Practice Squad players...

[vcuram]

So....is Capizzi actually any good?  I keep reading that it was a shame we didn't keep him, but why is everyone so high on him?  Is it because he's big and plays a position that we're not deep at?

I think that McBean, a fourth round pick, not making the team is a big deal.

[BleedGreen710]

McBean made the practice squad...I mean, you can only keep so many players, and if they are close but not quite there, then the practice squad is where they belong.  He is still in the organization, and if we need to, we can bring him onto the roster.  I would say from the viewpoint of draft picks sticking, we did a pretty good job drafting this year.  They still have to perform, and who knows how that will work out, but pretty good so far...

[Finnegans Wake]

So....is Capizzi actually any good?  I keep reading that it was a shame we didn't keep him, but why is everyone so high on him?  Is it because he's big and plays a position that we're not deep at?

I think that McBean, a fourth round pick, not making the team is a big deal.

I thought Capizzi looked good... against slop.  So, hard to tell.

McBean not making it = Orien Harris, R4, 2006 = Fred Gibson, R4, 2005 = Danny Farmer, R4, 2000...

Just saying, it happens.  Since 2000, that's we've had 4 guys out of 9 drafted in R4 (others: Sepulveda, Colon, Foote, Taylor, Nkwenti) not make the cut, for a 50% success rate.  Looks like we roll the dice in R4, and Nkwenti ultimately did nothing.  Sepulveda has drawn flak (who takes a punter in R4) but will stay for a while; Colon was a small school (Hofstra) gamble; Foote was from Michigan, who lost to Appalachian State, and was not highly regarded, and even his first few years here looked lost; Taylor was the rawest prospect imaginable, from La.-Lafayette, and not much experience beyond chasing rabbits; Nkwenti was a Temple kid, IIRC.

So I don't see McBean as breaking any drafting strategy mold under Colbert.  Now, maybe we need to recast that R4 mold...

[mzimmerman81]

As someone who worked at Colgate in the Sports Info department when the Raiders made their run to I-AA championship with Walter Payton Award Winner Jamaal Branch, I can comment first hand on Branch.  He is not really a goal-line guy although he is a bigger back.  He reminds me of Tony Hunt, of course him being there means nothing unless an RB gets hurt.

I will say I am excited he got picked up by Pit.

[vcuram]

Yeah, I'm not surprised that McBean and Stephenson didn't stick, it's just disappointing.  I think I've posted the same thing after Orien, Jacobs, and Gibson were all cut.  

Draft picks are valued so high by organizations that it's interesting that we're having quite a few misses after the first round or two.  I realize that there weren't too many spots available for rooks, but a lot of us complain about our depth at certain positions.  Wasting fourth and fifth round picks doesn't help the depth chart.

I was surprised to read that Cooper and Eason, who both made the team, were former third and fourth round picks, respectively.  

[Finnegans Wake]

Don't get me wrong: I wis we got better value out of our R4 guys, and to a certain extent R5s.  In some ways I group R4s in more with the first day talent, guys who fell through the first day crack.  R5 is best of the rest.  R6 on is, you gets what you gets.

But I don't really get pissed unless we have a Zo type situation, a day one guy who doesn't pan, and even then he stuck for a year.  Coke is still iffy, but he's here, working.  Imagine how pissed we'd be if we were Cards fans and our R3, Buster Davis was cut.  Cards picked up Oak's R3, Quentin Moses.  That's pissy.