Russ Lande’s Top 100 Has Robert Griffin III at #1
Former NFL scout and now head draft analyst for SportingNews, Russ Lande has released his Big Board. Lande is a controversial writer for Sporting News who really sticks to his guns. I often disagree significantly with Lande’s rankings and projections, but they are always worth reading.
Lande’s new top 100 came out yesterday and here are some of the most interesting rankings.
#1 Robert Griffin III
#2 Andrew Luck
I understand that Griffin III has more upside, but Luck has an extremely high floor. There are also a lot more questions about Griffin III, questions like can he stay healthy? He’s struggled with injuries already. Will he improve his mechanics, what about his timing and rythym? His ability to read defenses at the line of scrimmage? Is he too fast for his own good? These are all legitimate questions that cause some concern that people are just ignoring.
#13 Ryan Tannehill
-There are some other interesting rankings I disagree with too, but I don’t want to get nitpicky on all of them. Tannehill at 13 is the highest I’ve seen on anyone writer’s board, but I think he might be that high on some league boards.
#20 Doug Martin
Lande has liked Martin a lot for awhile so this is not surprising in the least. I can make an argument that Martin is much safer than David Wilson and Lamar Miller because of his strength and speed ratio, and his versatility, but I still like Wilson and Miller’s upside more.
#21 Rueben Randle, WR, LSU
Hes’ a first rounder on some Big boards and here’s an example of where he is rated very highly.
#23 Mychal Kendrics, LB, California
-Here’s where I get off the train. This seems like a complete over-reaction to the combine. I don’t remember seeing Kendricks anywhere near here in his previous big boards (I could be mistaken) and if so why wasn’t he? Kendricks was always considered a pretty good player, an unheralded guy in the draftnik community and exploded at the combine, maybe he’s a top 60 player, but top 25?
#27 Brandon Boykin
#28 Brandon Weeden
#31 Juron Cirner, WR, Arizona
Everyone else is getting off the Criner train, Lande is getting on.
#39 Nigel Bradham, LB, FSU
#41 Dontari Poe, NT, Memphis
-I don’t disagree. It’s just weird to me that Kendricks went so high after a big combine, but Poe remained where he was.
#47 Mark Barron
I’m a fan of Barron, hopefully in late March when he works out for teams he can justify my lofty ranking of him.
#52 Chris Givens, WR, Wake Forest
-I thought my ranking of Givens at #72 was the highest out there, but Lande has me beat. Givens is really under-appreciated.
#57 Riley Reiff, OL, Iowa
-Lande must be one of the people who know belief that Reiff is not a tackle in the N.F.L.
#64 Marquis Maze, WR, Alabama
-Couldn’t disagree more with Maze being a top 100 player
#65 Alfonzo Dennard, CB, Nebraska
#67 Keswhan martin, WR, Michigan
-I’m still trying to figure out Lande’s scouting thought process on WR. He has some whacky WR rankings.
#73 Blade DeChristopher, OL, VA Tech
-the biggest combine snub comes in very high on Lande’s big board.
#77 Dont’a Hightower, LB, Alabama
I’d love to see an explanation of Hightower being so low. I know he’s not a blazing athlete, but I thought he looked really quick at the combine, he’s a smart player, and really physical.
#86 Patrick Edwards, WR, Houston
#91 Devon Wylie, WR, Fresno State
-Lande seems to prefer small quick wide receivers over big bodied pass catchers, or really over a lot of different positions, which is surprising. I think the small, shifty WR are a dime a dozen there are so many of those types of guys in this draft. Patrick Edwards was insanely productive this year. Dan Kadar of Mocking the Draft and I were talking about him in one of our weekly chats and I don’t think Kadar even had a draftable grade on him.
What do you guys think?
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