Three Controversial NFL Draft Takes Surrounding Georgia
With the week of the NFL Draft comes plenty of takes, updates, leaks, and talking points. It's talking season.
NFL GMs, coaches, and agents are all posturing for leverage as the hours slip by ahead of a litany of decisions that will directly impact the immediate future of NFL franchises worth subsequent billions. Not to be dramatic.
So, as we survey the landscape a mere 48 hours prior to the 2022 NFL Draft, what are some of the more controversial draft takes surrounding Georgia's players? And can they be debunked with a little added context?
Jordan Davis isn't Powerful
Greg Cosell, a long-time NFL analyst, came out with the opinion that Jordan Davis is not "powerful" he's "strong". Cossell essentially separated power — strength in motion — from standard strength, or as he described it one's ability to hold the point.
Those definitions and scouting terms are relevant, and they are important. However, the ridiculousness behind this take resides in the fact that it's contextually inaccurate. Jordan Davis played in a system at Georgia in which his job was to attract as many bodies as possible and keep them occupied at the line of scrimmage, in the football world this is known as "two-gapping." Schematically he was incapable of displaying Cosell's definition of "power.
Secondly, this idea of power being strength in motion is a beautiful way of proving yourself incorrect with regard to Jordan Davis. He has inarguable data points — 19.6 MPH GPS tracking, and 4.78 forty-yard dashes— that prove he is indeed extremely powerful per your miraculous definitions.
Nakobe Dean is too Small/Slow/Whatever
Turn on the tape from Georgia's 2022 defense. Watch, and do so closely. You'll notice something on every single play... No. 17 moves first. Nakobe Dean sees things before they happen, he corrects those around him, he's a bullet shot from a sniper rifle inside the box on rundowns and he's been tasked with some of the more difficult coverage responsibilities of any true inside backer. Oh, and in a world of professional football where getting after the quarterback is paramount, Dean possesses a pass-rush acumen unlike any backer in this class despite his deficiencies in the length department — Dean finished 2021 with 6.0 sacks.
Nakobe Dean is a 10-year starter at inside linebacker and leader of your defense. No height, weight, or forty-yard dash is needed, turn the tape on.
Travon Walker Box Score Scouting
Search through verified Twitter, you just might find that person doing the box score scouting thing with regards to Travon Walker. After all, this is a guy that's favored to be the No. 1 overall draft pick and only had 9.5 sacks in three seasons at Georgia. Aidan Hutchinson had 14.0 sacks in 2021 alone.
That person, with that take, hasn't watched Walker on tape. This is a guy at Georgia that's been asked to play defensive end in a mint front defense. In layman's terms, he spent the overwhelming majority of his time living in B-Gap, in between the guard and the tackle, or 4i Technique. This means he saw double-teams more times than not, it also meant when he was rushing, it was from a condensed set.
The job of an NFL evaluator is to project. Project what you can do with a 6'5, 272-pound defensive end who runs 4.5 in the forty and has shown the ability to rush the passer as a true edge rusher, hold up against the run in B-Gap in the SEC, and drop in pass coverage all at an elite level.
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