Inconvient truth about Brandon Graham and Nate Allen

Let me first start by saying that I think he will be a phenomenal player in the NFL. I hope they compare him to Hugh Douglas, Jerome Brown, Reggie White, and other greats.

However, lets get back to reality for just a few minutes. He’s a rookie DE coming out of a 3-4 Defense in Michigan that wasn’t that good. For those of you who know just a bit about football, 3-4 and 4-3 DEs are 2 different positions. Sure the object is the same. Get sacks and tackle the running back for a loss. However in a 4-3 system you’re asked to not shake off the block but to take the block square, be able to play 2 gaps, and let the people behind you make the play. That may not sound like much but it’s like trying to take everything this young man has learned and wiping the slate clean.

One of my other concerns is he’s a monster. Plain and simple he’s been bigger, stronger, and faster then everyone he’s ever faced his entire football life. Guess what? That WILL NOT happen at this level. The NFL is a combination of the biggest, strongest, and fastest men in the world.

Don’t worry about his progression and whether he is in camp or he’s not . As long as he’s in the weight room, studying film, and has his nose in the playbook he can get away with it.

Why shouldn’t you worry about him getting as meany reps as he can? ( This is the part people don’t want to admit ) He’s a rotational DE behind Parker who at this point and time is #1 on the Depth Chart, ( But I think the coaching staff is looking for a chance to give the job to the following guy ) and #2 is Tapp, who is a monster DE who suffered greatly from a horrid Seahawks secondary (only posting something like 4 sacks ) and still had 16+ QB hurries.

On to Nate Allen. I didn’t have the pleasure of watching his college games (except a few highlight films) but, the Philly coaching staff saw enough of this kid to know what they got.

Like it or not Nate Allen is the key to this Secondary. “But we have issues at RCB… our MLB is coming back from ….” blah blah blah. It’s on him. Last year this team was taken apart by TEs and if we can’t fix this problem this defense will only get off the field when the other team scores.

He did not play in a 3-4 defense at Michigan. MOst every highlight I’ve seen has him as a traditional 4-3 end. The only times I’ve seen him in a 3-4 look, he was still playing as a hand on the ground DE.

His role in the pros will be no different.

I didn’t have the pleasure of watching his collage games

and judging by your spelling I’m going to guess you didn’t have the pleasure of taking an English class either…

But in all seriousness, Graham was a stud on Defense with no supporting cast. He’ll be good.

Nate Allen just can’t afford to miss a day of camp. He’s not a project…he knows Free Safety, but he has to learn our scheme and can’t afford to come to camp late

will people learn that when you post something on here it should be well thought out and maybe even researched. The readers of BGN are pretty football smart. It would not have gone un-noticed for months that we spent our first round pick on a guy who hasn’t played in a 4-3 system. I know there is an urge to post things but they have to be well thought out and right otherwise were no better than Cowboy fans.

Just saying…

“the NFL is a combination of the biggest strongest fastest men in the world”

really? I absolutely HATE when people say things about American sports and then refer to the best of the world.

World Baseball Champions, World Hockey Champs, World Football Champs, etc.
We only including Canada in a handful of our sports and yet we are perfectly content on saying that we are WORLD champs….

Sorry for the rant, that just always bugged me.

For one, Michigan runs a 4-3 base defense. Why do you think Graham draws so many comparisons to Lamar Woodley? They played the exact same position, but Lamar was able to make the transition from 4-3 DE to 3-4 OLB.

plain and simple he’s been bigger stronger faster then everyone he’s ever faced his entire football life

To answer this question I’ll take some direct quotes from the likes of Mel Kiper and NFL.com
NFL.com says:

Graham lacks the height you like to see from defensive end prospects.

Mr. Kiper states:

He has very good initial quickness as an edge rusher but doesn’t have elite speed or range in pursuit.

And the guys he has been “bigger stronger faster” than
Brian Bulaga (1st Rounder)
Sam Young (6th rounder)
Gabe Carimi (Top rated tackle for the 2011 draft)
Jon Asamoah (tackle moved to guard taken in the 4th round)
Selvish Capers
Roger Saffold
Dennis Landolt

*Plus to note, he was unblockable at the Senior Bowl. And at 6’1" 268 lbs, I don’t you can say that he was bigger than anyone. I mean weight aside, I’m actually taller than him. Matter of fact, he was the smallest DE taken in the draft for the most part. He was criticized for having short arms as well. So they whole he was “bigger stronger faster” would apply more to Pierre Paul than to Graham. He was only on a bad defense, he was the defense. If he was shut down, the defense went cold. Still he managed to lead the Big Ten is TFL twice and led the NCAA in TFL last year as well as embarrassing the same Brian Bulaga who shut down the ACC Defensive Player of the Year in Derrick Morgan. So yeah……….

Everything’s been pretty much covered … I’d just like to add that I was offended to see this.

Reggie Wight