It's looking more and more like Ryan Mathews will return to Fresno State for his senior season. Man, these next two drafts are going to be awesome.
That would mean three legitimate top 15 backs in 2011. Probably a good decision for Matthews, I'm thinking with the season Spiller had and the way he'll work out, it'd be hard for Ryan to jump back over him post injury.
I'm bumping this thread because GH made a hell of a list. With only bowl games left to go, we're almost there.
If you're going to bump it, I might as well update it. I also added the few players mentioned that I didn't think would jump.
Golden Tate shot up your board....he deserves it. One of my can't miss prospects. I like Mathews, but IMO, Spiller deserves to be #1.
I added what I changed. As for Matthews vs Spiller, I'm keeping Ryan at the top though it's razor thin. Spiller can be a complete stud in the NFL, but the fact that I believe Matthews his destined to be a truly dominant feature back is what gets him the nod. That situation, much like the one at defensive end, will be determined by what kind of player that team needs.
Keep this in mind about Ryan Mathews as well: He's only played running back for three seasons. The guy's got so much potential. Mathews was a run first QB in high school. He led the entire nation in rushing as a senior rushing for 3,336 yards and 44 TDs. I see CJ Spiller being a legitimate big play threat in the pros, but I don't know if he'll be a feature back. If he ends up with a team that already has a power runner on the roster, he'll be great.
By the way, if you want to know how good this draft is, just try piecing together a top 50 or so and see some of the names that you have to have fall down that list.
What is your ranking of each position in this draft? (for 3-4 defensively) Like 1.DE, 2.DT 3.WR (just an example not my rankings)
Based on 34 positions. If it were 43, OLB would be a lot lower, DE would be #1, and DT would be #2 or #3. 1. OLB 2. DE 3. S 4. WR 5. NT 6. CB 7. OT 8. QB 9. ILB 10. OG 11. RB 12. OC 13. TE
Those were my first thoughts as well. I figured he would be a late round 1 guy with the amount of talent in the draft and being ranked behind Dez Bryant and Damian Williams on more boards than not, but now with the emerge of Demaryius Thomas of GT and the underclassmen declarations of Golden Tate and Desmon Briscoe who will likely run better than Benn at the combine, I can see Benn being a mid-2nd round pick in the area that Devin Thomas went a couple of years of ago -- but Benn is a much, much better prospect.
After a piss poor season, a lot of people are ranking Arrelious Benn behind Dez Bryant, BeBe Thomas, Damian Williams, and Golden Tate. For me, he's somewhere in the middle. HOWEVER, after the combine, I think he could be at the top of that list. You really think Dez Briscoe will outrun Benn? Briscoe's been a super productive receiver, but he sure as hell isn't fast. I'm not saying Arrelious Benn is a burner, but he's more physically gifted than any receiver in this draft. Benn is a monster over the middle - he'll take on anyone. If I had to put money on any receiver being a superstar in this draft, I'd take Arrelious Benn.
You're probably gonna have to add Texas' safety Earl Thomas to those rankings. He's another ball-hawk that could jump ahead of Taylor Mays.
I went through and re-did the rankings further, and expanded them to include pretty much all eligible UCs with a legit chance at declaring.
I don't think you can put a lot of blame on him for his poor statistical season, Juice Williams sucked this season and the whole offense was exponentially worse than when they made it to the Rose Bowl. He was also hampered by injuries for most of the season. Benn has been my favorite WR in college football since his freshman season at Illinois and I think he will be a dominant receiver in the pros - so I agree with you on his superstar potential. If you go back to old posts of mine about Benn you will see my posts reflect almost everything you've just said about him. Benn reminds me of Anquan Boldin, great size and strength, lacks blazing speed, but has great hands and as you said he is a monster over the middle. I still think Benn will fall to the end of round 1/early-mid round 2 for a few reasons. One is because of his poor season while other WRs have taken the time to up their draft stock. Another is because despite his physical gifts, I don't think he will blow away the combine like Calvin Johnson did because I doubt he will run in the 4.3s. A good combine won't push him above Dez Bryant on draft boards, and I just don't anticipate a great demand for WRs in the 1st round with all of the defensive talent up for grabs. I think aside from QBs and OTs, the entire first round will be defensive players with the exception of maybe 1 RB and 1 or 2 WRs, plus Gresham as a TE. Right now teams have Benn listed behind Bryant, Demaryius Thomas, Damian Williams, and probably at the same level as or below then Brandon Lafell and Golden Tate. He will probably run slightly better than Briscoe although he is certainly more that slightly faster than Briscoe on the field, but Briscoe's superior stats over the past two years will make them close to even on draft boards. Benn had 67 catches, 1055 yards and 3 TDs in 2008. Briscoe had 92 catches, 1402 yards and 15 TDs in 2008. Benn had 38 catches, 490 yards and 2 TDs in 2009. Briscoe had 84 catches, 1337 yards and 9 TDs in 2009. Briscoe has been statistically a top 5 WR the past two seasons (#4 in 2008 and #5 in 2009) while Benn has been out of the top 15 (#18 in 2008 and out of the top 100 in 2009). I still think Benn is the better pro prospect but scouts take all of this into account. I think he will be a #1 WR in the NFL for the team that drafts him and I too think he will be the best or one of the top 3 at least from this draft class (Demaryius Thomas is also a beast and Dez Bryant, despite the drops issue, is also a great prospect). My point was just that he will be an absolute steal in this draft if he goes where I think he will.
