RamsFan14
Starter
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2013
- Messages
- 563
Clowney is very talented physically. What he has not yet shown is the drive to be the best. He may have that drive, but I'm skeptical. Not just because of his 2013 performance - but things like his bench press reps at the combine - which makes me think he just doesn't go that extra step in training.
He'll look sensational at times I'm sure - I'm just not confident he will be a dominating player, or even a big star. I'm sure he'll have some carefully edited highlight reel plays though.
Seriously - only 21 reps? Either he doesn't have the upper body strength capacity really needed in the NFL to be a defensive star who isn't a DB, or he just didn't train that hard for the combine. Add in that he never seemed to acquire additional pass rushing moves after his great season in 2012, and I'm very skeptical that he has the drive to be a star in the NFL.
At least as a 3-4 outside linebacker some of the strength issues will not be as important - a 4-3 DE needs to have a stronger upper body, so I'm very glad he's not a Ram - at least at what it would have cost the Rams.
For DE, I think bench press is overrated in the evaluation process. They showed some great players who benched somewhere in the neighborhood of what Clowney did (I can't remember who though...). Clowney is ultra quick though, that's what makes him pretty special. His initial burst is amazing, and I think he's fairly strong too, and some players might have a tougher time bench pressing because of long arms but ehhh. Having a player like Watt should bring the best out of Clowney, should be interesting to watch! I think Donald is a better fit on this team (just a little bit) but Clowney would be nice in horns too (if we'd taken him). I love our draft picks, don't get me wrong... But if we had drafted Clowney and OG Martin, I think some people would've been pretty happy with that too. That combination is not so different then what we have now in Robinson and Donald.
Clowney's motivation factor is a slight concern though, idk how much I buy into it but I'd by lying if I said I wasn't the tiniest bit concerned. But I've also heard Donald "taking plays off" when the ball isn't around him. So no prospect is perfect.