Rivers being tried outside (1 Viewer)

[NorrisB]

With No. 1 pick Keith Rivers smoothly making the transition to his college position of outside linebacker and third-round pick Pat Sims practicing like it is a SEC Saturday in the trenches at defensive tackle, the Bengals may be wondering if two huge holes have been filled with their first- and third-round picks.

"Wait until we put the pads on," warned defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer at the end of Saturday's second practice. "There's potential, but let's see."

http://www.bengals.com/news/news.asp?story_id=6776Guess brooks or thurman is the middle man?

 

[msommer]

I would give Thurman better odds now that Brooks has been charged. Too soon to tell, though.

 

[redman]

What's happening with Brooks' charges? Is that going anywhere?

 

[NorrisB]

What's happening with Brooks' charges? Is that going anywhere?

I think he'll be acquitted. It sounds like a lady made some stuff up to get some money. I think the starting lineup will beSLB: Jeanty MLB: BrooksThurmanWLB: RiversDhani Jones

 

[bcr8f]

What's happening with Brooks' charges? Is that going anywhere?

I think he'll be acquitted. It sounds like a lady made some stuff up to get some money. I think the starting lineup will beSLB: Jeanty MLB: BrooksThurmanWLB: RiversDhani Jones

It's early. She was seen at the hospital and the cops were called. Wanting money does not mean Brooks didn't slug her.

 

[Michael Fox Fan]

What's happening with Brooks' charges? Is that going anywhere?

I think he'll be acquitted. It sounds like a lady made some stuff up to get some money. I think the starting lineup will beSLB: Jeanty MLB: BrooksThurmanWLB: RiversDhani Jones

Why do you think that Thurman won't crack the starting lineup? Regardless of the order Brooks, Thurman and Rivers are the most talented LBs on the team. Don't you think the coaching staff will find a way to utilize all three?

 

[Chachi]

What's happening with Brooks' charges? Is that going anywhere?

I think he'll be acquitted. It sounds like a lady made some stuff up to get some money. I think the starting lineup will beSLB: Jeanty MLB: BrooksThurmanWLB: RiversDhani Jones

Why do you think that Thurman won't crack the starting lineup? Regardless of the order Brooks, Thurman and Rivers are the most talented LBs on the team. Don't you think the coaching staff will find a way to utilize all three?

Thurman hasn't played in 2 years and has not been allowed to practice with the team, he might have lost it, who knows at this point.

 

[Rushmore]

As I said in the other River's thread, Thurman probably won't be handed the job. I expect him to have to start out as a backup on the depth chart and earn a starting spot back (which I expect him to do eventually).

 

[NorrisB]

In addition, Lewis and his coaches could see the functional strength of linemen they selected – such as offensive tackle Anthony Collins and defensive tackles Pat Sims and Jason Shjrley.First-round draft pick Keith Rivers, the Southern Cal linebacker, worked on the weak-side position, where he had in college, and impressed coaches with his fluid play and work ethic.Coaches were impressed, too, with Rivers’ natural leadership and ability to call his position players together.“He showed things that are innate,” Lewis said of Rivers. “Every time he was not in a meeting he was upstairs watching tape on his own.“He already gets it.”

per bengals.comlooks pretty telling that rivers is going to be the wlb

 

[noneother]

so how do Rivers, Connor, Lofton, stack up against the LBs of the last few years..

Posluszny, Ryans, Willis, Beason, tatupu??

I see the rankings, all the new guys are in the 40s.. was it the same for pos and willis? I know demeco was a 'find'

 

[Jene Bramel]

so how do Rivers, Connor, Lofton, stack up against the LBs of the last few years..

Posluszny, Ryans, Willis, Beason, tatupu??

I see the rankings, all the new guys are in the 40s.. was it the same for pos and willis? I know demeco was a 'find'

Willis and Posluszny were in the top 15 for me in August last year, and I may have had Willis nine in the last pre-season redraft ranking. Beason was down in the 30s as a WLB who wasn't in the nickel. Ryans was in my top 15 redraft in 2006. I wasn't on staff before then.Hindsight is easy of course, but here's how I think I'd have tiered the consensus top five IDP LB prospects from the past four classes (long term potential) based on scouting reports, scheme and situation only...

___________________

Top 10 potential

Willis, Ryans, Sims, Thurman

If you couldn't see the potential in Willis and Ryans based on the information at hand by the end of the preseason, you weren't looking hard enough. Sims projected highly in the Derrick Brooks mold. And you can still search for my man-love posts on Thurman from my pre-staff days. I've cooled on Sims significantly and, well, Thurman is another story.

Top 15 potential

Mayo, Lofton, Posluszny, Beason, Hawk, Ruud, Tatupu

Not much to say here. I would have argued that Beason had the most long term upside of this group, but Connor may put a dent in that argument. Magaw turned me onto Tatupu and I had come around on him (pre-staff days) by August.

Top 25 potential

Rivers, Dizon, Greenway, Crowder, Timmons

This is the tough group for me. Relatively big fan of Greenway and Timmons. Jury remains out on both, but it's not in my favor so far. I'm a little off the consensus on Dizon and Rivers, and that'll be interesting to follow.

Top 36 potential

Connor, Harris, Jackson, Johnson

Harris is the big miss here. After watching him play and considering the scheme, he should have been at least a tier higher. My dynasty rankings note what I think of him now. Connor may make me look equally silly.

For this season, I'd add Gooden into the top 25 group and strongly consider Bell among the top 36.

____________________

Dizon is likely to move up in my redraft rankings with the news that Millen/Marinelli are already going back on their "our rookie will start out as a SLB" talk. Lofton and Rivers (and Connor) have room to move up if they win every down starting MLB roles. Mayo is probably stuck in the 30-40 range for me unless he looks very impressive on the field during the preseason and projects to 60 snaps/game.

I think this is a good exercise for everyone to do. I was planning to post a thread discussing these guys after June minicamps gave us enough information to go on with this year's newbies, but it might be even more important to do now.



ETA: Copied this post into a new and separate thread.