Thursday 25 March 2010

POTD: Donovan Warren, CB, Michigan


By Kip Earlywine

Height: 6'0"
Weight: 193
40 time: 4.59



Positives:

  • Fluid Hips
  • Very quick reaction speed
  • Good explosion or short area quickness
  • Love his footwork, natural looking runner
  • Soft hands
  • Very good, aggressive tackler
  • Nice subtlety, knows how to tiptoe on the line with penalties
  • Productive 2009 season
  • Very high effort player
  • Poorly coached, may have hidden potential
  • Durable: 36 starts in 3 years.
  • No character concerns

Negatives:

  • Slow 40 time, may possibly have to switch to free safety
  • Can be burned by very fast WR, will need good safety help
  • Occasionally makes ugly mistakes
  • Sometimes concedes the completion by going for the tackle
  • Doesn't compete for jump balls as much as you'd like
  • Sometimes iffy man cover skills, from what I saw

My thoughts:

It was only January when Warren was considered the #2 or #3 CB in the draft, and a mid to late 1st round pick. Then Warren ran a 4.59 forty at the combine, and suddenly, he's fallen off the face of the planet. He's now considered a probable mid-round pick. Its amazing how much a bad 40 time can kill your stock sometimes if you are a cornerback. This plays to Seattle's advantage in a couple ways. First, it allows them to potentially address a big need (big CB) a little later in the draft by taking Warren in the mid-rounds, and if Warren ultimately proves too slow and must convert to free safety, the Seahawks need depth at free safety anyway.

Warren fits the Schneider criteria for a CB. He's 6 feet tall, and though he doesn't look physically imposing, he plays very aggressively and is incredible in run support. Warren is well rounded but if I had to say he's especially good in one area- its limiting YAC. It seems like there are 3 types of DBs, those who go for the ball, those who go for the big hit, and those that simply concede the reception and go for a sound tackle that eliminates yards after the catch. Warren fits very nicely into that 3rd category. Which might seem annoying, but then again, the same trait was evident in Marcus Trufant.

Watching Warren's highlights, you have to seriously wonder how a player like this could ever reach the 3rd round, much less the 4th or 5th. He reminds me a little of a poor man's Malcolm Jenkins. Jenkins was a "do everything" type with no real weaknesses, but ran an unimpressive 4.55 at his combine last year. Jenkins was saved from a potential draft free fall in the middle 1st by the Saints. Jenkins went on to have a pretty nice rookie season including some nice games in the postseason. As a cornerback.

Walterfootball has a pretty glowing scouting report of Warren, comparing him to Dunta Robinson. Robinson is a very talented, but flawed CB who is a pretty good example of the types of CB's our FO will look for.

Warren has made a very good first impression for me, and if he's still there in the 4th round, I'd consider him a bargain.

Expect him to be drafted in... Rounds 3-5

6 comments:

Gold said...

Thanks Kip- agree with your assessment 100%

Akki said...

Since we've gone to a Tampa-two defense, we haven't really brought in any players in the secondary who are tailor-made for the system. Trufant, Wilson, and Jennings are all arguably better in man coverage rather than short zones, and run support is average. Warren sounds like a good place to start.

It's beginning to occur to me that perhaps the story of this team over the last couple years is that the coaching staff instituted too much change at once. You went to Tampa-two starting two years ago, you went to ZBS last year, and you went to a more read-dependent passing attack last year. When you make multiple system changes so quickly, you don't have enough draft picks to get the players that fit the new schemes, and you're stuck playing the previous system's players that don't fit so well. I guess you could use that to argue that Mora needed another year, or you could use that to argue that he bit off more than he could chew.

CLanterman said...

Donovan Warren is why I wish we had a 3rd round pick. Guys like him, or McKnight might fall to the 3rd and it would be a steal to snatch them up. With #60, we can only pick one of Houston, Reshad Jones, Warren, McKnight, etc.
Which is why I think unless McCoy falls to #6, we should do everything in our power to trade down. Would you rather have Spiller at #6, or say Saffold at #35, Warren at #65, and McKnight at #66 (just hypothetical spots)? I'd rather have the latter, and the latter would cost less than half as much as well.

Anonymous said...

I Agree !!!! Please trade down at #6 and pick up a later 1st and a 2nd or 3rd rounder. We really need someone to covet a player still available at #6......

Anonymous said...

Those Michigan guys can play when they get into the NFL.

Matthew Baldwin said...

100,000 trade down scenarios, but my favorite and simplist is trading from 6 to 9 with BUF. I think it's plausible if Clausen is on the board; both CLE and OAK could take him.

Yeah, yeah, yeah I know Holmgren said he's not interested in Clausen but this is liars month and Jake Delhomme is his starter.

It's a great way for us to get our 3rd back and maybe still get the guy we want (Dez, Spiller, JPP???).

6 - 1,600 points
9 - 1,350 points

BUF 3rd rounder (72 overall) is worth 230. Close enough in my book.

Jon Asamoah?
Perrish Cox?
Brandon Ghee?
Ben Tate?