Predict the pick

[Dustdevil]

1. Bobby Boucher Jr (LB) S. Cent. LA St.

Profile:

While undersized with a small frame for the position and with a lack of football intelligence, Boucher makes up for his deficiencies with a high motor, sure tackling, sideline-to-sideline coverage, and excellent hydration.

With a quick first step, Boucher is a willing and able blitzer, rarely missing a QB. Boucher has shown flashes of greatness on special teams, particularly on FG units and projects to immediately contribute there on an NFL squad.

Teams may shy away from rumors of family issues and a lack of high quality Div. 1 competition.

Comparable: Jeff Heath (S, Dal)

 

[eromeopolk]

John Stephen Jones 5-10-165 QB Highland Park High School, goes straight to the Pros. Jerry and Stephen Jones just can't help themselves.

 

[theoneandonly]

John Stephen Jones 5-10-165 QB Highland Park High School, goes straight to the Pros. Jerry and Stephen Jones just can't help themselves.

This is inevitable. Wait til he becomes OC, HC, and GM all rolled into one.

 

[JBond]

Anthony Miller in the 2nd combined with VDE in the first was my dream scenario. Lets go Boys. Get it done. 3rd trade for ET. Best guard available in the 4th.

 

[Dustdevil]

Anthony Miller in the 2nd combined with VDE in the first was my dream scenario. Lets go Boys. Get it done. 3rd trade for ET. Best guard available in the 4th.

Can ypu get ET with a 3rd?

We really need a WR in the 2nd and it might take that pick to get ET done.

 

[theoneandonly]

POSITIVES

—Big (6'4", 256 lbs) and long (33 ⅞" arms) with excellent speed and agility.

—Three-down impact player who was used as a blitzer and asked to carry tight ends in coverage.

—Awesome instincts in the middle of the field allowed him to live around the football.

—Hips and feet show up as special in coverage. He can turn and run in-phase with tight ends.

—Fluid, smooth mover whether he's running down a ball-carrier or backpedaling in coverage.

—Timing and instincts as a blitzer allowed him to have a huge impact.



NEGATIVES

—One-year wonder who was banged up prior to 2017.


—Can play tall at times with stiff knees.

—Durability concerns were mentioned by scouts given his injury history.

—Not always an effective stacker of blocks and must better use his length to stay clean.

OVERALL

A former basketball standout in high school, Leighton Vander Esch is one of the best all-around defenders in the class. He's also still developing physically on an already dominant frame. Whether he's playing in a 4-3 or 3-4 scheme, Vander Esch looks like a Day 1 starter.



GRADE: 7.05 (Round 1)

PRO PLAYER COMPARISON: Luke Kuechly, Carolina Panthers


Leighton Vander Esch NFL Draft 2018: Scouting Report for Dallas Cowboys' Pick | Bleacher Report | Latest News, Videos and Highlights

 

[theoneandonly]

! Another guy who gets nicked up a lot. Seems like a slight negative in a collision sport, but thats just me.

 

[Scot]

! Another guy who gets nicked up a lot. Seems like a slight negative in a collision sport, but thats just me.

Exactly!

We have Sean “Made of Glass” Lee
Jalen “The Gimp” Smith
And now this guy who isn’t durable

All three at the position known to be a hard hitting position

Maybe not the best of ideas

 

[theoneandonly]

Tackles Def Int Fumbles
Year School Conf Class Pos G Solo Ast Tot Loss Sk Int Yds Avg TD PD FR Yds TD FF
*2015 Boise State MWC FR LB 8 14 6 20 1.0 0.0 0 0 0 1 1 0
*2016 Boise State MWC SO LB 6 23 4 27 3.5 1.0 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0
*2017 Boise State MWC JR LB 14 91 50 141 8.5 4.0 2 47 23.5 0 5 0 4
Career Boise State 128 60 188 13.0 5.0 3 47 15.7 0 6 1 4https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/leighton-vander-esch-1.html

 

[Dustdevil]

Ok. On to tomorrow.

We have to have a WR. Might have to move up to get Kirk or Sutton. Washington or Charke might fall to us.

3rd round possibility. Orlando Brown (OT) Yes, he had a horrible combine but played very well at OU. Move him to RT and move Collins back inside.

Hard to see how you pull this off and do the Thomas deal though.

 

[Scot]

Can ypu get ET with a 3rd?

We really need a WR in the 2nd and it might take that pick to get ET done.

NO

Seahawks are asking for a 2nd rounder and a late round pick. That just changed today. Before that they were asking for a first rounder.

So there is almost zero chance they accept a third rounder

 

[theoneandonly]

Exactly!

We have Sean “Made of Glass” Lee
Jalen “The Gimp” Smith
And now this guy who isn’t durable

All three at the position known to be a hard hitting position

Maybe not the best of ideas

Not sure which is more troubling: The injury thing or the unable to stack and shed thing.

 

[Doomsday]

Ok. On to tomorrow.

We have to have a WR.

No, not at all.

Empty space would work just as well as Dez has the last three years.

 

[Doomsday]

Not sure which is more troubling: The injury thing or the unable to stack and shed thing.

Orrrrr the whole SLOW thing.

 

[theoneandonly]

!

 

[theoneandonly]

Strengths: Size, athleticism, upside, instincts.

Weaknesses: Experience.

Leighton Vander Esch's parents painted his name, uniform number and some Boise State logos on the side of a full-sized transit bus and drove from Idaho to Las Vegas to see their son play in a bowl game last year.

It was a fun way to demonstrate parental pride, but the color scheme was rather subdued. If one of my kids were playing in a bowl game, I'd paint him riding a unicorn and slaying frost giants with a vorpal sword while racing down the freeway. It would look like six different Rush album covers threw up on the side of that bus. Because I am that proud a parent.

(Actually, my sons prefer it when I don't attend their athletic events and didn't even want to be mentioned in this write-up. Joke's on them.)

Anyhoo…

Vander Esch combines many of the strengths—and a few of the minor weaknesses—of top linebacker prospects Roquan Smith and Tremaine Edmunds. He's almost as athletic as Edmunds, and he is as effective at knifing through the line of scrimmage to make tackles or hurry throws as Smith. But Vander Esch was just a one-year starter at Boise State, and it shows when he is late to diagnose pass patterns, has a hard time disengaging from blockers or fails to protect his legs from cut blocks.

Vander Esch is an old-fashioned inside linebacker with just enough range to stay on the field on third downs. But the Cowboys are so needy at so many other positions that this is a luxury selection. Jerry Jones, as he so often does, drafted a guy with a lot of buzz instead of drafting the player the Cowboys really need.

At least the famous Cowboys bus and the Vander Esch bus can park side-by-side at team headquarters. Maybe they can even have bus races? The busses will be much quicker and faster than the Cowboys' current batch of wide receivers.

Grade: C-minus

 

[Scot]

!

He didn’t fly Taco in on his helicopter last year!

Someone’s gonna get butthurt

 

[Doomsday]

Grade: C-minus

There were sooooo many c-minus players taken in the first round!



NOT

 

[Dustdevil]

Part of the problem with Rd. 2 receivers is they all project to be slot guys. We have slot guys. There's not a prototypical tall guy with speed until Deon Cain.

 

[Ragnar]

I don't know why we didn't take Evans, he was still on the board. If we wanted an LB he seemed the safer pick.