Slingin Sammy's Training Camp Notes-August 5th

Great work man! I find this especially encouraging:

10. DBs?: The secondary looks good, aside from Smoot. With Hall/Rogers at CB, Landry FS, Horton SS, Tyron, Barnes, Moore. The secondary should be a strong point. They appear to be covering well and in position to make plays/hits.
Notice that we drafted everyone on this list except Hall, and that they're all young. This is a good sign.

Will we have a notes thread each day of camp? I am thinking about going on Saturday, just wondering if there will be a thread I post in. I may not be as extensive as Sammy

Bring it hooskins! I for one would love to hear your thoughts on what you see. It's nice to get reports from our own guys.

Bring it hooskins! I for one would love to hear your thoughts on what you see. It's nice to get reports from our own guys.

I agree hooskins. When you get back, make your own thread if you wish and I, for just one, will be very grateful.

SS33's Training Camp Report - Aug. 5th
Arrived at about 7:50am. LBS & DL came out first, then OL started filtering out. Rinehart and Batiste were first out on OL. Buges was the first coach out and was working on technique with Rinehart by 8:15. Pre-practice started at 8:30am.

Keep in mind this is a light contact practice, no tackling, no full-on blocking, no lower body contact (cut blocks, etc.). Pretty much just execution of assignments and technique work.

I'll try to run through the questions one-by-one:

1. Robert Thomas looked fine. He's at OLB with the 2nd unit.

2. Interaction of position coaches:
Bugel - I pray I have his energy when I'm his age. Other than the brace on his knee and a limp later in practice he looked good.
Zorn - Working directly with the QBs, Meidt is simply a helper. Clearly the OC and man in charge of the offense, very hands-on, which IMO is a good thing.
All the other coaches seemed to interact with their groups well. Not as much correction/teaching as I expected, but that's probably because they don't want to embarass any players in an open practice.

3. OL Scouting Report - Starting OL today LT to RT, Samuels, Dockery, Rabach (non-contact), Rinehart, Bridges. In pre-practice they were going through Pass-Pro and working against stunts. A lot of the younger guys were getting reps. Hard to tell much from the OL with minimal contact. In OL/DL one-one drills, I didn't see most of it as I was charting passes by the QBs, but I did see Rinehart get abused on a swim move by Gholston. Next play he got bull rushed, but recovered. Our backup C, Montgomery held his own. Bridges went against Jarmon, who is very quick off the edge but directed him wide. Bridges isn't comfortable yet at RT and an edge rusher with speed will be a problem right now. But the more reps the better to get comfortable.

4. Barnes vs. Smoot: Right now Smoot is starting at RCB with Rogers out. This is not good. Smoot was abused at least three times today deep by more than 3 yards. Barnes is starting at LCB on the second team. If Barnes is solid in the first two pre-season games, Smoot is gone.

5. Jarmon: Good speed off the edge. Not NFL ready yet. Next year he should be in the mix at LDE.

6. McIntosh moving well, reading and reacting well. Coverage was fine minus getting smoked once by Cooley in the RZ.

7. Hensen & Glenn - Neither stood out good or bad. Both are in the rotation at 2nd/3rd team.

8. Chris Wilson - I didn't notice Wilson getting reps at OLB.

9. Marko Mitchell - Tall, Route running OK, hands don't appear to be a problem. Didn't stand-out in any way though.

10. DBs?: The secondary looks good, aside from Smoot. With Hall/Rogers at CB, Landry FS, Horton SS, Tyron, Barnes, Moore. The secondary should be a strong point. They appear to be covering well and in position to make plays/hits.

11. No 3-4 defense used at all. Saw a lot of the 4-3 Cover 1 Man, also Cover 2 Zone, and Nickel.

12. Aldridge - Didn't stand out either way

13. Orakpo looks good, strong coming off the edge as Sam or at RDE. In our base 4-3 he'll line up at Sam. On passing downs he's been moving to RDE with Carter at LDE. Appears to be reading and handling his assignments.

14. Suisham / Rayner - Other than FG/XPT work for about 10 minutes nothing else on Specials. Both were showing good leg strength although Suisham appeared more accurate. About three of Rayners kicks seemed to have a hook in them, but they were still good. Both nailed 45 yarders with at least 8 yds to spare as Smith was counting down.

15. HB Blades is strictly working at MLB, backing up Fletch.

16. Passing game is mostly 3-5 step drops.

17. D Starters: RDE Carter, DT (1 Tech) Big AL, DT (3 Tech) Griff, LDE Daniels, Sam Orakpo, MLB Fletch, WLB Rocky, LCB Hall, RCB Smoot, SS Horton, FS Landry

18. O Starters: LT Samuels, LG Dock, C Rabach, RG Rinehart, RT Bridges, TE Cooley, SE (X) - Moss, FL (Z) - ARE, FB Sellers, HB Portis, QB Campbell


19. Offensive Formation Scouting: The formations shown were fairly basic. I-Form & I-Form Strong/Weak, Singleback 3WR, Singleback 4WR, 5WR (once or twice), Bunch with WRs and another with TEs to run, Pro (split backs), Gun w/3WR-TE and 4WR.

20. Impressions of QBs:
-Daniels: As I mentioned earlier Daniels is no more than 5'10". He was a little wild in early drills but settled down. He has a sidearm release at times which definitely isn't good at his height. He does have good timing as his passes arrive right on time. He may stay around on the practice squad but because of his height I don't see him being an NFL QB
-Collins: VERY slow footwork, arm is weak. He is strictly a game manager at this point. He knows what to do, but his arm is no threat to complete anything over 15 yds that needs any "zip" on it.
- Brennan: for all the Cult of Colt who like to rave about his accuracy, he was the most inaccurate QB today. While running through the practice period of QBs throwing individual routes to the WRs with no D, here are the stats: JC 12-12 all but one pass was on the money, TC 10-10 some passes weak or behind but caught, CB 5-8 one catch was saved by the WR, CD 8-8 good timing. Also while throwing fades, CB overthrew at least three of these while JC only missed one.
That being said CB's footwork is better and it appears his throwing motion is less "backyard" and more of a proper delivery. His arm strength appears improved. Based on what I saw today I would give CB a shot at the #2, but definitely keep Collins on the roster.
-JC: I believe we are in for a pleasant surprise this year. JC appears in command of the O, his passes are fired in there and on the money. A couple of times in Red Zone work he held the ball or threw it away, but that's to be expected with no run threat and the D knows what the O is going to do. He also threw 2 TDs on fades (Moss, ARE)in Red Zone work.

Random Notes:
- During play and formation recognition the defense had some confusion in the secondary and at LB a few times. It was hard to make out exactly who were the culprits as this was on the far field.
- Williams had a couple of high snaps in Offensive Run period.
- Bridges jumped offsides twice

One on one WR/DBs
- JC to ARE, smoked Smoot deep, pass on target, ARE drop
- JC to Moss, smoked Tryon on deep in
- CB hit Eloi twice
- JC completed 6-7 with Barnes breaking up his only Incompletion.

I read your post and I realize how little I know about football.

I read your post and I realize how little I know about football.

We've been waiting for this day firstdown. Congratulations on taking the first step. :)

We've been waiting for this day firstdown. Congratulations on taking the first step. :)

11 to go? :)

Thanks for a thorough report Sammy!

Glad to hear that Blades is working only at MLB, I don't think he was cut out to play OLB. I hope Smoot steps up, I would hate to see him get cut or demoted way down.

I'm not surprised to hear about Brennan. He can be very accurate but also erratic at times. I only hope that his accuracy issues are part of his adjustment to his new form.

Rinehart sounds like he might have a hard time pass blocking. Something to watch in preseason.

Rinehart sounds like he might have a hard time pass blocking. Something to watch in preseason.Agreed. IMO it's a technique and adjusting to NFL level speed issue. On the plays I saw and in 11-11, he's not getting man-handled, just out-quicked or makes a technical mistake. I would expect by game three of pre-season he should be fine. If not, Bridges' regular position is G.

Good stuff. Thanks for being our eyes and ears at camp.

Any observations on how much Fred Davis might be used?
The O did show a Bunch formation with Davis & Cooley, also a 4WR set with Davis in the slot. Davis is moving well, and hands look good. He did have one drop in 11-11s. They also showed a Singleback w/2TEs, Davis was in motion. I wouldn't necessarily pick up Davis in any fantasy leagues but I expect him to have an impact this year.