Terrific Article on Hidden Draft Gems

[Doggin94it]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2703661-best-kept-secrets-of-the-nfl-draft

Quote

Draft secrets just ain't what they used to be. 

In the old days, when "draft prep" meant thumbing through little rectangular Pro Football Weekly scouting guides, you could feel like the ultimate insider just by knowing what Joel Buchsbaum thought of some wide receiver from Western Kentucky. 

Now, with hourslong daily television draft coverage, seven-round mock drafts updated in real time and around-the-clock speculation roiling through your Twitter feed, there are few real secrets. That diamond in the rough you just uncovered may have already appeared on so many Diamond in the Rough lists that he's already begun transitioning to the Overrated lists.

Still, there are some well-kept secrets out there: big-program starters who never got opportunities, small-college speedsters, hard-working trench warriors who toiled in obscurity, multi-talented players who bounced from position to position, specialists a team doesn't have to feel embarrassed about targeting with a late-round pick.

Get to know some of these prospects and you will realize that the 2017 NFL draft still has some secrets to share.

Even at quarterback.  

Secret Small-Program Super-Sleeper Quarterback: Kyle Sloter, Northern Colorado

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Courtesy Kyle Sloter

Kyle Sloter has dealt with bad luck throughout his college career, so he was not surprised when Mother Earth herself turned against him at Northern Colorado's pro day.

"We had 45 miles-per-hour winds," he recalled in an interview with B/R. "The [timing] lasers kept getting knocked over."

Sloter and his former teammates had to move indoors, where he worked out on a basketball court in borrowed sneakers. Those aren't exactly scouting-combine conditions, and Sloter had a disappointing workout.

But when Sloter later attended Colorado's pro day, he was told he could not re-run his 40 or other drills, because he was already in the database for the indoor debacle.

Luckily, Sloter was permitted to throw in front of the scouts in Boulder.

"All 32 teams were there, and he lit it up," Sloter's trainer, longtime NFL offensive coordinator Steve Fairchild, said to B/R.

"I'm used to adversity at this point," Sloter said. "You just gotta fight through it."

Sloter has spent more time battling fate than opponents during his college career. Recruited as a quarterback at Southern Mississippi, he switched to wide receiver when a coaching change buried him on the depth chart.

A system change took away his slot receiver role. Sloter tried playing tight end, then transferred to Northern Colorado in search of a quarterback opportunity. Except that many of Sloter's college credits didn't transfer, forcing him to miss parts of spring practices so he could complete courses and an internship. Sloter started the 2016 season as a backup quarterback in the Big Sky Conference.

Injuries pushed Sloter into the starting lineup, where he threw 29 touchdown passes in 2016. But it's no mystery why Sloter, despite a 6'4" frame and 4.5-second speed when not sliding around on hardwood, fell short of even the most thorough prospect lists.

"I saw draft charts where there were 250 quarterbacks listed, and he wasn't one of them," Fairchild said.

That was before Fairchild tightened Sloter's delivery and unleashed him on scouts at Colorado. But Fairchild stressed that Sloter, whose Northern Colorado offense is more NFL-like than most of the ones we watch on autumn Saturdays, is much more than a big athlete who had a good workout.

"He can make every throw," Fairchild said. "He did it in on the pro day. He's shown he can do it off pocket movement. It's not just take five steps, set and throw to your primary. He can readjust his target line, his launch point."

Working in an NFL-friendly system helps, too.

"He's been under center," Fairchild said. "He's had to drop back. He changes protections. I'm not saying he's NFL-ready, but he's a lot further down the path than some of these guys."

Sloter is no longer being left out of top 250s. He's getting late-round grades from teams and appearing on some top-20 QB lists.

"It's exciting to see myself up there," Sloter said. "But I wouldn't short-change myself either. I believe I deserve to be higher."

"In the end, I'll have some proving to do, and I'll do just that."

...

 

[Beerfish]

"Still, there are some well-kept secrets out there: big-program starters who never got opportunities, "

This is a good one, some very good players that went to big schools and got hurt or sat.

[SickJetFan]

25 minutes ago, Beerfish said:

"Still, there are some well-kept secrets out there: big-program starters who never got opportunities, "

This is a good one, some very good players that went to big schools and got hurt or sat.

The Jets just worked out a small school QB Jeff Kidd - I looked him up and found some videos....man he can sling it.

[Doggin94it]

Didn't want to post the whole article for copyright reasons, but it's a damn good read, and I'll be intrigued to see where most of those prospects go.

Not the kicker, though.  (Watch us sign him as a UDFA and have him win the job, btw)

[Villain The Foe]

32 minutes ago, Doggin94it said:

Didn't want to post the whole article for copyright reasons, but it's a damn good read, and I'll be intrigued to see where most of those prospects go.

Not the kicker, though.  (Watch us sign him as a UDFA and have him win the job, btw)

I never heard of him but im watching some highlights from him now. Super compact throwing motion. He has two passes in this video where I dont have a clue how he got the ball off, and yet he did. 

 

The 1:10 mark. Took a hit that look like he took it before he got the ball off. I had to look at the play a couple times, not only did he get the pass off but he threw a perfect back shoulder pass under pressure for the TD at that. This is an NFL-type throw for sure. 

The 5:17 mark he made another pass to a route across the middle that he got off while being hit. 

 

He has a strong arm, not in the sense of being a big arm like he's throwing rockets, but more like his throws are simply effortless. 

 

This was a good find Doggin. 

[TJ]

I'm sold,  draft this beast.   😁 

[nyjbuddy]

Some of the best small school prospects are guys that got recruited to big schools, didn't pan out for one reason or another, transferred to a smaller school, got their life together and now ready for the NFL.  They usually have all the tools, athleticism and if they've overcome their immaturity early in their college careers you can find a real gem.

[johnnysd]

OK, I realize all players look good in highlight reels, but damn if he doesnt pass the eye test as an NFL QB. Would have no issue drafting this guy

[rangerous]

6 hours ago, Doggin94it said:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2703661-best-kept-secrets-of-the-nfl-draft

 

here's the deal. every nfl team has to churn through about 10 players each season.  that means at least 320 new players each year.  there are only 7 draft rounds and they yield 224 players, maximum.  so the balance has to come from somewhere.  and the same is true of the very good to great players found in the draft.  if 50% of the first rounders turn out to be pro bowlers that still only means 16 out of 224 players from any given draft year.  and this gets narrowed down since the pro bowl players likely repeat and many of these guys have pretty long careers.  so it's not surprising to find these hidden gems because there just aren't that many players drafted.

[Doggin94it]

here's the deal. every nfl team has to churn through about 10 players each season.  that means at least 320 new players each year.  there are only 7 draft rounds and they yield 224 players, maximum.  so the balance has to come from somewhere.  and the same is true of the very good to great players found in the draft.  if 50% of the first rounders turn out to be pro bowlers that still only means 16 out of 224 players from any given draft year.  and this gets narrowed down since the pro bowl players likely repeat and many of these guys have pretty long careers.  so it's not surprising to find these hidden gems because there just aren't that many players drafted.

yeah. the point was more "here are 8 or 9 intriguing players who, despite the wealth of pre-draft information available, people don't seem to be discussing"

but thanks for the math on why UDFAs make rosters

Sent from my SM-G920T using JetNation.com mobile app

[nyjbuddy]

1 hour ago, rangerous said:

here's the deal. every nfl team has to churn through about 10 players each season.  that means at least 320 new players each year.  there are only 7 draft rounds and they yield 224 players, maximum.  so the balance has to come from somewhere.  and the same is true of the very good to great players found in the draft.  if 50% of the first rounders turn out to be pro bowlers that still only means 16 out of 224 players from any given draft year.  and this gets narrowed down since the pro bowl players likely repeat and many of these guys have pretty long careers.  so it's not surprising to find these hidden gems because there just aren't that many players drafted.

This is spot on.  

This is from 2014 but still relates:

Its got to be difficult being a scout that has to go through hundreds, if not thousands, of players to find those that are draftable, while us fans just wait until all the scouting has been done.  Then after mock drafts and big boards are created, we scrutinize these draft pundits that they have it all wrong.  And we scrutinize teams that they could not identify the right players or passed on a guy that eventually became a superstar or drafted a first round bust.  These small school prospects are apart of that approximately 15000 senior football players but not usually a part of that 6500 scouted.  Sucks that these guys get overlooked.  Over 8000 football players don't even get scouted... and that's just the seniors.  Think about early entry juniors like Adam Shaheen or even foreign players like Anthony Auclair from McGill University in Montreal.  I give these organizations credit for being able to identify the top players in football, especially if they can consistently find those players that can stay in the league past their first contracts.

[sourceworx]

6 hours ago, nyjbuddy said:

Some of the best small school prospects are guys that got recruited to big schools, didn't pan out for one reason or another, transferred to a smaller school, got their life together and now ready for the NFL.  They usually have all the tools, athleticism and if they've overcome their immaturity early in their college careers you can find a real gem.

Joe Flacco comes to mind. 

[Lupz27]

7 minutes ago, sourceworx said:

Joe Flacco comes to mind. 

Tony Romo

[Lupz27]

2 hours ago, johnnysd said:

OK, I realize all players look good in highlight reels, but damn if he doesnt pass the eye test as an NFL QB. Would have no issue drafting this guy

Only thing that jumps out at me is most of his throws are to wide open receivers with no pressure, but like Villain brought up the few throws where he does take a hit he drops a couple dimes, but again these are highlights, I can dig up a highlight reel of Mark Sanchez delivering a few dime pieces while taking a monster hit, would need full game tapes to get a further assessment on pocket awareness, and how often he actually makes throws with pressure in his face, or taking hits.

But like you, and others said the highlight reel shows a good physical athletic prospect that would be a great guy to take 7th round like Denver did with T Semien, stash on PS for a year, or 2 if you see something worth developing, and maybe on the outside chance actually being the goods (0.01% chance, but hey you never know).

[TuscanyTile2]

8 hours ago, Villain The Foe said:

I never heard of him but im watching some highlights from him now. Super compact throwing motion. He has two passes in this video where I dont have a clue how he got the ball off, and yet he did. 

 

The 1:10 mark. Took a hit that look like he took it before he got the ball off. I had to look at the play a couple times, not only did he get the pass off but he threw a perfect back shoulder pass under pressure for the TD at that. This is an NFL-type throw for sure. 

The 5:17 mark he made another pass to a route across the middle that he got off while being hit. 

 

He has a strong arm, not in the sense of being a big arm like he's throwing rockets, but more like his throws are simply effortless. 

 

This was a good find Doggin. 

I watched the play at 1:10 at least 4x and still don't understand how he got that throw off.  I don't think I've ever seen a play like that, ever.  Maybe he got 1/4 of the way through his throwing motion but still threw what looked to be a normal pass.

[#27TheDominator]

This kid wasn't recruited to a big school.  He was recruited to Southern Mississippi.  Not like Flacco at Pitt stuck behind (ahem) Tyler Palko.  You guys are talking more about guys like Romo or Kurt Warner.  Or even Jake Heaps.  A kid that played at a bunch of big schools, but never really caught on.  This kid's big hope is that his adjusted throwing motion is what people are looking for, but it is a pretty long road.  FWIW, nfldraftscout has him at #34 QB out of 138 QBs. 

[SickJetFan]

Check out the actual UDFA QB the jets brought in and worked out.  He like the other kid doesnt have a good OL nor WR with 5 yards on closest defenders yet he is slinging it close to 55\60 yards in some of the plays with pinpoint accuracy..i also saw him sling it 30 yards off his back foot getting pummelled

local college kid too

Jeff Kidd

http://www.hudl.com/profile/3750318/jeff-kidd

 

 

 

[Paradis]

I've been following G Antoine for a bit, the DT from Idaho. He's a real beast. A late round steal for sure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nyjbuddy]

16 hours ago, sourceworx said:

Joe Flacco comes to mind. 

Was thinking of Noah Spence from last year.  He sort of slipped in the draft, but had a decent rookie year.  Went to Ohio State, failed a couple drug tests, transferred to Eastern Kentucky and then got drafted with the 39th overall pick.  Some mocks had him going top 10 last year.

This year:
Javarius Leamon (South Carolina State, but 4-star Clemson Commit) - 6'7" 332 OT
Jessamen Dunker (Tennessee State, Florida Transfer) - 6'4" 300 OG, 
Derek Rivers (Youngstown St, had interest from Clemson, UNC, NC State, South Carolina, V-Tech) 6'4" 248 OLB
Brendan Langley (Lamar, Georgia transfer) - 6'0" 200 CB
Ezra Robinson (Tennessee State, Michigan State transfer) - 5'11" 189 CB
Will Hines (SE Lousiana, Arkansas transfer) - 6'1" 195 CB
Ray Buchanan Jr (Northern Iowa, Arkansas transfer) - 5'10" 184 CB
William Stanback (Virginia Union, Central Florida transfer) - 6'0" 233 RB
Jameson Parsons (St Cloud State, had interest from Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin) - 6'1" 198 WR

None of these guys will get drafted as early as Spence (Derek Rivers is moving up draft boards but not that high).  But probably UDFA that can be put on the practice squad for a couple years.   

[KSJets]

On 4/20/2017 at 8:56 PM, nyjbuddy said:

This is spot on.  

This is from 2014 but still relates:

Its got to be difficult being a scout that has to go through hundreds, if not thousands, of players to find those that are draftable, while us fans just wait until all the scouting has been done.  Then after mock drafts and big boards are created, we scrutinize these draft pundits that they have it all wrong.  And we scrutinize teams that they could not identify the right players or passed on a guy that eventually became a superstar or drafted a first round bust.  These small school prospects are apart of that approximately 15000 senior football players but not usually a part of that 6500 scouted.  Sucks that these guys get overlooked.  Over 8000 football players don't even get scouted... and that's just the seniors.  Think about early entry juniors like Adam Shaheen or even foreign players like Anthony Auclair from McGill University in Montreal.  I give these organizations credit for being able to identify the top players in football, especially if they can consistently find those players that can stay in the league past their first contracts.

I like how the first words after the stats are "If your lucky enough" and at the end it talks about "your college education".  Apparently the person making the sign didn't learn the difference between "your" and "you're"

[ljr]

On April 20, 2017 at 9:51 PM, Lupz27 said:

Only thing that jumps out at me is most of his throws are to wide open receivers with no pressure, but like Villain brought up the few throws where he does take a hit he drops a couple dimes, but again these are highlights, I can dig up a highlight reel of Mark Sanchez delivering a few dime pieces while taking a monster hit, would need full game tapes to get a further assessment on pocket awareness, and how often he actually makes throws with pressure in his face, or taking hits.

But like you, and others said the highlight reel shows a good physical athletic prospect that would be a great guy to take 7th round like Denver did with T Semien, stash on PS for a year, or 2 if you see something worth developing, and maybe on the outside chance actually being the goods (0.01% chance, but hey you never know).

+1

watched the 1st half or so of that video.

liked what I saw & the quick release ... There were 2 or 3 passes that were great where it looked like he was about to be blasted & 2 or 3 into tight Windows ... But ... Most of the video he had a wide open pocket with all day to throw ... And WR's very wide open as well.

aGree with Lupz ... Grab him in the 7th or as a FA ... Give him a couple years to take in what the NFL is all about and see if he can turn into anything