http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/08/half-the-expected-crowd-shows-up-for-tebow/related/ Most observers expected Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd to be drafted in the late teens to early 20s when the college season ended. But the latest pre-draft buzz on Floyd indicates he may go as early as the top ten. And a host of teams picking early want one-on-one time with Floyd before the draft. Appearing on Sirius NFL Radio with Alex Marvez and Gil Brandt on Sunday, Floyd revealed that he’s already visited the Browns and Panthers. He worked out for the Philadelphia Eagles this past week, and will visit the Titans, Rams, Bengals, and Jets during the coming week. The Cardinals, Dolphins, 49ers, and Vikings will host Floyd the following week. That’s eleven teams, nine of which draft in the top-17 picks. Five pick in the top ten. During one of his marvelously informative pre-draft Twitter rants recently, NFL Films producer Greg Cosell compared Floyd to Chiefs receiver Dwayne Bowe. After watching Notre Dame and Oklahoma State game tape, Cosell also hinted that he prefers Floyd over Justin Blackmon. Blackmon is supposed to go in the top-six picks.
This should be in the draft forum. This is great news though, I'm glad we are looking at these top WRs. Floyd has a chance to be a Jet, he'd significantly improve our passing game.
I'm telling you guys...I have seen EVERY game of Mike's since as a freshman and while my Clausen as a pre 2009 Phil Rivers has not happened(May never as he won't be given a fair shake), I really think Floyd's FLOOR is Dwayne Bowe. Dwayne Bowe! This guy is a beast, if we're looking for WR and not KR or nothing else, I'll take Floyd over Blackmon. Floyd is on the AJ Green/Julio Jones tier. EDIT: Didn't even read the article...Cossell compared him to Bowe too. I threw that comparison out like 2 years ago :lol: Glad I dont feel like I am going mental.
I would be okay if Blackmon fell to us too, but there is no way that he gets past the Rams. Floyd has a chance to be a Jet. I like what Floyd offers with his size and speed, he can be a solid number 1 and can make Holmes a lot better because imagine what Holmes did with Braylon opposite him, but replace Braylon we someone who is faster and more athletic. Also, whatever happened to Alshon Jeffrey?
That is going too far. Floyd is a good WR, but he's not Justin Blackmon, he's not Julio Jones, and he's not even good enough to wear AJ Green pajamas. I don't think he's the athlete that Dwayne Bowe is either, while he has speed in the open field, he won't be able to do the things that Bowe does. I can see him going top ten if a team really wanted him, but I wouldn't really consider him value until they hit the teens.
6'3, runs a 4.4, and has the production in college to back that up. I've always liked him over Blackmon because of his combination of size and speed. Too many damn teams are glossing over him now, I don't think he makes it to us. I think receiver is so big of a need that I wouldn't be opposed to trading up to get Floyd. If you're going to put that much stock into a QB, then go and get him a receiver.
Key pick is going to be the Rams. I have a feeling they may take a D-lineman like Brockers and would push the wide receivers down giving us a chance at him.
even if the rams pass on blackmon, the Jags will instantly take him. They are desperate for a playmaker on the outside. the rams passing on blackmon doesn't really help floyd getting to us. I think only 1 WR goes in the top 7, and it will be blackmon. I don't think the Jags have Floyd rated that highly...
If you put Floyd in Ok State's offense he would have put up monster numbers too. To say that he's not good enough to wear AJ Green's pajama's is pretty laughable... but I guess we'll just have to wait and see, eh? Just out of curiosity, how many games have you seen Floyd play? This seems like a comment from someone who just really doesn't want us to draft a WR in round 1 (which is fine)
There is a serious difference between A.J. Green and every other WR to come out of college since 2000, save for Calvin Johnson. And Green proved as a rookie he is going to be an absolute beast of a receiver for a long time. It's not a knock on Floyd, its an indictment of just how ridiculously good A.J. Green was coming out of Georgia, and will prove to be going forward in the NFL. Even though Green and Jones were only drafted 2 picks apart (4 and 6 respectively) Green was so far ahead of him as a prospect it's not even funny. Oh and not that anyone cares about my opinion on Floyd, but I think he is over rated in this draft class. This class is lacking elite level WR prospects. So players like Floyd and Wright are being pushed up to find top level talent. It has so many excellent 2-3 round players and its depth overall is fantastic. But its missing the cream at the top of the crop. Look at next years WR class. That class has a ton of potential top end WR talent, but it lacks the depth of this class. Not to say Floyd won't be good, I just think Baker is blinded by the helmet color, and his rah-rahing for Floyd has caused people to buy into the hype a little more than it should be. It should also be mentioned that Dwayne Bowe was drafted in the late 20's, so saying you expect Floyd to be Bowe in the pros doesn't really change my mind that Floyd isn't a top 15 prospect.
Not a surprise. Organization is doing it's due diligence in draft evaluations for a position of need. A good sign.
I'm a casual Notre Dame fan (once UConn became D-1 my interest waned a bit) so I watch just about every game objectively. Notre Dame has had a joke of an offense for quite some time now... but Floyd has always performed, despite having awful QBs and no stability as far as the playbook is concerned (different coaches and personnel almost every year). I was not one of those guys who thought Golden Tate would be a stud, same with Brady Quinn and Jimmy C. Sometimes you're just a good college player, and there's nothing wrong with that. Floyd has always stood out as a man amongst boys, though. Teams built their gameplans all year around shutting down Floyd, and he still caught over 100 balls. The body control and grace he shows at 6'3 is outstanding. He has enough speed to beat defenders over the top if they're not careful, and does a good job coming back to the ball when they cheat. He's also a very good (and willing) run blocker, and uses his big frame to shield defenders from passes. We're all entitled to our own opinion, but I personally will go out on a limb and predict that Floyd will be a pro-bowl WR in the next five years. This could depend on where he ends up, obviously, but he has the talent and skills to do big things at the next level.
Julio Jones may end up the better overall WR of the two... Green got drafted by a team that had no other WR except for himself, so he became an automatic #1. Jones got drafted by a team that had Top 5 WR Roddy White and Top 5 TE Tony Gonzalez. He was at best the second receiving option and sometimes the 3rd. If you put Green on the Falcons and Jones on the Bengals, Jones would have been more productive than Green. Talent+opportunity, not just one or the other.
Jones had Matt Ryan throwing to him, Green had a 2nd round rookie (Dalton) throwing to him, and he was facing #1 corners and double coverage because their were no other weapons to worry about besides Gresham. and he still outproduced Jones. Jones was playing against #2 corners, and was hardly ever double covered for the reasons you mentioned. The extra talent on the offensive side of the ball goes both ways my friend. Green is/was a much better receiver/prospect. It isn't any thing against Jones, he is going to be a damned good WR down the line (hell he already is really good), but Green is just on a different stratosphere from a talent level.
What does this mean? I am very, very straight forward with my assessment of Irish players. Shoot I don't even just have a love affection with just Irish players too. The draft guys here can vouch that with my Jake Locker affection and Locker was a Washington Huskie. I was DEAD set with how good Locker can be all the while being laughed at and discounted. Came to no shock for me that Locker was the 2nd QB taken last year as he brings so much to the table. No surprise that when given a chance to play, Locker brought it for a depleted Titans offensive squad and was only held back because Matt Hasselback stood healthy and was very efficient. Floyd's a top 10 prospect in this draft. I call it like it is and as someone who has seen Floyd since day 1 with ND, and indicate his strengths and weaknesses. I have said he was in the Jones/Green tier for quite a while now and despite people trying to tell me that Alshon Jeffrey heading into 2011 was far and away better than Floyd(Much like I got Bufict is superior to Manti Te'o) Is he going to be as dominate as Green was year 1? No, that's tough. Might take a little transition time like it did for Julio Jones and quite a lot of people. The reason Bowe fell and why I thought Floyd might have dropped a little bit is because of mental mistakes (I.E. drops, not focusing, character makeup). Before Bowe came on strong in 2010, he was known as a dropper and mental midget. However, Bowe regrouped himself and changed his style and came on like a beast and would be putting up far better numbers if he had a much better QB throwing it to him(Cassell stinks) The only person who can stop Michael Floyd will be Michael Floyd. Have hammered this point down for 2 years and will do it again. Guys like Roddy white, Dwayne Bowe, Braylon Edwards have had the dropsies early in their career. I can see the same for Floyd in year 1. However, Floyd CAN bounce back from it and do far more good than bad. I don't know if Floyd will put up pro bowl numbers right away, there will be a transitional period for sure. However, in the long run...Floyd brings everything you can want from a No.1 to the mix. I am a very straight forward guy when it comes to the Irish. I said Harrison Smith should be a 3rd rounder but due to a poor safety class will get overdrafted(Doesn't mean he's terrible...he's a tall version of Jim Leonhard without the punt returning skills). I have said Tom Zbikowski, who some wanted would be an awful pickup as I have said he's the White Roy Williams(All hard hitting, zero coverage). I've given Wolverines/Trojans/Spartans tons of credit too. I am a diehard Irish fan but when it comes to evaluating them from an NFL basis, I am a no-nonsense guy and am very straight forward with my assessments. I've been on the Floyd bandwagon since 2008 and I have seen no reason to get off of it.
My problem by calling out Quinn/Clausen was that both were handled terribly in the pros. Clausen was on a joke of a team that quit(Steve Smith quit...the OTs were banged up, RBs were rotating injuries) and like a lot of QBs, they need another year or so to learn the game and adjust to the speed. Well, the Panthers could not wait and took Newton. I think Clausen can still figure it out in the league but by the time he gets out of his rookie deal in CAR, his value will be nothing more than a 3rd stringer at best. In essence, he got screwed big time. At least Gabbert is getting a 2nd year in JAX... Quinn got shuffled around in Cleveland for the great 1 year wonder himself known as Doof Anderson who was made by Edwards and Winslow and Jamal Lewis on his last legs. Romeo wanted to keep Quinn and he loves Quinn(Which is why Quinn's in KC) but he got fired despite the 10-6 year. Mangini comes in(And we know Mangini had 0 clue on what he's doing with QBs) and is using Anderson after Quinn got off to a slow start in week 1. Destroyed Quinn's confidence with the coach and while Quinn showed a few times in 09 that he isn't bad, Mangini at that point was fighting for his job after rumblings that he may be a one and done coach. Quinn got dealt for Hillis, and Quinn fell victim to a great year in 2010 by Kyle Orton and of course Tebowmania which held Quinn to a grand total of 0 snaps as a Bronco in the regular season. Golden Tate was iffy. He does everything you'd want in a WR BUT he just has the height against him. It worked like that in ND too. Interestingly enough, Michael Floyd is like Tate but with the huge height advantage...its very weird how Tate's career went. I think he can use a change of scenery and a chance elsewhere out of SEA but I still think they can salvage him. He showed flashes last season. Kyle Rudolph....yeah he's gonna be really good. Ponder should look to him whenever he can but Rudolph is an athletic stud. Made such a sick catch last year, came as no shock. He just needs to stay healthy...
I never said I didn't want Floyd, I think he's a very good player and we can certainly do worse than him at #16. He's shown me a lot over the past year with what he was able to do after I wrote him off as an immature, never get his head together type guy earlier in his career at ND. I've even compared him at times to Andre Johnson, as far as potential based on physical/athletic skills, though I've wavered on that a bit. AJ Green is one of the best overall prospects I've ever seen, regardless of position. The only WR I've seen better than him at the college level (in terms of what they'd do as pros) was Calvin Johnson. AJ Green was born to play wide receiver, everything he did was easy, and it's clear that it still is in Cincy. This guy could conceivably go his first decade in the league without missing a Pro Bowl after making it this year (barring injury).
Yeah BQ and JC both got screwed... didn't mean to call them out. Jimmy never lived up to expectations at ND and hasn't gotten a fair shake in the pros. Brady was always a leader and a winner, I would love to see him get a shot this year. Just saying that Floyd is on a different level IMO. I think he's ready to come in and contribute right away.
