Big 10 players declaring early for the draft

[FloridAlum]

so far there are seven. Deadline is January 16. The players are
OSU- Conley, McMillan, Hooker
MSU- McDowell, Nicholson
NU-Walker
Wis- Watt

All seven are defensive players. Not included yet is Peppers from Mich, not declared yet, but expected to and also a defensive player.is this a coincidence that everyone who has declared early so far plays on defense?

 

[gocatsgo2003]

so far there are seven. Deadline is January 16. The players are
OSU- Conley, McMillan, Hooker
MSU- McDowell, Nicholson
NU-Walker
Wis- Watt

All seven are defensive players. Not included yet is Peppers from Mich, not declared yet, but expected to and also a defensive player.is this a coincidence that everyone who has declared early so far plays on defense?

Yes

 

[Windy City Cat Fan]

Peppers coming out now

 

[corbi296]

Big LT from Wisconsin also coming out.

 

[pawildcat]

It will be interesting to see what they do with Peppers in the pros. He seems like sort of a tweener, not particularly fast for an NFL secondary, but rather small for LB. I suppose he could pack on some more weight, but it might come at the expense of speed.

 

[gocatsgo2003]

It will be interesting to see what they do with Peppers in the pros. He seems like sort of a tweener, not particularly fast for an NFL secondary, but rather small for LB. I suppose he could pack on some more weight, but it might come at the expense of speed.

He should be pretty good in that hybrid role, similar to how Mathieu plays for Arizona.

 

[Fitz51]

I do declar-ah!

 

[Hungry Jack]

He should be pretty good in that hybrid role, similar to how Mathieu plays for Arizona.

A lot of mocks have Peppers as a top ten pick. I am trying to wrap my head around this. While he has displayed a wonderful array of versatile talents in college, he is basically a safety in the NFL who will do his best work near the LOS. Not that this is not valuable, but top ten picks are rarely used on safeties.

The Honey Badger comp is a good one, but much of what I have read suggests that Mathieu is better in coverage, where PFF grades him above average. Matthieu was a third round pick, but plays like first rounder in terms of his impact.

I guess Peppers is just a wild card that some team will bet on.

 

[ricko654321]

A lot of mocks have Peppers as a top ten pick. I am trying to wrap my head around this. While he has displayed a wonderful array of versatile talents in college, he is basically a safety in the NFL who will do his best work near the LOS. Not that this is not valuable, but top ten picks are rarely used on safeties.

The Honey Badger comp is a good one, but much of what I have read suggests that Mathieu is better in coverage, where PFF grades him above average. Matthieu was a third round pick, but plays like first rounder in terms of his impact.

I guess Peppers is just a wild card that some team will bet on.

It's funny that two of you brought up Arizona... I actually think that's the right team, but the wrong guy for a comp. Jabrill is less like Mathieu, and more like Deone Buchanan. Mathieu is a hybrid guy that can play S and slot corner in the pros mostly, occasionally going outside for a specific matchup.

But Jabrill is more of a S / LB hybrid that can man up against most people in the slot. He's perfect for the hybrid 7th guy in either a 4-2-5 or 3-3-5 (permanent quasi nickel, sort of) that a lot of NFL teams are deploying more and more. See Harrison Smith on the Vikings, and this year Landon Collins on the Giants also. Someone that can play safety but also is very comfortable or almost better moving up to the LoS. Buchanan and Peppers have the added benefit of being able to cover many TEs or WRs man to man when situations or defensive play calling calls for it, which Smith and Collins can do at times but maybe not as adeptly (and at Minny and NYG they tend to get schemed more as true safeties that move around and blitz than they do as the 7th guy OLB / S / rover hybrid).

I think Jabrill is wildly overrated in terms of the amount of hype he's gotten relative to his actual production. But he's still very talented, and he's benefiting from being one of a small number of guys who can fill a hybrid DB / LB role that is in extremely high demand right now, and has shown to have demonstrated success with some of the better secondaries in the league. And at a time when positional flexibility is also valued very highly. Right player, right role, right time. I hope to goodness the Bears don't take him (a T or a true cover corner are much bigger needs), but I'm pretty confident someone will in the top 10.

 

[DaCat]

Peppers compares to Jeremy Cash but a better athlete than Cash.