Have Kiper and McShay even watched Lavonte David play?

Cornicator

Cornicator

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This isn't really intended to be a bash the NFL Draft experts thread. That's not my point, but is it possible they're making too much of a big deal about David's size?

At 6'1 225, he is smaller than most NFL weakside backers. And if the NFL wants to downgrade him because of his stature, then that's just the nature of the league. But film does not lie. He is a dominant defensive football player, and arguably the most productive linebacker (from a statistical standpoint) in college football... right now.

McShay doesn't even have David ranked as one of his top 10 Senior Linebackers. Kiper has David as a 4th rounder. Usually when a productive offensive or defensive player is downgraded out of college its due to their athleticsm... or lack thereof. That's not the case for David.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the NFL guys are making a mistake with this guy.

 
If David picks up a national award, I could see his draft status sky-rocketing depending on the amount of pub he gets. That's kind of how these things work - one person says something, people pick it up and it snowballs into a love-fest for one player.

David also has room to add more weight if he wanted to, I would think. 6'1" is small but it's not really that short. I think he could be a very successful weakside linebacker in passing situations. He may not be great against the run in the league, but on passing downs he'd be formidable.

 
Well he's 17th in total tackles, so I don't know if he's the most productive per se in CFB, but he is dominant. The fact of the matter is that he is undersized, which is a risk in the NFL. A risk because he might not pan out because of that size. I think he'll be one of those mid-rounders who Gruden and those guys are talking about as one of the steals of the draft halfway through next season.

 
I've learned these guys get paid to make EXTREME guesses, IMO. They have no idea who is going to pan out in the NFL. They don't know who the next Tom Brady is. I like watching the combine and all, but these guys try to base everything off of size, speed, whatever....football players know how to play football. When you play extremely well for a DI school like Nebraska in Big 10 football, you can play in the league. I'd love for someone to sit them down and have an interview grilling them about past players they didn't rank high, bashed on, etc...that are now extremely good players in the NFL. I'd love to hear their excuses, because they act like what they are talking about is certain truth.

 
If you want someone with a good opinion on the draft, check out Mike Mayock. He doesn't have anyone to compete with on the NFL Network like Kiper and McShay do on ESPN, so he can say exactly what he wants.

 
NebraskaDrumline said:
If you want someone with a good opinion on the draft, check out Mike Mayock. He doesn't have anyone to compete with on the NFL Network like Kiper and McShay do on ESPN, so he can say exactly what he wants.
Click to expand...
Mayock said Gerald McCoy would be a vastly superior player in the NFL compared to Ndamukong Suh.

 
saunders45 said:
NebraskaDrumline said:
If you want someone with a good opinion on the draft, check out Mike Mayock. He doesn't have anyone to compete with on the NFL Network like Kiper and McShay do on ESPN, so he can say exactly what he wants.
Click to expand...
Mayock said Gerald McCoy would be a vastly superior player in the NFL compared to Ndamukong Suh.
Click to expand...
From what I remember, he said Suh and McCoy were 1a and 1b. That's still not true, but it's a lot better than what Kiper and McShay said.

 
Kiper didn't have Suh behind McCoy, did he? For a long time Kiper had Suh #1 overall, and only downgraded him when Sam Bradford came back healthy.

 
knapplc said:
Kiper didn't have Suh behind McCoy, did he? For a long time Kiper had Suh #1 overall, and only downgraded him when Sam Bradford came back healthy.
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I think for a while he had the Lions drafting McCoy. He said that Suh is the better player, but McCoy might get drafted ahead of him. From what I remember he always had Suh ahead of McCoy on his Big Board.

 
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Barrett Ruud, 6-2, 235

Lavonte David, 6-1, 225

Lavonte is on the small side for NFL. But not by *that* much. Some team will appreciate a guy that closes on the ball as fast as Vonte, and hits like a freight train.

 
If it's not intended to be a draft ESPN Analysts, I'm still going to put my jabs in. McShay and Kiper are never going to draft anyone so what they say doesn't actually matter. These two idiots couldn't have a more irrelevant expertise. I'd hate to be in the position of watching exhausting hours of game film (which I doubt they do) and have it essentially be meaningless. I'll bet that the owners hate the fact that those guys exist because they're the ones that have to pay exorbitant salaries for the top draft picks.

Somewhere out there, there is a draft scout that is salivating over David because he's not on the McShay and Kiper radar. Every day in the NFL non-superstar rookies make an impact and that's why teams win games. Deion Branch & Danny Woodhead are excellent examples. Roy Helu ran for 100 yards this weekend.

 
I do not watch the NFL at all and so am not that versed... but I can't imagine that Lavonte David would be anything less than really, really good as an NFL LB'er. He is not that small! And he has heart, grit, and toughness plus extraordinary field vision, ability to take proper angles, and great, great anticipation and field awareness. Plus speed too. Sure he is a bit undersized, but so many other things to compensate for such.

He may go, I suppose, a little later in the draft than some of us think reasonable... and if he does, man... what a steal. Again, I'd have to think that this kid will be a very good NFL LB'er. Whoever drafts him will be very pleased indeed.

 
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