Scouting Report: Underrated prospects in the 2016 NFL Draft
By jonfox
This is the third in a series of scouting report on various prospects in the 2016 NFL draft. This doesn’t mean that every prospect will get analyzed but this author hopes to go through some of the major cohorts of prospects: blue chippers, fake blue chippers, underrated prospects and guys that teams should stay away from. Today: the underrated prospects.
MacKensie Alexander, DB Clemson
What he does well: He’s a very athletic Florida corner(5-10 and less than 200 lbs) with great technique and ball awareness. He’s been so good that opposing offenses really gave up targeting him in 2015. The only WR who had success against him late in the season was Pharoh Cooper.
What he struggles with: He’s a lot smaller than a team would like at corner so you can’t really use him against split out tight ends or taller wideouts.
Red Flags: some recurring knee issues.
Draft range: #12-25 overall.
Pro comparison: Sam Shields, Green Bay. Alexander probably has more talent and potential coming out of school than Shields did but they’re very similar in terms of style of play.
You can’t ask Alexander to be a shutdown corner now like you could ask Hargreaves III to become. But you can ask him to take on faster, shorter wideouts now and expect that he won’t embarrass himself. Just be careful using him against slot wideouts because he’s more fast than quick.
Why is he underrated? His size. He should be a top 12 pick based on his apparent talent level, but scouts talk about how slight his build is and they don’t think that he’ll ever become a quality tackler.
Jalen Reeves-Maybin, LB Tennessee
What he does well: For an OLB, he moves with exceptional quickness and straight line speed. Relentless as an attacker, he has a knack for big plays in big spots. Scouts are looking at him and seeing a 3 down OLB who could do a lot of positive things for a defense.
What he struggles with: If he can’t shake off a block quickly, his lack of size becomes a major issue. Teams did well doubling him up with a lineman and a tight end to take him out of the play.
Red Flags: Some medical issues and got grazed by a bullet during the 2014 offseason.
Draft range: Low 2nd to high 4th round.
Pro comparison: Justin Durant, multiple teams. Reeves-Maybin’s path to a career in the NFL will be to play the Will linebacker spot and hope that his defensive line is good enough to keep the offensive lines off of him. Then he can use his quickness to attack behind the line of scrimmage.
Why is he underrated? His size gets him passed over and not without some justification. A team can’t draft him expecting a top flight starter. They had to have the expectation that you’re getting a complimentary piece for your defense that can take advantage of talent around him to thrive.
Yannick Ngakoue, Edge Rusher Maryland
What he does well: Explosion. He has legitimately amazing speed & quickness. And if blockers weren’t prepared for it, he would be past them before the blockers knew what to do.
He’s combined this athleticism with great hand use and an instinct of when to change direction at close to full speed to frustrate blockers.
What he struggles with: If a blocker can get hands on him, especially one with some power, his lack of size becomes an issue.
Tight ends did well blocking him, especially in the run game where Ngakoue struggles.
Red Flags: None that are apparent.
Draft range: #15-40 overall
Pro comparison: Jerry Hughes, Buffalo. They have almost identical styles of play, height, weight and speed. Hughes was a 1st round bust until he went to Buffalo where they had him attack, that’s what Ngakoue should be drafted for.
Why is he underrated? Because he really is a one trick pony. He’s a pure rusher and only seems to know how to attack the backfield using his speed and quickness to overwhelm blockers.
What he does well: He’s a prototypical zone blocking system left tackle. He has good speed/quickness and his footwork is NFL ready. He also thrived in a up tempo passing offense so the scouts will know that he has some good athleticism.
This combination of skills makes him very difficult for any college speed rusher to beat him to the edge. He also has sufficient power, in college, to handle bull rushers.
What he struggles with: He needs to work on his punch and power moves. They just aren’t anywhere near ready for the NFL. When you watch the film, he also appears to dip his pads far too often.
Red Flags: He was carted off the field into a waiting ambulance in 2014(suspected neck injury).
Draft range: #13-30 overall.
Pro comparison: Duane Brown, Texans. Both were underpowered lacking a good punch coming out of school, Brown went to the right team that ran a zone blocking system and taught him to improve his mechanics. Spriggs needs the same right situation.
Why is he underrated? His lack of good power skills makes all scouts nervous. He’s either a long term project in a non-zone blocking team or a starter in waiting in a zone blocking offense.
What he does well: A very productive running back in a Power 5 conference thanks to his combination of power and acceleration. He seems equally skilled as a receiver than as a runner.
He has good balance and vision, he’s just been a workhorse back for Utah.
What he struggles with: He has a lot of carries on him and with multiple knee injuries, it’s a fair concern how much he has left in the tank. He also doesn’t have great straight line speed, so he best chance at a big play is catching the secondary napping and make them run across the field to catch him.
He needs work on his pass blocking technique as well.
Red Flags: Multiple knee injuries.
Draft range: #35-60 overall
Pro comparison: Le’Veon Bell, Pittsburgh. They both came out of school with similar criticisms but Bell came from a traditional pro style offense instead of Booker’s spread attack. Booker might have Bell’s receiving skills, which is what makes Bell so dangerous for the Steelers.
Why is he underrated? His current knee injury. If it weren’t for that, he’d be an almost certain lcok for the 1st round.