Palm Beach Post's Evaluation on EE's for 2018

[gambino97]

I'm a huge proponent of athleticism>all for edge rushers (Justis Mosqueda's force players metric is pretty definitive). I could definitely see Rousseau ending up as a good player, because his length is insane and he is a really good football player. There just isn't enough evidence (as of the state championship game) that he has the strength to hold up as a full time DE. As a guy who rushes/drops an equal amount, I think he's an intriguing player, but he still needs to be able to convert that speed to power or else he'll just get run past the QB every play. This sums up my thoughts on him.

I like both Hightower and Wiggins, I just like Wiggins more. My biggest concern with Hightower is I saw a lot of discomfort with catching. Some double catches on easy receptions, and there was one of the Army practices where he dropped 2/3 passes. He tracks the ball really well on deep passes and can definitely go up for the ball, but it's not overly uncommon for a receiver to catch the hard ones and drop the easy ones. It's something that can definitely change (Leonard Hankerson had a lot of similarities to Hightower and was a stud here) but the same with Rousseau, I don't have evidence that it will. I might be overrating Wiggins, but he's my type. Obviously needs to gain weight but even going back to his Soph film, he's just really fun to watch.

I have some issues with Ivey in man, especially against quicker guys. As a cover 3 guy or carrying guys vertical his coverage is beautiful, but the in breaking routes/quick stuff might get him. That type of player can still be a really good corner though, and my expectation is Ivey is a solid starter here.

Campbell is gonna get eaten up by the more explosive DL. He can be solid, but he just doesn't have the ability to make the tougher blocks.

1st off, I appreciate your posts on Twitter and the fact you track plays, success rates etc. For this fan, its appreciated.

I like your evaluations but I disagree only with your Hightower evaluation. His ceiling isnt the highest, but I think of all the WRs he will have the biggest immediate impact, even with Pope on board. He seems the most game ready and I feel is undervalued because he is a bigger body.

 

[dg151]

Hightower was a fringe 8/7, but I'm really iffy of guys who fight the ball which locked him into a 7 for me. If he doesn't have drops issue in college, he definitely deserves to be higher, but I saw enough to concern me.

That said, the '7' tier is still a really good player. Starting caliber guy who can win in the red zone and on deep throws. Even if he's a high variance player with drops, his other tools should get him on the field.

I probably need better wording/explanation on the tier system.

 

[Calinative]

I'm a huge proponent of athleticism>all for edge rushers (Justis Mosqueda's force players metric is pretty definitive). I could definitely see Rousseau ending up as a good player, because his length is insane and he is a really good football player. There just isn't enough evidence (as of the state championship game) that he has the strength to hold up as a full time DE. As a guy who rushes/drops an equal amount, I think he's an intriguing player, but he still needs to be able to convert that speed to power or else he'll just get run past the QB every play. This sums up my thoughts on him.

I like both Hightower and Wiggins, I just like Wiggins more. My biggest concern with Hightower is I saw a lot of discomfort with catching. Some double catches on easy receptions, and there was one of the Army practices where he dropped 2/3 passes. He tracks the ball really well on deep passes and can definitely go up for the ball, but it's not overly uncommon for a receiver to catch the hard ones and drop the easy ones. It's something that can definitely change (Leonard Hankerson had a lot of similarities to Hightower and was a stud here) but the same with Rousseau, I don't have evidence that it will. I might be overrating Wiggins, but he's my type. Obviously needs to gain weight but even going back to his Soph film, he's just really fun to watch.

I have some issues with Ivey in man, especially against quicker guys. As a cover 3 guy or carrying guys vertical his coverage is beautiful, but the in breaking routes/quick stuff might get him. That type of player can still be a really good corner though, and my expectation is Ivey is a solid starter here.

Campbell is gonna get eaten up by the more explosive DL. He can be solid, but he just doesn't have the ability to make the tougher blocks.

ay, keep doing the play tracking. I really liked seeing how many snaps the guys had, which just further shows me guys like Finley and McCray have no business here, regardless what the depth looks like.

But with Rousseau, he might not show the strength now, but his entire future is going to have almost nothing to do with what he showed in high school, especially his strength and technique. He's obviously coming in pretty raw from the technique perspective, and is going to seriously need a crash course on block shedding and just playing at a high level with his hand in the ground at all times. But the dude has length and athleticism. He's already added like 10-15lbs or whatever it is since he enrolled (which should put him into the 230s). So if he's able to get up to 240+lbs by the start of this season and its all good weight/muscle, then man, he could be a beast, Ideally his playing weight is like 265lbs, because I don't think he'll ever be super big, and plus we don't want to sacrifice too much of his athleticism....Its all going to be about what weight he can be strong enough to hold up in the run game and stuff. But the main thing will be how good of a coach Jess Simpson is. I'm really excited to see what normally if we had quality depth, I don't think he'd get too much PT, but with him basically being forced to play a bunch, I'm excited to see what he does.

and I get your points about Hightower and Wiggins, I mean I think most people here love Wiggins and think he's super underrated. But I don't think its likely he's better than Hightower for at least the first yr or two tbh. I think he has more potential, but isn't there yet.