Jake Ryan

[easyk83]

It seems Matthews isn´t comfortable playing inside anymore which hopefully won´t lead to any distractions in the locker room. Thompson should have addressed the WLB position by now but inexplicably hasn´t done so far.

I would have liked for him to have addressed this earlier in the draft, Kendricks was my pick for the first. Yet here we are and I'm always a homer at this part of the season.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

I would have liked for him to have addressed this earlier in the draft, Kendricks was my pick for the first.

Yeah, I would have loved to get Kendricks as well. Thompson has had at least two offseasons to address the position though but hasn´t done so adequately. That´s disappointing.

 

[Carl]

Watch the OSU clip again and watch the players around him, specifically his Defensive Line. Look at how often they're put on skates.

Other than that he shows good range, plays aggressively and looks natural in his zone drops I would find excitement in the fact that his tape might not do justice to his NFL ability. Remember, this was his first year laying LB inside and his first year back from an ACL tear. It usually takes a player until his second year back to make a full recovery and regain full confidence in the knee.

Typically players are allowed to return to sport with the injured leg at 80% the strength to the normal leg. At a year out post ACL surgery, there is a good chance he still had some weakness in the leg.

 

[Half Empty]

We've lacked (adequate) athleticism at ILBer for years.

What do you define as adequate?

The starting ILBs for the other teams in the league?

You do realize that from an athleticism standpoint he is above average, right?

Roller offers an opinion (about the Packers). You obviously don't care for it, ask for a definition of a subjective term. I jokingly (note the smiley) offer the opinion that everyone else has adequately athletic ILBs. You reply (my assumption) that Ryan is above average athletically.

If the last statement is correct, please provide your supporting data, and, for that matter, what your rebuttal has to do with the opinion that the Packers have lacked athletic ILBs for a while. For each evaluation you find, I'm pretty sure I, or the others who think the same way, can find a legitimate counter (indicating that he's got a lot of positives, but pure athletic ability isn't one of them).

If, on the other hand, this is just one of those "I'm right, you're wrong" situations, then, I'll cease muddying the waters and admit that I'm wrong.

 

[Mondio]

Watch the OSU clip again and watch the players around him, specifically his Defensive Line. Look at how often they're put on skates.

Other than that he shows good range, plays aggressively and looks natural in his zone drops I would find excitement in the fact that his tape might not do justice to his NFL ability. Remember, this was his first year laying LB inside and his first year back from an ACL tear. It usually takes a player until his second year back to make a full recovery and regain full confidence in the knee.

Him coming off an ACL tear does give me hope that there can be more improvement

 

[TJV]

I"m still waiting for some good reasons why I should be more excited about this pick besides a stat or what someone wrote.

Honestly I think you'll have to wait until TC to be excited - or not. In the meantime you, me and every Packers fan can hope he'll get better as he gets more experience at the ILB spot and gets farther away from his ACL injury (as you say in your post above).

I have also been among those complaining about the ILB position and was hoping Thompson would step out of his MO (as he has done on occasion) and address it in UFA. For those who thought Kendricks was the answer, would you have wanted Thompson to reach for him at #30 IF the Packers rated Randall in a talent tier above Kendricks, Anthony and the other ILBs? By pick 45, Anthony, McKinney, and Kendricks were gone (Perryman at #48). Is anyone advocating Thompson should have gutted this draft and traded up to get one? For example, by my math it would have taken picks #62, #94, and #129 (451 pts on the trade value chart) to move up to pick #44 (460 pts). If the Packers rated Dawson about the same as Ryan, should Thompson have picked Dawson at pick #94 anyway (Dawson was picked at #99)? I think it's clear the Packers didn't have the ILBs rated as highly as some here did. And I think it's likely they had Ryan rated higher than most fans and perhaps other teams. BTW, that's another reason to feel good about the pick if you need one before we see what he can do in TC: (If you believe him) Thompson and his staff had him rated higher than where he was taken.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

I have also been among those complaining about the ILB position and was hoping Thompson would step out of his MO (as he has done on occasion) and address it in UFA. For those who thought Kendricks was the answer, would you have wanted Thompson to reach for him at #30 IF the Packers rated Randall in a talent tier above Kendricks, Anthony and the other ILBs? By pick 45, Anthony, McKinney, and Kendricks were gone (Perryman at #48). Is anyone advocating Thompson should have gutted this draft and traded up to get one? For example, by my math it would have taken picks #62, #94, and #129 (451 pts on the trade value chart) to move up to pick #44 (460 pts). If the Packers rated Dawson about the same as Ryan, should Thompson have picked Dawson at pick #94 anyway (Dawson was picked at #99)? I think it's clear the Packers didn't have the ILBs rated as highly as some here did. And I think it's likely they had Ryan rated higher than most fans and perhaps other teams. BTW, that's another reason to feel good about the pick if you need one before we see what he can do in TC: (If you believe him) Thompson and his staff had him rated higher than where he was taken.

I´ve been advocating for the Packers to draft Kendricks for quite some time before the draft so I would have obviously been excited about Thompson drafting him at #30. By selecting Randall though I wouldn´t have liked the team to trade up to the mid of the second round to select the UCLA linebacker.

I agree with not reaching for a player at a position of need in the draft (although I think Thompson did it with selecting Montgomery in the third round) but because a GM has no idea how a draft works out it would be great to use free agency to upgrade positions in dire need of an upgrade.

 

[Carl]

Him coming off an ACL tear does give me hope that there can be more improvement

As I said above, typically players are allowed to return to sport with the injured leg at 80% the strength to the normal leg. At a year out post ACL surgery, there is a good chance he still had some weakness in the leg.

It could have been a factor in his play.

Plus, post ACL a player can't even run for months, let alone do football activities so he was most likely not in as good of shape as he is now.

 

[OldSchool101]

My first impression on watching his film is that he looks like a 4-5 round talent He was projected.
I like his burst and tackling in and open field seems to be solid. He'd good at running down QBs scrambling and possesses a good target closing heat seeking thruster once he beads in.
He def needs work on overcoming blocks which seem to be his kryptonite.
if he is trainable on shedding blocks and can bump 10-15 pounds of muscle and not lose his burst he has potential.

 

[PikeBadger]

Honestly I think you'll have to wait until TC to be excited - or not. In the meantime you, me and every Packers fan can hope he'll get better as he gets more experience at the ILB spot and gets farther away from his ACL injury (as you say in your post above).

I have also been among those complaining about the ILB position and was hoping Thompson would step out of his MO (as he has done on occasion) and address it in UFA. For those who thought Kendricks was the answer, would you have wanted Thompson to reach for him at #30 IF the Packers rated Randall in a talent tier above Kendricks, Anthony and the other ILBs? By pick 45, Anthony, McKinney, and Kendricks were gone (Perryman at #48). Is anyone advocating Thompson should have gutted this draft and traded up to get one? For example, by my math it would have taken picks #62, #94, and #129 (451 pts on the trade value chart) to move up to pick #44 (460 pts). If the Packers rated Dawson about the same as Ryan, should Thompson have picked Dawson at pick #94 anyway (Dawson was picked at #99)? I think it's clear the Packers didn't have the ILBs rated as highly as some here did. And I think it's likely they had Ryan rated higher than most fans and perhaps other teams. BTW, that's another reason to feel good about the pick if you need one before we see what he can do in TC: (If you believe him) Thompson and his staff had him rated higher than where he was taken.

Anthony, McKinney, Kendricks, Perriman, Dawson. Thompson stated a couple of years ago his board contained about 125 names. I think many folks here may be failing to take into account the real possibility that 2 or 3 of these guys maybe were not on Ted's board at all. Not to mention the very real possibility that his board does not resemble the online draft boards we all see. After what we witnessed, perhaps Mayock needs to be given more credence in trying to anticipate what Thompson might do. It is once again pretty clear by listening to TT and MM press conferences that BPA is their underlying philosophy and that Thompson had Randall pretty high up on his board.

 

[bigbubbatd]

I dont get the love for Kendricks. He is a 4-3 outside linebacker. Most reports say he is best on the weakside. He is too small to play inside. He can tackle but will get engulfed by lineman. The Vikings got a solid future OLB in the 4-3 but he does not look the part of an ILB. Kendricks was the ILB I really didn't like bc he is a plus at coverage as an ILB but not a plus in run defense.

Now Ryan may not pan out but I love getting ryan in the 4th over Kendricks in the 1st.

Also if you want a little more reading on Ryan this is from the press gazette today. Not sure if it has been posted. Soundo like pff grated him really well against the run and decent against the pass.

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com...e-ryan-ready-contribute-ilb-packers/26806785/

 

[wist43]

Ryan, post-injury, looks pretty limited athletically... he may come around, as he gets further away from the injury, but if he stays the way he is - he's not going to see the field much.

Certainly never in a subpackage. At this point he is strictly a run-down player - and since Capers doesn't care much about stopping the run, he might not see the field much anyway.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Ryan, post-injury, looks pretty limited athletically... he may come around, as he gets further away from the injury, but if he stays the way he is - he's not going to see the field much.

Certainly never in a subpackage. At this point he is strictly a run-down player - and since Capers doesn't care much about stopping the run, he might not see the field much anyway.

Ryan is still more athletic than any other ILB currently on the roster.

 

[bigbubbatd]

Ryan, post-injury, looks pretty limited athletically... he may come around, as he gets further away from the injury, but if he stays the way he is - he's not going to see the field much.

Certainly never in a subpackage. At this point he is strictly a run-down player - and since Capers doesn't care much about stopping the run, he might not see the field much anyway.

Ryan posted similar or better 40, shuttles, and cone drill times to most of the top ILBs in the draft as well as grading out highly by places like pro football focus. All this while being not that far removed from an acl tear. Again I have no idea if he will be good but I feel like his athleticism is being questioned due to things other than his actual play and combine results. Mainly that people have pegged him as a worse aj hawk for no good reason

 

[thisisnate]

Ryan posted similar or better 40, shuttles, and cone drill times to most of the top ILBs in the draft as well as grading out highly by places like pro football focus. All this while being not that far removed from an acl tear. Again I have no idea if he will be good but I feel like his athleticism is being questioned due to things other than his actual play and combine results. Mainly that people have pegged him as a worse aj hawk for no good reason

not even kidding, i think some people are like "big 10... white kid... must be like aj hawk"

 

[GoPGo]

so predictable. thank you for telling me what I already know and have said repeatedly. use your stats to tell convince yourself of him. I asked for some video. I guess after asking multiple times, i'm just going to conclude the only thing you'll produce are excuses. Carry on

What a stupid argument. "You can't find a video so you're wrong!"

Get a clue. I don't NEED a video to be able to quantify his production or to gain the understanding that the Packers know FAR more about him than you could every glean from a video.

So I'm just going to conclude that you think one Youtube video makes you some kind of expert.

 

[easyk83]

Ryan posted similar or better 40, shuttles, and cone drill times to most of the top ILBs in the draft as well as grading out highly by places like pro football focus. All this while being not that far removed from an acl tear. Again I have no idea if he will be good but I feel like his athleticism is being questioned due to things other than his actual play and combine results. Mainly that people have pegged him as a worse aj hawk for no good reason

You can only compare players with comparable skin color. Russell Wilson has to be compared to Randall Cunningham and Mike Vick, Jordy Nelson had to be compared to Wes Welker and so forth. Therefore if he's a white guy with a good 40 time he's AJ Hawk.

 

[SoonerPack]

Ryan is still more athletic than any other ILB currently on the roster.

I think he is more athletic than many on this board are giving him credit for. The post(s) about his injury and how none of us know if he was truly 100% last year both mentally and physically are spot on to me. When you combine that with the fact the young man only played a true ILB for one season I am surprised that more people aren't excited to see what he can do opposed to labeling him a 2 down guy and nothing more. The fact is he is going to get better at the position now that he will receive top level training and his 4.65 FYD tells me is isn't some lumbering sloth. The kid is pretty good and I like to look at the entire picture and when I do I like what I see. Ryan has above average athletic ability, a great motor, passion for the game and he uses angles to his advantage to compensate for the lack of top notch athleticism. To me, that sounds like a kid that will be able to make some plays for us. How many times have you seen or read about a guy that is a combine freak or a workout warrior but when he pads up you are thinking to yourself, "who the hell is this bum?" I want a guy that can play the game and that's what I expect from Jake. I am not saying he is going to make the PB the next 10 years but I do think he is going to end up being a really nice player contributing to a couple championship runs. Call me a homer or whatever but I am just stating how I honestly feel about him. G P G!

 

[wist43]

Ryan posted similar or better 40, shuttles, and cone drill times to most of the top ILBs in the draft as well as grading out highly by places like pro football focus. All this while being not that far removed from an acl tear. Again I have no idea if he will be good but I feel like his athleticism is being questioned due to things other than his actual play and combine results. Mainly that people have pegged him as a worse aj hawk for no good reason

Everything I saw of him, post-injury, he had very poor lateral movement, couldn't get thru the trash, couldn't redirect well, couldn't plaster... in other words, very stiff, i.e. limited athletically.

I know he ran pretty well at the combine, but being able to gear up for a beauty contest in shorts is a far cry from the week to week grind of having to put the pads on and slug it out every week.

We'll see, but until I see him make some progress in pads and on the field - I'll remain skeptical.

 

[OldSchool101]

I'm the first to admit I would've loved to have a premier ILB early in the draft but that meant trading up at round 1 which is costly. My gut tells me that we have a slew of good solid competition with returning guys and a plethora of new recruits that are very talented.. I hate to offend but I actually think we will improve by default without AJ and Jones

 

[GoPGo]

Thompson has had at least two offseasons to address the position though but hasn´t done so adequately. That´s disappointing.

Says who? Already writing off Jake Ryan and Joe Thomas before they even get a chance to set foot on an NFL field?

 

[GoPGo]

You can only compare players with comparable skin color. Russell Wilson has to be compared to Randall Cunningham and Mike Vick, Jordy Nelson had to be compared to Wes Welker and so forth. Therefore if he's a white guy with a good 40 time he's AJ Hawk.

I'm pretty sure CM3 is a white guy with a good 40. Let's compare him to Hawk too!

 

[bigbubbatd]

I'm the first to admit I would've loved to have a premier ILB early in the draft but that meant trading up at round 1 which is costly. My gut tells me that we have a slew of good solid competition with returning guys and a plethora of new recruits that are very talented.. I hate to offend but I actually think we will improve by default without AJ and Jones

There wasn't a premier inside linebacker in this draft. There were a few guys who would normally be late second early thirds at best who got bumped up bc there was no real top end talent

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Says who? Already writing off Jake Ryan and Joe Thomas before they even get a chance to set foot on an NFL field?

Geez, I'm not writing off any of the ILBs currently on the roster. Taking a look at their athleticism and agility none of them is best suited to play WLB or all three downs though.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

What a stupid argument. "You can't find a video so you're wrong!"

Get a clue. I don't NEED a video to be able to quantify his production or to gain the understanding that the Packers know FAR more about him than you could every glean from a video.

So according to your statement you think Hawk is the best linebacker in franchise history as he's leading the Packers in all-time tackles??? Taking a look at game film is way more important than to quantify a prospect's production.

I'm the first to admit I would've loved to have a premier ILB early in the draft but that meant trading up at round 1 which is costly. I hate to offend but I actually think we will improve by default without AJ and Jones

No ILB was drafting before the Packers pick at #30 so Thompson wouldn't have had to trade up to select one of them. While Hawk and Jones were mostly terrible over the last two seasons we still have to find better players at the position to actually improve.