Spoke to a knowledgable UNC fan about Coples....

[LionelRichie]

JPP had six sacks his senior year. Gholston led the country. It's not an infallible indicator.

I was listening to NFL Radio this week and it was either Kirwan or Ryan from Moving the Chains who said that when they look at tape they ignore all sack or good plays where a DL used a swim move (doesn't work in NFL). They also said Coples was hands down the best pass rusher in the draft and it wasn't even close. Kirwan & Ryan are the best 2 on NFL Radio and they absolutely loved Coples, so I am cautiously optimistic about the pick.

[Jetsfan80]

Eh. I think Mayock puts his work in, but I agree that 90% of draft analysts really just google each other and that's how rumors become fact through repetition. But, Mayock and Kiper killed Coples on character issues. I don't think it comes from nowhere.

If any other team had taken Coples, he'd be JPP V. 2.0

[RSJ]

The whole North Carolina program played poorly this past season - not just Coples, All of them fell off from their pre season rankings.

[slats]

Don't pay attention to the media, he's going to be really good. And he's a team player. He played out of position as a junior because his team needed him too and was still First Team All-ACC at DT. He was first team All-ACC this past year at DE also. Lots of players lost focus once Butch Davis was fired a week before training camp last year, Coples was just honest about that.

This rings true.

Coples could've been a high draft pick after his junior year, but instead chose to come back to school for his senior year. Right before camp is about to start, the whole program falls apart. I'm sure right then he had a sh!tload of regret. He could've been out of there, instead he's a part of this mess. The smart move there is to salvage his own career. Maybe he could've played it better politically, but you have to admire his honesty if he came right out and announced his intentions. I can't find a bad word about him from his junior year.

Seems like the Jets are getting blasted for not taking Ingram, who was probably a smoke screen all along. They passed on him for the bigger man, who won't have to change positions in the pros, and I think it was the wise move. The "planet guys" that Parcells would talk about. There are only so many guys on the planet his size who possess his athleticism. You have to go for the upside there. I think the change of positions also played a key role in the selection. They drafted a DE to play DE, a LB to play LB. They'd rather avoid the conversion projects to better know what they're getting.

I'm optimistic about this pick. The articles comparing him to JPP are very encouraging. If he truly does like football, he's going to like getting coached up by Ryan and Pettine. And that's going to make him a better football player, and he'll like football even more as a result.