Lions no shot to land Gurley

[Stomp]

Why dont you like Gordon, Smitty?

Heres a nice write up on Gordon i found on Reddit

1. Melvin Gordon

First off, I'm going to start with the blatantly obvious. Melvin Gordon is a power gap running back. We are a zone blocking team. Immediately we have a conflict of interests that make it so that we would not be the ideal landing place for Gordon and he wouldn't be the ideal running back for us. For me, this is the key detail that makes me turn away from Gordon. That said, there are others.

I'm going to say right off the bat, he does have good traits, but those aren't actually what I'm focusing on here. I'm looking at the dealbreakers. For his positive traits, he has good acceleration, has experience as a pass catcher and gadget player showing a level of adeptness with it, is highly aggressive, explosive.

But unfortunately, there are some very worrisome trends with Gordon. Unlike any of the other top backs in this draft, Gordon has this incredibly unsightly trend. See, he was tackled for negative to 0 yards more than any other high level back in the draft. And that was with the dominant Wisconsin line. When asked to press the line and look for holes to open, Gordon was a classic Reggie Bush-esque dancer, going east-west all over the place and losing yards. It was almost always when he knew the hole would be there that Gordon would be able to make the play (read: pure power-gap back). To me, that immediately makes me question his vision. He was unable to see plays developing in front of him at the level you would expect of a 1st round running back. Now, I know that people will argue that Barry had the same trend, and I'll agree to that. But that was the most infuriating part of Barry's game. It often put us in poor situations. That said, Gordon doesn't have Barry's playmaking ability to make up for it.

On top of that, despite being a bigger runner, Gordon doesn't have the power to bounce off of tackles. Jamaal Charles, who Gordon is frequently compared to, broke far more quality tackles as a collegiate, an important part of what has made him such a dominant back in the NFL. Gordon just can't seem to shed the tackles despite having the muscle and bulk.

Gordon can definitely make the big play, but I question the consistency that he will be able to do so with his skill set. His weaknesses are, unfortunately, very weak.

Consensus Value: 1st-2nd Round

 

[lionstop1]

Cool. I guess I cant agree with some of that. Players are asked to play in different schemes all throughout their careers, especially when they transition to the pros. The blocking scheme is not a big deal.

I havent seen where experts have questioned his vision and ability to hit holes. Im not a scout but I dont see it either. Negative plays? Aren't they expected at times? Is it always the RB or are there some breakdowns along the line or did the defense defend well?

 

[jayfan]