Sunday 24 January 2010

Good and bad decisions?

2 comments:

Jayce said...

Rob, I have been thinking. You say that Eric Berry has poor tackling form because he doesn't wrap up, and is liability against some of the bigger players in NFL. But that can be coached tho. I mean he doesn't shy away from contact and seem more than willing to take a lick. What other things will Berry have to improve on to be a legitimate top 5 pick?

Rob Staton said...

Jayce - it's certainly something that can be worked on. He needs to get bigger for a start, he's very slight and I think that's one of the reasons he often tries to go low on his tackles and doesn't wrap up. But then obviously you have to start asking questions about how that affects other aspects of his game.

As for becoming a legit top five pick - I'm not sure he can do much in my eyes. The safety position simply doesn't hold such value in my eyes. To go in that range and play safety, you pretty much have to be lights out. I couldn't justify paying a guy $60m dollars who might be a liability with his tackling but whom 'might' be able to improve that side of his game. I want - sure tackler, great in run support, superb coverage, playmaker. Berry is a playmaker with the ball in his hands and he's good in coverage, but he's not elite in any of those other aspects. People say he'll transform or lead a defense, but I never saw anything other than a pretty average Tennessee defense and I never saw a dominant game from Berry. He's a good safety, and I'd give him a range of 15-25. He'll probably go a bit earlier than that. But I just can't see a team spending a top five pick.