casey mathews?!?!?!

I said last year that 25 teams would regret passing on Clay and that he should be a top 5 pick...

whoopsie. The NFL is full of idiots.

It's going to happen again. People are going to wonder why they didn't draft Casey at LEAST with their 3rd.

 

The staff obviously thought McCarthy was better. Casey may turn out to be a decent player in the NFL, but 10 years from now, when you look back, I think the two careers will be quite similar. Both are smart instinctive players. The difference between the two is miniscule. His bloodlines are great but had his name something other than Matthews he probably would not be getting this much attention.

 

See, with McCarthy I don't see that fire. That's what I want every player playing with... and we rarely draft those types for some reason.

Matthews is like a Finnegan at LB. Woodley, Urlacher, Ray Lewis... those guys all play with that intensity. Like they can't wait to hit someone.

McCarthy I think can be good though. Just not as good as Casey. He's not as much of a game-changer as Casey.

 

I don't see the love for Matthews. Yeah he's got the namesake but most of his "big plays" are plays that he would be chastised for NOT making. He's a very poor block shedder from what I can tell and gets caught out of position at times. He makes the same "weak" tackles Ayers does. He's fast but his hips need work. His pass coverage was awful from the few games I saw. He'd be two feet away and watch the guy catch it just so he could tackle him. It didn't seem to matter how big of a completion it was.

I think the big deal on Casey is how well he can shoot a gap. He's absolutely superb at shooting a gap and getting a hit but other than that he needs work. Block-shedding and pass coverage need some serious work. Angles leave a bit to be desired.

Good
-Straight-line speed
-Throws himself into the tackles

Average
-Angles, misses some, gets some

Bad
-Throws himself into misguided tackles (resulting in pitiful arm tackles or sometimes a hand on a leg)
-Put a lineman on him, he's done
-Too aggressive against PA, bites considerably
-Doesn't show enough effort to make a play in pass coverage, simply waits for the completion unless it's thrown right to him

I didn't think I'd say so but Ayers has more coming into the NFL than Casey. Whether Casey can learn the position is the only difference. Ayers can already shed blocks to a decent degree and has made plays in pass coverage. Casey, as it stands now, is basically just a bullet. If they use him like that, great, but he's not by any means a complete football player.

 

When did Matthews get picked? I guess every NFL team didn't think he was the stud some on this board think he is. They picked the guy they had rated higher. We will see how things work out.

 

He got picked #116, round 4. 13th LB off the board with the Titans selecting the 2nd and 12th.

 

Personally, I like McCarthy more than Mathews.

 

Matthews is too small (he's way smaller than Clay) and he doesn't fit the Titans' system. I think it's just that simple.

 

I still don't get why he is such a better player than McCarthy. For what it is worth McCarthy was rated higher (6.1 to 5.6) by nfl.com. McCarthy is a little thicker (7 pounds heavier and both 6'1). Matthews is slower by about .2 in the 40 and McCarthy was actually more productive (120 tackles to 73). So you can make these vain arguments all you want but it seems obvious that McCarthy was the higher ranked player. If you want to argue they shouldn't take the higher ranked player then feel free to continue to go down that road with Duece but it simply doesn't make any sense.