Across The Field
Oaky Afterbirth
It really is funny, the amount of conflicting reports that are out there. Last Thursday during the draft warm-up stuff on ESPN, Kiper was talking about how teams just fell in love with Elliott at his combine interviews, namely Dallas, Philly and Chicago.I don't see a weakness either in his game, he looks legit... But so did Trent Richardson and Bush looked like he was playing a video game when he was out there. Hindsight is where we say though "how didn't we see that?". Like you say, and I fully agree, his vision is a joke, his quickness to the hole, a joke. But that was where he looked so so good in college. Wasn't just at Bama, his workouts for scouts were where people said he was blowing them away.
McFadden, god he looked like he was on another level, good team, bad team, he was just so good... That's what makes the draft so interesting. Richardson ruined my Gators who had a good D and just was on another level against Auburn in the SEC championship game.
WalterFootball.com: 2016 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Ezekiel Elliot
" The only serious flaw for Elliott as a prospect comes off the field. Multiple teams said he didn't interview well at the combine. He was known as, and admitted to being, a big partier at Ohio State. Teams strongly suspect that he was one of the players who former teammate Noah Spence suggested was also using ecstasy and molly (MDMA). Teammate Joey Bosa is in that group as well, and Bosa refused to take a drug test in order to hide it. Bosa told teams that Elliott had such an intense party atmosphere at their apartment that Bosa had to move out in order to get things to quiet down for him off the field. Other teammates said that Elliott can rub some the wrong way and has a strong personality.
Also, it left a bad taste in the mouth with some teams that Elliott was rather unapologetic for criticizing his team after the loss to Michigan State. When pressed, he said he did regret putting his coaches in a bad light, but team sources said it was pulling teeth for him to own up to that. Thus, teams have concerns about how Elliott will mesh in the locker room and what kind of teammate he will be in the NFL. "
That was one I saw bringing up his locker room and molly rumors. And sometimes they are just rumors. That's what this stuff almost always is right or wrong, there isn't many times when you have a clear cut huge negative with a top pick (why they aren't top picks lol). And it's crazy how such little things can be the defining cause of a players downfall. I remember seeing David Carr's scouting reports and one of the positives was he was a family man. Of course one of his downfalls with the Texans that was brought up after he washed out there was he'd be first out of practice because he had a family he wanted to spend time with. You can pass on partying too much and say no to the next Manziel... Or Brett Favre.
And I hate to pile on, I really am not but it was interesting hearing fumble rate being one of Elliott's big selling points. Again, not wanting him to be another Trent, but that was dead on what Trent Richardson was huge for... He fumbled early his freshman year in a game. That was his first, last, only fumble in college, one of his big selling points, ball security. And in the pro's.... Read through the scouting reports between Trent and Elliott though. It is scary how they are almost identical. Again, not saying he will be another Trent, but him being awful wouldn't surprise me any more than him being dominant.
I'd call his NFL comparison Adrian Richardson lol. Somewhere in there... haha. So that's where you have to rely on the guy pulling the trigger to be able to tell that apart, and I think even the best fail nearly as much as they succeed.
I hope he does work out (just wish it wasn't for Dallas), not homering this, I was against him for the same reasons on the Eagles board when the talk was him at #8 there. I want more guys like Peterson in the league.. I just think it is a historically risky pick for that position lately, one which tends to have less of an effect as other positions, and one which tends to have a shorter shelf life.
But every rookie is always compared to the boom.
I look through and there are some similarities, but Zeke's style and Richardson's style in college seemed not very similar. Zeke seemed to have much more wiggle to his game, while Richardson was a much more power runner, though Zeke could do that when he needed to. Of all the comparisons made to Zeke as far as the pro game goes, it seems like Edgerrin James was the most common one, and it seems fair.
Time will tell how he does, but he's in as good a spot as any RB drafted in recent years. He has an elite skillset, and is running behind an elite line with a very good QB throwing to one of the best WRs in the game to throw some of the attention off the run game. I would be much more shocked if he failed than if he succeeded, but what the hell do I know?