I guess that is the difference between you and I Jrry ... I look for the natural things you can't coach like Size, length, athleticism, and a mean streak in separating the "elite" from the "good". To separate the men form the boys in the NFL, you have to have those natural intangibles or you will just be average at best. There are many many "very good" college players who just didn't have the things to separate them at the next level. Lets ask this question... if you have average length and average athleticism .. and your heart does not have a killer instinct ... how do you hold up against the Robert Quinn's, Mathis', Aldon Smith's of the NFL? Techniques can be coached. But natural attributes cannot. You either have them or you don't.
Average length and average athleticism? Hold up there, partner. There's nothing average about Jake Matthews's athleticism. I said the guy isn't elite. He's not a total freak athlete like Lane Johnson or Walter Jones or Tyron Smith. But Jake Matthews is plenty athletic. He's got just as much athleticism as top tier OTs Ryan Clady, Joe Thomas and Russell Okung.
Frankly, what separates the average from the good the good from the great and the great from elite aren't physical tools. There are plenty of guys in the NFL with the physical tools to be great or elite. What separates the best from the rest are their work ethic, football IQ, instincts and technique.
Jerry Rice was 6'2" 200 and ran a 4.59 40 coming out. The guy is easily the greatest WR to ever play the game. Yet, he's nowhere near the most athletic WR.
Peyton Manning and Joe Montana are very arguably the two greatest QBs to ever play the game. Yet neither players ever had rocket arms. Manning has never been very mobile. Montana, while mobile, was short and skinny. Neither were near the most physically gifted QBs to play the game.
Jake Matthews has all the physical talent needed to be great. He has excellent feet, good balance, the strength and power to drive the man in front of him off the LOS and he has the natural bend necessary to win the leverage battle. There's a difference between not having physical talent and not having elite physical talent. But elite physical talent isn't necessary to be great or even elite.
As far as a mean streak is concerned, most OLs don't have it. It's nice and all. Harvey Dahl is a guy with a mean streak. But don't confuse that for intensity. Jake Matthews never gets lazy, he never takes plays off and he doesn't let up in the run game. He just doesn't have that innate nastiness to him like a Harvey Dahl does. But neither did a lot of the best LTs who have come out recently. Joe Thomas and Matt Kalil were both criticized for not playing with a mean streak. Hasn't held either back.
Technique can be coached? In an ideal world, it can. But what you find is that a lot of players just don't learn in the NFL if they haven't learned much in college. You can refine technique in the NFL. But the miscalculation that a lot of teams make is that it can easily be taught. In A LOT of cases, the player doesn't really ever truly get where you want him to be.
You gotta have that natural work ethic, UNDERSTANDING OF THE GAME(by far the most important thing...Jason Smith never had this) and instincts for the position or else you're never going to be a quality player on the OL.
I could be wrong. And I'm not totally against drafting Matthews.... I just wouldn't use my high end coveted picks on a guy who physically is average and intensity is questioned. That's just me. It is my opinion.
Well, I disagree. I don't think there's anything physically average about the guy except for his height. And I would never consider questioning his intensity. You can see on the field with the way he anticipates and out-maneuvers pass rushers that this is a guy that takes his job very seriously and spends A LOT of time preparing in the film room.
