Translating draft-ese is never easy Sunday, April 19, 1998
BY PAUL DAUGHERTY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
After another April of being Kiper-ized and Buchsbaum-ed, I think I've finally figured it out. In the National Football League, you want linebackers who are high motor difference-makers that can go side to side and still have great cover speed. They play well in space, but at the same time they have a nose for the football.
You need that nose for the football. Always.
The Bengals took two linebackers in the first round of the draft, Takeo Spikes and Brian Simmons, who have all of that. But don't take my word for it. Listen to Mel Kiper.
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Here's some of what Mel said on TV while "analyzing" the draft: "He diagnoses well."
"He has the kind of wingspan you want."
"He's a four-three-oh recovery-speed corner."
"He does a great job against the counter move, because he has such a wide base."
Of the Bengals man No. 1 man Spikes, Mel noted, "He has great ability in space."
As did Will Robinson.
Mel may know what he's talking about. I certainly don't.
In plain English
Bengals linebacker coach Mark Duffner was a little better. Spikes "may be the best tackler of all the linebackers we saw," he said. "When you saw him at the (scouting) combine, it was a whoosh in terms of what he did on the tests."
Here, available in fluent English for the first time, is what the Bengals hope Spikes and Simmons will do: Turn 14-yard gains into 4-yard gains. Get to a hole before the running back does. Absorb a fullback's block, then cover a halfback out of the backfield. Blitz like hell.
The thinking is so simple, a sportswriter can understand it: A 300-pound offensive lineman isn't often quick enough to block a 230-pound linebacker. The faster you are as a linebacker, the better chance you have to make tackles.
Spikes and Simmons are both fast and quick. Ever since Jimmy Johnson's Miami Hurricanes made a habit of smashing Nebraska in the Orange Bowl, and probably before that, speed has been the ticket. Miami's fast guys blew away Nebraska's corn-fed guys. Johnson took that lesson to Dallas, where he won two Super Bowls with a small, quick defense. This is what Duffner means by whoosh.
But as Duffner began bragging on Spikes' time in the 40-yard dash, his vertical leap and his long jump -- who can be a great football player that does not awe us in the long jump? -- I thought two things:
(1) If Spikes doesn't crack the starting lineup, he'll make a great decathlete, and;
(2) Sure sounds a lot like Sam Wyche describing the rookie James Francis.
Wyche loved Francis' "athleticism." Francis could dunk a basketball, Wyche said. Francis was fast, Francis was agile. Francis was also a linebacker. (On occasional Sundays in the fall, he still is.) The Big Cat, some called him. Well, OK.
Fact is, James Francis' best season was his first. Since, his career has been more or less an unopened package. We don't say this to knock Francis -- he is who he is -- only to note that everybody is great on draft day.
The experts tell us everything about a player except if he can play. Personally, if Tim Krumrie vouches for a guy, that's good enough for me. Anyone else, it's only an opinion.
The Bengals got lucky, finding themselves with two first-round picks in a year when their needs meshed with the draft's strengths. They got smart by not drafting Randy Moss. But how it turns out, who knows? It takes a vertical leap of faith to predict stardom for any kid.
LeBeau's defense does for linebackers what "Jailhouse Rock" did for Elvis. The big guys up front do the heavy lifting, occupying blockers. The linebackers swoop in and make the Play of the Day. If I'm Spikes and Simmons, I'm oozing thanks today. It's a great opportunity for each of them. Even if it is Cincinnati.
Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty welcomes your comments at 768-8454.