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I think writing stories about mock drafts . . .
. . . is foolish.
And you see a lot of that these days.
How ridiculous is it to write a story based on somebody else guessing?
It makes no sense to me.
But it did catch my attention that NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah has the Jets picking Houston defensive tackle Ed Oliver with the third pick of the draft.
While mocks drafts don’t mean anything, this got me thinking about Oliver.
I talked on the radio the other day about being perplexed that Oliver isn’t being discussed enough as a top-five pick.
This guy is a freak. Defensive tackles with this kind of athleticism and foot quickness are rare.
If we had this talk before last college season, Oliver would have been in the conversation for the top pick in the draft. This isn’t the case anymore. What happened?
Was it the argument he had with former Houston coach Major Applewhite on the sideline?
“All-American defensive tackle Ed Oliver got into a heated discussion with Houston coach Major Applewhite just before halftime of the Cougars’ 48-17 win over Tulane on Thursday night,” wrote ESPN’s Sam Kahn on November 16. “Applewhite approached Oliver, who has missed four consecutive games because of an injured knee, on the Houston sideline before halftime and removed the lineman’s jacket from his shoulder. Oliver could then be seen shouting at Applewhite as the team walked toward its locker room at halftime and was restrained by Houston director of sports performance Rod Grace.”
So maybe it’s his personality.
“Ed Oliver is a jerk,” a league executive told JC. “He complains about everything.”
I can’t verify that one way or another because I don’t know that man.
But you have to be careful who you bring into your locker room. You bring the wrong guys in, it can damage your football culture.
And the Jets need to fix their football culture. It was broken the last couple of years.
So maybe Oliver perhaps slipping is character related.
But since I don’t know the man, I don’t want to buy into that 100 percent.
So let’s look at the football reasons he might slip.
His size.
He’s a defensive tackle who played at 275 at Houston.
As scouts would say, “He doesn’t have a lot of mass in the ass.”
So while his first step quickness is amazing, he might get pushed around by powerful NFL offensive linemen.
“Gregg Williams coached Aaron Donald during his time as Rams DC and could easily find a way to utilize Oliver in the Big Apple,” wrote Jeremiah.
You hear the Oliver-Donald comparison all the time, but NFL Network draft analyst Lance Zeirlein, who is based on Houston, thinks it’s a bad comparison.
I spoke with Zeirlein last Saturday on the radio, and he said that they aren’t similar because Donald is thickly built, and Oliver isn’t.
So when you combine the character concerns some have, with his lack of girth, the Jets going for Oliver at three probably isn’t the way to go.
April 17, 2019
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