who lines up the Tech defensive backfield and was voted team captain as a junior and senior. He is an aggressive defender who attacks in run support and is a very reliable open-field tackler. He is a heavy hitter who can separate the ball-carrier from the ball. He has rarely lined up in any type of press coverage, but shows that he can flip his hips and run with just about anyone in space. He has very good balance and a low backpedal – he transitions quickly out of breaks and always keeps his head up. He also has excellent leaping ability and is able to battle for the ball at its highest point. He lights up receivers coming over the middle and running backs in the flat. His speed is very evident when coming up from the deep half to make tackles in the flat. He plays faster than most on tape. He flies up from the deep backfield on blitzes and levels unsuspecting quarterbacks and ball-carriers coming into the hole. He has the range to cross the field after reading the quarterback's eyes and to make plays. He has good, not great, hands for the interception and has the speed to make yardage on the return. He can change directions quickly and maintain his balance. He usually sees the play in front of him, but he has rarely lined up at the line and been asked to press. He gets sucked in on play-action at times and allows plays to get past him. He is an aggressive and solid hitter, but he’s not the physical force who puts the fear of God into receivers over the middle. Bigger and stronger backs can run through his tackles, especially when he leaves his feet. He has dropped several passes throughout his career and sometimes fails to make the more difficult interception where he needs to go low or extend from his frame to bring in the ball. He must prove himself able to get off blocks when playing around the line of scrimmage. He is a very scrappy, instinctual, and athletic FS who could end up going much higher than originally expected.
Cody Davis Texas Tech #16 Senior Highlight Cutup 2012 - YouTube
Cody Davis Texas Tech Pro Day 2013 - YouTube
Cody Davis Texas Tech Sophomore Highlights 2010 - YouTube
5 – 144. Nathan Williams, OLB/ILB, Ohio St., 6’3 245lbs – rSR –4.73. He rotated between DE and OLB in College and had a major knee injury in 2011 that he is still really coming back from. Williams was poised for a big senior season in 2011 after a team-high 4.5 sacks as a junior in 2010. However, he went down with a left knee injury in the 2011 opener that eventually required surgery – ending his season. Because of the injury, he earned a medical redshirt for one final year of eligibility and worked his way back onto the field ahead of schedule and in time for the 2012 season opener. Overall, he’s a well-built athlete whose dedication in the weight-room is obvious in his physique. He looks like he was sculpted. He is a very reliable open-field tackler who plays with awareness and instincts. He sees the ball and moves to it quickly. He is a versatile defender who has the tools to be a natural pass rusher off the edge – look at his 2010 tape and you’ll see a little more burst than he showed in 2012. He has very good quickness up-field and has the balance and burst to redirect his rush – at times he can really flatten out and make himself skinny as he attacks the pocket. He has okay to good initial hand punch to pop the blocker and disengage. At times, he really uses his arms to gain leverage and can drive the O-lineman back. He always gives good effort and has solid speed in pursuit. He’s an instinctive defender who played well in space as a traditional linebacker at times – he has experience dropping into coverage and has the quickness to cover RBs and TEs in the flats and up the seams. He is very tough and will play through pain. He has very good upper body power and challenges the lateral movement of tackles whether playing with his hand down or standing up (and on the left or right side). He can attack the edges and beat ball carriers to the sideline. He can accelerate to the quarterback and has a good swim move. He’s very good at containing on bootlegs and misdirection plays. He’s very football smart who obviously spends a lot of time in the weight room and film room. He has enough quicks to chases down backs even if they get an advantage on stop-start moves in the backfield. Also, he keeps his eyes in the backfield and uses strong hands to get off blocks to make plays in the hole. He’s very consistent and is well built and strong. He spins off blocks to grab backs going through the line and can chase down scrambling quarterbacks. He plays strong against athletic tight ends over the middle, and he can generally drop his butt and turn or cut pretty quickly. He will be an excellent special teams player who will do anything to make the play. He too often prefers to run around blocks rather than taking them on, and he loses position when doing so. While he improved as the year went on, he remains a work in progress in his ability to disengage from blocks. He gets engulfed too often by good tackles and he only shows a couple of pass rush moves. 80% of the time he tries to out-quick them or to bull them. He has a solid swim move but doesn’t link it together very well. Although he has good short area quickness, fast TEs can beat him down the seams or to the deep out. His left knee must check out medically after having microfracture and athroscopic surgery in 2011. A lack of bulk allows bigger O-linemen to control Williams’ rushes and control him on the edge. He absolutely must learn to use his long arms more consistently. He will be a rush 3-4 LB in the NFL, but he must work on his flexibility and show he can get and stay lower and have more leverage in the running game. Doesn't always take the best angles, and his over-aggressive nature can be used against him at times. Also, he must sense cut blocks more quickly and use his hands to defeat them. In 2012, especially early on, he seemed a bit tentative and protective of that knee. He is now two years removed from surgery and has a lot of upside. In his 2010 tape and a couple of his late 2012 tapes, he shows a lot of quickness, burst, and explosion. If his knee if fully healthy and he is able to dedicate himself to OLB with good coaching, he could end up be a quality edge player and a possible starter.
Nathan Williams vs Penn State (2012) - YouTube
Ohio State DE Nathan Williams vs. Indiana (1st Half) - YouTube
Nathan Williams vs Michigan State (2012) - YouTube
6 – 183. Sam McGuffie, RB/WR/RM, Rice, 5’11 202lbs –rSR – 4.30. This is one of the most explosive players in the entire draft. He has 358 career rushes for 1,543 yards (a 4.3 average) and 10 TDs. He also has 121 career receptions for 1,234 yards and an additional 10 TDs. He is similar to Denard Robinson in terms of athletic ability, and he also has positional issues. He is a super athletic jack of all trades –master of none guy. This guy intrigues me. At a regional combine, he tested better than even I thought he would: he ran a 4.28 40, had a 41.5 vertical jump, had an 11.2 broad jump, and a 3.88 second short shuttle –those are ALL amazing times and show that he is an exceptional athlete. He spent his first 3 seasons as a RB (having a great 2010 season after transferring from Michigan) – his 2011 season was marred with minor nagging injuries and other backs moved into the starting role. So, when he came back in Spring Practice, he was moved to WR for his senior season– he can still play both spots well (by the end of 2012, he was running very good to great routes) and has truly rare explosion and athleticism. He reaches full speed in one step and has very loose hips and lateral agility. He is a threat to score every time he touches the ball. He’s also a lethal return man who can contort and twist his body to make tacklers miss and is extremely elusive. He has natural return skills and has loose hips and a natural burst. He will have to start off earning his living on special teams, and his passion and athleticism should drive him to be special here. He was a very solid receiver out of the backfield prior to 2012, but he has gotten that much better since. He makes acrobatic plays and is getting much better as a route runner from the receiver position. He has learned to high point and jump up in his routes. For much of the 2012 season, he was used on weird wheel route/bubble screen type patterns, but, as the season progressed, he was running much more complex and complicated routes (for Rice anyway). He can truly explode into and out of his breaks and get instant separation. He is nifty and creative in traffic and he catches everything thrown at him. He will fight for yards and has the strength to break tackles. He has exceptional hands and rarely drops a pass. He generally plucks the ball out of the air and will fight for yards –he’s highly competitive. He instinctually gets his eyes downfield quickly after the catch and explodes forward. He is still raw in his route-running, but he has the balance and athleticism to excel. As a runner, he can really attack the edge with his speed, but he has enough power to go with his balance in order to be a very solid inside runner. He sees the lanes and uses short, quick steps in traffic. He plays smart. I could easily see a team wanting to use his all-around talents in a mixture of Wes Welker/Darren Sproles type of ways. He has the skill set to be a dangerous 3rd down type back who can play on the edge as well. As a RB, he showed very good anticipation and vision to go along with his explosion and athleticism. He breaks tackles and has a powerful lower body. In the open field, he is as dangerous as any player in this class. He transferred from Michigan to Rice after his true freshman season because he wanted to be closer to home, but Rice’s weird offense didn’t allow him to progress as a player, and they underutilized his talents. He should get drafted late, and could be a star on special teams who slowly becomes more important on offense.
Sam McGuffie top 10 wideout 2013 nfl draft 4.3 speed - YouTube
Sam McGuffie vs Air Force (2012) - YouTube
Saints Collective Mock Draft #1
1 – 15. Datone Jones, DE, UCLA, 6’4 284lbs – rSR – 4.79 (3-4 or 4-3 DE). He has a very good motor, and he hustles down or across the field until the play is completed, even if initially blocked. He’s a fighter and scrapper. He had 62 overall tackles in 2012 and 19 tackles for loss – he also had 6.5 sacks. He is athletic and changes direction in space well. Also, he’s a secure wrap-up tackler who will pursue and chase to make tackles. He knows how to use his arms to keep linemen and fullbacks off of him when moving forward. He stays balanced and upright at most times on stretch plays and takes good angles – also shows good short area quickness and ball awareness. At times, he can bounce off a block using his punch and attack the ball-carrier. He has quick, violent hands to in traffic. He plays smart and aware and stays at home on option plays until last possible moment. He is a very versatile guy who can fit in an odd or even front, but is an ideal 3-4 DE. He has an explosive initial burst off the snap to penetrate inside gaps. When in motion, he uses his hands beautifully to attack and tear free from blocks. He has learned to use a variety of pass rush techniques and has the coordination to link them together. Even when he doesn’t make the tackle, he is quite disruptive. His numbers don’t tell the whole story – he eats up a lot of blocks to allow other players to make tackles. He also has enough power to simply bull over many offensive linemen into the backfield. When the ball is snapped, he shoots off the line with low pad level and is often able to knock offensive linemen around with a quick hand punch and power. He has excellent ball awareness and quick reaction skills. He locates the ball quickly and has natural quickness and power. He can flatten out down the line with very good lateral movement skills and get in on a lot of plays. In traffic, he keeps his arms extended and shows great leverage and awareness. He has excellent natural power and can eat blocks while sealing the edge. He is extremely effective in the running game because of his instincts and awareness and athleticism. He keeps his feet moving while wrapping up and has surprising agility to break down and make tackles in space or to eat up blocks so others can make the tackle. He has a ton of athletic upside. Datone had a great week at the Senior Bowl after making 2012 a breakout year in LA. He is just scratching the surface of his potential. He has the body to add ten more pounds of muscle. He plays smart and is very aggressive – he’s a hustle guy who plays to the whistle. His forward lean will, at times, cause him to get off-balance though, and savvy veterans will sometimes rip him down to get him to the ground. He needs to be more consistent with his leverage and his playing height. He will get stalemated at times and he needs to be more consistent in disengaging. He too often allows blockers to get into his chest and is inconsistent getting his hands up in the passing lanes. He lacks great explosiveness off the edge as a pure pass rusher and great bulk to handle double-team blocking inside consistently. He is the perfect complement to play opposite Cam Jordan and next to Akiem Hicks.
Datone Jones vs Stanford (PAC 12 CG) (2012) - YouTube
Datone Jones vs USC (2012) - YouTube
Datone Jones 2013 NFL Draft ProspectWatch - YouTube
3 – 75. David Quessenberry, OT, San Jose St., 6’5 306lbs – rSR – 5.05. He is a 3 year starter at LT who has very good to excellent athleticism. Throughout his career, he has gone one on one against some of the best pass rushers in the Pac-12 and Mountain West and has done extremely well. He has good overall strength to get into the defender's jersey and walk him off the line. He catches and locks onto pass rushers using his size and long arms, rarely getting ripped off initially. He also uses his length and footwork to prevent speed rushers from getting his outside shoulder. He can mirror pass rushers and is very quick with his hands. He has a solid initial punch that knocks smaller ends off their path. He has quick enough feet to get inside the shoulder of his man on runs away from his side and enough power to control their angle. He picks up inside blitzes well and is solid getting to linebackers when he can line them up. He is quick off the snap and keeps his head up. He plays hard and with low pad level and flashes a mean streak on the field. He will knock down defenders and work hard to get them to the ground. He is a hustle guy who is also solidly athletic. He has quicker feet than many of the tackles in this draft, and he has a natural knee bend and good awareness. He can go step for step with most pass rushers in protection. He can mirror ends while leveraging a strong punch and ride edge rushers around the pocket. He fights hard and works to get better. He will also chase down defenders to hit when his QB moves out of the pocket. He plays under control and over his feet and shows very good agility and quickness in his pass set –he is rarely caught out of position. He is pretty athletic and can keep his arms extended while smoothly sliding his feet. He moves extremely well to the second level and is always looking to hit someone. He is popular with QBs and RBs because he is always looking to make their lives easier. In short-yardage situations, he is able to drive off the snap and play with leverage and balance. He’ll also hustle downfield after plays, taking out defenders standing around and cleaning up piles when necessary. He is a little more natural in the run game than he is in the pass game purely because of his very good natural lower body strength. He needs to get stronger in the upper body and learn to extend his arms more consistently. However, because he played in a pass-happy offense, he must learn to explode from his stance in short-yardage situations more and really use his hands and strike the defender more consistently. He shows great vision and solid strength to anchor and dominate in both run blocking and pass protection, but he will lean in at times and allow rushers to get into his body. He will lose the leverage battle at times and get pushed into the quarterback by stronger, bigger pro defensive ends unless he uses his hands more effectively. He out-quicks a lot of guys but gets bull-rushed too often because of his arm extension inconsistencies. He has the physical and mental tools to play LT in the NFL and can switch to other spots if needed. He is smart and it shows on tape, but he is also relentless and that’s his dominate characteristic. He came into college between 240 and 250 pounds, and he doesn’t have the frame to get much bigger (310 to 312 will be his absolute max). Despite his natural lower body power, he doesn’t have very muscular or thick calves. He can get stronger in that area too. He has the ability to play any line spot except Center, but he is a natural left tackle prospect.
David Quessenberry vs BYU 2012 - YouTube
David Quessenberry (OT San Jose State) Senior Bowl - YouTube
4 – 109. Cody Davis, FS/SS, Texas Tech, 6’2 208lbs – rSR –4.43. He is an extremely underrated player who has started at FS for 4 years in a major conference and has been an All Big-12 selection all four years. He is often referred to as a SS because some idiotic website listed him as one, but he has started at FS for four years. He does come up to the line in blitz packages at times, and he could probably line up at SS if needed, but he’s a natural FS prospect. In 2012, he had 101 total tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 10 pass break ups, and 3 INTs. He had 49 starts at FS in his career. He is very quick, active and instinctive while in coverage, and he is constantly in on the action. He recorded 362 career tackles while at Texas Tech, and had 4 interceptions. He is a rangy player with the frame to add an additional 10 pounds of mass. He is very quick to come up in run support and is willing to take on blocks to get to the action. He is a very reliable tackler in the open field who flashes hitting ability. Runners generally stop in place when he hits them. He uses both arms consistently when tackling. He is a wrap-up tackler who looks to punch or rip the ball out to create a turnover, and he makes a lot of plays. He is instinctive in deep coverage and can cover a lot of ground quickly. He reads the quarterback's eyes and gets a good break on the ball due to his feel for the game and instincts. He is a gym-rat who studies film and is very football smart and school smart – he’s an Academic All-American. He competes for the ball in the air and can time his leap to catch it at its highest point – he had a 41.5 inch vertical leap. He has good vision and elusiveness with the ball in his hands – he had one 88 yard INT for a touchdown. He’s very much of a cerebral player who lines up the Tech defensive backfield and was voted team captain as a junior and senior. He is an aggressive defender who attacks in run support and is a very reliable open-field tackler. He is a heavy hitter who can separate the ball-carrier from the ball. He has rarely lined up in any type of press coverage, but shows that he can flip his hips and run with just about anyone in space. He has very good balance and a low backpedal – he transitions quickly out of breaks and always keeps his head up. He also has excellent leaping ability and is able to battle for the ball at its highest point. He lights up receivers coming over the middle and running backs in the flat. His speed is very evident when coming up from the deep half to make tackles in the flat. He plays faster than most on tape. He flies up from the deep backfield on blitzes and levels unsuspecting quarterbacks and ball-carriers coming into the hole. He has the range to cross the field after reading the quarterback's eyes and to make plays. He has good, not great, hands for the interception and has the speed to make yardage on the return. He can change directions quickly and maintain his balance. He usually sees the play in front of him, but he has rarely lined up at the line and been asked to press. He gets sucked in on play-action at times and allows plays to get past him. He is an aggressive and solid hitter, but he’s not the physical force who puts the fear of God into receivers over the middle. Bigger and stronger backs can run through his tackles, especially when he leaves his feet. He has dropped several passes throughout his career and sometimes fails to make the more difficult interception where he needs to go low or extend from his frame to bring in the ball. He must prove himself able to get off blocks when playing around the line of scrimmage. He is a very scrappy, instinctual, and athletic FS who could end up going much higher than originally expected.
Cody Davis Texas Tech #16 Senior Highlight Cutup 2012 - YouTube
Cody Davis Texas Tech Pro Day 2013 - YouTube
Cody Davis Texas Tech Sophomore Highlights 2010 - YouTube
5 – 144. Nathan Williams, OLB/ILB, Ohio St., 6’3 245lbs – rSR –4.73. He rotated between DE and OLB in College and had a major knee injury in 2011 that he is still really coming back from. Williams was poised for a big senior season in 2011 after a team-high 4.5 sacks as a junior in 2010. However, he went down with a left knee injury in the 2011 opener that eventually required surgery – ending his season. Because of the injury, he earned a medical redshirt for one final year of eligibility and worked his way back onto the field ahead of schedule and in time for the 2012 season opener. Overall, he’s a well-built athlete whose dedication in the weight-room is obvious in his physique. He looks like he was sculpted. He is a very reliable open-field tackler who plays with awareness and instincts. He sees the ball and moves to it quickly. He is a versatile defender who has the tools to be a natural pass rusher off the edge – look at his 2010 tape and you’ll see a little more burst than he showed in 2012. He has very good quickness up-field and has the balance and burst to redirect his rush – at times he can really flatten out and make himself skinny as he attacks the pocket. He has okay to good initial hand punch to pop the blocker and disengage. At times, he really uses his arms to gain leverage and can drive the O-lineman back. He always gives good effort and has solid speed in pursuit. He’s an instinctive defender who played well in space as a traditional linebacker at times – he has experience dropping into coverage and has the quickness to cover RBs and TEs in the flats and up the seams. He is very tough and will play through pain. He has very good upper body power and challenges the lateral movement of tackles whether playing with his hand down or standing up (and on the left or right side). He can attack the edges and beat ball carriers to the sideline. He can accelerate to the quarterback and has a good swim move. He’s very good at containing on bootlegs and misdirection plays. He’s very football smart who obviously spends a lot of time in the weight room and film room. He has enough quicks to chases down backs even if they get an advantage on stop-start moves in the backfield. Also, he keeps his eyes in the backfield and uses strong hands to get off blocks to make plays in the hole. He’s very consistent and is well built and strong. He spins off blocks to grab backs going through the line and can chase down scrambling quarterbacks. He plays strong against athletic tight ends over the middle, and he can generally drop his butt and turn or cut pretty quickly. He will be an excellent special teams player who will do anything to make the play. He too often prefers to run around blocks rather than taking them on, and he loses position when doing so. While he improved as the year went on, he remains a work in progress in his ability to disengage from blocks. He gets engulfed too often by good tackles and he only shows a couple of pass rush moves. 80% of the time he tries to out-quick them or to bull them. He has a solid swim move but doesn’t link it together very well. Although he has good short area quickness, fast TEs can beat him down the seams or to the deep out. His left knee must check out medically after having microfracture and athroscopic surgery in 2011. A lack of bulk allows bigger O-linemen to control Williams’ rushes and control him on the edge. He absolutely must learn to use his long arms more consistently. He will be a rush 3-4 LB in the NFL, but he must work on his flexibility and show he can get and stay lower and have more leverage in the running game. Doesn't always take the best angles, and his over-aggressive nature can be used against him at times. Also, he must sense cut blocks more quickly and use his hands to defeat them. In 2012, especially early on, he seemed a bit tentative and protective of that knee. He is now two years removed from surgery and has a lot of upside. In his 2010 tape and a couple of his late 2012 tapes, he shows a lot of quickness, burst, and explosion. If his knee if fully healthy and he is able to dedicate himself to OLB with good coaching, he could end up be a quality edge player and a possible starter.
Nathan Williams vs Penn State (2012) - YouTube
Ohio State DE Nathan Williams vs. Indiana (1st Half) - YouTube
Nathan Williams vs Michigan State (2012) - YouTube
6 – 183. Sam McGuffie, RB/WR/RM, Rice, 5’11 202lbs –rSR – 4.30. This is one of the most explosive players in the entire draft. He has 358 career rushes for 1,543 yards (a 4.3 average) and 10 TDs. He also has 121 career receptions for 1,234 yards and an additional 10 TDs. He is similar to Denard Robinson in terms of athletic ability, and he also has positional issues. He is a super athletic jack of all trades –master of none guy. This guy intrigues me. At a regional combine, he tested better than even I thought he would: he ran a 4.28 40, had a 41.5 vertical jump, had an 11.2 broad jump, and a 3.88 second short shuttle –those are ALL amazing times and show that he is an exceptional athlete. He spent his first 3 seasons as a RB (having a great 2010 season after transferring from Michigan) – his 2011 season was marred with minor nagging injuries and other backs moved into the starting role. So, when he came back in Spring Practice, he was moved to WR for his senior season– he can still play both spots well (by the end of 2012, he was running very good to great routes) and has truly rare explosion and athleticism. He reaches full speed in one step and has very loose hips and lateral agility. He is a threat to score every time he touches the ball. He’s also a lethal return man who can contort and twist his body to make tacklers miss and is extremely elusive. He has natural return skills and has loose hips and a natural burst. He will have to start off earning his living on special teams, and his passion and athleticism should drive him to be special here. He was a very solid receiver out of the backfield prior to 2012, but he has gotten that much better since. He makes acrobatic plays and is getting much better as a route runner from the receiver position. He has learned to high point and jump up in his routes. For much of the 2012 season, he was used on weird wheel route/bubble screen type patterns, but, as the season progressed, he was running much more complex and complicated routes (for Rice anyway). He can truly explode into and out of his breaks and get instant separation. He is nifty and creative in traffic and he catches everything thrown at him. He will fight for yards and has the strength to break tackles. He has exceptional hands and rarely drops a pass. He generally plucks the ball out of the air and will fight for yards –he’s highly competitive. He instinctually gets his eyes downfield quickly after the catch and explodes forward. He is still raw in his route-running, but he has the balance and athleticism to excel. As a runner, he can really attack the edge with his speed, but he has enough power to go with his balance in order to be a very solid inside runner. He sees the lanes and uses short, quick steps in traffic. He plays smart. I could easily see a team wanting to use his all-around talents in a mixture of Wes Welker/Darren Sproles type of ways. He has the skill set to be a dangerous 3rd down type back who can play on the edge as well. As a RB, he showed very good anticipation and vision to go along with his explosion and athleticism. He breaks tackles and has a powerful lower body. In the open field, he is as dangerous as any player in this class. He transferred from Michigan to Rice after his true freshman season because he wanted to be closer to home, but Rice’s weird offense didn’t allow him to progress as a player, and they underutilized his talents. He should get drafted late, and could be a star on special teams who slowly becomes more important on offense.
Sam McGuffie top 10 wideout 2013 nfl draft 4.3 speed - YouTube
Sam McGuffie vs Air Force (2012) - YouTube
