Question for the draft experts on this board..

[GlennFoley]

Would you stay away from Laurnece Maroney, because he his entire offensive line can arguably play in the NFL?

[Barton]

Would you stay away from Laurnece Maroney, because he his entire offensive line can arguably play in the NFL?

I dont wanna consider myself a draft expert quite yet, but I'll share my opinion on Maroney and the minnesota offense, who I have watched nearly every week for at least the majority of the game.

Greg Eslinger is the best pulling center I have seen, outside of Kevin Mawae. He is the anchor of that Oline. There is also a couple other good players on that oline to say the least. They own the line of scrimmage on run plays, look what they did vs Ohio states run defense a couple weeks ago.

Maroney, I cant put a finger on. I have noticed he gets stopped for a loss on the toss/pitch plays 3 yards off-tackle where the center and another lineman pull out to lead the way. I think the defense knows its coming, but it seems like either Maroney is being alittle too patient waiting for blocks, or their arent enough blockers against the defense, or maroney is just not that fast. Not sure which is which, might be a combination of the three.

I really thought Maroney was much faster LAST season. Looks like he really bulked up this season, due to him being the feature back in the offense now that Marion Barber left. I think he's stronger than last season, but just not as fast. Still, he is busting ALOT of long runs, but even when he busts those long runs (and he has bust some 90 yard TD runs this season), he doesnt seem all that fast in the openfield. Maybe my eyes or tricking me, but he's definetly not some reggie bush speed burner out there. Seems more like a Steven Jackson with alittle less power, and maybe more speed.

I really think what he runs at the combine/proday will determine where he falls in the draft. I dont see him running a sub 4.4 at all. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I am right, but we'll just have to see. I could really see his stocking falling if he goes out and runs a 4.6 at the combines, but thats probably not going to happen. To me, he doesnt seem faster than Cedric Benson, who ran a high 4.5/4.6 if I remember correctly.

I still dont have a predicition on this guy yet. I think he'll be a good NFL starting back for sure.

But how good he will be, is the question. My guess right now is, he wont be nearly as good in the pros as he is in college.