Cimini: Draft Profile Brooks Reed

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Draft profile: Arizona OLB Brooks Reed

April, 25, 2011

Apr 25

10:38

AM ET

By Rich Cimini

Leading up to the April 28-30 NFL draft, ESPNNewYork.com is providing profiles of prospects being considered by the Jets with the 30th overall pick. Previously, UCLA S Rahim Moore, Baylor NT Phil Taylor, Ohio State DE Cam Heyward, UCLA OLB Akeem Ayers, Georgia OLB Justin Houston and Colorado CB Jimmy Smith were featured.

Under the Microscope: Brooks Reed, OLB, Arizona

• Reed's stock has been rising since the combine, where he worked out as a defensive lineman and tested well across the board. At 6-2 1/2, 263 pounds, he ran the 40 in 4.65 seconds, faster than 18 of the 24 linebackers. What really jumped out was his 10-yard split -- 1.54 seconds, best among the DLM. It was a smidge quicker than Von Miller (1.57), regarded as the best edge rusher in the draft and a likely top-5 pick.

• Why should we care about a 10-yard split? For a pass rusher, it's critical. It reflects the player's burst and explosiveness, which probably is more important than a 40 time. At the same time, you don't want to get too caught up in workout numbers. The Jets succumbed to that in 2008 and ended up with Vernon Gholston.

• Reed finished with good, not great production at Arizona. In 34 starts over three seasons, he produced 15 sacks and 20 tackles-for-loss. In 2009, he missed five starts with a severe ankle sprain. Interestingly, Reed began his career as a 215-pound H-Back.

• The story with Reed is his motor: He's relentless. Even a casual fan can see that Reed plays with all-out intensity. That goes a long way with Rex Ryan, who constantly preaches to his players, "Play like a Jet." Well, Reed would play like a Jet.

• Check out this highlight video of Reed. Around the one-minute mark, Reed delivers a pretty good lick on a familiar quarterback -- Mark Sanchez, who coughs up the ball. It's the Arizona-USC game from 2008.

• Reed is drawing a lot of Clay Matthews comparisons because of his shoulder-length blond hair. This is what one GM told me about Reed, "He plays a little like Matthews. Clay Matthews has helped this kid. He's got a great motor and excellent speed. The 3-4 teams are starting to get on this guy. I think he's a first-round pick or a high second."

• Reed was predominantly a defensive end in college, lining up almost exclusively wide on the right side. There's always risk when projecting a DE to OLB in a 3-4 scheme, but the GM said, "He started to play up late in the season and looked good. He has the ability to do it. He was exceptionally fast." He reportedly impressed in linebacker drills at the Senior Bowl.

• One of the knocks on Reed is that he's stiff in the hips and doesn't bend well. He has virtually no experience in pass coverage, but the "rush" linebacker in the Jets' scheme drops only about 15 percent of the time, according to the team.

• The Jets have a significant need at OLB, especially with Bryan Thomas entering the final year of his contract. They need a player who can come in as a rookie and contribute as a nickel pass rusher while learning a role in the base defense. Reed will give 100 percent, no doubt; the question is whether he can play to his eye-catching workout numbers.

[T0mShane]

Reed will give 100 percent, no doubt; the question is whether he can play to his eye-catching workout numbers.

Why start now?

[hoping4ASuperBowl]

I like his motor, don't like the comparison's of his ten yard split to that of Clay Matthews. He was pretty productive in college, but I'm not sure how good or bad the competition he faced was. I would be happy with him if we picked him in the 1st round. Taylor, Reed, or Wilkerson and I'm happy.

[T0mShane]

I like his motor, don't like the comparison's of his ten yard split to that of Clay Matthews. He was pretty productive in college, but I'm not sure how good or bad the competition he faced was. I would be happy with him if we picked him in the 1st round. Taylor, Reed, or Wilkerson and I'm happy.

For perspective's sake, future 5th/6th round pick Ricky Elmore--Reed's teammate and fellow DE--blew away Reed's production against the same competition. Reed blew up because of the combine.

[hoping4ASuperBowl]

For perspective's sake, future 5th/6th round pick Ricky Elmore--Reed's teammate and fellow DE--blew away Reed's production against the same competition. Reed blew up because of the combine.

So just because he had a 10 yard split and has long blond hair like Clay Matthews doesn't mean he will be as good?

[T0mShane]

So just because he had a 10 yard split and has long blond hair like Clay Matthews doesn't mean he will be as good?

Dude, you staple a quarterback's feet to the ground directly 10 yards in front of Reed, and he'll kill him in under two seconds.

[hoping4ASuperBowl]

Dude, you staple a quarterback's feet to the ground directly 10 yards in front of Reed, and he'll kill him in under two seconds.

Sounds 100x better than Gholston already. Draft this beast!

Look at the other QB's in our division:

Brady- might as well staple his feet since hes as mobile as a blue whale.

Henne- He just sucks

Bills- Who's their QB?

[derp]

For perspective's sake, future 5th/6th round pick Ricky Elmore--Reed's teammate and fellow DE--blew away Reed's production against the same competition. Reed blew up because of the combine.

Reed blew up at the Senior Bowl really, against better competition than he and Elmore faced at Arizona.

[T0mShane]

Reed blew up at the Senior Bowl really, against better competition than he and Elmore faced at Arizona.

Point holds, though. If a guy isn't a first round pick when his season ends then no post-season workout should move his status 4,5 rounds higher than it was unless you're from some small-school backwater.

[BroadwayJoe12]

For perspective's sake, future 5th/6th round pick Ricky Elmore--Reed's teammate and fellow DE--blew away Reed's production against the same competition. Reed blew up because of the combine.

See, this is the bitch about the combine. You have people complaining that Reed is blowing up because of the combine and than site Gholston as a clear comparison and use that as evidence for the reason Reed will bust. Yet, look at Matthews, the combine and senior bowl are without a doubt the only reasons that he was drafted in the first round. He wasn't touted as a high school recruit, he barely played in his first three years and ended up having pedestrian college production. Matthews had 5 career sacks and 4 of them came in his senior year. Now tell me that the combine can't do at least a little good?

[hoping4ASuperBowl]

See, this is the bitch about the combine. You have people complaining that Reed is blowing up because of the combine and than site Gholston as a clear comparison and use that as evidence for the reason Reed will bust. Yet, look at Matthews, the combine and senior bowl are without a doubt the only reasons that he was drafted in the first round. He wasn't touted as a high school recruit, he barely played in his first three years and ended up having pedestrian college production. Matthews had 5 career sacks and 4 of them came in his senior year. Now tell me that the combine can't do at least a little good?

The combine can do some good for a player. Technically the combine helped Gholston out a lot. If it wasn't for such a good combine he would have been drafted in the mid rounds and would never have had the millions of dollars he did.

Reed had a good combine, but also had a pretty productive college career, stat wise, moreso than Matthews. But it's still anyones guess if he could be as good or better. As much research as anyone coach or scout is doing, only time will tell.

[T0mShane]

See, this is the bitch about the combine. You have people complaining that Reed is blowing up because of the combine and than site Gholston as a clear comparison and use that as evidence for the reason Reed will bust. Yet, look at Matthews, the combine and senior bowl are without a doubt the only reasons that he was drafted in the first round. He wasn't touted as a high school recruit, he barely played in his first three years and ended up having pedestrian college production. Matthews had 5 career sacks and 4 of them came in his senior year. Now tell me that the combine can't do at least a little good?

The difference being there were reels and reels of footage on Reed that were already filed away that placed Reed as a lower pick. Matthews had no tape, as if he played in D-III.

[BroadwayJoe12]

The difference being there were reels and reels of footage on Reed that were already filed away that placed Reed as a lower pick. Matthews had no tape, as if he played in D-III.

That's a bit of a copout, they had a full season of tape on Matthews, it just sucked. And the reason he didn't have any tape in his first three years, was that he wasn't very good. He was considered a mid round pick almost unanimously, until the senior bowl and combine. If he didn't turn into the beast that he was now, people would be calling him a workout warrior.

[#27TheDominator]

One thing about guys like this is that guys that are "high motor" and do well at the combine are rarely total busts. Guys without change of direction or athletic balance may not be superstars, but if a guy is strong, can run and hit and he goes all out he will generally be a useful NFL player. Does that mean he should go in the first round? Beats the sh*t out of me, but he's probably less likely to bust than Gholston even if Gholston was a much better prospect coming out.

[SenorGato]

That's a bit of a copout, they had a full season of tape on Matthews, it just sucked. And the reason he didn't have any tape in his first three years, was that he wasn't very good. He was considered a mid round pick almost unanimously, until the senior bowl and combine. If he didn't turn into the beast that he was now, people would be calling him a workout warrior.

Sure, but he was a better athlete than Reed, from a better program from Reed, on better steroids than Reed, his daddy played NFL games than Reed, and he was younger.

Matthews was 24 last year, his 2nd in the NFL. Not that I was a big fan of him as a prospect either.

[Joe Jets fan]

One thing about guys like this is that guys that are "high motor" and do well at the combine are rarely total busts. Guys without change of direction or athletic balance may not be superstars, but if a guy is strong, can run and hit and he goes all out he will generally be a useful NFL player. Does that mean he should go in the first round? Beats the sh*t out of me, but he's probably less likely to bust than Gholston even if Gholston was a much better prospect coming out.

I am less likely to bust then Gholston lol

[T0mShane]

That's a bit of a copout, they had a full season of tape on Matthews, it just sucked. And the reason he didn't have any tape in his first three years, was that he wasn't very good. He was considered a mid round pick almost unanimously, until the senior bowl and combine. If he didn't turn into the beast that he was now, people would be calling him a workout warrior.

If memory serves (and every year I swear to myself that I'm going to file these things away), Matthews jumped from a mid-second up to a late first after his combine. Don't quote me on that, but I believe that's the case.

[sirlancemehlot]

New Rule: we must stop comparing prospects to Gholston. Gholston has become an almost iconic bust. It's like how everyone compares people they dislike to Hitler. There was only one Hitler. Nobody else compares to him realistically. If a player increases his stock through the combine...it doesn't make him Vernon Gholston. If a player is slow and unexplosive but had a solid college career...it doesn't mean he's going to be good just because he was solid against inferior competition...nor does it mean he is Gholstonesque simply for having looked good beating up on slower, even less explosive players. That having been said, I think a big motor is the only thing that really translates on every level. Gholston had no motor. No motor, no anger, no fire, no good. Thats pretty universal.

Steve Paea FTW

[Matt39]

If Clay Matthews wasn't any good....would people even be giving Brooks Reed the time of day?

[T0mShane]

New Rule: we must stop comparing prospects to Gholston. Gholston has become an almost iconic bust. It's like how everyone compares people they dislike to Hitler. There was only one Hitler. Nobody else compares to him realistically. If a player increases his stock through the combine...it doesn't make him Vernon Gholston. If a player is slow and unexplosive but had a solid college career...it doesn't mean he's going to be good just because he was solid against inferior competition...nor does it mean he is Gholstonesque simply for having looked good beating up on slower, even less explosive players. That having been said, I think a big motor is the only thing that really translates on every level. Gholston had no motor. No motor, no anger, no fire, no good. Thats pretty universal.

Steve Paea FTW

FTR, Hitler had an awful combine, but killed it at the Beer Hall Putsch.

[sirlancemehlot]

FTR, Hitler had an awful combine, but killed it at the Beer Hall Putsch.

Bad combine sure, but his highlight video edited by Leni Reifenstahl showed some good burst. If they could have put an Eminem soundtrack behind it, we'd all be speaking German right now.

[T0mShane]

Bad combine sure, but his highlight video edited by Leni Reifenstahl showed some good burst. If they could have put an Eminem soundtrack behind it, we'd all be speaking German right now.

Positives: The trains would run on time.

Negatives: No one would show up to camp.

[Aten]

Blah blah blah. Brooks Reed. Martez Wilson. We may as well be talking about Sam Acho and Dontay Moch here. There is about a 10% chance that the pick at 30 is anybody other than Jordan, Kerrigan, Carimi, Smith, Taylor, Liuget, Wilkerson, Ayers, Houston, and if it is, it's probably a stupid pick. We did after all have a first-round grade on Greene and almost took Ducasse last year even though both of them ultimately ended up going a lot closer to where everybody else projected than to where the Jets had them graded.

[Jets Voice of Reason]

Blah blah blah. Brooks Reed. Martez Wilson. We may as well be talking about Sam Acho and Dontay Moch here. There is about a 10% chance that the pick at 30 is anybody other than Jordan, Kerrigan, Carimi, Smith, Taylor, Liuget, Wilkerson, Ayers, Houston, and if it is, it's probably a stupid pick. We did after all have a first-round grade on Greene and almost took Ducasse last year even though both of them ultimately ended up going a lot closer to where everybody else projected than to where the Jets had them graded.

Out of the people you mentioned, who would you be happiest with?

[Aten]

Out of the people you mentioned, who would you be happiest with?

I think Jordan is the best player but people are getting sort of out of control. Of course draft profiles are gonna project him at different spots because teams play different defenses, this turns into moving him up and down the line, and eventually it's like you're talking about this human swiss army knife that you can invent new schemes with. It's ridiculous. Jordan's a good player but he's not that guy. What he is, for us, is Shaun Ellis's replacement, and that's great, but I don't like using first rounders to tread water and I don't like him that much more than Kerrigan. More than happy with either or, if Rex likes him, Smith. No strong opinion on Carimi, but everybody considers him a right tackle only and likes him anyway so I'm sure he's fine. I think Ayers is the chalk pick and I'd actually be basically no more or less than exactly satisfied if it was him. Not a fan of the rest. Liuget plays hard but is nothing special, Houston is really starting to seem like a dog with fleas, Taylor's a blimp, and Wilkerson has never done anything against anybody with Big 10 talent, let alone SEC or NFL talent.