New York Giants Rookie Who is Needed Early: Evan Engram Players Who Needs to Develop Quickly: Ereck Flowers/Bobby Hart Veteran Who May be Ready to Decline: Eli Manning Most Intriguing to Study: Darian Thompson Excited About Expanded Role: Paul Perkins Make or Break Year for the Team: Devon Kennard The 2016 season was far…
Imagine the following scene… You are a rookie free safety facing your first ever snap of professional football. You are trying to impress in the preseason, and your defensive coordinator has called a staple coverage of the scheme: Cover 3. You are tasked with covering the deep middle third zone. You are shaded to the…
The Miami Dolphins were in a tough situation last week. Franchise quarterback Ryan Tannehill partially tore his ACL, and recently decided to undergo surgery, ending his 2017 season. Despite having a capable backup like Matt Moore, the Dolphins decided to fill the need left by Tannehill’s injury externally, signing Jay Cutler out of retirement and…
August is upon us. NFL as well as college teams have begun their fall camps, the first NFL preseason game is in the books, and the start of football season is around the corner. But with the NFL Draft always on our mind, it is time to expand our look at the next quarterback class.…
I was scrolling through Twitter one Monday night when I came across a retweet by the NFL Network announcing the ranking of Los Angeles Chargers cornerback Casey Hayward at number 64 for their NFL Top 100 campaign. When I clicked on the tweet, by my surprise I saw that Hayward led the league last year…
The New England Patriots fascinate me. They have been the class of the NFL for a long time. Depending on your definition of a dynasty, you could state that New England’s has spanned the last two decades. Or they had one in the early 2000s and we’re presently living in the second iteration. Either way,…
Every draft cycle has a number of polarizing prospects. This past draft provided Deshaun Watson, Jabrill Peppers, and John Ross for example. Two years ago opinions were mixed on players such as Christian Hackenberg, Connor Cook, and Carson Wentz. In the draft year ahead, the clubhouse leader for the most polarizing prospect is the defending…
Welcome to a new series here at Inside the Pylon called The Option Route. This one has a primary focus on the wide receiver position. The idea for this series stems from another great series you may be familiar with here at ITP, the Under the Microscope series from my ITP colleague Brandon Thorn who…
We kick off NFC West Beat; a weekly series combining Xs and Os analysis with talking points from the NFC West. In this edition, Matty Brown and Derek Benson take a look at the biggest areas for each team to address in the upcoming NFC West training camps. The NFC West has transformed from one…
The Chicago Bears quarterback situation heading into the 2017 season might just be the most interesting in the entire league. The Jay Cutler era is officially over. In comes Mike Glennon from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and, of course, there was the NFL Draft day 1 surprise as the Bears traded up from the #3…
Ezekiel Elliott was the most talented running back to be drafted over the last three drafts. That includes names like Todd Gurley, Melvin Gordon, Derrick Henry, Leonard Fournette, Christian McCaffrey, and Dalvin Cook. And next year LSU’s Derrius Guice and Penn State’s Saquon Barkley will look to knock Zeke off the top of the running…
Joe Williams should have been included in the 2017 Inside the Pylon Draft Guide. That’s what I was saying in January. As it was, my fellow running back scouts and the big four of Jon Ledyard, Jeff Feyerer, Shane Alexander, and Dan Hatman decided he was not a top 100 player in this draft. By…
June is a great month in the football world, as the docket slows somewhat as NFL teams wrap up OTAs, college teams are still a month away from camps, and the pace generally relaxes. It’s a good time to handle some other business – say, tending to the backyard crop of corn and resurfacing some…
Every spring, NFL teams meet with prospects for the upcoming draft in the months leading up to the draft itself. There are many opportunities for players and teams to meet with one another, including all-star games, pro days, the NFL Scouting Combine, workouts, and private visits. Each type of meeting has different rules that govern…
NFL teams throughout the league have a quarterback problem, and they’ve had it for a while. It’s not difficult to figure out that there is a shortage of franchise quarterbacks in the NFL. That’s why teams pour a ton of money into trying to sign or draft their next franchise quarterback – sometimes simultaneously. The…
Dallas Cowboys left tackle Tyron Smith is the most physically talented tackle in football, and showcases his dominance through elite athleticism, play strength, discipline, and overall technique. Marrying his rare physical traits with an increasingly improving skill set has resulted in the mastering of the position when he’s been healthy. Despite struggles with a bulging…