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  • in reply to: OL talk, 2020 #113480
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    in reply to: tweets & other bits … 4/8 thru 4/11 #113477
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    in reply to: tweets & other bits … 4/8 thru 4/11 #113476
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    ==

    Defensive tackles aren’t supposed to be this skilled. That’s what people forget. Playing the interior defensive line is supposed to be a slog. Donald makes it look like art. Name a player in the NFL who is more dominant at his position right now than Donald is on the defensive line.

    ==

    Bob Gibson@BGreporting
    I’m glad you used the term underrated…I’ve said the same thing as well…I’m not sure we can fathom just how dominant he is…

    Rich Hammond@Rich_Hammond
    I agree. The category he’s in, in terms of interior linemen, you’re talking about the top handful to ever do it.

    in reply to: draft talk (April) #113474
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    Deadpool

    My 2020 250 player Big Board

    A few notes before I get to the list:

    1. I have seen every player. Some guys I have only seen in the Shrine Game. Others I have seen a ton. So my grading is not perfect.

    2. This is a board built from a scoring system and not where I think they will land in the draft. That is a predictive board. So I get Joe Burrow is going #1 and not where I have him. Its where he scored.

    3. As far as scoring, its new to me, and I altered it from last year. I grade a player on several categories (depending on position) on a 1-10 scale. Injuries now do come into play. Some red flags from off the field as well.

    4. My top 10 lists per position are coming.

    5. I summarized each player to give you an idea of their strengths and weaknesses, if you see one with too many comments one way or the other, it doesn’t mean he should be higher or lower.

    6. ask any questions you like.

    1. Chase Young – Edge – Ohio St. – 6′-5″ 264 lbs. – Size/speed/strength/athleticism. He is the total package in a prototypical 43 DE body.

    2. Jeff Okudah – CB – Ohio St. – 6′-1″ 205 lbs. – Big, quick, fast, smooth and physical. Perfect fit in a press man system, but will work in off man and zone.

    3. Derrick Brown – IDL -Auburn – 6′-4″ 326 lbs. – Explosive, strong, excellent hand fighter and has an all-day motor. Total package.

    4. Isaiah Simmons – LB – Clemson – 6′-4″ 238 lbs. – ILB, Safety, CB, Edge. Kid can do it all with his blend of elite speed, athleticism and strength. In a league wanting more do it all types, he may be the best of them all.

    5. Jedrick Wills – OT – Alabama – 6′-4″ 312 lbs. – Played RT to protect a lefty QB. He can dominate you power wise and has plenty of juice to move, slide hit and rinse repeat. Oh and he is a technician as well as a mauler…

    6. Jerry Jeudy – WR – Alabama – 6′-1″ 193 lbs. – Excellent hands, excellent route runner and electric speed. Everything you want in a #1 WR.

    7. Tristan Wirfs – OT – Iowa – 6′-5″ 320 lbs. – Some think he’s an OG. They are wrong. Athletic and powerful with good technique. He can play either side and be a 10 year rock star.

    8. CeeDee Lamb -WR – Oklahoma – 6′-2″ 198 lbs. – a size/speed WR that is an absolute terror in the open field. Excellent hands are just the cherry on top. Could use some strength.

    9. K’Lavon Chaisson – Edge – LSU – 6′-4″ 254 lbs. – My top 34 Edge. Speed to power guy with plenty of athletic ability and a leader mentality. Good motor as well. 3 down edge.

    10. Mekhi Becton – OT – Louisville – 6′-7″ 357 lbs. – The Mountain. He is a physical rarity. He is fast, strong big and agile. Has had issues maintaining his weight in the past.

    11. Javon Kinlaw – IDL -South Carolina – 6′-5″ 324 lbs. – Another big, explosive lineman that can get after it. may have some character concerns.

    12. Kristian Fulton – CB – LSU – 6′-0″ 197 lbs. – Good size to go with a smooth, athletic profile. Always under control and doesn’t panic. Another press man CB.

    13. Kenneth Murray – LB – Oklahoma – 6′-2″ 241 lbs. – Sideline to sideline ILBer with power and everything you want in a defensive leader.

    14. Joe Burrow – QB – LSU – 6′-3″ 221 lbs. – Above average in most categories. Elite movement in and manipulation of the pocket makes him special. Prototypical size helps.

    15. Andrew Thomas – OT – Georgia – 6′-5″ 315 lbs. – Not the athlete the top 3 are, but if hands are on you, be prepared to eat dirt. Excellent hands combined with that power makes for a long day against the run.

    16. Tua Tagovailoa – QB – Alabama – 6′-0″ 217 lbs. – Love his athletic ability, accuracy to all levels and competitiveness. Injury history drops him a slot.

    17. Grant Delpit – S – LSU – 6′-2″ 213 lbs. – Single high is the safety everyone wants, and Delpit is an excellent single high with great range, smooth change of direction and can drop into the box and blitz.

    18. C.J. Henderson – CB – Florida – 6′-1″ 204 lbs. – Explosive, smooth and fast, he has a ballhawk mentality. Didn’t want to tackle this year. Business decision? Off man or zone corner.

    19. Patrick Queen – LB – LSU – 6′-1″ 229 lbs. – A new age ILBer that can run, cover and hit. His lack of length is a bit of a concern.

    20. Xavier McKinney – S – Alabama – 6′-0″ 201 lbs. – Not a single high, but a tough nosed moveable chess piece that wins everywhere on the field.

    21. Laviska Shenault Jr. – WR – Colorado – 6′-1″ 227 lbs. – A physical, workhorse that just punishes defenders in the open field. Injuries are a concern.

    22. A.J. Epenesa – Edge – Iowa – 6′-6″ 275 lbs. – A bit stiff, but he works, strong as a bull and I think he gives you End work on early downs and moves inside on 3rds.

    23. Henry Ruggs III – WR – Alabama – 5′-11″ 188 lbs. – Here’s your HR threat. a pure speed machine that won’t wow you with his route running ability.

    24. Neville Gallimore – IDL – Oklahoma – 6′-2″ 304 lbs. – Good athlete with power, all day motor and tough. Not as dynamic as a pass rusher as the top 2 guys.

    25. Cesar Ruiz – IOL – Michigan – 6′-3″ 307 lbs. – Zone or man, excellent pass blocker, can play OG or OC. Best combo of size/strength and athletic ability in the IOL group. I like him as a Zone scheme OC.

    26. Justin Herbert – QB – Oregon – 6′-6″ 236 lbs. – Big kid, big arm. Needs to fix some mechanics involving his legs. I worry he isn’t a natural leader.

    27. Jonathan Taylor – RB – Wisconsin – 5′-10″ 226 lbs. – A workhorse back with HR speed and excellent vision. Pass catching is his worst trait, and its fine.

    28. Yetur Gross-Matos – Edge – Penn St. – 6′-5″ 266 lbs. – Raw, but the tools spill out of his toolbox. 43 DE. Love his length and explosiveness from a 3 point stance. high ceiling.

    29. D’Andre Swift – RB – Georgia – 5′-8″ 212 lbs. – Bellcow back with excellent footwork and balance, HR speed and can catch passes. Not a between the tackles type.

    30. Trevon Diggs – CB – Alabama – 6′-1″ 205 lbs. – Brother to Stephon, he is a zone/man cb prospect with excellent footwork and fluid movement skills. Add that to his length and he is a handful.

    31. Antoine Winfield Jr. – S – Minnesota – 5′-9″ 203 lbs. – Undersized ballhawking, instinctual and extremely physical S. Again, not a sigle high, and more of a halves type safety.

    32. Tee Higgins – WR – Clemson – 6′-4″ 216 lbs. – a highpoint, catch radius WR that wins at all levels of the field, but is at his best winning 50/50. Good, not great speed.

    33. JK Dobbins – RB – Ohio State – 5′-9″ 210 lbs. – Inside out back that can catch passes, extremely tough after first contact and can go the distance. I wish he was a tad bigger.

    34. Noah Igbinoghene – CB – Auburn – 5′-10″ 198 lbs. – Former WR turned college CB, so he needs to be developed, but he is ultra fast, explosive and just an overall smooth athlete. Zone or man fit.

    35. Ross Blacklock – IDL – TCU – 6′-4″ 290 lbs. – Incredible feet with good power has him in gaps consistently. Not the fastest react time. Achilles injury 2 years ago.

    36. Jordan Love – QB – Utah State – 6′-4″ 224 lbs. – I don’t get the Mahommes comp., He pressed bigtime this year and struggled. Big time athlete with big arm.

    37. Justin Jefferson – WR – LSU – 6′-1″ 202 lbs. – Good route runner, good hands, good speed, good blocker. Not explosive, but gets open, makes catches and scores.

    38. Jeff Gladney – CB – TCU – 5′-10″ – 191 lbs. – Physical, hard-nosed press man CB with excellent speed. More than willing to help against the run.

    39. Josh Jones – OT – Houston – 6′-5″ 319 lbs. – Super athlete with great feet, decent anchor that would work best in a zone scheme. Not the dog the top 4 are, but still will get after it.

    40. Van Jefferson – WR – Florida – 6′-1″ 200 lbs. – A route running technician, good hands and is OK in the open field. Not explosive and not what I would call a HR threat.

    41. Justin Madubuike – IDL – Texas A&M – 6′-3″ 293 lbs. – An explosive, penetrating type DT with good strength that needs to be more consistent.

    42. Austin Jackson – OT – USC – 6′-5″ 322 lbs. – Lost time/strength due to helping his sister with a medical issue. He may need a year, but a full toolbox with a good balance of strength and agility.

    43. Clyde Edwards-Helaire – RB – LSU – 5′-7″ 207 lbs. – An easy mover with a powerful lower half. May lack the size to handle a full NFL load.

    44. Lucas Niang – OT – TCU – 6′-6″ 315 lbs. – Another nice power/athletic combo blocker that plays with a nice edge. Injury slowed him some, and needs to get consistent.

    45. Lloyd Cushenberry – IOL – LSU – 6′-3″ 312 lbs. – Another OG/OC candidate. Strong and tough, not as mobile as the other top OCs. Really improved over the year.

    46. Terrell Lewis – Alabama – 6′-5″ 262 lbs. – Another high ceiling guy with injury history. Loooong levered. Smooth. Stong. 34 Edge

    47. Marlon Davidson – IDL – Auburn – 6′-3″ 303 lbs. – 3T or 34 DE. I like him as a penetrating DE in a 34 that can also hold his own against the run. Big time motor.

    48. Jalen Reagor – WR – Arizona State – 5′-11′ 206 lbs. – He’s a jittery HR hitter that is electric deep or in the open field. His hands are iffy IMO, or he’d be higher on my list.

    49. Kyle Dugger – S – Lenoir-Rhyne – 6′-1″ 217 lbs. – Small school kid. Great size and athletic profile that can play free or strong. Excellent blitzer and played really well at the Senior Bowl. Will need some coaching.

    50. Donovan Peoples-Jones – WR – Michigan – 6′-2″ 212 lbs. – Good hands and an excellent athlete. Underused in that woeful Mich. offense. He is more of a projection due to lack of production.

    51. Denzel Mims – WR – Baylor – 6′-3″ 207 lbs. – Big, strong with decent speed. He can go up and get it. A real 50/50 ball stud. Lacks any real route running.

    52. Zack Baun – Edge – Wisconsin – 6′-3″ 238 lbs. – A bit smaller edge, but he is smart, relentless and refined. Will have trouble against the run due to size. I think he works best as a LBer you move around inside early, out late.

    53. Ashtyn Davis – S – California – 6′-1″ 202 lbs. – A physical safety that works in a variety of sets, works best when he’s free to roam in a zone and make plays.

    54. Matt Hennessy – IOL – Temple – 6′-4″ 307 lbs. – A OZS OC that is an excellent mover with great technique. Needs to get stronger, but IQ and skill set are outstanding. Reminds me of Garrett Bradbury.

    55. Damon Arnette – CB – Ohio St. – 6′-0″ 195 lbs. – Easy moving, physical press man CB with very good instincts.

    56. Jeremy Chinn – S – Southern Illinois – 6′-3″ 221 lbs. – Simmons-lite in a safety body. he could be a LBer a S or an edge rusher with crazy athleticism. Love his physicality and the fact that he is always around the ball.

    57. Cam Akers – RB – Florida State – 5′-10″ 217 lbs. – Another feature back buried on a horrible offense. Does a little of everything., but he’s a downhill 1 cut style power back at his best.

    58. K.J. Hamler – WR – Penn State – 5′-9″ 178 lbs. – Electrifying. In the open field as dangerous as any WR in the draft. Hands can be iffy, and he is small, but a HR hitter and someone a defense needs to plan for.

    59. Julian Okwara – Edge – Notre Dame – 6′-4″ 252 lbs. – A 34 Edge with a nice blend of explosiveness and flexibility. Needs to get stronger against the run.

    60. A.J. Terrell – CB – Clemson – 6′-1″ 195 lbs. – Fast, big press man that needs to rely on his skill set and not resort to getting so handsy. This is football, not the backseat of your dads Olds on date night.

    61. Jordyn Brooks – LB – Texas Tech – 6′-1″ 240 lbs. – An absolute heat seeking missile that is devastating going downhill, lacks pass coverage reps. Sideline to sideline.

    62. Brandon Aiyuk – WR – Arizona State – 6′-0″ 205 lbs. – Another big play waiting to happen. Can take the top off the defense and is slippery in the open field. Not a very nuanced route runner, hands are OK.

    63. Josh Uche – Edge – Michigan – 6′-1″ 245 lbs. – Smaller edge that will have issues against the run. but he is a flexy, bursty little dude that is also good in space.

    64. Jonah Jackson – IOL – Ohio St. – 6′-3″ 306 lbs. – A technician with decent strength that can play anywhere on the inside. Needs to be more consistent. Plays with an edge.

    65. Troy Pride – CB – Notre Dame – 5′-11″ 193 lbs. – Under-rated athletically, has good speed and can work in man and zone coverages. A perfect #2 CB.

    66. Malik Harrison – LB – Ohio St. – 6′-3″ 247 lbs. – Old school type MLBer that stuffs the run and plugs gaps. Quick to react, strong and will drop the hammer. Too stiff to contribute in a lot of coverage.

    67. Bryce Hall – CB – Virginia – 6′-1″ 202 lbs. – Long, physical and smart. Always taking good angles and is in the proper position. Not the world’s best athlete. he will outwork you. Zone CB.

    68. Brycen Hopkins – TE – Purdue – 6′-4″ 245 lbs. – Your prototypical new age TE. A mismatch problem in the middle of the field that is a smooth, easy mover. Not an inline blocker, I worry a bit about his hands.

    69. Jacob Eason – QB – Washington – 6′-6″ 231 lbs. – Biggest arm in the class, but is a statue and panics a little too easily for my taste.

    70. Jaylon Johnson – CB – Utah – 6′-0″ 193 lbs. – Decent size and speed that excels in man coverage. Fast to react and is a ballhawk. Smooth mover.

    71. Leki Fotu – IDL – Utah – 6′-4″ 330 lbs. – A monster NT with a little pass rush juice to him. Good motor and is almost impossible to move. Not the athletic freak Lawrence was last year.

    72. Ben Bartch – OT – St. Johns (MN) – 6′-6″ 309 lbs. – Small School prospect that held his own at Senior Bowl. TE turned OT. Athletic with a nice anchor, he needs seasoning. Arm length probably moves him inside.

    73. Cameron Dantzler – CB – Mississippi State – 6′-2″ 188 lbs. -a big CB that may move to S due to speed restrictions. I like him in press man, but his ability to sniff out routes should help in zone concepts as well.

    74. Eno Benjamin – RB – Arizona State – 5′-9″ 207 lbs. – Physical for his size, smooth lower half and can be slippery to tackle. Change of pace back only.

    75. Matt Peart – OT – Connecticut – 6′-7″ 318 lbs. – An easy moving OT with decent strength that again, could use a year or 2 learning and adding power, but there is no denying the skills are there.

    76. DaVon Hamilton – IDL – Ohio St. – 6′-4″ 320 lbs. – A powerhouse run defender that was never tasked to rush the passer. Early 2 down starter with the athletic profile to possibly add some inside pass rush.

    77. Jake Fromm – QB – Georgia – 6′-2″ 219 lbs. – Smartest QB in the draft, has a noodle for an arm and is a little on the small side.

    78. Robert Hunt – IOL – Louisiana-Lafayette – 6′-5″ 323 lbs. – 2nd nastiest OG in the draft. He is a punisher. Needs to be a little more patient, but he will finish on all levels.

    79. Jonathan Greenard – Edge – Florida – 6′-4″ 263 lbs. – I just love his athletic ability, balance against the run and pass and supposedly a hard worker off the field. Not the most flexible, but his length and strength make up for it. high floor, lower ceiling type.

    80. Alohi Gilman – S – Notre Dame – 5′-10″ 201 lbs. – A zone safety that is an absolute hammer coming forward. Another versatile player that can do a little of everything.

    81. Prince Tega Wanogho – OT – Auburn – 6′-5″ 308 lbs. – Surprise, an athletic, raw skilled LT from Auburn. He has elite tools, but needs a year learning and gaining strength.

    82. Curtis Weaver – Edge – Boise St. – 6′-3″ 265 lbs. – He could either be a 43 or 34. Lacks an ideal athletic profile, but has a hot motor, a good first step, active hands and handles his own against the run. Another high floor, lower ceiling type.

    83. Chase Claypool – WR – Notre Dame – 6′-4″ 238 lbs. – A big possession WR, that wins contested catches, 50-50 balls and is tough in the redzone. Tested better then he plays, but is still a great athlete.

    84. Akeem Davis-Gaither – LB – Appalachian St. – 6′-2″ 224 lbs. – Highly productive WILL that plays fast, can cover and rush the QB. I like him outside in a 43, but maybe a MO in a 34…

    85. Raekwon Davis – IDL – Alabama – 6′-7″ 311 lbs. – a 34 DE, because he will get out-leveraged on the inside. powerful with a solid anchor against the run, pass rush potential is there, but never developed.

    86. Albert Okwuegbunam – TE – Missouri – 6′-5″ 258 lbs. – Big target with enough athletic ability to create issues in the seam. A decent and willing blocker inline. Offense and QB really slowed down his progression.

    87. Darnay Holmes – CB – UCLA – 5′-10″ 195 lbs.– Smooth and quick are his calling cards. I wish he was more aggressive. off man or zone scheme fit.

    88. K’Von Wallace – S – Clemson – 5′-11″ 206 lbs. – Physical, will stick his face in the fan and has some nice ball production. Not overly athletic or fast, but versatile.

    89. Bryan Edwards – WR – South Carolina – 6′-3″ 212 lbs. – He wins with his size and physicality in the middle of the field. Not a burner, but plays hard and smart.

    90. Thaddeus Moss – TE – LSU – 6′-2″ 250 lbs. – Not the freakish athlete his dad was, but is a monster in the blocking game, is a nuanced route runner and knows how to get open. Competes hard.

    91. Troy Dye – LB – Oregon – 6′-4″ 231 lbs. – Another see ball, chase ball LBer that needs to add strength. But he makes plays all over the field.

    92. Antoine Brooks Jr. – S – Maryland – 5′-11″ 220 lbs. – Here is that big nickel LBer or third safety I have been talking about for the last year or so. best working around the box in sub packages. Physical, emotional and not extremely rangy.

    93. Cole Kmet – TE – Notre Dame – 6′-6″ 263 lbs. – Another size mismatch with decent athleticism. Should be a better blocker then he is. Good hands, decent route runner.

    94. Saahdiq Charles – OT – LSU – 6′-4″ 321 lbs. – A smooth mover with good athleticism, but lacks power. A move inside might be in his future. zone scheme prospect.

    95. Adam Troutman – TE – Dayton – 6′-5″ 255 lbs. – Exciting athlete that is new to being a TE. Extremely productive, but a raw skill set including route running. A plus blocker.

    96. Zack Moss – RB – Utah – 5′-9″ 223 lbs. – A big, bigtime power back with some wiggle to him. Hard to bring down. I like his footwork. Not a HR hitter and a 1 cut and go type back.

    97. Darrell Taylor – Edge – Tennessee – 6′-4″ 267 lbs. – Good athlete, with plenty of flex, decent get off and enough size to hold up against the run. hasn’t put it all together. High upside, high bust potential.

    98. Steven Montez – QB – Colorado – 6′-4″ 231 lbs. – Big arm, all the tools, has just never put it all together.

    99. Logan Stenberg – IOL – Kentucky – 6′-6″ 317 lbs. – Meanest, nastiest OG in the draft. Won’t win on style points and will talk your ear off. Not a great athlete.

    100. Tyler Biadasz – IOL – Wisconsin – 6′-4″ 314 lbs. – OC for any scheme. Excellent mover with a great anchor and good strength. Off season hip surgery slowed him down last season. Followed by shoulder surgery this off season. Could be a heck of a steal.

    101. Khalid Kareem – Edge – Notre Dame – 6′-4″ 268 lbs. – Long and strong, excellent against the run, not much juice as a pass rusher. A bit stiff. 43 end only.

    102. Ezra Cleveland – OT – Boise State – 6′-6″ 311 lbs. – Absolute athlete for his size/length. Real smooth mover with light feet. Needs to add strength and needs technique work. I’d say an OZS LT right now.

    103. Rashard Lawrence – IDL – LSU – 6′-2″ – 308 lbs. – What you would expect in an LSU DL, tough, strong and excellent against the run. Doesn’t offer much in the way of a pass rush.

    104. Isaiah Wilson – OT – Georgia – 6′-6″ 350 lbs. – from the No duh file, dude is massive. An absolute mauler that is in desperate need of technique work. Right tackle.

    105. Jalen Hurts – QB – Oklahoma – 6′-1″ 221 lbs. – Athletic, alpha dog that has problems with seeing the whole field and accuracy issues. Needs to be coached up.

    106. Bradlee Anae – Edge – Utah – 6′-3″ 257 lbs. – Can rush the passer and hold his own against the run, excellent hand fighter, with a top-notch motor. Not the greatest athlete. 43 or 34 compatable.

    107. Hunter Bryant – TE – Washington – 6′-2″ 248 lbs. – Smooth moving, explosive pass catcher. Offers nothing in the way of blocking and his size won’t scare anyone.

    108. Larrell Murchison – IDL – NC State – 6′-2″ 297 lbs. – A nose for the ball with a great motor. Not the rangiest 3 tech, but he will apply constant pressure.

    109. Brandon Jones – S – Texas – 5′-11″ 198 lbs. – A smaller, tad more rangey version of Brooks. He is a thumper with an all-day motor, and a nose for the ball.

    110. Quartney Davis – WR – Texas A&M – 6′-1″ 201 lbs. – A skilled route runner with excellent footwork. Not slow, but not exactly a deep threat. hands are spotty.

    111. Jordan Elliott – IDL – Missouri – 6′-4″ 302 lbs. – Strong and bursty, he can cause havoc in the backfield. Easy mover with excellent hands. Not the fastest off the snap, timing issues slow him down.

    112. Terrell Burgess – S – Utah – 5′-11″ 202 lbs. – He’s an exciting athlete with good speed and a bigtime motor. Lack of size might be an issue.

    113. Amik Robertson – CB – Louisiana Tech – 5′-8″ 187 lbs. – slot corner due to his size. But he is a mean, physical little dude that will bring the fight to you.

    114. Lamical Perine – RB – Florida – 5′-11″ 216 lbs. – A patient power back with just enough juice to get to the house. Enough wiggle to get outside, but is at his best working north to south.

    115. Collin Johnson – WR – Texas – 6′-6″ 222 lbs. – Touted as the next Randy Moss, it didn’t happen, but he has good speed, wins with his size and is a contested catch, 50-50 ball machine. Size mismatch.

    116. Jabari Zuniga – Edge – Florida – 6′-3″ 253 lbs. – Decent burst, OK against the run, good athlete with range. Another boom bust prospect.

    117. Michael Pittman Jr. – WR – USC – 6′-4″ 223 lbs – Another physical WR that is starting to put everything together. Not a burner, but a good athlete with a great work ethic. A big Robert Woods.

    118. Kenny Willekes – Edge – Michigan State – 6′-4″ 264 lbs. – Relentless, tough, strong, try hard with average athletic ability for the position. I think due to that he is a 43 DE.

    119. Anthony McFarland – RB – Maryland – 5′-8″ 208 lbs. – An undersized, raw talented HR threat from anywhere on the field. Not a 3 down guy.

    120. Ben Bredeson – IOL – Michigan – 6′-5″ 315 lbs. – A LG prospect I love that has played in Gap/man/OSZ at Mich so he is versatile. Decent mover with good balance and very good power that looks to finish blocks.

    121. Shaquille Quarterman – LB – Miami – 6′-1″ 234 lbs. – A real old school MLBer that reads, reacts and then thumps. I think he moves well enough to help in some coverage.

    122. Damien Lewis – IOL – LSU – 6′-2″ 327 lbs. – Aggressive and powerful, lacks the lateral movement skills to work in a zone scheme. Will overwhelm you in man power.

    123. Antonio Gibson – RB – Memphis – 6′-1″ 223 lbs. – A wr/rb/do it all back with home run ability. Elusive with a bit of power. A jack of all trades, master of none.

    124. Evan Weaver – LB – California – 6′-2″ 237 lbs. – Not the world’s greatest athlete, but he is so instinctual he’s always around the ball. Super productive. Not a hammer and not great in coverage.

    125. Tyler Johnson – WR – Minnesota – 6′-1″ 206 lbs. – A nuanced route runner that knows how to get open. Plays with some physicality. I question his speed and he didn’t run so…

    126. Netane Muti – IOL – Fresno St. – 6′-3″ 315 lbs. – Skill set, power and movement ability should have him as the top IOL in the draft. he can flat out dominate. And looks to dominate you. Cannot stay healthy. Serious medical red flags.

    127. Willie Gay Jr. – LB – Miss. St. – 6′-2″ 243 lbs. – Athletic and quick, will pop you in the mouth. And he did punch his own QB in the face, so there is that. Could be a 3 down ILBer with some seasoning.

    128. AJ Dillon – RB – Boston College – 6′-0″ 247 lbs. – A bigger bodied back with more speed than one would think. A gap power fit. Loses a lot when stretched out east to west.

    129. Alex Highsmith – Edge – Charlotte – 6′-4″ 248 lbs. – Dynamic athlete off the edge with plenty of range, good flexibility and a great motor. Not the sturdiest run defender. 34 Edge.

    130. David Woodward – LB – Utah State – 6′-2″ 230 lbs. -Not fast or super athletic, but he is smart, instinctual and has a big motor. He is everywhere. ILB

    131. Nick Harris – IOL – Washington – 6′-1″ 302 lbs. – Smaller, smooth moving OC that lacks the power to go heads up against any kind of power. Good technique. Zone scheme only.

    132. Shane Lemieux – IOL – Oregon – 6′-4″ 310 lbs. – mauler, not an athlete. Choppy footwork. Works well in a man scheme.

    133. Nick Coe – Edge – Auburn – 6′-5″ 280 lbs. – Big, long and strong. Played from 2 and 3 point at Auburn. He is going to end up being a 34 End in the NFL. I question his passion for football.

    134. Jared Pinkney – Vanderbilt – 6′-4″ 257 lbs. – Great hands, good athlete, good enough blocker to play inline. Needs to cleanup route running. Not a monster after the catch.

    135. Ke’Shawn Vaughn – RB – Vanderbilt – 5′-10″ 214 lbs. – Decent vision with good balance and ok speed. Good pass catcher. Lacks wiggle and not explosive.

    136. Quintez Cephus – WR – 6′-1″ 202 lbs. – Wisconsin – Big strong physical. Good route runner that can get himself open. Lacks deep speed. Faced 2 counts of sexual assault, case was dismissed.

    137. Jason Strowbridge – IDL – North Carolina – 6′-4″ 275 lbs. – A gap jumper that lacks the size to hold his ground against double teams. Once he is into gaps, causes issues for the offense. A 34 DE or 43 DE is his future.

    138. Alton Robinson – Edge – Syracuse – 6′-3″ 264 lbs. – A toolbox full of length, athletic ability, bend and explosiveness. Decent against the run. Just needs to put it all together. 34 Edge with a high ceiling.

    139. Joe Bachie Jr. – LB – Michigan State – 6′-2″ 230 lbs. – a ILB with good instincts and decent range. Will pop you in the mouth when given the chance. Probably a 2 down ILBer in the NFL. Steroid suspension…

    140. Michael Ojemudia – CB – Iowa – 6′-1″ 200 lbs. – Great size for the position. Plays hard, plays smart and is always under control. Not the best athlete for a CB. Zone scheme.

    141. Solomon Kindley – IOL – Georgia – 6′-3″ 337 lbs. – Another mammoth Georgia lineman. A OG with beastly power that loves to use it. Again, needs a lot of technique work. His hand usage is a mess.

    142. Joshua Kelley – RB – UCLA – 5′-11″ 212 lbs. – Strong, tough with good balance and hard to bring down, but lacks wiggle and HR speed. A one cut and go type of back.

    143. Lynn Bowden – WR – Kentucky – 5′-11″ 204 lbs. – a gadget WR that can play RB and QB (wildcat) A real team guy that you will need to game plan to get the ball in his hands as he learns to be a slot WR.

    144. Logan Wilson – LB – Wyoming – 6′-2″ 241 lbs. – A easy flowing downhill ILBer with average athletic ability, plays with smarts and under control. Don’t think he has the range to cover on passing downs. 2 Down ILBer.

    145. K.J. Hill – WR – Ohio State – 6′-0″ 196 lbs. – A good route runner with decent ability in the open field. Not a burner, but not a slug either.

    146. Colby Parkinson – TE – Stanford – 6′-7 252 lbs. – Big with a big wingspan, he will torture defenders in the middle of the field and the endzone. Not a great blocker and needs to get stronger.

    147. Jack Driscoll – OT – Auburn – 6′-5″ 306 lbs. – A smaller RT with a good athletic profile. In other words. Perfect for a zone scheme only. Needs to add power and some technique work.

    148. Antonio Gandy-Golden – WR – Liberty – 6′-4″ 223 lbs. – Crazy catches are littered throughout his highlights. Outstanding catch radius combined with flypaper hands make him a bigtime contested and 50-50 ball receiver. Not a great athlete or burner.

    149. Darrynton Evans – RB – Appalachian State – 5′-10″ 203 lbs. – Lightning in a bottle. His change of direction and lateral jump cuts will have defenders tackling air. HR speed. Narrow frame with little room for growth. Better outside then inside. OZS committee back.

    150. J.R. Reed – S – Georgia – 6′-1″ 202 lbs. – An old school SS that works best moving forward as he doesn’t have the foot speed to be ultra rangy.

    151. Harrison Bryant – TE -Florida Atlantic – 6′-5″ 243 lbs. – Athletic with good hands and is a good route runner. He isn’t a blocker. His calling card is in the middle of the field.

    152. Anfernee Jennings Edge – Alabama – 6′-2″ 256 lbs. – A strong, good run defender lacking the juice and athletic ability to be a consistent pass rusher. Is he a 43 DE or 34 Edge on early downs? Not pass rusher regardless.

    153. Javelin Guidry – CB – Utah – 5′-9″ 191 lbs. – Quick, oily and super fast. Size is going to limit him to slot/nickel/dime work.

    154. Hakeem Adeniji – OT – Kansas – 6′-4″ 302 lbs. – Another smaller LT that moves well and could slide into a zone scheme easily. needs to add power.

    155. Jacob Breeland – TE – Oregon – 6′-5″ 252 lbs. – An average at best athlete, but plays with an edge and isn’t afraid of contact. Good hands and can get deep. Decent inline blocker.

    156. Isaiah Hodgins – WR – Oregon State – 6′-4″ 210 lbs. – A good route runner for a man his size, good catch radius. Good hands. Not a deep threat.

    157. Geno Stone – S – Iowa – 5′-10″ 207 lbs. – Another kid from Iowa with smarts, instincts and lacks a big athletic profile. Works best in the box or zone coverage.

    158. Markus Bailey – LB – Purdue – 6′-1″ 235 lbs. – A Kiser clone in the fact that he is a smart. between the tackles, run stopping machine. Not enough athletic ability or speed to cover against the pass. 2019 knee injury muddies his water. 2 down ILB.

    159. Anthony Gordan – QB – Washington State – 6′-2″ 205 lbs. – Tough leader with an OK arm. Air Raid muddies the water, but he can manage a football team.

    160. McTelvin Agim – IDL – Arkansas – 6′-3″ 309 lbs. – Strong off the snap with plenty of juice to shoot gaps and finish. Really losses interest playing the run. If you can get that turned around, you have a 310 man with rare athletic traits for that size.

    161. Josiah Deguara – TE – Cincinnati – 6′-2″ 242 lbs. – Good inline blocker regardless his size, is also a good route runner and pass catcher. Not a tremendous athlete, but is first team try hard TE. A balanced TE.

    162. Gabriel Davis – WR – UCF – 6′-2″ 216 lbs. – Exciting athlete with decent speed and plays with a bit of an edge. hands are meh, and he didn’t run a ton of different routes.

    163. D.J. Wonnum – Edge – South Carolina – 6′-5″ 258 lbs. – An above average athlete that can do a little of everything, but isn’t great at any one thing. Perfect size for 34 Edge with a great motor.

    164. Justin Strnad – LB – Wake Forest – 6′-3″ 238 lbs. – Smooth moving forward and backward, can run and cover and go sideline to sideline. Would rather run around blockers then stack and shed. Still learning the nuances so his arrow is pointing up. ILBer in an odd front or WILL in an even front.

    165. Raequan Williams – IDL – Michigan State – 6′-4″ 308 lbs. – Not a great athlete, but is strong, can stack and hold his ground and when he does get in the backfield, he finishes well. Needs to get more consistent on effort.

    166. Terence Steele – OT – Texas Tech – 6′-6″ 312 lbs. – Great hands and a powerful upper body, needs some sand in his pants. More of a man blocking guy, as he lacks movement skills for zone.

    167. Myles Bryant – CB – Washington – 5′-8″ 183 lbs. – another slot CB, plays faster than he ran, explosive movement skills.

    168. Lamar Jackson – CB – Nebraska – 6′-2″ 208 lbs. – Big, long and physical. Speed will give him issues. Press man CB.

    169. Julian Blackmon – S – Utah – 6′-0″ 187 lbs. – Fun kid on tape. Plenty of speed and range, great physicality, but at the same time, not a tremendous athlete.

    170. Devin Duvernay – WR – Texas – 5′-10″ 200 lbs. – a speed demon that would rather run you over then around you. A RB in a WRs body. A smart OC can do alot of stuff with this kid. Small catch radius.

    171. Essang Bassey – CB – Wake Forest – 5′-9″ 191 lbs. – a nickel/slot CB that gets after it and is a smooth enough athlete to mirror really well.

    172. Charlie Heck – OT – North Carolina – 6′-8″ 311 lbs. – As Alyo has stated, the son of a coach. Smart, good technique and excellent length. Needs to add some weight and power. Great developmental type of L/RT.

    173. James Lynch – IDL – Baylor – 6′-4″ 289 lbs. – Monster sack production from a guy with not a ton of athletic ability. Not twitchy and not explosive. Just average strength. Really just wins on an all-day motor and a give ’em hell attitude.

    174. Trevis Gipson – Edge – Tulsa – 6′-4″ 261 lbs. – an easy mover with decent burst and good flexibility. Can get bullied against the run. Developmental 34 Edge.

    175. James Morgan – QB – FIU – 6′-4″ 229 lbs. – A toolsy gunslinger with no fear. Not sure he has the tools above the neck to be a pro QB.

    176. John Simpson – IOL – Clemson – 6′-4″ 321 lbs. – A power blocker that can get over-extended at times, but will run you over. Lacks horizontal movement ability. Man power scheme fit.

    177. A.J. Green – CB – Oklahoma State – 6′-1″ 202 lbs. – Physical CB, sometimes too physical. Decent speed and a decent athletic profile.

    178. Harrison Hand – CB – Temple – 5′-11″ 197 lbs. – Smart, tough and has some ballhawk to him. Not the quickest CB. Zone CB

    179. Jalen Elliott – S – Notre Dame – 6′-0″ 205 lbs. – Slow, moderate athlete, but man he loves to blow up ball carriers. IMO a box safety or a big nickel LBer.

    180. Mitchell Wilcox- TE – South Florida – 6′-3″ 247 lbs. – Hard working combo TE that had good production, but won’t wow you as an athlete. I worry a bit about his hands.

    181. Michael Onwenu – IOL – Michigan – 6′-3″ 344 lbs. – An absolute tank in the trenches. Surprisingly decent footwork. Great power. Not a great mover. Man scheme.

    182. Trevon Hill – Edge – Miami – 6′-3″ 248 lbs. – Athletic, bursty edge with a nice pass rush. Needs to add weight to handle the run. Pass rush specialist early. 34 Edge.

    183. Binjimen Victor – WR – Ohio State – 6′-4″ 198 lbs. – Another big catch radius guy with nice hands. Not a deep threat, but is kinda dangerous in the open field.

    184. Carter Coughlin – Edge – Minnesota – 6′-3″ 236 lbs. – an undersized 34 edge rusher with some burst and fluid movement skills. Cannot match power with anyone, and his run defending suffers from that.

    185. Josiah Scott – CB – Michigan State – 5′-9″ 185 lbs. – A nickel back with good speed and decent toughness for his size. Good ball skills. Too small to survive on the outside.

    186. Jonathan Garvin – Edge – Miami – 6′-4″ 263 lbs. – 43 DE that can set a strong edge and keep everything inside. Not a ton of burst, and average athletically. Decent pass rush on physical traits alone.

    187. Scott Frantz – OT – Kansas State – 6′-5″ 300 lbs. – Mauler strength and a maulers mentality. Not a great athlete and needs to add weight.

    188. – Patrick Taylor Jr. – RB – Memphis – 6′-1″ 217 lbs. – big, powerful and hard to bring down. Not great feet and not very imaginative with the ball. Short yardage back IMO.

    189. Khalil Davis – IDL – Nebraska – 6′-2″ 308 lbs. – Not real long, but a quick first step and a good motor is where he wins. Not a great run defender due to his lack of length.

    190. Myles Dorn – S – North Carolina – 6′-2″ 205 lbs. – A decent all-around S with good work in the box and some solid pass defense stats. His lack of speed may limit his upside.

    191. Kendall Coleman – Edge – Syracuse – 6′-3″ 257 lbs. – Average athlete that is really still developing his skill set. Good motor and plays with nice physicality. Needs to be developed. Developmental 34 Edge.

    192. Jake Hanson – IOL – Oregon – 6′-4″ 303 lbs. – A zone scheme OC. A technician and good athlete, lacks the strength to trade power with defenders.

    193. Mykal Walker – LB – Fresno State – 6′-3″ 230 lbs. – Has played DE, Edge and ILB. So, he is a movable chess pc. I like him as an ILB in an odd front. Certainly knows how to blitz, can drop into coverage and will stick his nose in the fan in run support. Needs development time, due to so many position changes.

    194. Lavert Hill – CB – Michigan – 5′-10″ 190 lbs. – A hard-nosed press man. Lacks speed to stay with the fast WRs. Might work inside. Man only.

    195. Cheyenne O’Grady – TE – Arkansas – 6′-4″ 253 lbs. – A natural pass catcher with good route running. A willing blocker, although it isn’t a strength. Tough to bring down. His biggest issue is he was dismissed from the team for saying he was going to quit after the Bama game.

    196. – Michael Warren II – RB – Cincinnati – 5′-9″ 226 lbs. – Decent feet for his build (a bowling ball) with good power and contact balance. Not making you miss and isn’t a HR hitter. Another short yardage back IMO.

    197. Tanner Muse – S – Clemson – 6′-2″ 227 lbs. – A big S, maybe a LBer…4.41 speed, can play deep due to his speed and athleticism, can play in the box due to his size. Never put it all together for his profile.

    198. Aaron Parker – WR – Rhode Island – 6′-2″ 209 lbs. – A good blend of physicality combines with his ability to go up and get it makes him a contested catch monster. He needs to develop his route running.

    199. Jacob Phillips – LB – LSU – 6′-4″ 229 lbs. – Great size, great production, but is lacking that toughness you want in a LBer. Good speed, but not exactly explosive. Plays with patience and under control. ILB or WILL

    200. Sewo Olonilua – RB – TCU – 6′-3″ 232 lbs. – Another short yardage specialist. Not fast, quick or nimble. He is a load to bring down and will wear you out.

    201. Kyle Murphy – IOL – Rhode Island – 6′-3″ 316 lbs. – Overpowered FCS competition, needs to add size and power to do that at the NFL level. He’s an easy mover with good footwork. Scheme versatile.

    202. Joe Reed – WR – Virginia – 6′-0″ 224 lbs. – A deep threat with good hands and can return in STs. Has some wiggle. Another gadget kid early as he learns to run routes properly.

    203. Stephen Sullivan – TE – LSU – 6′-5″ 248 lbs. – Massive seam buster that got lost in the shuffle of an all star offense. Long, middle of the field mismatch. Not a tremendous blocker.

    204. Benito Jones – IDL – Ole Miss – 6′-1″ 316 lbs. – a fire hydrant with very good strength. Won’t slide thru gaps but holds more than his own against the run. A true NT with a little pass rush push.

    205. Jaylinn Hawkins – S – California – 6′-1″ 208 lbs. – Smart, physical with some range. Not a ton and won’t wow you going sideline to sideline. Decent ball skills, but he has room for improvement.

    206. Trajan Bandy – CB – Miami – 5′-8″ 180 lbs. – Smooth footed DB that moves well in space and has OK speed. Lack of size and strength is an issue.

    207. Jauan Jennings – WR – Tennessee – 6′-3″ 215 lbs. – A runaway beer truck in the open field. Tough to bring down. Slow play speed and ran a 4.74 so that matches what you see.

    208. Davion Taylor – LB – Colorado – 6′-1″ 228 lbs. – Late comer to football. Kid is a PAC 12 track star, so he can fly, great athlete, smooth mover. Great motor. Needs to get stronger and needs massive development. WILL or ILB in a 34.

    209. Kyahva Tezino – LB – San Diego State – 6′-0″ 235 lbs. – Plays the run well, decent athlete that can get to the sidelines and plays with patience and intelligence. Lacks length and quickness.

    210. Devin Asiasi – TE – UCLA – 6′-3″ 257 lbs. – a combo blocker/receiver with good size for the position. Needs technical work in all aspects. Developmental type traditional TE.

    211. Jace Whittaker – CB – Arizona – 5′-11″ 185 lbs. – a ballhawk with good instincts and good speed. Not very physical and lacks great size.

    212. Colton McKivitz – OT – West Virginia – 6′-6″ 306 lbs. – Big, strong RT prospect that has issues against speed. Can get out over his feet when he lunges at targets.

    213. Dalton Keene – TE – Virginia Tech – 6′-4″ 253 lbs. – Here is your late round, H-back, fullback, TE. He can block and catch but was never really given much opportunity. Decent athlete, but plays like an old school TE.

    214. Kindle Vildor – CB – Georgia Southern – 5′-10″ 191 lbs. – Ballhawking athletic CB with the size and footwork to work in any scheme. Not great in run support. Can be over-aggressive.

    215. Stephen Guidry – WR – Mississippi State – 6′-3″ 201 lbs. – Long with long arms and decent deep speed. Can go up and get it, or win over the top. Not a great route runner.

    216. J.J. Taylor – RB – Arizona – 5′-5″ 185 lbs. – Scat back with good receiving skills. Plays fater then he ran, but obviously not a between the tackles type.

    217. James Robinson – RB – Illinois State – 5′-9″ 219 lbs. – A hammer that did it all for ISU. Surprising speed can catch you off guard. not very shifty.

    218. Justin Herron – OT – Wake Forest – 6′-4″ 308 lbs. – A OG in the NFL. Good pass blocker with decent footwork, has trouble trading power in the run game. Zone scheme OG.

    219. Reggie Robinson II – CB – Tulsa – 6′-1″ 205 lbs. – Long with decent athletic profile, does his best work in a zone and things are in front of him. Nice production. Modest athlete.

    220. Tyrie Cleveland – WR – Florida – 6′-2″ 209 lbs. – Long and fast. Never ran a diverse route tree, but he can eat up a DB in a hurry. Will need some development.

    221. Jon Runyan – OT – Michigan – 6′-4″ 306 lbs. – I think he moves inside to OG. Son of an NFL OT. So he is smart. Good athlete but lacks strength. zone scheme OG.

    222. Tipa Galea’i – EDGE – Utah State – 6′-5″ 235 lbs. – An explosive, oily, easy mover. Needs to add mass if he wants to hold up against the run.

    223. Nigel Warrior – S – Tennessee – 6′-0″ 190 lbs. – Vols played him everywhere from what I saw. So he can do some of everything. Good athlete, good run defender for hsi size. Lack of ball production is a concern.

    224. Nevelle Clarke – CB – UCF – 6′-1″ 190 lbs. – I called him a mini Ramsey. Plays with a swagger and a ballhawks mentality. Great size for a CB. Easy mover. Needs to add strength and some weight to reach his full potential.

    225. Salvon Ahmed – RB – Washington – 5′-11″ 197 lbs. – Long speed despite what he ran at the combine. Decent wiggle in the open field. Due to size, a 3rd down back only. Lacks power and vision.

    226. James Proche – WR – SMU – 5′-11″ 201 lbs. – Natural hands and just catches everything. Smooth athlete, with great college production. Not a burner. Needs to work on route running.

    227. Cameron Brown – LB – Penn State – 6′-5″ 233 lbs. – Long for a LBer. Also raw. Can cover a ton of ground quickly and goes sideline to sideline. Not great in coverage. Not sure his position fit. 43 OLB or maybe add 15-20 lbs and make him a 34 edge?

    228. Sean McKeon – TE – Michigan – 6′-5″ 242 lbs. – A combo TE that can block in line and be used as a pass catcher. Not the most dynamic route runner, or athlete, but he competes hard. Good 3rd TE for a roster.

    229. Cole McDonald – QB – Hawaii – 6′-3″ 215 lbs. – An absolute howitzer of an arm. Good NFL size. A rhythm passer that loves getting the ball deep. Everything breaks down once he is off schedule.

    230. Quez Watkins – WR – Southern Miss – 6′-0″ 185 lbs. – Will take the top off a defense. No idea how to run a route, gets open from DBs being scared of being ran by. Electric in the open field. Needs to add some good weight.

    231. Bravvion Roy – IDL – Baylor – 6′-1″ 333 lbs. – Not your typical NT. He can dominate against the run, but has some juice to get after the QB (6 sacks this year) Short length will limit his upside.

    232. Kamal Martin – LB – Minnesota – 6′-3″ 240 lbs. – A 34 ILB that fills that downhill run plugger role that is tight hipped and lacks the range to work 3 downs. Will stick you when given the chance.

    233. Grayland Arnold – CB – Baylor – 5′-9″ 186 lbs. – Nickel CB with great ball production. Smooth lower body makes him sticky, has a ballhawk mentality. Lacks size to hold up on the outside.

    234. Trey Adams – OT – Washington – 6′-8″ 318 lbs. – Power blocking scheme only, once a top 25 pick, now maybe undraftable due to multiple injuries. Carries bad weight. A better athlete then mauler so his skill set doesn’t match his power (or lack thereof)

    235. Charlie Taumoepeau – TE – Portland State – 6′-2″ 240 lbs. – Literally a move TE. He played H-back, RB, TE, WR for Portland State. So he can block and catch and be a nice depth piece. Nothing athletically extrordinary.

    236. Darryl Williams – IOL – Mississippi State – 6′-2″ 304 lbs. – A OG/OC prospect with decent power and good technique. Needs to add some power. A tad stiff movement wise. Developmental depth for a power blocking team.

    237. Tyler Clark – IDL – Georgia – 6′-4″ 300 lbs. – nice get off with good hand usage to keep himself clean. Kinda frenetic, and will wash himself out at times. Good power.

    238. Levonta Taylor – CB – Florida State – 5′-10″ 190 lbs. – a CB turned safety, smooth lower half and good speed and lack of strength make him an ideal zone fit, either as a nickel or S. had back problems in the past.

    239. Kalija Lipscomb – WR – Vanderbilt – 6′-0″ 207 lbs. – Good route runner with reliable hands. Just an OK athlete and not a burner.

    240. Tyler Huntley – QB – Utah – 6′-1″ 205 lbs. – A real athlete with the ball in his hands. Can scramble, throw on the run and generally work his way around in the pocket. Accuracy is OK. Pretty good arm strength. I don’t think he can read a defense yet.

    241. Stanford Samuels III – CB – Florida State – 6′-1″ 187 lbs. – Long and a bit clumsy. Would be a good zone CB with some developmental upside.

    242. Robert Landers – IDL – Ohio State – 6′-1″ 285 lbs. – A 34 DE that lacks the usual length. Strong with a good burst. Decent athlete. At his best in a straight line.

    243. Shyheim Carter – S – Alabama – 5′-10″ 194 lbs. – A CB/S that was used as a hybrid 3rd safety for the Tide. Could be a movable piece in the secondary. Not overly fast or athlete. Declined to test at the combine reinforcing that idea.

    244. Freddie Swain – WR – Florida – 6′-0″ 197 lbs. – Good athlete with good hands and good speed. Not a very nuanced route runner and lacked college production. Punt returner bonus.

    245. Mohamed Barry – LB – Nebraska – 6′-1″ 245 lbs. – A bull in a china shop ILBer with sideline to sideline athleticism. Tough and strong just kinda running around out there hitting things and overrunning other things…

    246. John Reid – CB – Penn State – 5′-10″ 187 lbs. – A physical press man CB that due to lack of size will end up being a Nickel Back. Average speed to match his average athletic ability.

    247. Jordan Fuller – S – Ohio State – 6′-2″ 203 lbs. – A single high safety that is too slow to play single high in the NFL IMO. Racked up a ton of tackles and loves to hit. I like him as a depth/3rd safety with plenty of upside in the box.

    248. Darius Anderson – RB – TCU – 5′-10″ 208 lbs. – A tough little runner with plenty of takeoff, lacks the top end to be a HR threat and lacks the size to be a between that tackles guy.

    249. Derrek Tuszka – Edge – North Dakota St. – 6′-5″ 251 lbs. – A 43 end that will transition to a standup 34 edge. Tough, strong and can hold up vs the run. Great pass rush production. Decent athlete, but lacks flexibility to bend around the edge.

    250. Rodrigo Blankenship – K – Georgia – 6′-1″ 197 lbs. – He kicks footballs and I love his nerd glasses. I dare you to find that kind of draft analysis anywhere but here. LOL

    in reply to: tweets & other bits … 4/8 thru 4/11 #113473
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    Todd Gurley II@TG3II
    @RamsNFL past due. Send me money ASAP

    𝒥𝒾𝓂 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓉𝓉@Jim_Everett
    Replying to @TG3II and @RamsNFL
    Players…this is what NOT to do on social media. Better idea; Call your agent, let them handle it, because that’s what you pay them for!!! #Petty #Disappointed #PlayersPlay

    Vincent Bonsignore@VinnyBonsignore
    I always support athletes getting as much money as possible.

    But two things on Todd Gurley and @RamsNFL

    A: He’s going to get every dollar he’s owed and everyone understands that. Including him….

    B: Whatever gripe he has with the terms of a contract he agreed to, it’s incredibly tone deaf to publicly piss and moan about it when so many people are going through some really horrible stuff right now. Including legitimately worrying if they can make next months rent.

    ==

    from https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/04/08/todd-gurley-says-rams-are-past-due-and-to-send-me-money/

    Although the Rams cut Gurley before the third day of the league year, avoiding another $10.5 million in fully-guaranteed obligations, the Rams already owed Gurley a fully-guaranteed roster bonus of $7.55 million on the third day of the league year.

    The Rams will be entitled to a partial offset based on Gurley’s one-year deal with the Falcons, if/when that deal becomes official. But that’s money they’d get back from the Falcons later (the contract between Gurley and the Falcons still isn’t official); the Rams still owe Gurley the $7.55 million — if that’s the payment Gurley is referring to.

    Then there’s the possibility that the Rams will owe Gurley the $10.5 million that was avoided when he was cut. Although the money never became fully guaranteed, it was guaranteed for injury. If Gurley fails his Falcons physical, a fight could be in the offing between Gurley and the Rams as to whether he was injured at the time he was released.

    ==

    link https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2020/04/09/clay-matthews-says-rams-owe-him-too/

    Per a source with knowledge of the situation, Matthews believes that the Rams owe him a fully-guaranteed roster bonus that became due on the third day of the league year, and that per his contract the Rams must pay the amount on or before March 30, 2020. Matthews hasn’t gotten that money, yet.

    There’s an argument to be made that the money isn’t strictly due on March 30, 2020 because was released before the date on which the bonus was earned, and because the Rams have the right to offset the liability based on whatever Matthews earns elsewhere in 2020. But the Rams still owe the money, and they’ve yet to pay it — and Matthews isn’t happy about it.

    He shouldn’t be. The Rams promised to pay him the $2 million, and it’s fair for Matthews to expect the money on or before March 30. Why not simply cut the check? It’s the kind of thing that could make other players leery about making a commitment to the Rams, if the perception among players and agents is that the Rams won’t in turn honor the commitments made to players.

    Even if the Rams are concerned that they’ll be stiffed on the offset, there are ways to enforce the promise by the player to pay back money earned elsewhere. For now, the Rams owe him the $2 million, and there seems to be no valid reason for the Rams to stiff him.

    The Rams have informed PFT that they will have no statement on the claims made publicly by Gurley and Matthews.

    in reply to: tweets & other bits … 4/8 thru 4/11 #113453
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    Ram_Ruler

    PFF with some Rams offensive line talk

    Listening to their draft needs podcast and they just got to the Rams. (Bullet points to make it easier)

    -They mentioned that we’re not a bad roster as much as we are a team in limbo

    -mentioned that the Robinson and brockers signings were puzzling at their prices b/c you can get run stuffers in the middle round and they actually like one of our previous middle round run stuffers (Gaines), but concede that we may be building just to stop Seattle and SF (major run teams).

    Here’s where it gets juicy

    -mentioned that there are maybe five offensive lines in the NFL that are hopeless as constructed but that the Rams are NOT one of them, and that we could quickly get back to average

    -mentioned that Havenstein (4 good years out of 5) could easily bounce back, that Whitworth should remain steady at worst, and mentioned that all of our interior guys (Blythe, Corbett, Edwards,) have at the very least shown stretches of being capable guys.

    -mentions that the Rams offensive line was so bad LAST year that they may need to focus on contingency plans, but maybe not day one starters.

    -mentions that, other than maybe not having an heir apparent to Whitworth, the Rams have actually used a good strategy for developing lineman.

    They added one more tidbit that I’ve actually been flirting with myself. The idea that, if a strong corner drops to 52 (Jaylon Johnson is my favorite of guys at 52) the Rams maybe take him so that our coverage can go to the next level.

    in reply to: draft talk (April) #113449
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    from PFF 3-Round Mock
    52. Los Angeles Rams — LB Jordyn Brooks, Texas Tech

    The 6-foot-1, 245-pound Brooks looks like a sure thing in run defense after earning a 91.5 grade in that area last season. He also has sideline-to-sideline speed to make plays in coverage.

    84. Los Angeles Rams — IOL Matt Hennessy, Temple

    Hennessy can block on the move as well as any center in this class. He earned a run-blocking grade on outside zone well above 90.0 last season. He’s not a scheme fit for everyone, but he is for the Rams.

    104. Los Angeles Rams — Edge Darrell Taylor, Tennessee

    Taylor came on strong during SEC play last season and finished with a career-high 87.5 pass-rushing grade. He could be an every-down block of granite on the edge for the Rams.

    ==

    Deadpool

    I heard last night that he was dealing with a season-long injury. I missed it, but he just had surgery to repair a stress fracture in his shin. He still managed 8.5 sacks with that injury. I cannot imagine how painful that was, and how it affected his pass rush.

    I could easily see Taylor going early to mid 2nd. Its not reflected in my final rankings, but I’d move him up from 97, into the late 60s myself. I said this: hasn’t put it all together. High upside, high bust potential., I based this off the fact that all his sacks in ’19 came against Indiana, South Carolina, BYU, Kentucky,Miss. St. and UAB. Zero against Alabama, Georgia and Florida. Maybe that is because you need to be 100% against those teams, and he wasn’t near 100%.

    I have very little feel on Hennessy and Brooks TBH. Hennessy is only a fit for OZS teams. And for those teams, I’d think he’d be in high demand. But he is scheme limited, so he could get to the 3rd. Esp with OTs and WRs pushing everyone down. Add in a run on RBs in the 2nd round and I could see Hennessy making round 3.

    Brooks is a solid 2nd to me, his only real weakness is that he struggles a bit taking on blocks, but that is totally coachable and his range, instincts and size are not. I also think he is perfect for a 34 ILB as a MO, next to a block absorbing MIKE. Or a WILL in a 43 where he can run and hit. But he loses some value as a WILL because guys like Chinn or Davis-Gaither and Troy Dye have even more range and are better in coverage.

    in reply to: tweets & other bits … 4/8 thru 4/11 #113447
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    Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
    Over the Cap has Michael Brockers’ contract deets and it’s a team-friendly deal in 2020 ($3.83M cap hit)

    The Rams have just over $325K left in salary cap space now, which is the lowest amount in the NFL. And that doesn’t include Leonard Floyd’s deal.

    Goff is the most likely candidate to restructure his deal

    in reply to: tweets & other bits … 4/8 thru 4/11 #113446
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    J.B. Long@JB_Long
    an AFC assistant claims that Jameis & Cam would both be “instant upgrades” for #LARams at QB.

    Which is a difficult position to validate considering in a 3-yr sample (2017-19) JG16 leads both in rating, TD%, INT%, AY/A, among other categories. Other than that, though…

    Daniel Jeremiah@MoveTheSticks
    The theme of this draft- speed! Every team I talk to mentions the importance of getting faster. Teams like KC & BAL are going to be an obstacle for a LONG time. Need explosive plays/playmakers on both sides of the ball.

    in reply to: tweets & other bits … 4/8 thru 4/11 #113445
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    in reply to: tweets & other bits … 4/8 thru 4/11 #113444
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    ==

    in reply to: draft talk (April) #113442
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    from PFF 3-Round Mock

    Pro Football Focus

    52. Los Angeles Rams — LB Jordyn Brooks, Texas Tech

    The 6-foot-1, 245-pound Brooks looks like a sure thing in run defense after earning a 91.5 grade in that area last season. He also has sideline-to-sideline speed to make plays in coverage.

    84. Los Angeles Rams — IOL Matt Hennessy, Temple

    Hennessy can block on the move as well as any center in this class. He earned a run-blocking grade on outside zone well above 90.0 last season. He’s not a scheme fit for everyone, but he is for the Rams.

    104. Los Angeles Rams — Edge Darrell Taylor, Tennessee

    Taylor came on strong during SEC play last season and finished with a career-high 87.5 pass-rushing grade. He could be an every-down block of granite on the edge for the Rams.

    in reply to: about drafting under these circumstances #113432
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    Steelers GM Pushing For Three Extra NFL Draft Rounds

    https://www.profootballrumors.com/2020/04/steelers-gm-pushing-for-three-extra-nfl-draft-rounds

    The coronavirus has radically changed the NFL Draft process and Steelers GM Kevin Colbert has offered up one proposal to help teams adjust to the lack of workouts and Pro Days. Colbert has asked league officials to add an additional three rounds to this year’s draft, bringing the total number of rounds to ten, as Manish Mehta of the Daily News writes.

    In lieu of drills and auditions, teams are permitted to hold up to three hour-long video conferences per week with any prospect. Still, coaches and executives like Colbert feel like they are flying blind. The draft is already wildly unpredictable; now teams have less intel than ever before. Because there are bound to be many misfires, Colbert believes the Steelers (and other clubs) can offset things a bit with a greater margin for error.

    It’s not immediately clear whether the league is giving real consideration to Colbert’s idea, but anything is possible given these unprecedented conditions. This year’s draft will be “fully virtual” with executives conducting their business in separate locations, rather than the initial plan of allowing teams to gather their front office officials in one room.

    The league has done its best to adjust. For example, Tua Tagovailoa recently underwent a voluntary medical re-check via the league’s combine committee. Ordinarily, his surgically-repaired hip would have been examined by scores of team doctors in separate exams, Instead, every team was allowed to request specific tests and the results were then shared with all 32 clubs.

    in reply to: tweets (Rams & NFL) … 4/4 thru 4/7 #113429
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    Jason Reid@JReidESPN
    Over the past few days, I’ve talked with several sources of mine who work in NFL player personnel. My takeaway is this: The chatter out there about teams being worried about blowing this draft is very, very real.

    ProFootballTalk@ProFootballTalk
    With the crapshoot that is the NFL draft destined to be even more crap than shoot, Steelers G.M. Kevin Colbert reportedly requests three extra rounds

    Jim Nagy@JimNagy_SB
    This is actually a smart, outside-the-box proposal by Kevin Colbert. Undrafted free agency is mass chaos with all scouts and coaches in the same building and there’s no good “virtual” solution. Eliminate UDFA for one year and draft another 200+ players. Makes complete sense.

    Cameron DaSilva@camdasilva
    Sean McVay addressed the Brandin Cooks trade rumors and confirmed LA has gotten calls about the WR

    in reply to: Chloroquine, other approaches #113408
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    BTW there’s a lot of misleading info out there in the right-wing media about treatments and the data regarding them. The 2nd quotation here is from a great article.

    1.

    . https://www.statnews.com/2020/04/06/trump-hydroxychloroquine-fact-check/

    In press releases, the FDA has stressed that “there are no currently approved treatments for COVID-19.” However, the agency says both hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine phosphate “have shown activity in laboratory studies against coronaviruses,” referring to a broad category of illnesses known as coronaviruses, not the 2019 strain that causes Covid-19. A number of federal agencies are currently working to facilitate clinical trials to determine whether or not the drug is effective.

    2.

    . https://rantt.com/right-wing-media-misrepresents-hydroxychloroquine-poll

    The Post incorrectly reported: “Of the 6,227 physicians surveyed in 30 countries, 37 percent rated hydroxychloroquine the ‘most effective therapy’ for combating the potentially deadly illness, according to the results released Thursday.”

    A press release from Sermo, the company that conducted the survey, said: “Hydroxychloroquine was overall chosen as the most effective therapy[b] amongst COVID-19 treaters.”[/b]

    The Sermo survey shows that the subgroup of COVID-19 treaters is 2171 — not 6227, as multiple news outlets have since reported.

    in reply to: tweets (Rams & NFL) … 4/4 thru 4/7 #113400
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    in reply to: tweets (Rams & NFL) … 4/4 thru 4/7 #113399
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    from https://www.therams.com/video/whitworth-on-re-signing-with-the-rams-and-keeping-busy-at-home

    Andrew Whitworth is excited about Henderson’s potential in the Rams’ offense, calling him a “special athlete.”

    “He’s quick. When he puts his foot in the ground and goes, you can see it. A couple games there throughout the season, he got some opportunities and when he touched the football, he looked like lightning in a bottle,” Whitworth said. “It’s one of those things where as a young player, he’s going to learn things over his career and right now, it’s taking care of his body and how he can be in the best shape possible and how he can get through a season. that’s always a tough season for running backs, of course. So the more availability he has for us, I think we look forward to it because he’s a special athlete and somebody who can really help us.”

    in reply to: tweets (Rams & NFL) … 4/4 thru 4/7 #113396
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    Ian Rapoport@RapSheet
    The NFL has announced an all-decade team, highlighted by Tom Brady, Adrian Peterson, and Aaron Donald — among other unanimous selections.

    ===

    from NFL 2010s All-Decade Team (me note: includes 2 Rams)

    http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001108338/article/nfl-2010s-alldecade-team-tom-brady-aaron-donald-headliners

    2010s ALL-DECADE TEAM ROSTER
    * — denotes a unanimous selection

    OFFENSE

    QB Tom Brady*
    QB Aaron Rodgers
    RB Frank Gore
    RB Marshawn Lynch
    RB LeSean McCoy
    RB Adrian Peterson*
    WR Antonio Brown
    WR Larry Fitzgerald
    WR Calvin Johnson
    WR Julio Jones
    FLEX Darren Sproles
    TE Rob Gronkowski
    TE Travis Kelce
    OT Jason Peters
    OT Tyron Smith
    OT Joe Staley
    OT Joe Thomas*
    OG Jahri Evans
    OG Logan Mankins
    OG Zack Martin
    OG Marshal Yanda*
    C Alex Mack
    C Maurkice Pouncey

    DEFENSE

    DE Calais Campbell
    DE Cameron Jordan
    DE Julius Peppers
    DE J.J. Watt*
    DT Geno Atkins
    DT Fletcher Cox
    DT Aaron Donald*
    DT Ndamukong Suh
    LB Chandler Jones
    LB Luke Kuechly
    LB Khalil Mack
    LB Von Miller*
    LB Bobby Wagner
    LB Patrick Willis
    CB Patrick Peterson
    CB Darrelle Revis
    CB Richard Sherman
    S Eric Berry
    S Earl Thomas
    S Eric Weddle
    DB Chris Harris Jr.
    DB Tyrann Mathieu

    SPECIALISTS

    P Johnny Hekker
    P Shane Lechler
    K Stephen Gostkowski
    K Justin Tucker*
    PR Tyreek Hill
    PR Darren Sproles
    KR Devin Hester
    KR Cordarrelle Patterson

    COACHES

    Bill Belichick
    Pete Carroll

    in reply to: virus news … (+ some dark humor) #113393
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    in reply to: Dealing with the BNMW crowd #113384
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    I actually think niche-reliance can give us a false sense of the two-party system. My own take is that those niche sources can oftentimes blur the differences via a “a pox on both houses” POV, and a failure to report the daily tic/toc events. The sentiment is understandable, and it floods my own thoughts all too often. But it can bring on its own fog as well.

    Yeah I entirely agree. The trick to being informed, I think, is to read (and watch) a lot of different kinds of sources on an issue or event, so that you are accustomed at the level of habit to constantly seeing how the same details can be framed differently. This puts you in a position to reasonably think through what you’re hearing and reading. I know everyone here knows that–just putting it down in black n white.

    in reply to: Chloroquine, other approaches #113376
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    Heated disagreement breaks out in Situation Room over hydroxychloroquine
    CNN Digital Expansion 2017 Jim AcostaKaitlan Collins byline

    https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/05/politics/white-house-malaria-drug-hydroxychloroquine-disagreement/index.html

    (CNN)There was a heated disagreement in the Situation Room this weekend over the efficacy of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine — but multiple sources say it was mostly one-sided, as President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser Peter Navarro feuded with other officials over the drug’s unproven effectiveness to treat coronavirus.

    The debate is not a new one inside the coronavirus task force — and medical experts have repeatedly explained to the President that there is a risk in enthusiastically touting hydroxychloroquine in case the drug doesn’t ultimately work to combat the virus. But other aides and outside advisers have sided with Trump, including Navarro, who is still not a formal part of the task force but has wedged himself into the meetings.
    Axios first reported on the disagreement inside the White House about the drug.
    While discussing the latest on hydroxychloroquine this weekend, an exasperated Navarro lashed out at Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the advisers who has urged caution about the drug, a person familiar with the meeting told CNN.
    Navarro had brought a stack of paperwork with him into the Situation Room on the drug, arguing it was proof that it could work to treat coronavirus, which Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, disagreed with because it was not data.
    “What are you talking about?” Fauci asked — a question that set Navarro off. He became indignant, and at one point, accused Fauci of opposing Trump’s travel restrictions on China, which confused many in the room, given Fauci was one of the initial few to agree with Trump on the move, the source said.

    A source close to the task force said Fauci is not backing off of his belief that hydroxychloroquine is not a proven treatment for coronavirus. When CNN’s Jeremy Diamond asked Fauci to comment on the matter Sunday night, Trump stepped in and didn’t allow Fauci to answer. But a source said the doctor has already offered his opinion on the drug in other venues and would continue to do so.
    Several aides later said they were unfazed by Navarro’s outburst, given he has them regularly. But the argument highlights how deep the divide runs over the task force’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
    Another source told CNN that despite the disagreement in the Situation Room between Fauci and Navarro, Fauci continues to have a good relationship with Trump and Pence, though some staffers have shown irritation when his opinions differ.

    in reply to: Dealing with the BNMW crowd #113375
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    Nathan J Robinson@NathanJRobinson
    Joe Rogan saying he’d vote for Trump over Biden shows the exact point we on the left have been making for years: Bernie has a unique appeal to voters who would otherwise vote for Trump and the whole “centrists are more electable” theory is nonsense

    in reply to: tweets (Rams & NFL) … 4/4 thru 4/7 #113374
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    Kevin Johnson@kingkj1962
    @EllardHop85 truly belongs in the Hall of Fame and I hop he makes it in this lifetime. Only player in the HISTORY of the NFL to be top 15 in Receiving yards & Yard per PR. No one else is even close.

    in reply to: Logos/colors Monday … and … here it is #113373
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    in reply to: tweets (Rams & NFL) … 4/4 thru 4/7 #113372
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    in reply to: Sources: Trump says NFL should start on time #113360
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    We’re all asking the wrong question about the return of sports
    When will sports return? That’s the wrong question to be asking amid the fight against COVID-19

    link https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/04/kurtenbach-were-asking-the-wrong-question-about-the-return-of-sports/

    When will sports resume? Everyone has a thought. The North American professional sports leagues are hoping for late May, early June. Per ESPN, President Trump told commissioners Saturday that he hopes leagues can resume — with fans in the stands — in August or September.

    Yes, it’s his hope that the NFL starts, with fans in the stands, on time.

    California Governor Gavin Newsom disagrees. “I’m not anticipating that happening in this state,” he said Saturday.

    It’s fair to wonder and project, when normal — or whatever normal will be after this pandemic — will return, but the truth is that no one — not even the world’s best experts — can reasonably put a date when we’ll be able to go to our favorite restaurant, travel to see love ones without having to go into quarantine, or cheer on our favorite teams in person or even on TV once again.

    That’s because the pressing question when it comes to returning to normal isn’t “when?”.

    It’s “how?”.

    Until there is a vaccine, COVID-19 will be a threat. Right now, because it is a novel virus, humans have no antibodies, the world of medicine has no uniform treatment plans, and a safe, effective vaccine is a year away.
    Social distancing and wearing masks when in public are currently our only proven means for fighting back and saving lives.

    And until we no longer have to socially distance, it’s antithetical to expect that we can cram 250 people into a venue, much less 20,000 or 75,000.

    Closed-door games — even at a single venue — are inherently problematic. No matter how hard leagues might try, they won’t be able to fully quarantine every essential person for the operation, and, as we learned with the NBA, one positive test can — for good reason — shut the whole thing down.

    The only surefire way to return to the norm teams traveling all over the country to play in front of sold-out arenas is a vaccine.

    Still, according to Dr. Anthony Fauci, there might be some relaxation of social distancing in the weeks and months to come.

    “If we get to the part of the curve… when it goes down to essentially no new cases, no new deaths, I think it makes sense that you’re going to relax social distancing,” he said in a White House press conference earlier this week.

    But if social distancing is done correctly — if the curve is “flattened” — then that portion of the curve is, inherently, further away.

    In California, according to the University of Washington projections, that could be in July.

    But no two states are on the same timeline. Some cities, like New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and Detroit, are being hit harder than others, and the virus started spreading in communities at different times, too. Right now, the logistics of a normal schedule are nearly impossible to overcome for leagues that have teams from coast-to-coast.

    And because there was no national lock-down — every state gets to call its own shot — it’s ridiculous to think that there will be a single day where the country “re-opens”.

    No, returning to normal will also have to be a gradual process. Sports and other large gatherings needed to be the first things shut down and, inherently, they should be the last thing to re-open.

    It’s easy to see how Newsom is pessimistic about the fall. Relaxing social distancing, enough as to make it acceptable to fill a stadium, too early is a recipe for creating a second wave of infections. We’re seeing this in China, where movie theaters have been closed again and hopes of re-starting the national basketball league have been put on hold.

    So how will sports resume?

    “The one thing that we hopefully will have in place [if we are to see a second wave] — and I believe we will have in place — is a much more robust system to be able to identify someone that’s infected, isolate them, and then do contact tracing,” Fauci said. “If you have a really good program of containment, that prevents you from ever having to get to mitigation [social distancing]… The ultimate solution to a virus that might keep coming back is a vaccine.”

    So without a vaccine, we’re going to need a lot of T and T: treatment and testing.

    If there is a treatment plan that could obliterate COVID-19’s hospitalization and death rate, putting them in line with, say, the seasonal flu, that could facilitate a swifter return to normalcy.

    Near-free and overwhelmingly accessible and copious testing with near-instant results — the kind we do not have in the United States right now — could take us back to something resembling normal, too.

    But we’re all going to be wearing masks and watching quarantined NBA players play H-O-R-S-E and video games while we wait.

    The wait is all we can do, for now.

    Without a breakthrough, it’s hard to see a circumstance where the Warriors play again this season. The Sharks, too. NBA and NHL playoffs seem far fetched at the moment as well. If they happen, they’ll be closed-door events, perhaps in one venue.

    The Major League Baseball season seems destined to be played behind closed doors, too — at least in San Francisco and Oakland. That’s if they don’t play an entire season in Arizona and Florida.

    And given Newsom’s comments Saturday, September games at Levi’s Stadium will be even more empty than usual. Pandemic is a better excuse than “it’s too hot.”

    The games will resume. I can guarantee that. But this reality TV show won’t have a live studio audience for a while.

    That stinks, but we have to remember that around the world, professional sports leagues were not aggressive enough in shutting down. It’s presumptuous to say there was malicious intent on behalf of the teams and leagues, but it’s impossible to say that those games didn’t contribute to the devastation this virus has wrought. Sports can’t make the same mistake twice.

    In Northern Italy, a Champions League match between Atalanta and Valencia on Feb. 19 in Milan is being called “Game Zero” for the COVID-19 outbreak in that region. The Warriors played the Clippers despite the city of San Francisco’s request that they re-schedule or cancel the contest. Instead, they put some 8.5 by 11 sheets of paper on the doors of Chase Center asking people not to enter if they recently had flu-like symptoms or had traveled to China, Italy, South Korea, or Iran. The NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer were planning to ride it out — to keep playing games and making money — until the NBA was forced to shut down because of Rudy Gobert’s positive test.

    It’s worth noting that even after Gobert’s test, the NBA continued to play games that night and planned on tipping off a late Pelicans-Kings game in Sacramento. New Orleans players refused to take the floor and the game was canceled.

    Now that we’re heading towards the other side of the curve, I’d hope the lesson was learned and the leagues will err on the side of caution, not capital. And I’d hope that governments will stop all those who make the wrong decision.

    I’m not holding my breath, but, again, we can hope.

    in reply to: tweets (Rams & NFL) … 4/4 thru 4/7 #113351
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    in reply to: tweets (Rams & NFL) … 4/4 thru 4/7 #113350
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    in reply to: tweets (Rams & NFL) … 4/4 thru 4/7 #113349
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    The U.S. was beset by denial and dysfunction as the coronavirus raged
    From the Oval Office to the CDC, political and institutional failures cascaded through the system and opportunities to mitigate the pandemic were lost.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/04/04/coronavirus-government-dysfunction/?arc404=true

    By the time Donald Trump proclaimed himself a wartime president — and the coronavirus the enemy — the United States was already on course to see more of its people die than in the wars of Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

    The country has adopted an array of wartime measures never employed collectively in U.S. history — banning incoming travelers from two continents, bringing commerce to a near-halt, enlisting industry to make emergency medical gear, and confining 230 million Americans to their homes in a desperate bid to survive an attack by an unseen adversary.

    Despite these and other extreme steps, the United States will likely go down as the country that was supposedly best prepared to fight a pandemic but ended up catastrophically overmatched by the novel coronavirus, sustaining heavier casualties than any other nation.

    It did not have to happen this way. Though not perfectly prepared, the United States had more expertise, resources, plans and epidemiological experience than dozens of countries that ultimately fared far better in fending off the virus.

    The failure has echoes of the period leading up to 9/11: Warnings were sounded, including at the highest levels of government, but the president was deaf to them until the enemy had already struck.

    The Trump administration received its first formal notification of the outbreak of the coronavirus in China on Jan. 3. Within days, U.S. spy agencies were signaling the seriousness of the threat to Trump by including a warning about the coronavirus — the first of many — in the President’s Daily Brief.

    And yet, it took 70 days from that initial notification for Trump to treat the coronavirus not as a distant threat or harmless flu strain well under control, but as a lethal force that had outflanked America’s defenses and was poised to kill tens of thousands of citizens. That more-than-two-month stretch now stands as critical time that was squandered.

    33 times Trump downplayed the coronavirus

    Trump’s baseless assertions in those weeks, including his claim that it would all just “miraculously” go away, sowed significant public confusion and contradicted the urgent messages of public health experts.

    “While the media would rather speculate about outrageous claims of palace intrigue, President Trump and this Administration remain completely focused on the health and safety of the American people with around the clock work to slow the spread of the virus, expand testing, and expedite vaccine development,” said Judd Deere, a spokesman for the president. “Because of the President’s leadership we will emerge from this challenge healthy, stronger, and with a prosperous and growing economy.”

    The president’s behavior and combative statements were merely a visible layer on top of deeper levels of dysfunction.

    The most consequential failure involved a breakdown in efforts to develop a diagnostic test that could be mass produced and distributed across the United States, enabling agencies to map early outbreaks of the disease, and impose quarantine measures to contain them. At one point, a Food and Drug Administration official tore into lab officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, telling them their lapses in protocol, including concerns that the lab did not meet the criteria for sterile conditions, were so serious that the FDA would “shut you down” if the CDC were a commercial, rather than government, entity.

    Other failures cascaded through the system. The administration often seemed weeks behind the curve in reacting to the viral spread, closing doors that were already contaminated. Protracted arguments between the White House and public health agencies over funding, combined with a meager existing stockpile of emergency supplies, left vast stretches of the country’s health-care system without protective gear until the outbreak had become a pandemic. Infighting, turf wars and abrupt leadership changes hobbled the work of the coronavirus task force.

    It may never be known how many thousands of deaths, or millions of infections, might have been prevented with a response that was more coherent, urgent and effective. But even now, there are many indications that the administration’s handling of the crisis had potentially devastating consequences.

    Even the president’s base has begun to confront this reality. In mid-March, as Trump was rebranding himself a wartime president and belatedly urging the public to help slow the spread of the virus, Republican leaders were poring over grim polling data that suggested Trump was lulling his followers into a false sense of security in the face of a lethal threat.

    The poll showed that far more Republicans than Democrats were being influenced by Trump’s dismissive depictions of the virus and the comparably scornful coverage on Fox News and other conservative networks. As a result, Republicans were in distressingly large numbers refusing to change travel plans, follow “social distancing” guidelines, stock up on supplies or otherwise take the coronavirus threat seriously.

    “Denial is not likely to be a successful strategy for survival,” GOP pollster Neil Newhouse concluded in a document that was shared with GOP leaders on Capitol Hill and discussed widely at the White House. Trump’s most ardent supporters, it said, were “putting themselves and their loved ones in danger.”

    Trump’s message was changing as the report swept through the GOP’s senior ranks. In recent days, Trump has bristled at reminders that he had once claimed the caseload would soon be “down to zero.”

    More than 7,000 people have died of the coronavirus in the United States so far, with about 240,000 cases reported. But Trump has acknowledged that new models suggest that the eventual national death toll could be between 100,000 and 240,000.

    Beyond the suffering in store for thousands of victims and their families, the outcome has altered the international standing of the United States, damaging and diminishing its reputation as a global leader in times of extraordinary adversity.

    “This has been a real blow to the sense that America was competent,” said Gregory F. Treverton, a former chairman of the National Intelligence Council, the government’s senior-most provider of intelligence analysis. He stepped down from the NIC in January 2017 and now teaches at the University of Southern California. “That was part of our global role. Traditional friends and allies looked to us because they thought we could be competently called upon to work with them in a crisis. This has been the opposite of that.”

    This article, which retraces the failures over the first 70 days of the coronavirus crisis, is based on 47 interviews with administration officials, public health experts, intelligence officers and others involved in fighting the pandemic. Many spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information and decisions.

    Scanning the horizon

    Public health authorities are part of a special breed of public servant — along with counterterrorism officials, military planners, aviation authorities and others — whose careers are consumed with contemplating worst-case scenarios.

    The arsenal they wield against viral invaders is powerful, capable of smothering a new pathogen while scrambling for a cure, but easily overwhelmed if not mobilized in time. As a result, officials at the Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC and other agencies spend their days scanning the horizon for emerging dangers.

    The CDC learned of a cluster of cases in China on Dec. 31 and began developing reports for HHS on Jan. 1. But the most unambiguous warning that U.S. officials received about the coronavirus came Jan. 3, when Robert Redfield, the CDC director, received a call from a counterpart in China. The official told Redfield that a mysterious respiratory illness was spreading in Wuhan, a congested commercial city of 11 million people in the communist country’s interior.

    Redfield quickly relayed the disturbing news to Alex Azar, the secretary of HHS, the agency that oversees the CDC and other public health entities. Azar, in turn, ensured that the White House was notified, instructing his chief of staff to share the Chinese report with the National Security Council.

    From that moment, the administration and the virus were locked in a race against a ticking clock, a competition for the upper hand between pathogen and prevention that would dictate the scale of the outbreak when it reached American shores, and determine how many would get sick or die.
    \
    The initial response was promising, but officials also immediately encountered obstacles.

    On Jan. 6, Redfield sent a letter to the Chinese offering to send help, including a team of CDC scientists. China rebuffed the offer for weeks, turning away assistance and depriving U.S. authorities of an early chance to get a sample of the virus, critical for developing diagnostic tests and any potential vaccine.

    China impeded the U.S. response in other ways, including by withholding accurate information about the outbreak. Beijing had a long track record of downplaying illnesses that emerged within its borders, an impulse that U.S. officials attribute to a desire by the country’s leaders to avoid embarrassment and accountability with China’s 1.3 billion people and other countries that find themselves in the pathogen’s path.

    China stuck to this costly script in the case of the coronavirus, reporting Jan. 14 that it had seen “no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission.” U.S. officials treated the claim with skepticism that intensified when the first case surfaced outside China with a reported infection in Thailand.

    A week earlier, senior officials at HHS had begun convening an intra-agency task force including Redfield, Azar and Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The following week, there were also scattered meetings at the White House with officials from the National Security Council and State Department, focused mainly on when and whether to bring back government employees in China.

    U.S. officials began taking preliminary steps to counter a potential outbreak. By mid-January, Robert Kadlec, an Air Force officer and physician who serves as assistant secretary for preparedness and response at HHS, had instructed subordinates to draw up contingency plans for enforcing the Defense Production Act, a measure that enables the government to compel private companies to produce equipment or devices critical to the country’s security. Aides were bitterly divided over whether to implement the act, and nothing happened for many weeks.

    On Jan. 14, Kadlec scribbled a single word in a notebook he carries: “Coronavirus!!!”

    Despite the flurry of activity at lower levels of his administration, Trump was not substantially briefed by health officials about the coronavirus until Jan.18, when, while spending the weekend at Mar-a-Lago, he took a call from Azar.

    Even before the heath secretary could get a word in about the virus, Trump cut him off and began criticizing Azar for his handling of an aborted federal ban on vaping products, a matter that vexed the president.

    At the time, Trump was in the throes of an impeachment battle over his alleged attempt to coerce political favors from the leader of Ukraine. Acquittal seemed certain by the GOP-controlled Senate, but Trump was preoccupied with the trial, calling lawmakers late at night to rant, and making lists of perceived enemies he would seek to punish when the case against him concluded.

    In hindsight, officials said, Azar could have been more forceful in urging Trump to turn at least some of his attention to a threat that would soon pose an even graver test to his presidency, a crisis that would cost American lives and consume the final year of Trump’s first term.

    But the secretary, who had a strained relationship with Trump and many others in the administration, assured the president that those responsible were working on and monitoring the issue. Azar told several associates that the president believed he was “alarmist” and Azar struggled to get Trump’s attention to focus on the issue, even asking one confidant for advice.

    Within days, there were new causes for alarm.

    On Jan. 21, a Seattle man who had recently traveled to Wuhan tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the first known infection on U.S. soil. Then, two days later, Chinese authorities took the drastic step of shutting down Wuhan, turning the teeming metropolis into a ghost city of empty highways and shuttered skyscrapers, with millions of people marooned in their homes.

    “That was like, whoa,” said a senior U.S. official involved in White House meetings on the crisis. “That was when the Richter scale hit 8.”

    It was also when U.S. officials began to confront the failings of their own efforts to respond.

    Azar, who had served in senior positions at HHS through crises including the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the outbreak of bird flu in 2005, was intimately familiar with the playbook for crisis management.

    He instructed subordinates to move rapidly to establish a nationwide surveillance system to track the spread of the coronavirus — a stepped-up version of what the CDC does every year to monitor new strains of the ordinary flu.

    But doing so would require assets that would elude U.S. officials for months — a diagnostic test that could accurately identify those infected with the new virus and be produced on a mass scale for rapid deployment across the United States, and money to implement the system.

    Azar’s team also hit another obstacle. The Chinese were still refusing to share the viral samples they had collected and were using to develop their own tests. In frustration, U.S. officials looked for other possible routes.

    A biocontainment lab at the University of Texas medical branch in Galveston had a research partnership with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

    Kadlec, who knew the Galveston lab director, hoped scientists could arrange a transaction on their own without government interference. At first, the lab in Wuhan agreed, but officials in Beijing intervened Jan. 24 and blocked any lab-to-lab transfer.

    There is no indication that officials sought to escalate the matter or enlist Trump to intervene. In fact, Trump has consistently praised Chinese President Xi Jinping despite warnings from U.S. intelligence and health officials that Beijing was concealing the true scale of the outbreak and impeding cooperation on key fronts.

    The CDC had issued its first public alert about the coronavirus Jan. 8, and by the 17th was monitoring major airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, where large numbers of passengers arrived each day from China.

    In other ways, though, the situation was already spinning out of control, with multiplying cases in Seattle, intransigence by the Chinese, mounting questions from the public, and nothing in place to stop infected travelers from arriving from abroad.

    Trump was out of the country for this critical stretch, taking part in the annual global economic forum in Davos, Switzerland. He was accompanied by a contingent of top officials including national security adviser Robert O’Brien, who took a trans-Atlantic call from an anxious Azar.

    Azar told O’Brien that it was “mayhem” at the White House, with HHS officials being pressed to provide nearly identical briefings to three audiences on the same day.

    Azar urged O’Brien to have the NSC assert control over a matter with potential implications for air travel, immigration authorities, the State Department and the Pentagon. O’Brien seemed to grasp the urgency, and put his deputy, Matthew Pottinger, who had worked in China as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, in charge of coordinating the still-nascent U.S. response.

    But the rising anxiety within the administration appeared not to register with the president. On Jan. 22, Trump received his first question about the coronavirus in an interview on CNBC while in Davos. Asked whether he was worried about a potential pandemic, Trump said, “No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. . . . It’s going to be just fine.”

    Spreading uncontrollably

    \The move by the NSC to seize control of the response marked an opportunity to reorient U.S. strategy around containing the virus where possible and procuring resources that hospitals would need in any U.S. outbreak, including such basic equipment as protective masks and ventilators.

    But instead of mobilizing for what was coming, U.S. officials seemed more preoccupied with logistical problems, including how to evacuate Americans from China.

    In Washington, then-acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and Pottinger began convening meetings at the White House with senior officials from HHS, the CDC and the State Department.

    The group, which included Azar, Pottinger and Fauci, as well as nine others across the administration, formed the core of what would become the administration’s coronavirus task force. But it primarily focused on efforts to keep infected people in China from traveling to the United States even while evacuating thousands of U.S. citizens. The meetings did not seriously focus on testing or supplies, which have since become the administration’s most challenging problems.

    The task force was formally announced on Jan. 29.

    “The genesis of this group was around border control and repatriation,” said a senior official involved in the meetings. “It wasn’t a comprehensive, whole-of-government group to run everything.”

    The State Department agenda dominated those early discussions, according to participants. Officials began making plans to charter aircraft to evacuate 6,000 Americans stranded in Wuhan. They also debated language for travel advisories that State could issue to discourage other travel in and out of China.

    On Jan. 29, Mulvaney chaired a meeting in the White House Situation Room in which officials debated moving travel restrictions to “Level 4,” meaning a “do not travel” advisory from the State Department. Then, the next day, China took the draconian step of locking down the entire Hubei province, which encompasses Wuhan.

    That move by Beijing finally prompted a commensurate action by the Trump administration. On Jan. 31, Azar announced restrictions barring any non-U.S. citizen who had been in China during the preceding two weeks from entering the United States.

    Trump has, with some justification, pointed to the China-related restriction as evidence that he had responded aggressively and early to the outbreak. It was among the few intervention options throughout the crisis that played to the instincts of the president, who often seems fixated on erecting borders and keeping foreigners out of the country.

    But by that point, 300,000 people had come into the United States from China over the previous month. There were only 7,818 confirmed cases around the world at the end of January, according to figures released by the World Health Organization — but it is now clear that the virus was spreading uncontrollably.

    Pottinger was by then pushing for another travel ban, this time restricting the flow of travelers from Italy and other nations in the European Union that were rapidly emerging as major new nodes of the outbreak. Pottinger’s proposal was endorsed by key health-care officials, including Fauci, who argued that it was critical to close off any path the virus might take into the country.

    This time, the plan met with resistance from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and others who worried about the impact on the U.S. economy. It was an early sign of tension in an area that would split the administration, pitting those who prioritized public health against those determined to avoid any disruption in an election year to the run of expansion and employment growth.

    Those backing the economy prevailed with the president. And it was more than a month before the administration issued a belated and confusing ban on flights into the United States from Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people crossed the Atlantic during that interval.

    A wall of resistance

    While fights over air travel played out in the White House, public health officials began to panic over a startling shortage of critical medical equipment including protective masks for doctors and nurses, as well as a rapidly shrinking pool of money needed to pay for such things.

    By early February, the administration was quickly draining a $105 million congressional fund to respond to infectious disease outbreaks. The coronavirus threat to the United States still seemed distant if not entirely hypothetical to much of the public. But to health officials charged with stockpiling supplies for worst-case-scenarios, disaster appeared increasingly inevitable.

    A national stockpile of N95 protective masks, gowns, gloves and other supplies was already woefully inadequate after years of underfunding. The prospects for replenishing that store were suddenly threatened by the unfolding crisis in China, which disrupted offshore supply chains.

    Much of the manufacturing of such equipment had long since migrated to China, where factories were now shuttered because workers were on order to stay in their households. At the same time, China was buying up masks and other gear to gird for its own coronavirus outbreak, driving up costs and monopolizing supplies.

    In late January and early February, leaders at HHS sent two letters to the White House Office of Management and Budget asking to use its transfer authority to shift $136 million of department funds into pools that could be tapped for combating the coronavirus. Azar and his aides also began raising the need for a multibillion-dollar supplemental budget request to send to Congress.

    Yet White House budget hawks argued that appropriating too much money at once when there were only a few U.S. cases would be viewed as alarmist.

    Joe Grogan, head of the Domestic Policy Council, clashed with health officials over preparedness. He mistrusted how the money would be used and questioned how health officials had used previous preparedness funds.

    Azar then spoke to Russell Vought, the acting director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, during Trump’s State of the Union speech on Feb. 4. Vought seemed amenable, and told Azar to submit a proposal.

    Azar did so the next day, drafting a supplemental request for more than $4 billion, a sum that OMB officials and others at the White House greeted as an outrage. Azar arrived at the White House that day for a tense meeting in the Situation Room that erupted in a shouting match, according to three people familiar with the incident.

    A deputy in the budget office accused Azar of preemptively lobbying Congress for a gigantic sum that White House officials had no interest in granting. Azar bristled at the criticism and defended the need for an emergency infusion. But his standing with White House officials, already shaky before the coronavirus crisis began, was damaged further.

    Trump on his ‘natural ability’ for medical science: ‘I really get it’

    White House officials relented to a degree weeks later as the feared coronavirus surge in the United States began to materialize. The OMB team whittled Azar’s demands down to $2.5 billion, money that would be available only in the current fiscal year. Congress ignored that figure, approving an $8 billion supplemental bill that Trump signed into law March 6.

    But again, delays proved costly. The disputes meant that the United States missed a narrow window to stockpile ventilators, masks and other protective gear before the administration was bidding against many other desperate nations, and state officials fed up with federal failures began scouring for supplies themselves.

    In late March, the administration ordered 10,000 ventilators — far short of what public health officials and governors said was needed. And many will not arrive until the summer or fall, when models expect the pandemic to be receding.

    “It’s actually kind of a joke,” said one administration official involved in deliberations about the belated purchase.

    Inconclusive tests

    Although viruses travel unseen, public health officials have developed elaborate ways of mapping and tracking their movements. Stemming an outbreak or slowing a pandemic in many ways comes down to the ability to quickly divide the population into those who are infected and those who are not.

    Doing so, however, hinges on having an accurate test to diagnose patients and deploy it rapidly to labs across the country. The time it took to accomplish that in the United States may have been more costly to American efforts than any other failing.

    “If you had the testing, you could say, ‘Oh my god, there’s circulating virus in Seattle, let’s jump on it. There’s circulating virus in Chicago, let’s jump on it,’ ” said a senior administration official involved in battling the outbreak. “We didn’t have that visibility.”

    The first setback came when China refused to share samples of the virus, depriving U.S. researchers of supplies to bombard with drugs and therapies in a search for ways to defeat it. But even when samples had been procured, the U.S. effort was hampered by systemic problems and institutional hubris.

    Among the costliest errors was a misplaced assessment by top health officials that the outbreak would probably be limited in scale inside the United States — as had been the case with every other infection for decades — and that the CDC could be trusted on its own to develop a coronavirus diagnostic test.

    The CDC, launched in the 1940s to contain an outbreak of malaria in the southern United States, had taken the lead on the development of diagnostic tests in major outbreaks including Ebola, zika and H1N1. But the CDC was not built to mass-produce tests.

    The CDC’s success had fostered an institutional arrogance, a sense that even in the face of a potential crisis there was no pressing need to involve private labs, academic institutions, hospitals and global health organizations also capable of developing tests.

    Yet some were concerned that the CDC test would not be enough. Stephen Hahn, the FDA commissioner, sought authority in early February to begin calling private diagnostic and pharmaceutical companies to enlist their help.

    FDA leaders were split on whether it would be bad optics for Hahn to be personally calling companies he regulated. When FDA officials consulted leaders at HHS, they understood it as a direction to stand down.

    At that point, Azar, the HHS secretary, seemed committed to a plan he was pursuing that would keep his agency at the center of the response effort: securing a test from the CDC and then building a national coronavirus surveillance system by relying on an existing network of labs used to track the ordinary flu.

    In task force meetings, Azar and Redfield pushed for $100 million to fund the plan, but were shot down because of the cost, according to a document outlining the testing strategy obtained by The Washington Post.

    Relying so heavily on the CDC would have been problematic even if it had succeeded in quickly developing an effective test that could be distributed across the country. The scale of the epidemic, and the need for mass testing far beyond the capabilities of the flu network, would have overwhelmed the plan, which didn’t envision engaging commercial lab companies for up to six months.

    The effort collapsed when the CDC failed its basic assignment to create a working test and the task force rejected Azar’s plan.

    On Feb. 6, when the World Health Organization reported that it was shipping 250,000 test kits to labs around the world, the CDC began distributing 90 kits to a smattering of state-run health labs.

    Almost immediately, the state facilities encountered problems. The results were inconclusive in trial runs at more than half the labs, meaning they couldn’t be relied upon to diagnose actual patients. The CDC issued a stopgap measure, instructing labs to send tests to its headquarters in Atlanta, a practice that would delay results for days.

    The scarcity of effective tests led officials to impose constraints on when and how to use them, and delayed surveillance testing. Initial guidelines were so restrictive that states were discouraged from testing patients exhibiting symptoms unless they had traveled to China and come into contact with a confirmed case, when the pathogen had by that point almost certainly spread more broadly into the general population.

    The limits left top officials largely blind to the true dimensions of the outbreak.

    In a meeting in the Situation Room in mid-February, Fauci and Redfield told White House officials that there was no evidence yet of worrisome person-to-person transmission in the United States. In hindsight, it appears almost certain that the virus was taking hold in communities at that point. But even the country’s top experts had little meaningful data about the domestic dimensions of the threat. Fauci later conceded that as they learned more their views changed.

    At the same time, as the president’s subordinates were growing increasingly alarmed, Trump continued to exhibit little concern. On Feb. 10, he held a political rally in New Hampshire attended by thousands where he declared that “by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”

    The New Hampshire rally was one of eight that Trump held after he had been told by Azar about the coronavirus, a period when he also went to his golf courses six times.

    A day earlier, on Feb. 9, a group of governors in town for a black-tie gala at the White House secured a private meeting with Fauci and Redfield. The briefing rattled many of the governors, bearing little resemblance to the words of the president. “The doctors and the scientists, they were telling us then exactly what they are saying now,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said.

    That month, federal medical and public health officials were emailing increasingly dire forecasts among themselves, with one Veterans Affairs medical adviser warning, ‘We are flying blind,’” according to emails obtained by the watchdog group American Oversight.

    Later in February, U.S. officials discovered indications that the CDC laboratory was failing to meet basic quality-control standards. On a Feb. 27 conference call with a range of health officials, a senior FDA official lashed out at the CDC for its repeated lapses.

    Jeffrey Shuren, the FDA’s director for devices and radiological health, told the CDC that if it were subjected to the same scrutiny as a privately run lab, “I would shut you down.”

    On Feb. 29, a Washington state man became the first American to die of a coronavirus infection. That same day, the FDA released guidance, signaling that private labs were free to proceed in developing their own diagnostics.

    Another four-week stretch had been squandered.

    Life and death

    One week later, on March 6, Trump toured the facilities at the CDC wearing a red “Keep America Great” hat. He boasted that the CDC tests were nearly perfect and that “anybody who wants a test will get a test,” a promise that nearly a month later remains unmet.

    He also professed to have a keen medical mind. “I like this stuff. I really get it,” he said. “People here are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, ‘How do you know so much about this?’ ”

    In reality, many of the failures to stem the coronavirus outbreak in the United States were either a result of, or exacerbated by, his leadership.

    For weeks, he had barely uttered a word about the crisis that didn’t downplay its severity or propagate demonstrably false information. He dismissed the warnings of intelligence officials and top public health officials in his administration.

    At times, he voiced far more authentic concern about the trajectory of the stock market than the spread of the virus in the United States, railing at the chairman of the Federal Reserve and others with an intensity that he never seemed to exhibit about the possible human toll of the outbreak.

    In March, as state after state imposed sweeping new restrictions on their citizens’ daily lives to protect them — triggering severe shudders in the economy — Trump second-guessed the lockdowns.

    The common flu kills tens of thousands each year and “nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on,” he tweeted March 9. A day later, he pledged that the virus would “go away. Just stay calm.”

    Two days later, Trump finally ordered the halt to incoming travel from Europe that his deputy national security adviser had been advocating for weeks. But Trump botched the Oval Office announcement so badly that White House officials spent days trying to correct erroneous statements that triggered a stampede by U.S. citizens overseas to get home.

    “There was some coming to grips with the problem and the true nature of it — the 13th of March is when I saw him really turn the corner. It took a while to realize you’re at war,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said. “That’s when he took decisive action that set in motion some real payoffs.”

    Trump spent many weeks shuffling responsibility for leading his administration’s response to the crisis, putting Azar in charge of the task force at first, relying on Pottinger, the deputy national security adviser, for brief periods, before finally putting Vice President Pence in the role toward the end of February.

    Other officials have emerged during the crisis to help right the United States’ course, and at times, the statements of the president. But even as Fauci, Azar and others sought to assert themselves, Trump was behind the scenes turning to others with no credentials, experience or discernible insight in navigating a pandemic.

    Foremost among them was his adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner. A team reporting to Kushner commandeered space on the seventh floor of the HHS building to pursue a series of inchoate initiatives.

    One plan involved having Google create a website to direct those with symptoms to testing facilities that were supposed to spring up in Walmart parking lots across the country, but which never materialized. Another centered on an idea advanced by Oracle chairman Larry Ellison to use software to monitor the unproven use of anti-malaria drugs against the coronavirus pathogen.

    So far, the plans have failed to come close to delivering on the promises made when they were touted in White House news conferences. The Kushner initiatives have, however, often interrupted the work of those under immense pressure to manage the U.S. response.

    Current and former officials said that Kadlec, Fauci, Redfield and others have repeatedly had to divert their attentions from core operations to contend with ill-conceived requests from the White House they don’t believe they can ignore. And Azar, who once ran the response, has since been sidelined, with his agency disempowered in decision-making and his performance pilloried by a range of White House officials, including Kushner.

    “Right now Fauci is trying to roll out the most ambitious clinical trial ever implemented” to hasten the development of a vaccine, said a former senior administration official in frequent touch with former colleagues. And yet, the nation’s top health officials “are getting calls from the White House or Jared’s team asking, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to do this with Oracle?’ ”

    If the coronavirus has exposed the country’s misplaced confidence in its ability to handle a crisis, it also has cast harsh light on the limits of Trump’s approach to the presidency — his disdain for facts, science and experience.

    He has survived other challenges to his presidency — including the Russia investigation and impeachment — by fiercely contesting the facts arrayed against him and trying to control the public’s understanding of events with streams of falsehoods.

    The coronavirus may be the first crisis Trump has faced in office where the facts — the thousands of mounting deaths and infections — are so devastatingly evident that they defy these tactics.

    After months of dismissing the severity of the coronavirus, resisting calls for austere measures to contain it, and recasting himself as a wartime president, Trump seemed finally to succumb to the coronavirus reality. In a meeting with a Republican ally in the Oval Office last month, the president said his campaign no longer mattered because his reelection would hinge on his coronavirus response.

    “It’s absolutely critical for the American people to follow the guidelines for the next 30 days,” he said at his March 31 news conference. “It’s a matter of life and death.”

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