First Look: Ramsey & Hargreaves III

I think most would agree that CB and Safety are primary needs for us this offseason. I wanted to take a look at the guys who currently seem to be the consensus top two DBs eligible for this draft. I watched just about everything available on both guys on draftbreakdown.com to get my initial impressions. At a high level, I think there's huge daylight between the two. Ramsey is a legit Top 5 talent who will fit man schemes very well. Hargreaves is not a top 20 talent IMO, but might be a nice fit for us as a zone-savvy corner who is rarely fooled and out of place.

Ramsey: Ramsey is a long, rangy corner who fits today's coveted height/weight stats for manning up with bigger receivers. He played press man almost exclusively in the tapes I watched. He was very hard to beat, and pretty much never gave up uncontested completions. Even when he gave up a 50+ yard TD against Miami, he got himself in perfect position as he turned to find the ball, and the ball just happened to be a bit short and outside. He is a sure tackler, and rarely gives up YAC. I think he's a future pro bowler as a press corner. It's hard to project how he'd do playing off coverage in our scheme, but it's not particularly relevant as he should go very, very early. Based on what I've seen, my guess is that he can flourish in any scheme because he's a just a great all around player.

Hargreaves is a completely different type of corner. He has a shorter, more compact build than Ramsey, and his lack of length showed up in the red zone against Amari Cooper when he was in position to stop a TD, but Cooper high pointed the ball and Hargreaves couldn't stop the TD. He usually played a lot of zone and off man up until the red zone, and then often manned up in goal-to-go situations. He showed a great understanding of his assignments, and in some cases someone watching film, someone who doesn't understand the assignments would think he was getting beat when it was actually the safety on his side of the field who was at fault (BOO! #42 of Florida…). In my view his zone savvy & understanding of combination route concepts could allow him to be a day 1 starter for us if we were to draft him. The bad news is that he's not a good tackler, particularly in run support. He will often give up YAC by not taking down the receiver after the catch. He also struggles to get off of WR blocks, and is often taken out of the play when he should be able to fight through the WR block. Another thing that I observed is that he seems to lack top end speed. Because of their scheme, their were very few teams when I watched him run vertically with a WR, but when he did, he allowed separation. I think he may run around a 4.5, which isn't awful, but you usually see Top 20 corners run faster. IMO Hargreaves is being overrated by the media. He's good, but I think he's a scheme corner. Teams looking for a shutdown man corner should look elsewhere. That could play to our advantage come draft day.

My initial assessment: Ramsey = Top 5 talent; Hargreaves borderline 1st/2nd round talent who best fits zone and off man schemes.

 

I have yet to watch film on any of the other corners except for Apple, and Jackson of Houston. Apple I've ruled out as a 1st round prospect. He's as non physical as Holliman, maybe even worse. He mirrors in coverage pretty well, but I don't see the instincts or ball skills to be a top corner. My initial impression is that he's more of a 3rd - 4th round talent who will probably be over drafted. I've only watched 2 Jackson games, and I'm not impressed thus far. Yeah, he has some length and speed, but I don't see an NFL ready player there. I have to watch more on both guys to formulate a more solid view. Right now these are first impressions.

Fuller, I loved when watching 2-3 games back in 2014. However, I have yet to watch a single tape on him. I think I only watched 1 Va Tech game in '15. I've read that he was hampered by injury in '15, so I'll have to consider that in my eval. I don't think we need a true shutdown corner. We need a real solid cover 2 corner who is zone aware, tackles well and gets the ball when the opportunity presents. My impression from 2014 is that Fuller can be that kind of guy.

 

Never said they did have a shot. In fact, I drew the conclusion that he's a legit top 5 guy. However, until I watch someone, I don't buy the hype. At this point in the offseason, we often see guys pegged as top 10 talent who fall to the 20's or further. So I watch players that I think we may have interest in, even if the online pundits say he's out of reach. Also, I've seen some folks advocate for trading up to get him. After watching him, I am pretty sure he'll need to fail a drug test or blow out his knee in a workout to even be within our range for a draft day trade.

 

Yep. No realistic chance there. Some folks have mentioned trading up for Hargreaves as well. I don't think I would make that move after watching several games. He's good, but not that good IMO.

 

Well, if you trade up, you do it to target a specific player at a position of need. Our defense needs secondary help and outside pass rush help more than anything else. I haven't watched much of the other corners yet, but if Hargreaves is truly the 2nd best corner prospect, I wouldn't give up a pick to move up for him. To get Ramsey, we'd probably need to trade something like our 2nd or 3rd this year and 1st in 2017 to move up to get him. That's too all-in for me. It's going to be a while before I get to watch all of the 1st round rated DBs and edge rushers, but if there's a really good one available in the high teens, I wouldn't be opposed to a move up.

What would be nice is if we get a bit of help in free agency this year. It's a decent year for corners. The question is how high the bidding will go.