IRVING, Texas - Here are some of my thoughts from this afternoon's Rookie Mini Camp Practice:
- I have to be honest, before this camp, I knew very little about wide receiver Jared Green but after today, I need to try and find out a little more about him. In a practice where the offense was not at its best, he was. There were several times in the one-on-one drills against the best cornerback in this camp, B.W. Webb where he was able to run his route with outstanding pace but more importantly finish it with a nice catch. He beat Webb three different times on an "In", "Curl" and a "Slant", all with really good technique. It wasn't that Webb was playing him poorly, it was Green being that good. I kept waiting for Webb to try and lean on him a little bit and even on the slant, Green was able to fight through it.
- This morning I liked what I saw from J.J. Wilcox at safety but in the afternoon he took a seat to Jakar Hamilton who didn't start off his morning all that great but was able to rally with some nice plays. In the one-on-one drills against the running backs and tight ends, Hamilton in coverage
against Gavin Escobar was carrying him up the field and as the ball arrived was able to rip the ball from his hands for an interception as Escobar was trying to bring it to his body. Then later in the team period, Hamilton playing as a single high safety from the middle of the field was able to shoot to the sideline to play a route that Jared Green had beaten Dustin Harris badly on up the field. Hamilton was in great shape to defend the ball on the play. It was a nice day from the two young safeties.
- Defensive tackle Nick Johnson continues to catch my eye with his ability to get up the field with some power. On a running playing in team, he was able to split the block of Travis Frederick and Ronald Leary and get in on the tackle. Defensive end Jerome Long also with a quick swim move on a pass rush that put himself in good position to make a play. Defensive tackle DiMetrio Tyson also did the same thing to guard Charlie Bryant.
- Receiver Eric Rogers is not the fastest guy when he normally runs routes but for some reason, he has some sneaky ability to get up the field and make a play. Working against cornerback Adrien Spencer he took off an a "9" route and was able to work his way up the field and with the ball a little short, go up and extend for the catch. He really did a nice job of adjusting to the ball at its highest point and coming down with it. Where Rogers is going to need work is how to fight the press. He has the size but really lacks the foot quickness.
- Saw a play that made me feel like Ronald Leary was getting a better understand of what he has to do scheme wise. The defensive line tried a twist stunt up front and he was able to pass his man to Bryant and Frederick but they were tied up with other rushers, instead of letting his man go, Leary stayed with the block and was able to ride his man past the quarterback. He could have just let his guy go but he showed some awareness of the situation and do the right thing on the play.
- I thought that I would have seen more from linebacker Deon Lacey in his overall play but he did flash some nice coverage when he was beaten badly up the field by Kendial Lawrence only to rally and knock the ball away. The one trait Lacey had on film was his ability to react and despite having lost on the route initially, he had enough awareness to adjust to Lawrence which put him in position to make the play. [embedded_ad]
- Thought that receiver Terrence Williams had the type of day where he is going to look at the tape and Derek Dooley will be able to correct some mistakes that he made in his routes and techniques but also build on some positive plays where he physically beat the press against Webb and made a nice adjusting catch. As I wrote this morning, I didn't feel like he started out all that well but got better as the practice wore on. This afternoon he didn't play with great balance on a play and he failed to adjust to a low ball which surprised me because on college tape this would have been no problem. It was an up-and-down day but there are things that he can build on and learn from.
- Keep an eye on wide receiver Anthony Amos from Middle Tennessee who is not the biggest guy weight wise at 179 pounds but he has really nice stop-start quickness and has a feel for how to use this quickness in routes. He caught the ball away from his body and was able to get it up the field. He is the one receiver in this camp along with Green that has some zip in his game right now. I am interested if he can carry things over to the next two days.
