Today I had the great pleasure of interviewing Jim Nagy again, discussing the prospects set to attend the Senior Bowl this year. As ever Jim is incredibly generous with his time and produces the ideal primer for the week in Mobile.
Check out our conversation where we cover a number of prospects. Please also like the video, share it around and check out the prospects we discuss.
Jim Nagy seems like a good dude and is super knowledgeable and passionate, but please, Pete and John, let’s not hone in on more super old Senior Bowl prospects again for this year’s draft.
Great point, Jackson, I don’t like seeing the 24,and 25 year-olds on our drafts. You need instant production from them at that age as they are less likely to develop. And when they lose a year to injury… rough.
Malik McDowell is in trouble again – walked naked around a children’s facility and physically assaulted an officer! I was hoping so hard for a redemption story here, and so disappointed that this is where it ends! Some people just can’t get rid of their demons
Ouch…š¬
I saw this earlier and thought he probably didn’t like the owner or something.
That’s a fantastic interview. I mean just technically, the production level is excellent. Your use of clips and stills, and the editing – especially cuing up the Boye Mafe sack – it just completes the experience! I get so much more out of the interview because of it.
Truly excellent work.
And Nagy giving up the names. So many names, some I know, most I don’t.
Love, love the Georgia LBs, but I think I prefer Tindall to Walker because of Tindall’s range – he covers sideline to sideline exceptionally well. He looks well suited to play WILL and the thought of pairing him with Brooks at MIKE is tantalizing.
I think Devonte Wyatt is becoming my draft crush. I don’t see a substantial difference between him and Davis, who will probably go (close to?) a full round earlier. The thought of him anchoring our interior DL is tantalizing.
Some interesting TE options in this draft. Like Nagy said, pick your preferred skill set. Gotta take a look at Isaiah Likely.
Thanks again for the brain food!
Agree completely!
This really is your wheel-house Rob. Great questions (and answers by Jim!). Your prep showed right through. And I echo the compliments on the video production, insertion of clips, etc.
PS – you should take him up on his offer to do it again right before the draft.
When y’all watch TE-Isaiah Likely (Costal Carolina), be sure to check out QB-Grayson McCall, he’ll be in next years’ draft. I like him a lot as a very balanced offense QB. He is very efficient. Check out his super stats, both for 2021 & his career as well.
I loved your interview, nice touch on that. Just listening to Jim and the way he thinks about prospects was great!
Rob,
Great chat with Jim Nagy. Can not wait to see what you think about this list of names he just gave up.
Boye Mafa. Personally can’t wait to look into him. Looks pretty damn strong.
Excellent interview Rob. Thanks!
Great stuff Rob. Thank you very much.
Jim is definitely a guy you’d like to have a beer with to pick his brain.
I thoroughly enjoy these interviews you do Rob. I always look forward to draft time, listening to insight here and learning about the players you profile. Seeing them get drafted and have great success at the highest level is really cool and a testament to all of the work and research you put into this.
I used to look forward to Seattle drafting too, but recently we have had some odd picks, reaches and underperforming players. I can’t say I have the same enthusiasm I once did – we used to be ok in reaching for certain players too early and developing them reliably. I’m scared if we are going to “run it back” again this year with minimal changes that there’s going to be more of the same – odd trades, missing out on impact players at positions of need, and picking ones based on potential that we can no longer develop as well as we used to in years past.
I hope to see some impact players at positions of need drafted by Seattle this year and hopefully we will – and we won’t be watching the next TJ Watt tear it up for another team.
Been a long time since I looked up Rick Mirer and his stats were not good.
To be in the Rick Mirer fan club is to not be particular about stats.
KennyBadger
President, Jon Carlson Fan Club
Thanks for the feedback guys
If you have an opportunity to share the video anywhere else it would be much appreciated
Appreciate your efforts here Rob and appreciate Jim taking the time to be interviewed.
Sure would love to see Abe Lucas a Seahawk, partly cuz I’m a Coug homer but partly cuz when I hear what Jim says on top of what you’ve said about him I get excited by the possibilities for him.
If Lucas shows well at the Senior Bowl and has a good combine, he will be highly coveted by just about every team in need of a Tackle. And that is a lot of teams, especially more than a few with multiple first round picks.
His stock will skyrocket.
RE: Rankings:
I find it interesting that the below two LBās, one being a 1-st round LOCK while the other is just ignored completely. This seems odd to me. The stats below are from cfbstats.com and show the stat comparison between the two. Keeping in mind, they both play in the same state and conference & are of similar size, Lloyd is likely faster & a tackling machine, Heninger hits harder in shorter areas & they both have similar defensive stats otherwise, why is there such a wide gap in the rankings?
LB-Devin Lloyd, Utah, 6-3/235, Great full field linebacker, no doubt, a deserving late 1-st Rd. lock.
2021: 14-games, 111-tkls, 22-TFL (#2 in FBS) 7.0-sacks, 4-INT(2-Tdās), 6-PD, 1-FR, 1-FF.
—– Career: 36-games, 256-tkls, 43-TFL, 15.5-sacks, 5-INT, 6-PD, 1-FR, 2-FF.
LB-Nick Heninger, Utah St. 6-2/235, NOT RANKED, + not even named on most big-boards.
2021: 14-games, 74-tkls, 21.5-TFL (#3 in FBS), 8-sacks, 5-PD, 5-FF, 1-FR.
—— Career: 43-games, 161-tkls, 38-TFL, 17.0-sacks, 8-PD, 9-FF, 6-FR.
Not the same conference.
Part of the scouting/assessment process is distinguishing between NFL calibre athletes and really good college players.
Using Utah as an example – Chase Hansen was a very productive and very good college linebacker playing next to Cody Barton. He had impressive numbers as a senior and was 1st team Pac 12. NFL scouts easily distinguished that Barton was the draftable NFL calibre athlete and Hansen was the UDFA & current street free agent type.
Scooby Wright would be another example. Unreal college career. 7th round pick who last played for a team called the DC defenders.
Gotta look beyond the stats.
Sorry, I miss-spoke re: conferences, however, Pac-12/Mt. West conferences IMO are reasonably close in their competition levels – at least recently, Personally, I see a BIG difference between individual rankings in the 1-st. round & those not being listed as draftable — at all. There are always exceptions to the evaluation process on an individual basis as you say, however, many times players are just plain “overlooked” by the medias.
SO, you seem to be implying that small school guys NEVER get picked in the draft because they donāt play in major conferences? Their stats donāt count for anything, even when their stats are #1 (or close) –over– ALL of the other players in the NCAA? Let me then ask, what are the major questions that you would ask when evaluating players wouldnāt you at least want to even know their performance stats? I agree that level of competition is VERY important, but sometimes a big fish will swim in a small pond & history has proven that many times over.
Below are a couple of āprimeā (and currently overlooked) smaller school examples in the coming draft. There are many players with MUCH lesser stats, some from similar smaller schools, that are ranked way ahead of them for unknown reasons (other than just been simply overlooked by evaluators & medias).
CB-JaāQuan McMillian, E. Carolina, (ranked #503-overall, but recently rising on some boards), 5-10/183,
2021: 56-tkls, 4.0-TFL, 5-INT(1-TD), 16-PD, 1-FF, 2-FR – NOTE: ***#1 in FBS in 2021 in total Passes Defended.
Career: 33-games, 127-Tkls, 5-TFL, *12-INT* (1 for TD), 28-PD, 2-FF, 2-FR. (good career production as well).
āPer PFF,ā McMillian earned an 88.5 defense grade, a 59.5 run defense grade, a 68.1 tackling grade, a 51.0 pass rushing grade, and a 91.1 coverage grade. McMillianās overall coverage grade ranked ā #1 NATIONALLY among all FBS corners. If he was 2-3″ taller, he’d likely be a late day-1 to late day-2 pick.
WR-1-Jerreth Sterns, W. Kentucky (ranked #231-overall, currently a Rd-7-ish pick), 5-9/195,
#1 in FBS in 2021 in these —-five—- WR categories, some categories by a -wide- margin.
*150-catches*,
*1902-yds*,
*17-TDās*,
*10.7-rec/game*
*135.9-yds/game*
A very quick & shifty inside/outside (or slot) possession WR, in the “mold of a Tyler Lockett”, Sure he played in an air raid offense, but receptions are receptions, so WHY is he only ranked at #231 with those #’s?
—Personally, I would like to see both of the above players as Seahawks next year as either day-3 picks or at least as UDFA’s, both could be “cheap” investments that could potentially pay off bigtime.
Also, again, Lloyd and Heninger are #2 & #3 in FBS in total TFL’s, but Heninger (who played with Lloyd at Utah for his 1-st 2 years before transferring to Utah St. for more playing time) doesn’t warrant a draft pick or even a lousy mention as a draft eligible player with their very comparable stats? Really?
I watched JoJo Domann tonight.
He is going to be really good for the Patriots.
BAMF too.
Really interested to hear when/if you get a chance to view any of his other names.
Haven’t watched a ton of Tariq Woolen and I think it’s going to be tricky since some of those schools are so rank that in one “tape,” Illinois state (i think) they almost never put the ball into the air.
I didn’t see him get his head around and want to see instead if he is engaging tackler or just stands around.
But. Damn he looks baked right out of PC’s cook book. Just long, and smooth going with the WR. Probably because he was one initially.
Just got into Mafa’s highlights. No full game stuff yet. He looks strangely raw to me at his age. It seems you can see strength on one play. Speed on another. I will say I love his pursuit and motor til the whistle blows.
I’ve run through most of the new names already today — big piece coming later today
Cowherd latest on Wilson/Seattle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTRyuGmhEJ4
I’m still shocked no one in the media is asking why RW hasn’t had an end-of-season press conference.
He gave them a full hour last year.
This year? Nothing.
We know why. But why isn’t anyone officially asking why? Too busy confirming all their hunches that he’s not going anywhere?
no kidding.
talk about ignoring the elephant in the room.
no one is intrigued by his silence, apparently.
Well summarized, Russ should leave for his best or make Pete go. Period.
Looks like my hunch was correct about the Andrews Institute out on the beach.
“Bill Vilona
Wed, January 19, 2022, 5:30 AMĀ·4 min read
University of Alabam’s Anfernee Jennings draws up a passing play for Zion Milhouse during a stop in Pensacola by the Senior Bowl Caravan on Friday, Jan.24, 2020. Jennings is a member of the 2020 Senior Bowl South squad team.
University of Alabamās Anfernee Jennings draws up a passing play for Zion Milhouse during a stop in Pensacola by the Senior Bowl Caravan on Friday, Jan.24, 2020. Jennings is a member of the 2020 Senior Bowl South squad team.
The Reeseās Senior Bowl is again providing a unique way to showcase future NFL players in Pensacola.
A group of players in the upcoming game will be at the University of West Floridaās Pen-Air Field on Thursday for a free youth football clinic, along with a chance for the public to meet Reeseās Senior Bowl participants. The event will be from 4 p.m to 6 p.m. at the UWF football facility.
UWF coaches and players will assist Dave Wilson, director of the NFL Flag Pensacola youth football league, along with the NFL prospects to aid with drills and hands-on instruction.
āThe goal is really to connect our game to the Pensacola community,ā said Jim Nagy, executive director of the Reeseās Senior Bowl. āLast year, obviously because of Covid, we didnāt have any community service day. This year with the events we have in Mobile the week of the game, it was going to be difficult to bring players over (to Pensacola).
āA great solution is that we have all these players who are training at Exos Training Facility at Andrews Institute in Gulf Breeze who can participate.ā
https://sports.yahoo.com/uwf-athletics-senior-bowl-providing-113014142.html
https://twitter.com/TomPelissero/status/1483972923354460163
A minority hire. Can we get a draft pick?
How is that policy not straight up racism. At the very best itās extraordinarily patronizing to black coaches. Does the nfl get the subtext around this? Dear god
The NFL’s track record before that was abysmal. That’s why they went after Jon Gruden for comments he made 10 years ago in e-mails.
Is it right? No. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary. To me, this is 40 acres and a mule.
Let’s not forget Gruden managed to include racist, misogynist, and homophobic slurs in those emails. No defending that shit. While I do not agree with the secretive and sketchy way things came out, singling out Gruden in what looks like an intentional hit job, I would just as soon see all the documents so we can judge how lewd the rest of the jerk-offs in leadership roles who share in similar ideologies speak behind closed doors. At least if all were shared then a more holistic systemic justice could be properly arbitrated. But that would have crushed the NFL in large segments of the public opinion and it’s financial bottom line. Thus, we will never see the remaining hundreds of thousands of emails. The days of good old boys clubs are in their twilight years and that is fine by me.
As for coaching hires, the discrepancy is large between white and black coaches contrary to a league where the discrepancy is huge between black and white players. It is hardly racist to offer modest compensation, I might add where teams who choose to hire white coach lose nothing, given the systemic racism in the NFL hiring practices for generations.
(I do not mean systemic racism in a hyperbolic way, rather a practical way. Like the quote, “it’s not about what you know but who you know.” If the overwhelming majority is white people in power who have dinner, coffee, play dates with their kids with other white people then it leads to a system that ultimately propagates the same representative whiteness in those positions of power because they’ve built relationships and trust organically.)
Offering an incentive to increase the likelihood of equality of opportunity and access to head coaching gigs for minority candidates is a very low-invasive way to encourage more organic cross-cultural relationships that may lead to more minority hires at the expense of nothing more than teams maybe being able to draft one player outside of the top 100 picks after a few years from making the minority hire.
This modestly proactive mechanism is a drop in the bucket full of already racist water.
[Golf clap.]
No pick.
Only if hired as Head Coach or Primary Football Executive (General Manager) shall receive Draft choice. Then picks goes to his original team.
To me, this would be an intriguing hire. Better than some of the other names I’ve heard mentioned so far.
Intriguing doesn’t cut for me I am afraid.
Yahoo’s Charles Robinson talks Russ and the Seahawks
https://youtu.be/e2d8SY8jW94
@16:00
The value of any player in trade depends largely on what time of year you trade them. The Adams trade was made at the very worst time. A Wilson trade before the draft this year, with this abysmal quarterback class, might be the very best time.
I am reminded of how Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone described the modern commodities market in his book “Griftopia.” Long ago in a place called Battle Creek, Michigan, farmers, and distributors started a commodities market for wheat. The distributors would hoard crops on the market so that if there was a bad harvest or a natural disaster. This way, when bad times come the farmers don’t go out of business because the crop they harvested the previous year is sold at a higher price. It’s an exercise in capitalist socialism: mutually assured survival.
But, every couple of generations political operators try to make it more profitable by introducing speculators that throw everything out of balance. The NFL draft, which lets the weakest team pick first and the strongest last, is a very capitalist socialist model. That is until you make trades.
Let’s look at Matt Taibi’s metaphor about how we screwed up the commodities market. Imagine you own a car dealership. Someone comes up to you and wants to buy $100 Million worth of “car.”
“What kind of car?” you ask.
“I don’t care. I just want to sell it later to make a profit. And I don’t want to take it home. I just want the commodity to stay here on your lot.”
“Okay,” you say.
But you have limited space on your lot. So in order to fit $100 Million of “car” on your four-acre lot, you have to buy Ferraris. The market is calling for Prius hybrid and Ford F150 Lightning, but all you have are Ferraris when the shareholders cash out.
Right now. Russell Wilson is a Ferarri. This year’s quarterback class is a bunch of Mini Coopers and the lot is small.
Your point on when trades are made only emphasizes more how bad the Adams trade was.
We gave up top QB assets for a safety; and at a time Seattle should have been getting a better deal.
Js & PC should have been fired
Scot04 Says, “Your point on when trades are made only emphasizes more how bad the Adams trade was.
Yes, that was exactly my point.
Scot04 Says, “We gave up top QB assets for a safety; and at a time Seattle should have been getting a better deal.”
What top QB asset did we give up?
He means the price was QB esque
+1 for the Matt Taibbi reference. I never thought I’d see him name referenced in a debate about football. Nice work!
I have a degree in Economics.
Then you must love the draft. How the slottting of players, their worth, blue chip worthiness, value, big boards, etc., is almost as speculative as the world of modern art collecting.
Addicted.
Is this turning into a game of chicken between Russ and Pete at this point?
I think it’s more likely a game of chicken between his agent and JS.
I get what you are saying about the behind the scenes maneuvering between GM and agent, but this starts with Russ and his dissatisfaction. It ends with Carroll and his ability/inability to appease that dissatisfaction. So, unless Allen stripped Carroll of his personnel powers, itās still between him and and Russ, as no trade happens without Carrollās approval, and all draft picks and FA acquisitions to appease Russ also go through Carroll.
If a split is inevitable, then the next move is on Russ after Pete culled some staff.
Will Russ make a definitive statement on his future? Will he stand in front of the cameras and microphones?
I doubt it. He is so fearful of tarnishing his image. Unfortunately that image gets tarnished more and more as he uses third parties, instead. Even steadfast Russ supporters in the fan base are getting tired of this approach.
You’re probably right Roy. Agent and GM may be going back and forth, but ultimately this comes down to whether or not Pete and Russ can coexist. Let’s just hope they are all talking with each other, trying to find some common ground, or perhaps agreeing to part ways.
I also agree Russ is consumed by his public image and afraid to lash out against Pete, John or the team. He thinks this makes him look like a bad guy, but in reality, it’s the most important player on the team showing some backbone and standing up for what he believes in. I’m hopeful he’s expressed his concerns privately to Pete, John, and possible Jody Allen, but if not, then he will certainly express his dissatisfaction publicly at some point.
Hang on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!
Currently, I’m at the “He’s gone” stage of my discontent.
As cha stated, no press conference from Russ. Nothing.
Even if he is talking to Carroll and working/not working things out, the lack of anything at all from Russ is an ominous sign for me. The guy LOVES taking the podium and expressing his love of the game.
This year, nothing.
My take is that it’s still somewhat early in the process and Russ and Mark Rodgers are still formulating their plan. Don’t think they plan on staying silent if the only significant program change from previous years is a new DC.
Russ may not demand a trade as that’s not his persona, but he may provide a very clear list of needs/demands if he is to remain with the team. We know he wants/needs 1) better offensive line play and/or more talent there, and 2) more progressive offensive system and substantial input into that system, at a minimum. If these things aren’t agreed to and ultimately met, he will likely get more serious about moving on.
This will take some time to sort out of course, as these changes can’t occur overnight. Now if Russ believes PC/JS don’t intend to address any of his concerns the fireworks will probably begin much sooner.
Why does RW have to say anything??
Maybe he’s content at seeing what management will do?….
Not everything has to be some drama filled malady where there always has to be conflict.
He’s probably just as disappointed as the rest of us, but he also has a contract that he signed. At this point with MGT. being status qou, at least they dumped Norton and the passing game Coordinator. That’s a positive move…What they do with that is a big deal, so maybe RW is just watching it all just like the rest of us.
He doesn’t have to say anything.
Because he probably wants out
But, so far, hasn’t handed in a trade request — possibly because he knows Carroll might just reject it and then Wilson undermines himself big time with fans and team mates.
So we’re left in this situation — with Wilson trying to orchestrate a departure but Carroll clinging on
RW can just say to Jody Allen, PC and JS that he does not want to play under Pete. He can keep media out of it. Atleast they can figure out this time, no warden lolipop this time š we know does not matter who is OC or DC, Pete can’t stay out of it.
My guess is that this is what happens, then we spend half of next season wondering why Russ looks “checked out.” Pete’s probably determined to stonewall Russ into playing out his contract, and then retire the moment Russ is gone. Next two years will be the most boring 10-7 seasons imaginable.
Mike Silver takes an interesting walk through the Raiders’ situation.
https://www.ballysports.com/national/news/michael-silver-raiders-coaching-decision-could-affect-derek-carr-s-future
Sean Desai is rising in my view.
https://heavy.com/sports/chicago-bears/sean-desai-calls-out-jaylon-johnson/
Inject that into my veins. Sean, meet Jamal Adams.
I think we are going to see a lot more “business decisions” from JA moving forward.
After leading the league last year?
Impressive!
Big 4000 word article coming soon
Though we’d all love to see you at the senior bowl or the combine, perhaps it’s the venerable mrs. Staton we should all be pooling our money for to buy something nice.
Noise cancelling headphones?
I kid, I kid.
Senior Bowl preview?
Best content on the web. You the man Rob!
Rob, you have an opinion of Max Borghi of WSU? I see him as a great 3rd down/receiving back. Thoughts?
A fun player to watch but I can’t say I’ve ever envisaged him in Seattle
Thanks. Heāll fit with someone
I’ve been trying to watch some breakdowns of X’s and O’s of what makes the Fangio scheme so good. Not an expert but just trying to figure out what’s the appeal of the candidates attached to the DC job. In particular why does Pete/The Front Office wants to zone in on these guys that worked for or under Fangio.
First of all, the scheme that Fangio himself runs is a lot of more complicated than our LOB days. Is Pete trying to add more spice to disguise coverage? We know that the team used more cover 2 looks the last few years with Jamal Adams. That’s actually because this allows Adams to do more on the field. This season he was lined up everywhere. Very similar to how he was used on the Jets. What he does best is probably in a Cover 2 shell or playing a robber role. This is because this allows him to look in at the QB rather than defend 1-1 vs a receiver or TE.
This is why I think Pete is looking so closely at the Fangio tree of coaching. Hurtt is also part of that tree. The safeties are so important in this scheme. They play everywhere and do a lot of different roles. It is also versatile because you can play 3-4 or 4-3. So when Pete says he wants to attack on defense, is this what he meant? Going this route, will mean more disguises and more looks. We would roll out cover 6 or 5 and put a lot of stress on our safeties to do more of the heavy work. Just my thoughts late at night…
There’s an obvious danger in changing schemes to suit one player (Adams).
Particularly if that one player cant be depended upon, health-wise.
Personally, im excited to see somethin new on defense, hopefully being more agressive and cauising disruption.
But doing it simply to try and get somethin out of Adams isnt the reason to do it.
Right. I’m not saying it’s the right or wrong thing to do, I’m just trying to think about why Pete is going in this direction. They already are adjusting the scheme to fit more for Adams by going to more cover 2 looks. I do find it interesting that all of the coaches being considered worked for other guys that knows how to use particular players to maximize their strengths.
Oh, yeah, i wasnt saying that was your preference.
I agree with your observations, but was just commenting on hiw foolish it would be to do for Adams sake.
Basically, they already doubled down on the Adams mistake, by signing him to a record breaking contract.
It would be tripling down to niw try to change your defense to try and justify your previous errors.
Yeah,
What a brutal trade. In there though, can we still have a good secondary based on these schemes Pete is looking at. Instead forcing guys to do what they can’t, we find ways to highlight what they can do? Jamal excels in disguising and being in multiple positions. Can we find a way for him to do that? Our corners need direction. I don’t know any corner that can cover if you consistently off the WR 10 yards. I’m optimistic that change is coming. But…you know how it is.