New SI.com Mock draft has the Seahawks taking

[Jazzhawk]

a TE. Could be interesting.....what say you? I like what I've seen from Willson so far, but I know Miller isn't long on our roster most likely.

http://nfl.si.com/2013/09/24/2014-nfl-mock-draft-teddy-bridgewater-jadeveon-clowney/3/

31. Seattle Seahawks: Colt Lyerla, TE, Oregon

The Seahawks used a 2013 fifth-round pick on TE Luke Willson. Lyerla’s way, way better. There is very little the Ducks’ star cannot do on offense, and coming from that Oregon system would put him ahead of the curve in Seattle’s attack.

Walter Report profile:
6-5, 246 lbs
Skill-Set Summary: For the next level, Lyerla looks like a serious mismatch weapon. He has the ability to line up in a variety of places, so offensive coaches can use his special skills to exploit weaknesses in pass coverage. Lyerla looks like a perfect fit for an aerial NFL offense that likes to utilize the tight end.

As a receiver, Lyerla is an asset. He has good hands and is a strong route-runner. Lyerla gets off the line quickly and is adept at finding soft spots in zone coverage. He is a real weapon in the middle of the field running slant routes and getting deep down the seam. Quarterbacks also have used Lyerla as a nice check-down option in the flat; he generally rewards them with yards after the catch.

Lyerla has great quickness to gain separation in his route-running with a second gear to burst into the open field after making a reception. He is extremely explosive as a receiver and his speed takes defenses by surprise. Lyerla is tough to bring down once the ball is in his hands. He sheds lots of tackles and carries defensive backs for extra yards before going down. Lyerla is a physical runner who can punish defenders.

Lyerla has the athletic ability for the next level to be used as an H-back and play some fullback. He could continue to run the ball in short-yardage situations. Lyerla has amazingly quick feet to cut and move as a ball-carrier. Offensive coordinators should have fun using him in a variety of ways and catching defenses by surprise. Lyerla could be a tight end who is similar to former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who was called a swiss army knife because of his dangerous versatility.

Lyerla needs to improve his blocking for the NFL. He doesn't pack much of a punch at the point of attack. Lyerla gets pushed into the backfield by defensive linemen and physical linebackers. He does much better blocking defensive backs in the second level. The junior's blocking will be scrutinized in 2013, and he needs to show the ability to contribute as a blocker in pass protection as well the ground game. Lyerla's blocking would be better suited to a zone-blocking system.

Overall, Lyerla is an athletic tight end who should be a dangerous weapon in a NFL offense. Any team that needs an athletic pass-receiving tight end should be interested in selecting him next May in the 2014 NFL Draft.

 

[theENGLISHseahawk]

I like Lyerla's upside but IMO there's very little chance he goes in round one.

The character concerns are just.... bizarre. Aside from the comments about the Sandy Brook massacre on Twitter, his recent spat with the Head Coach is just a major head scratcher. Throw in the fact he's not a major player in the Ducks offense and he's going to need to be spectacular at the combine to go in the top-50.

To be honest, I stopped reading at #5 when I saw four QB's already off the board with only one of them deserving of a grade anywhere near the top five.

 

[drrew]

While he has the physical attributes to be a beast in the passing game, at his size, blocking will never be a great strength of his, and that's something that I think Pete, John, and Tom Cable value.

ASJ for example isn't a particularly good blocker at this point either, but he's at least got the size/strength ratio to be good at it if someone can light a fire under him. Lyerla, while a physical freak doesn't look like he has the frame to carry another 20lbs or so that I think he'd need.

 

[CPHawk]

I know TE is a need, but for how good we have been, I think we can all agree OL is still a need.

 

[MLOhawks]

I will mail a brown bag of dog poop to Seahawks HQ if we draft a TE in the first round.

 

[Jazzhawk]

I like Lyerla's upside but IMO there's very little chance he goes in round one.

The character concerns are just.... bizarre. Aside from the comments about the Sandy Brook massacre on Twitter, his recent spat with the Head Coach is just a major head scratcher. Throw in the fact he's not a major player in the Ducks offense and he's going to need to be spectacular at the combine to go in the top-50.

To be honest, I stopped reading at #5 when I saw four QB's already off the board with only one of them deserving of a grade anywhere near the top five.

I had no knowledge of the character issues, nor am I concerned about the validity of the rest of the draft as posed by the author, simply curious about the selection as noted.

However I agree with drrew about his shortcomings in the blocking game. This seems to me to be a critical element of any TE coming to the Seahawks; the ability to be a great blocker at the point of attack. Willson seems to be that great receiving TE. If Miller is to be replaced we'd need a TE that not only runs great routes, and can run 'n catch, but understand how to be a great blocker as well. A lot to ask for I'm sure, but to go in the first round, that's what we'd need.

 

[kearly]

He's a bit of a conspiracy theorist, and seems to seek personal conflict with people off the field. Like a football version of Mel Gibson, minus the antisemitism.

There is a lot that alarms me with Lyerla and very little that I like. Other than his personality, he does seem to fit PC/JS like a glove though. They love unique players, and Lyerla is as unique as they come.

 

[JSeahawks]

Finally the Ducks genius/expert/homer is here to straighten some of you out.

As I mentioned in another thread the other day i'm not quite as high on Colt now as I was six months ago, but I still think he'd be great value at the very end of the first round. I really believe that some of his negatives are being overexagerated here.

First of all, the character concerns. The only character problem he has is that he's not the smartest dude in the world. He's kind of like Kiko Alonso last year. He says and thinks some dumb things, but he was just put on this earth to be a football player. He's never been in trouble with the law or been arrested while in Eugene. And that "spat with the coaches" was a media creation that was gone the next day and the writer even retracted the story and apologized for it. He's a bit rough around the edges but that's largely because he came from a really bad family situation and a really rough childhood. If you're interested in reading a little bit about why he is how he is, there's an article here:

http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.s ... _with.html

As for the blocking. I wouldn't say he's a great blocker, but he's certainly not a bad blocker. And if you're drafting a tight end in round 1 you're drafting a playmaker, not a blocking specialist. But if you know anything about Oregon you know that if you're a WR or a TE, if you're not a good blocker, you don't play. Period. He's not going to pancake defensive ends but he's pretty good at sealing the edge and can get to the 2nd level. And he's doing all that basically off of his freakish athleticism, not technique. If a guy like Tom Cable got a hold of him, he could turn him into not only a good, but a great blocker, imo. I honestly think Colt is every bit as good of a blocker as Zach Miller is right now though (not dominant, but good enough to get by). And to the guy who said Colt is too small, he's currently up to 6'5", 260. Zach Miller is listed at 6'5", 255.

Whether or not the Seahawks should draft a TE that high or not, I don't know, but I think Colt is worth that draft position to somebody. If you want a spit and polished, super safe Tim Ruskell type pick, he's probably not the guy. But if you want a dude that's just a football player with a sky high celing. And who fits the Beast Mode personality of the Seahawks better then anybody already on the Seahawks. Then he'd be a great pickup. (After ASJ is off the board, ASJ would be my #1 TE).

One last thing, I think being around a guy like Russell Wilson would be HUGE for Colt Lyerla. Colt's never been a student of the game and he mostly just gets by on his freak athletic ability. But if just a little tiny bit of Wilson rubbed off on Colt, it could create a monster. Plus, as mentioned, Colts a bit of a conspiracy theorist. He just might believe that Russell is truly a robot. Which could create some locker room fun!

 

[bubbrubb]

He has brick hands from what I've seen. That other Duck TE looked great in his place...Lyerla will be a combine all-star but Im not buying his hype in terms of on-field production. he'll have to catch the ball in tight spaces and hasn't shown he can do that.

 

[JSeahawks]

He has brick hands from what I've seen. That other Duck TE looked great in his place...Lyerla will be a combine all-star but Im not buying his hype in terms of on-field production. he'll have to catch the ball in tight spaces and hasn't shown he can do that.

I'm assuming that the Virginia game is the only game you've seen him play?

He did have 3 totally uncharachteristic drops in that game. I would bet a paycheck that is more drops then he's had the rest of his Oregon career combined. He body catches sometimes. But drops are not a usual problem for him.

In case anybody has never seen him play, here's high sophomore year highlights.

[youtube]xgqbrR8FOYI[/youtube]

 

[theENGLISHseahawk]

I had no knowledge of the character issues, nor am I concerned about the validity of the rest of the draft as posed by the author, simply curious about the selection as noted.

Thanks for clearing that up.

I'll sleep easier tonight.

 

[kearly]

To be honest, I stopped reading at #5 when I saw four QB's already off the board with only one of them deserving of a grade anywhere near the top five.

I don't take issue there. I think this is a better QB class than 2012. Bridgewater is this year's Luck. Mariota is very similar to Colin Kaepernick. Manziel is bizarro Wilson. Boyd is a much better version of Geno Smith. Keith Price could be a mid-round steal if he goes to a team with solid pass protection. David Fales looks pretty good for a small school QB, and there have been plenty of small school QBs who were stars in the NFL. Aaron Murray has a short QB skillset but kind of gives me a Matt Stafford vibe for reasons I don't understand. Maybe it's just a Georgia thing. AJ McCarron reminds me of Kyle Orton and Brian Griese, and that makes him good enough to start for some teams.

I think this is a potentially ridiculous QB class, and add to that the fact that several NFL teams are DESPERATE at QB this time around, unlike last year. I could definitely see 4 QBs going in the top 5, because I can count at least 4 teams that will pick super high and not risk passing on a QB. All the intentional "tank for a QB" moves you are seeing around the league (Cleveland, Tampa) indicate that NFL front offices anticipate a big run on QBs very early.

 

[kearly]

Colt Lyerla is like a mutant Vance McDonald. He's a load after the catch, and a great athlete before it, but he has issues in blocking, makes mistakes on routes (IIRC), does not catch with proper technique. And in the case of Lyerla, he's a genuinely volatile person. Pete is a players coach, but he didn't tolerate Kellen Winslow for very long.

I also don't think Lyerla is what we need. We don't need just any TE. We need an ace possession target to make Miller expendable. ASJ is that guy. Really, a lot of TEs could be that guy. Lyerla doesn't have that Mr. dependable Bobby Engram type gene. He's more like a mini-Jerramy Stevens, high upside, a playmaker, but inconsistent and hard to trust on any given play, blocking or catching. If Seattle took him anyway I would not be shocked, since they grade for athleticism first and ASJ is pretty far behind as a pure athlete. So we'll see what happens.

My guess is that Seattle trades out of the first round and takes some guy nobody saw coming. They are starting the draft with just 7 picks (that I know of) and are without a 3rd, and it's pretty unlikely they'll get comp picks after what they did last offseason in FA. Trading down in the first to add draft ammunition will probably be the team's top priority, they just won't advertise it like they did in 2011.

 

[pehawk]

To be honest, I stopped reading at #5 when I saw four QB's already off the board with only one of them deserving of a grade anywhere near the top five.

I don't take issue there. I think this is a better QB class than 2012. Bridgewater is this year's Luck. Mariota is very similar to Colin Kaepernick. Manziel is bizarro Wilson. Boyd is a much better version of Geno Smith. Keith Price could be a mid-round steal if he goes to a team with solid pass protection. David Fales looks pretty good for a small school QB, and there have been plenty of small school QBs who were stars in the NFL. Aaron Murray has a short QB skillset but kind of gives me a Matt Stafford vibe for reasons I don't understand. Maybe it's just a Georgia thing. AJ McCarron reminds me of Kyle Orton and Brian Griese, and that makes him good enough to start for some teams.

I think this is a potentially ridiculous QB class, and add to that the fact that several NFL teams are DESPERATE at QB this time around, unlike last year. I could definitely see 4 QBs going in the top 5, because I can count at least 4 teams that will pick super high and not risk passing on a QB. All the intentional "tank for a QB" moves you are seeing around the league (Cleveland, Tampa) indicate that NFL front offices anticipate a big run on QBs very early.

Agree on all this. I REALLY like this QB class.

Add Bridgewater, Boyd or Jonny Football to the Browns or Bucs tomorrow, they have a greater chance of winning this Sunday. Boyd's the one, IMO, that comes out guns blazing his rookie year. But, don't trust me on QB's, I was the one telling you last year EJ Manuel was a 1st rounder and has perfect intangibles, what do I know? (pure troll sentence)

Actually, the lowest one would be Mariota, IMO. No, that's not my Duck bias, that may change as the season progresses. I think coming out of Oregon may hurt him because it'll be rare we ever see him play with the game NOT out of reach. Okay, maybe that's my bias. Kearly shows his bias by giving too much praise to the Ducks and 49ers, I shown mine via contempt and emotional analysis.

Price will be a steal, and I have a feeling that he's going to climb to late 2nd, early 3rd. If for only he's been coached by a NFL coach, in the NCAA game. And that's NFL FO's who have that opinion on Sark, not just myself. I really hope Price goes somewhere that can coach a QB. KC would be intriguing. SF would be perfect too, once they realize Pete was right about Kap.

 

[theENGLISHseahawk]

I cannot agree on this quarterback class.

I like Bridgewater and he deserves to be the guy who goes early. But IMO he's nowhere near the quality of a Luck or RGIII. In fact if he was in the 2012 class he would've been the third QB off the board at best (I wasn't a big fan of Tannehill, many others were). I thought a lot more of Kaepernick as a prospect than I do of Mariota, who doesn't do a great deal for me to be fair. I wouldn't even dream of comparing Manziel to Wilson -- just very different players on and off the field -- and physically. Tajh Boyd is superior to Geno Smith but there are a cluster of issues I have with him (accuracy is superb one week, nearly 'all over the place' the next, tends to make basic errors with ball placement on easy throws, generally makes life tough for his very talented receivers). Fales is thoroughly mediocre IMO. Ditto Keith Price in terms of being a NFL prospect.

Aaron Murray -- arm strength issues, very streaky. Will be lucky to be drafted and probably why he went back to Georgia this year.

The two guys I kind of like apart from Bridgewater are A.J. McCarron and Derek Carr (but not in round one).

Overall I doubt Mariota declares and Brett Hundley should stay at UCLA too IMO.

The idea that this class could provide five top-10 picks is pretty hilarious. I hope that happens because it means a whole lot of continued suck for the worst teams in the league -- particularly with the available talent on the offensive line (it is LOADED at OT for 2014) and defense.

 

[pehawk]

theENGLISH, I don't think you're factoring in the new CBA rookie deal. I wont disagree with your grades, that's you're assessment and it's undoubtedly based in logic. BUT, drafting a Carr, Harrington, Sanchez isn't that big of a risk anymore. The new CBA eliminated a lot of the risk. You miss on a QB, meh, oh well.

It's worth it to take a gamble on these guys in round 1, even if they have a round 3 grade. Manuel wasn't a fluke last year, that's the "luxury" teams now have. a first round QB no longer comes with a huge salary hit.

 

[HansGruber]

To be honest, I stopped reading at #5 when I saw four QB's already off the board with only one of them deserving of a grade anywhere near the top five.

With Wilson's success, and the new rookie salary cap, we'll probably see teams taking more risks on QBs in the first round. Not many people are going to forget they overlooked Wilson, and coaches on the hot seat (near the top of Round 1) are going to be like, "Screw it, if it works, I'm a genius. If not, we try again next year or I'm fired anyway."

Agree with you on the TE assessment though. Seems like an odd first-round pick. Of course, Schneider and Carroll have been known to be unorthodox in the first round.

 

[theENGLISHseahawk]

theENGLISH, I don't think you're factoring in the new CBA rookie deal. I wont disagree with your grades, that's you're assessment and it's undoubtedly based in logic. BUT, drafting a Carr, Harrington, Sanchez isn't that big of a risk anymore. The new CBA eliminated a lot of the risk. You miss on a QB, meh, oh well.

It's worth it to take a gamble on these guys in round 1, even if they have a round 3 grade. Manuel wasn't a fluke last year, that's the "luxury" teams now have. a first round QB no longer comes with a huge salary hit.

I wouldn't dispute anything you said there pehawk, but then I look at several QB-needy teams allowing Barkley, Nassib and Wilson to drop to round four last year. There were a lot of big opinions out there on that trio, but I'll argue with anyone who thinks they deserved to all go in that range. I've seen too many QB's worse than all three go in round two and in some cases (Ponder) much earlier.

That's not to say all the QB's next year are going to also drop like a stone, but I don't think teams feel obliged to take a QB early believing the risk is now minimal. At the end of the day, if you draft a bad QB who fails you're even more likely to get fired than if you argue the right guy just hasn't been there.

And one other thing I'd throw into the mix -- I guarantee one QB-needy team is going to give Josh Freeman another chance to be a starter, even if it's on a minimal 'prove it' deal. And I wouldn't rule out a trade involving Ryan Mallett or Nick Foles either.

If I'm the Raiders for example and Bridgewater's off the board, I'd probably favour a team-friendly deal with Freeman and a new left tackle or Jadeveon Clowney than going after Mariota. And given the quality of OT's and defensive line talent in the 2014 class... I'd much rather tap into the riches there and target a McCarron, Carr or Manziel in round two.

 

[pehawk]

I think what you'll see is more reaches for the less polished with VERY high-intangible types. Russell Wilson slipped partly because GM's we're adhering to old CBA thinking. "Well, he has a 3rd round grade, so we wont take him before that". I'm sure there were plenty of teams that had Wilson at a 1st round "talent" (factoring in intangibles) but he graded (using historical analysis) at a 3rd round level. And, with SO many GM's now with egg on their face over Wilson, they'll never let it happen again.

EJ Manuel was literally this past years Russell Wilson. He had a 3rd or maybe 4th round grade, but there was no way in hell the Bills we're going to be 2012's Philly Eagles.

Fart

 

[theENGLISHseahawk]

At the end of the day a team is only going to draft a quarterback in the top 10-15 if they truly believe that guy is worth the pick. I half expected to see more QB reaches as a consequence of the new CBA but last year was a major eye opener. Teams like New York that even had two first round picks were unwilling to go QB early and almost apologetically took Geno Smith in round two.

If there is a team or teams that believe Mariota is worth a top ten pick (it'll only take one) that's the range he goes in. But I think it's a major stretch (and well beyond the realms of possibility) to think five of the top ten will go quarterback. I mean, has that EVER happened before? I'm willing to be proven wrong, but I expect one QB (Bridgewater) to go top ten with the possibility of a wildcard to match -- and then a bit of a rush in rounds 2-3.

FWIW I think we could see 4-5 offensive lineman go in the top ten and that would follow a trend from last year.