I am a pretty big Seahawks fan and have been following seahawksdraftblog.com for years. It is the go to source for all things draft related for the Seahawks. Each post by Rob Stanton can get upwards of 1000 comments by diehards.
I am admitting my bias, but I also feel like I have an eye for football. I played division 3 for 4 years before transferring to Tech. I truly believe that Rob Stanton is one of the best reads when it comes to football scouting. His final mock drafts have consistently ranked in the top percentages when the media turns them in for scoring.
With all that said. I wanted to post his recent post where he compares Daniel Jeremiah's top 50 with his. He has a link to both in the article.
As most of you know Daniel has Tremaine Edmunds number 3 on his big board for overall prospects. Rob Stanton has him as one of 11 players he has given first round grades.
"Tremaine Edmunds (LB, Virginia Tech) — he's just an incredible talent. Edmunds can play inside linebacker, outside linebacker, LEO, he can rush. You can ask him to do so many jobs. He'll appear from nowhere to blow up a screen or sweep, he'll chase down the ball carrier and make a secure tackle in space, force turnovers with jarring hits and he's always in control. He has great size (6-4, 235lbs) and length. Expect a great workout at the combine and a very, very high grade among scouts. For more on Tremaine Edmunds Click here." Rob Stanton
Here is the real interesting part. Rob has also given our boy Tim Settle one of his 11 first round grades.
"Tim Settle (DT, Virginia Tech) — it's surprising to see Settle receive so little hype, especially after he declared for the draft as a redshirt sophomore. You don't see many players do that, especially not 6-3, 328lbs defensive tackles. There's a reason though. Settle has the size to play nose but the quickness, get-off and pass rush ability to be so much more. He had 12.5 TFL's in 2017. That's incredible for a 328lber. In comparison, Vita Vea had 5.5 TFL's and Da'Ron Payne 1.0. The scary thing is he could stand to lose a little weight and be even better. For more on Tim Settle Click here.." Rob Stanton
I am not going all in on believing the hype that we may have two possible first rounders, but I figured the reads were worth sharing.
P.S.
The coverage of the Senior Bowl is worth a read if you are a draft junky.
Comments
This seems time to reiterate an earlier comment about my favorite quote of the year from a press conference coming from Tim Settle saying, "If there is ever a single rep that I don't beat a linemen one on one, then you know its cuz I'm real tired." As much as I wanted him to stay, Settle is an elite DT that with continued development could have a long DT career in the NFL. Hopefully he can jump into round 1 but I would be shocked to see him slip past round 3.
I have dreams of my Skins taking Tremaine at 13 and Timmy in the 2nd at 44...............I know to 1st rounders is great for Tech we my Skins need to find a way to stop Carson and Zeke over the next 10yrs..........Kendall, JAllen, Tremaine and Timmy are great young building blocks.........a fan can dream
Settle to Seattle.....just an "a" away.
If Tim can get his conditioning right, where he isn't as tired in the course of a game, then I can see him being a first round talent. He's not that far away, but he probably needs a little help in the form of a personal trainer/S&C coach.
I just don't want to see him be another Refrigerator Perry, have a couple good years, and then fizzle out when the body breaks down. You'd also like to see Tim on the field more often than not over the course of a game, which the added conditioning can do.
thanks for link. wouldn't have seen this otherwise
Would LOVE to see 2 first rounders but not sure if that is gonna happen. very happy to be wrong
Any long time Hokies fan should know that draft projections- Like Isaiah Ford an early second rounder or Bucky Hodges the first TE off the board or Kendall Fuller a top 10 pick or Macho Harris a second rounder, etc etc, etc, etc. need to be taken with a huge grain of salt. Tremaine- yes- he will be a first round pick unless something unforseen like an injury on his medical at the combine or something, but his eval seems legit and substantiated. The rest of our guys, including Settle, I think you can add 2 rounds to some of these projections and be safer. Look for Teller in the 5th/6th round, Settle in the 3rd/4th in reality.
Kendall Fuller would have been a first rounder for sure if not for the meniscus injury, an injury that consistently has made NFL teams hesitant to pull the trigger. He has obviously been a first round talent since he's been in the league. He was the top graded slot corner this past season by multiple sources.
It's not just VT players. If you added up the "first round grades" given out by various publications, there are likely 100+ players every year.
It's a very expensive crapshoot, but it's not biased against VT players.
I completely agree with you on dropping them a few rounds. The reason I posted Rob Stanton's work is because he gives serious looks and in depth analysis on his grades. He rarely has more than. 10 or so first round grades. His argument is after that your drafting for need instead of a special athlete. I was just stunned that the guy I've been following for years gave Tim one of his 11 first round grades. Will see if the scouting community agrees with him sooner or later. Sleepers don't stay hidden very long in today's draft.
I think we all knew Settle could be a first round talent. I was not surprised he declared and I think most of the reservations from Hokie nation were a result of his lack of recognition this year. I think Settle is taking a risk leaving this year, whereas he could have come back and stacked up the 1st-Team awards and been a sure fire 1st round pick next year. Hopefully he opens some eyes at a combine and is scooped up in the first two rounds.
I think Settle is a 3rd/4th round pick this year. I think if he had stayed he would have been a first/second rounder.
I really wish the NCAA football would allow players with eligibility left who declared early to go back to school if the go undrafted. Now that means they can't sign a UDFA agreement, but they could go back to school and work on the degree and still play there.
Here's my question about this narrative that we always bring up with players leaving early. What would change for Settle to make him go from a 3-4 to a 1-2 next season? Are we assuming he gets better control of his weight? Are we assuming he has a better season? He had like 5 sacks and 12.5 tfl or something this past season. Are we assuming he somehow gets more talented?
For him, he clearly is banking on the fact that he is 330lb 3 tech who can make plays in the backfield, that isn't going to change if he came out next year. Perhaps he has more play time under his belt, but ultimately the NFL wants the talented freaks, not the tenured veterans (for the most part).
I don't think anybody here can say much beyond speculation, and I was never one to think he would go first round after one more year. The only advantages I can think of is that he could gain more experience and come out a little more polished and ready to produce early. I think any player can stand to improve and get better, but I also don't know how much of an effect, if any, that has on teams that see a talented guy they want. I tend to side with you a bit on this in that I'm not sure how much it would help, that's just all I can think of.
Yeah, I would never argue that there aren't benefits to returning, obviously the biggest one being acquiring your degree. However, I do disagree with this belief that one more year = significant draft upgrade for ALL prospects. For some, sure. Someone like Jerod Evans absolutely would have benefitted from more time as an P5 QB, but it doesn't hold true in all situations.
It's 100% a case by case thing. Isaiah wouldn't have gained much from coming back because one more year in college wasn't gonna help him grow another inch or run a 4.4 40. But yea Jerod is the perfect example of somebody who needed another year of experience. Tim is kinda in the middle but you're right, it's case by case and while it could help Tim, I'm not sure it launches him up 3 rounds.
Man strength. Settle is a boy, not a man.
FWIW, saw a ticker on ESPN that Kiper has Tremaine as a top 3 pick. At least I think that's what it was (and not, say top 10 defensive players or something like that).
EDIT: Not Kiper for Jeremiah.
I know Daniel Jeremiah has him as his 3rd overall prospect, that's been bouncing around some tickers as well.
Yes thanks. That's the one.
Wouldn't it be something if our guys got drafted higher than their higher ranked UVA counterparts...
Tremaine before Kiser
Tim Settle before Andrew Brown
Terrell Edmunds before Quin Blanding
You should go read Brown and Blanding's draft profiles. Both were rated low.
On Blanding: "Allowed downhill runners to climb on top of him and bring much of the force."
Looks like this guy reads TKP, at least for the GIFs.
It really was a great job of saying exactly what he wanted to say in a way that *could* be taken as innocuous language about football. I mean, if he had written, "has a tendency to grab his ankles when approached by downhill runners," it just wouldn't have had the same plausible deniability.
Welcome to TKP. Where everything is taken innocuously and the points don't matter.
So you saying he wanted to avoid the #don't@mebro?
As a Giants fan I would love to get Wyatt, we need offensive line help badly! I also wouldn't mind Settle for some DT depth, and Tremaine, seeing as the Giants haven't drafted a capable LB in forever.
We need Big Tim to get drafted early and stick on a roster somewhere, to prove we can put DL in the League. We saw this year what having two legit DTs does for our defense. We need that to happen regularly.
100% correct. Been saying this for years.
Yea but your comments weren't "twitchy" enough so Joe moved them to another forum.
Been seeing the DJ mock with Tre as the #3 prospect.... Sadly, doesn't look like I'll be seeing him helping the Panthers or Iggles next year.