Tweet
This morning seemed like a very solid practice, but not spectacular. Shoulder pads were worn for hitting, but no full pads and no full tackling. There were still some very solid licks though today. This practice did start to separate players on the depth chart though and bring a little more clarity to the picture.
QB- Jake looks great so far. He really has a hold of this team with leadership, he's thrown accurately and a few balls with some very nice touch. He has even made good decisions for the most part and thrown the ball away when necessary. Bradlee Van Pelt has a very clear hold of the second string right now. Today, Van Pelt got nearly all of the snaps with the second unit and Mauck and Kanell were left to run third string together. Kanell is not impressing me so far, he threw a horrible INT in the end zone today on a ball batted by Terry Pierce and intercepted by Sam Brandon. Plummer and Van Pelt both handled the red zone drill well. Jake seems to be favoring his tight ends a lot, and he is hitting them consistently. Look for this trend to continue.
Observed Depth chart order-
1.Plummer
2. Van Pelt
3. Mauck/Kanell
RB- M.A. seems to have a clear hold on the #1 job right now. He's running very hard and was nearly unstoppable on the goal line this morning. Tatum seemed to be playing harder and better this morning, but didn't seem to get as many snaps today, especially in the latter part of practice. Clarett had some very nice runs and played hard in all situations. He had one very nice cut back run against the grain of the defense. Q didn't practice and Ron Dayne looked solid and surprisingly nimble for the Ron Dayne we have known. The depth chart here is a little harder to figure, but M.A. is #1 and the rest are fighting. Really like what I'm seeing from Clarett. He also had one very nice 20 yard TD run in red zone drills.
O-Line- Blocking looks very solid right now, but they've seemed to struggle with some false starts. Shanny really got on to them for the offsides, look for this problem to be resolved quickly if Mike has anything to say about it. 2nd string O-line had a tough time holding back the pass rush of the 1st team defense.
TE- Again, the TE's are being used a lot. Putzier looks great and right on track to catch a number of TD's. Seems to be Jake's favorite target. Alexander has been solid, couple of drops though. Nate Jackson sat out some of practice but caught a real nice ball on the goal line from Jake over Ian Gold for the score. Mike Leach is not a TE, guy is lucky no one else long snaps very well. P. Hape seems to be falling down the depth chart and Wesley Duke REALLY REALLY needs to work on his blocking.
WR- Got a little more clarity at WR today and some EXCELLENT play from Ashley Lelie. He is quickly becoming much more of an all around receiver. He caught several tough balls over the middle, an acrobatic sideline catch and deep bomb for a TD from Jake. Ashley is looking great. Rod is Rod, enough said. Darius Watts did much better holding onto the ball today and using his hands, ran the slant pattern very well and looked to have a little more confidence today. Jerry Rice was nearly invisible most of practice until Van Pelt hit him on a tight slant against the first team D that probably would have went for 20 yards. Charlie Adams had another very good day, Todd Devoe has now passed not only Crenshaw and Johnson on the depth chart, but T. Luke too. Luke was nowhere to be found today and is slipping despite his potential. Going by the 1,2,3rd team units, this is what the depth chart currently seems to be.
1. Rod
2. Lelie
3. Watts
4. Rice
5. Charlie Adams
6. Todd DeVoe
7. T. Luke
Kyle Johnson is very solid at FB and Cecil Sapp is really trying to get ahold of the #2 spot. Probably will get it too based on special teams.
D-line- T. Pryce was solid, but didn't stand out much today. Courtney Brown and Luther Elliss practiced today, but not Ekuban. Brown looked pretty good and played active. Myers was solid and Gerard Warren looked to me like he had his best practice of camp, saw him in the backfield on several occasions. Anton Palepoi is moving up the list. When Pryce took a few snaps off from the 1st team, it was Palepoi, not Engleberger who took over. Pope and Fatafehi are holding there own in the middle against the run, but need more rush. Marco Coleman played less today with Brown back, but played solid as usual.
LB- Al Wilson is playing very tough as usual and already laying big hits. D.J. Williams is not only playing SLB, but MLB with the other units on occasion. Ian Gold looked good again, his speed is such a great asset. Our first team LB's are blitzing very well. Jashon Sykes has been playing everywhere, and Terry Pierce raised his value today in coverage. Chuckwurah is running 3rd team with Kieth Burns, Sykes and Pierce on the 2nd.
DB- Sam Brandon continues to raise his level of play. The coaches are obviously very pleased with LeSueur because he is entrenched as the starting nickel back and got to replace Lynch with the 1st team when he went out for a couple plays. Lynch and Ferguson are looking very good back there together and in command at all times. Chris Young's spot is falling and Brandon Browner gets a good hit in every now and then. Champ is Champ, nothing unusual today. But Lenny Walls, WOW, dude is playing out of his mind. Every other play he is either making a Big Hit, yes a big hit, or knocking the ball down in tight coverage. Foxworth is playing good and had really nice coverage on one deep ball to Adams to force an incompletion. Roc Alexander seems to be sliding down the depth chart to the 3rd team. Browner is playing safety exclusively, for good reason too. Paymah and Williams have a long way to go, but neither are getting embarassed. Both are improving each day it seems.
Special Teams- Darrent Williams had one bad muff today, but otherwise he, Luke and Adams fielded the ball with ease. Sauerbrun was booming the ball, then Ernster came through with about two 70 yard punts of his own. Sauerbrun quickly put all thought aside though when he punted his next ball from his own 15 all the way to the end zone, it was ridiculous. His leg is like shooting a cannon.
Overall, Lenny Walls and Ashley Lelie really seemed to steal the show in my eyes as far as consistency throughout the whole practice. Van Pelt had two offensive series' agains the first team defense and faced several blitzes and a lot of pressure. One bad decision on one of the series', then the drive failed. But his next series he marched right down the field agains our first unit for a score. The coaches are giving him every opportunity. M.A. will really help our red zone efficiency, he just wasn't stopped and our pass rush looked solid today. I think Charlie Adams is slowly assuring himself a roster spot if he keeps this up. Anyway, very interesting practice to watch to see the depth charts taking shape. And it looks like we have a favorite in Van Pelt surprisingly for the #2 job. He really did get almost every snap with the second team, and moved around with Jake at practice while Kanell and Mauck stayed together. Should be some interesting battles ahead during preseason, especially at RB. Let me know if you have any questions, sorry if I forgot to mention anything specific, just ask.
QB- Jake looks great so far. He really has a hold of this team with leadership, he's thrown accurately and a few balls with some very nice touch. He has even made good decisions for the most part and thrown the ball away when necessary. Bradlee Van Pelt has a very clear hold of the second string right now. Today, Van Pelt got nearly all of the snaps with the second unit and Mauck and Kanell were left to run third string together. Kanell is not impressing me so far, he threw a horrible INT in the end zone today on a ball batted by Terry Pierce and intercepted by Sam Brandon. Plummer and Van Pelt both handled the red zone drill well. Jake seems to be favoring his tight ends a lot, and he is hitting them consistently. Look for this trend to continue.
Observed Depth chart order-
1.Plummer
2. Van Pelt
3. Mauck/Kanell
RB- M.A. seems to have a clear hold on the #1 job right now. He's running very hard and was nearly unstoppable on the goal line this morning. Tatum seemed to be playing harder and better this morning, but didn't seem to get as many snaps today, especially in the latter part of practice. Clarett had some very nice runs and played hard in all situations. He had one very nice cut back run against the grain of the defense. Q didn't practice and Ron Dayne looked solid and surprisingly nimble for the Ron Dayne we have known. The depth chart here is a little harder to figure, but M.A. is #1 and the rest are fighting. Really like what I'm seeing from Clarett. He also had one very nice 20 yard TD run in red zone drills.
O-Line- Blocking looks very solid right now, but they've seemed to struggle with some false starts. Shanny really got on to them for the offsides, look for this problem to be resolved quickly if Mike has anything to say about it. 2nd string O-line had a tough time holding back the pass rush of the 1st team defense.
TE- Again, the TE's are being used a lot. Putzier looks great and right on track to catch a number of TD's. Seems to be Jake's favorite target. Alexander has been solid, couple of drops though. Nate Jackson sat out some of practice but caught a real nice ball on the goal line from Jake over Ian Gold for the score. Mike Leach is not a TE, guy is lucky no one else long snaps very well. P. Hape seems to be falling down the depth chart and Wesley Duke REALLY REALLY needs to work on his blocking.
WR- Got a little more clarity at WR today and some EXCELLENT play from Ashley Lelie. He is quickly becoming much more of an all around receiver. He caught several tough balls over the middle, an acrobatic sideline catch and deep bomb for a TD from Jake. Ashley is looking great. Rod is Rod, enough said. Darius Watts did much better holding onto the ball today and using his hands, ran the slant pattern very well and looked to have a little more confidence today. Jerry Rice was nearly invisible most of practice until Van Pelt hit him on a tight slant against the first team D that probably would have went for 20 yards. Charlie Adams had another very good day, Todd Devoe has now passed not only Crenshaw and Johnson on the depth chart, but T. Luke too. Luke was nowhere to be found today and is slipping despite his potential. Going by the 1,2,3rd team units, this is what the depth chart currently seems to be.
1. Rod
2. Lelie
3. Watts
4. Rice
5. Charlie Adams
6. Todd DeVoe
7. T. Luke
Kyle Johnson is very solid at FB and Cecil Sapp is really trying to get ahold of the #2 spot. Probably will get it too based on special teams.
D-line- T. Pryce was solid, but didn't stand out much today. Courtney Brown and Luther Elliss practiced today, but not Ekuban. Brown looked pretty good and played active. Myers was solid and Gerard Warren looked to me like he had his best practice of camp, saw him in the backfield on several occasions. Anton Palepoi is moving up the list. When Pryce took a few snaps off from the 1st team, it was Palepoi, not Engleberger who took over. Pope and Fatafehi are holding there own in the middle against the run, but need more rush. Marco Coleman played less today with Brown back, but played solid as usual.
LB- Al Wilson is playing very tough as usual and already laying big hits. D.J. Williams is not only playing SLB, but MLB with the other units on occasion. Ian Gold looked good again, his speed is such a great asset. Our first team LB's are blitzing very well. Jashon Sykes has been playing everywhere, and Terry Pierce raised his value today in coverage. Chuckwurah is running 3rd team with Kieth Burns, Sykes and Pierce on the 2nd.
DB- Sam Brandon continues to raise his level of play. The coaches are obviously very pleased with LeSueur because he is entrenched as the starting nickel back and got to replace Lynch with the 1st team when he went out for a couple plays. Lynch and Ferguson are looking very good back there together and in command at all times. Chris Young's spot is falling and Brandon Browner gets a good hit in every now and then. Champ is Champ, nothing unusual today. But Lenny Walls, WOW, dude is playing out of his mind. Every other play he is either making a Big Hit, yes a big hit, or knocking the ball down in tight coverage. Foxworth is playing good and had really nice coverage on one deep ball to Adams to force an incompletion. Roc Alexander seems to be sliding down the depth chart to the 3rd team. Browner is playing safety exclusively, for good reason too. Paymah and Williams have a long way to go, but neither are getting embarassed. Both are improving each day it seems.
Special Teams- Darrent Williams had one bad muff today, but otherwise he, Luke and Adams fielded the ball with ease. Sauerbrun was booming the ball, then Ernster came through with about two 70 yard punts of his own. Sauerbrun quickly put all thought aside though when he punted his next ball from his own 15 all the way to the end zone, it was ridiculous. His leg is like shooting a cannon.
Overall, Lenny Walls and Ashley Lelie really seemed to steal the show in my eyes as far as consistency throughout the whole practice. Van Pelt had two offensive series' agains the first team defense and faced several blitzes and a lot of pressure. One bad decision on one of the series', then the drive failed. But his next series he marched right down the field agains our first unit for a score. The coaches are giving him every opportunity. M.A. will really help our red zone efficiency, he just wasn't stopped and our pass rush looked solid today. I think Charlie Adams is slowly assuring himself a roster spot if he keeps this up. Anyway, very interesting practice to watch to see the depth charts taking shape. And it looks like we have a favorite in Van Pelt surprisingly for the #2 job. He really did get almost every snap with the second team, and moved around with Jake at practice while Kanell and Mauck stayed together. Should be some interesting battles ahead during preseason, especially at RB. Let me know if you have any questions, sorry if I forgot to mention anything specific, just ask.
Comment