Rookie guard Willie Beavers

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dead_poet
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Rookie guard Willie Beavers

Post by dead_poet »

I couldn't find my Willie Beavers thread. Maybe I forgot to make one. Here's Part 1 of a look at Beavers (heh). It is not positive.

http://coldomaha.com/2016/vikings/scout ... -the-pick/
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halfgiz
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Re: Rookie guard Willie Beavers

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I heard that Sparano liked Beavers...I guess we will have to see how he does.
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jackal
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Re: Rookie guard Willie Beavers

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Beavers is said to have good strength and skill set but seems really raw ... time will tell on him
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slapnut19
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Re: Rookie guard Willie Beavers

Post by slapnut19 »

he seems like the anti david yankey. strong but needs refinement, whereas yankey was technically sound but had no strength to work with.
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Re: Rookie guard Willie Beavers

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Part II:

http://coldomaha.com/2016/vikings/scout ... sh-sitton/
Ultimately, it’s easy to see why the Vikings picked Beavers. He was one of two (possibly five?) guards remaining that fit the Vikings criteria and they knew they wanted to pick an interior player. He embodies the attitude they want in that kind of player and shows excellent movement (forward, anyways). There are qualities to hang one’s hat on, like his ability to win once he latches onto an opposing defender and without much ambiguity.

But he’s a bad football player that won’t get better with a different assignment. Too often, we think of guard as “easy tackle” and nothing could be further from the truth. A number of tackle-to-guard converts have failed (a large number) and there’s a big issue with guard depth across the league—if playing offensive guard is like “offensive tackle-lite,” then we wouldn’t see such an issue at the guard position across the league—the Vikings’ own attempts with Charlie Johnson, Tyrus Thompson and Vlad Ducasse are evidence of this.

Guards need to exhibit quick hands and high-level awareness, not just a nasty attitude. Space is more limited so patience is not as high of a virtue as a quick reaction time, and players at guard need quick feet as well. I don’t see any of those qualities in the pick from Western Michigan and I wouldn’t be surprised if he joined the list of rookie fourth-round cuts come August.
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halfgiz
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Re: Rookie guard Willie Beavers

Post by halfgiz »

Yeah I sooner would have had Billings in the 4th than Beavers. He would have added some nice depth to the D.
I guess we will have to wait & see what Tony can do with him.
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Re: Rookie guard Willie Beavers

Post by HardcoreVikesFan »

Arif Hansen - the beat writer wannabe. Obviously, he knows the aspects of football so well that he should take over a scouting/coaching position on the team. What a joke.

Look, I was not a big fan of the Beavers pick either. However, to completely dismiss the guy and have the audicity to imply the guy will be cut is asinine. I cannot stomach Arif Hansen.
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Re: Rookie guard Willie Beavers

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HardcoreVikesFan wrote: Look, I was not a big fan of the Beavers pick either. However, to completely dismiss the guy and have the audicity to imply the guy will be cut is asinine. I cannot stomach Arif Hansen.
I don't know if it's too crazy. I think he'll make it personally, but we do seem to have more depth than in the past. Here's how our last 5(6 but we didn't draft any in 2012) years of later round OL picks have done.

2010 Rd 5 - Chris DeGeare - Cut 2012 - Played/Active 8 games total
2011 Rd 6 - DeMarcus Love - Cut 2013, never played for Vikings
2013 Rd 6 - Jeff Baca Cut before 2014 season - Played/Active 4 games total, never started
2014 Rd 5 - David Yankey - Cut 2015, never played for Vikings

2015 Rd 4 - T.J. Clemmings - Started 16 games last year
2015 Rd 6 - Tyrus Thompson - Didn't make regular roster
2015 Rd 7 - Austin Shepard - Played a few games last year, still on team currently
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Re: Rookie guard Willie Beavers

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HardcoreVikesFan wrote: Arif Hansen - the beat writer wannabe. Obviously, he knows the aspects of football so well that he should take over a scouting/coaching position on the team. What a joke.

Look, I was not a big fan of the Beavers pick either. However, to completely dismiss the guy and have the audicity to imply the guy will be cut is asinine. I cannot stomach Arif Hansen.
I guess I don't know why some people have a beef with Hasan. He's simply expressing his opinion based on what he's seen on film. While he's a fan, he doesn't have his purple-shades on 24/7. I have no problem with him expressing this opinion (which, btw, is shared by many scouts). He supports his study with analytics. He's pretty impartial from what I've read. If he doesn't like a guy, he has legit reasons.

I find his articles pretty interesting and wholistic, even if they're usually pretty long. But I'm a guy that's into granular details and in-depth analysis, so maybe that's why they appeal to me. YMMV (obviously).
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Re: Rookie guard Willie Beavers

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2010 Rd 5 - Chris DeGeare - Cut 2012 - Played/Active 8 games total
2011 Rd 6 - DeMarcus Love - Cut 2013, never played for Vikings
2013 Rd 6 - Jeff Baca Cut before 2014 season - Played/Active 4 games total, never started
2014 Rd 5 - David Yankey - Cut 2015, never played for Vikings

2015 Rd 4 - T.J. Clemmings - Started 16 games last year
2015 Rd 6 - Tyrus Thompson - Didn't make regular roster
2015 Rd 7 - Austin Shepard - Played a few games last year, still on team currently
I think Yankey is still on practice squad ??

I totally agree though we have neglected the OL for so long and tried to put band aid's on it
with late round crappy players
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Re: Rookie guard Willie Beavers

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jackal wrote: I think Yankey is still on practice squad ??

I totally agree though we have neglected the OL for so long and tried to put band aid's on it
with late round crappy players
As far as I know, Yankey is on the Panthers. That could have changed if they cut him, but they signed him back in January to a futures contract.
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Re: Rookie guard Willie Beavers

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Yankey was a huge disappointment , orginally there was talk of first round pick...

his balance and feet appeared sub standard and he dropped to fifth round...
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