rkwittem wrote:What about Armanti Edwards?
Completed his first pass today.
Also, good article on DJ from today:
D.J. Smith already looks like a starting-caliber inside linebacker.
The sixth-round draft pick has started the past two games because of injuries and will remain there only until Desmond Bishop comes back from a strained calf, which could be in a week or two. But especially after Smith’s play last week against Oakland, there’s reason to think the undersized rookie has a bright future with the Green Bay Packers.
“Good football player,” said Reggie McKenzie, the Packers’ director of football operations. “A player that’s going to help us win games wherever you put him. Guys like that, when you put them on the field, a whole lot more good things happen than bad. He’s going to make some plays.”
Smith’s quick emergence was hardly a given when the Packers selected him in the sixth round of this year’s draft. He was a tackling machine at Appalachian State, but he’s also short (5-foot-10 5/8) for an inside linebacker, and his 4.75-second 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine was average at best for the position. When teams go a little smaller than preferred at a position, they like to have a compensating physical characteristic, and Smith didn’t have one.
He embodied the push and pull teams engage in every year when they weigh measurables and physical potential against college production to separate the keepers from the rejects in the NFL draft, especially in the later rounds.
All NFL teams build profiles for the physical attributes they want for every position, based on research of which players make it and perform well in the NFL and which players don’t. But they also have to weigh their play in college, and they don’t want to be fooled by either factor.
That’s where Smith was an especially difficult evaluation. He made tackles galore — 525, including 32 for a loss, as a four-year starter — but did it at the Football Championship Series level, not the highest level of college football.
Ted Thompson, the Packers’ general manager, determined off videotape that Smith’s short-area quickness, ability to strike at 239 pounds and instincts projected well to the big leagues.
“(Smith) doesn’t play small,” McKenzie said. “He might have been undersized a little bit, but he played with a good tempo as far as speed and quickness. He played with very good instincts, he was always around the ball. The point is, you have to doggone look at that. He makes plays, he’s a football player. Because when you talk about the guy from a size standpoint, does he play big or does he play small? He plays big enough.”
During training camp, Smith’s good instincts showed up quickly, though he also had a tendency to overrun plays and like all rookies was playing catch-up because the lockout canceled offseason practices.
Still, during an early practice, safety Charlie Peprah was talking to several teammates on the sideline about the NFL player Smith brought to mind. Somebody behind him said London Fletcher, the Washington Redskins linebacker who’s listed at 5-10 but might be closer to 5-9.
“That’s who it is,” Peprah said. “He plays like London Fletcher. Not the biggest guy, but he runs to the football, smart, hit you, tackles well, just has good instincts. I don’t care about his measurables.”
That isn’t saying Smith is the next Fletcher, who’s in the 14th year of his distinguished career. Fletcher has been a starter for 13 of those seasons and played in the last two Pro Bowls at ages 34 and 35.
Fletcher’s weight (245 pounds) is slightly greater than Smith’s (239), and like Smith he played a lower level of college football, Division III John Carroll. But at least coming into the NFL, Fletcher was much faster and reportedly ran the 40 in 4.38 seconds at his Pro Day workout. He went undrafted and signed with the St. Louis Rams.
“(Fletcher’s) speed coming out (of college), he was really fast,” McKenzie said. “I don’t think he played as big (as Smith). When I say as big, he didn’t play as heavy, he didn’t just shock guys. Our guy can at least take on a little better at the point. I’m not saying he’s better than London. I wouldn’t say they’re similar-type players. They’re similar in instinct — once they see it they go — they’re very instinctive that way.”
Three weeks ago, Smith went from a special-teams core player to a full-time inside linebacker when Bishop injured his calf late in the first quarter at Detroit on Thanksgiving Day. He’s started the last two games alongside Robert Francois, who replaced A.J. Hawk in the second half at Detroit after Hawk also strained a calf.
Though Smith is a rookie, defensive coordinator Dom Capers trusted him enough to wear the defense’s helmet headset the last two games with Hawk and Bishop out. On a couple of plays, Smith’s headset cut out before he received the call, so he made the default call Capers set up for such occasions.
“Sometimes coming back I don’t know if he made the call or it was from the sideline,” Peprah said. “Come to find out he was adjusting on the fly. He handled it like a pro.”
In three quarters against the Lions, Smith had seven tackles, followed by nine the next week against the Giants. Then last week against Oakland, McCarthy rewarded him with a game ball after Smith tied for the team high in tackles (10) and made a first-quarter interception of Carson Palmer that set up the Packers’ first touchdown. Francois also had an interception and received a game ball.
Hawk is back practicing full time this week and will play Sunday at Kansas City. Smith will start ahead of Francois in Bishop’s place and might have earned playing time in certain packages when both starters are back.
“I’m not going to get into the specifics of it,” McCarthy said, “but D.J. and Robert definitely earned opportunities to have an increased role.”
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Wish that guy still posted here so he could eat his crow. DJ looks to be our best drafted player in quite some time... back to either Daniel Wilcox or Dexter Coakley.
