Bold Prediction: Vontaze Burfict Goes Undrafted

[BeerBaron]

Hmmm....I wonder if his "first instinct" in response to the criticism will be to start swinging?

[keylime_5]

after running a 5 second 40 today and having crappy broad/vertical jump numbers, I don't think that's such a bold prediction anymore. I expect him to be a late round pick at best.

[SuperPacker]

Ok lol maybe you cant find a random guy off the street but whats the point of hitting hard if you cant even run fast enough to get your lazy arse off the bench in the first place.

[AntoinCD]

I know a lot of people have been saying the obvious Brandon Spikes comparisons for Taze because both were thumping ILB-types and both ran plus 5 second 40s. But Spikes was seen as a defensive leader with tremendous instincts and was very good in coverage. Really without the eye gouging incident he was a pretty damn good prospect from an intangible aspect.

Taze isn't any kind of leader, he doesn't have the tape that Spikes had and has an explosive personality off the field. Add all that in with a very poor work out and he will fall.

The only positive I see for him is the fact that he can knock you out of your shoes and isn't afraid to get dirty in the trenches. Some team will take him but I just don't know when

[keylime_5]

yeah, the only detractor on Spikes really was his 40 time......but he was so productive and instinctive, such a good leader and a good blitzer who made plays and wasn't as underachieving as Burfict on the field. Burfict's poor combine along with his mediocre junior year, huge red flags about his dirty play on the field, and probable bad interviews are gonna push him way farther down the draft than Spikes fell.

[ChiFan24]

I wouldn't quite say undrafted, but 6th round to a team like Seattle or Cincinnati seems right to me. Most teams will remove him from their draft board completely.

[Bengals78]

Originally Posted by ChiFan24

I wouldn't quite say undrafted, but 6th round to a team like Seattle or Cincinnati seems right to me. Most teams will remove him from their draft board completely.

Id take him then.
At worst he could force a fumble or two on Kickoffs I guess?

[TACKLE]

Originally Posted by ChiFan24

Most teams will remove him from their draft board completely.

And you know this how?

[redbills]

Originally Posted by Bengals78

Im fully aware that a Jenkins/Burfict first round only makes too much sense....

That would be funny.

[Caulibflower]

Originally Posted by ATLDirtyBirds

Watch the pop he makes on contact/at the POA.


He'll be drafted, no doubt. 3rd-4th.

He's going to get drafted to be a violent hitter in the middle of the field, not a rangy, fluid defensive signal caller who's going to have a defense revolve around him. He's certainly not Kuechly. That debate's been put to rest.

Originally Posted by SuperPacker

So he can hit hard? Find a random guy of the street that doesnt know the rules of football, but can hit hard and you'll have Vontaze Burfict.

You might as well be saying, "Well, any guy on the street who hits harder than most people in college football could play in the NFL."

Which is both almost true, and a pretty profound underestimation of Burfict's athleticism. I'm not even a huge fan of him, but this is people having a huge overreaction to the combine. All the people who didn't like him going into it get to hold up a slow 40 time as evidence that... he shouldn't be drafted? That's just silly. Burfict's not fast, but he's got great size, has no fear, and stops people when he hits them. That is precisely what you want crashing into an offense from the middle of your defense.

Originally Posted by Shane P. Hallam

I like how Burfict gets through traffic and I see more explosion on film than the 40, I will be interested to see the shuttle and 3 cone times, maybe they will be better.

That being said, he has never been my top LB and more of a late 1st option. I still think he is worth a pick, a Day 2 pick even because he does pretty well in coverage, can get through coverage, and lays the lumber.

Running 4.9 instead of 4.6 combined with bad interviews probably did drop him a few rounds, but I'd still be somewhat surprised to see him make it past the 4th. Brandon Spikes ran a 5.00, had a vertical jump under 30 inches, tried to poke somebody's eyeball and still went in the second while never having the hype Burfict did. He isn't nearly the head case, but they're pretty similar players. I think Burfict's more naturally talented, so even with the character stuff I think there's going to be a number of teams that take a chance on that in the mid rounds. He's absolutely not going to go undrafted.

[FUNBUNCHER]

Brandon Spike was a flat out better football player than Burfict. Some would argue Spikes was the best front 7 player on those UF teams. Spikes made more impact plays in a season IMO than Burfict has in his career.

Besides Burfict freelances. How is he ever going to earn the trust of his DC enough to ever develop into a starter AND keep his head on straight while he's sitting on the bench as a ST player??

Dude's head isn't right IMO to deal with the ups and downs of being an NFL player.
He can't handle success. He can't endure failure. Forget his alleged physical ability.

If he were genuinely an instinctive 'backer, I could overlook some of Burfict's negatives. But I don't see that type of player.

Burfict is the kind of guy who gets cut before the last preseason game, if not earlier.

What's the name of the former FSU LB who was undersized but looked all world in college but couldn't make it in the pros??

Burfict needs his head adjusted if he ever expects to become a decent NFL ILB.

[Shane P. Hallam]

Originally Posted by Caulibflower

He's absolutely not going to go undrafted.

I try to shy away from the "absolutely" word in the NFL Draft. Can make you look bad later, haha.

I do feel like there may be some revisionist history going on with Burfict's on the field play in this thread because he tested poorly however.

[BeerBaron]

I feel like the fact that him going undrafted is even a legitimate prediction at this point says a lot about him.

[Caulibflower]

Originally Posted by Shane P. Hallam

I try to shy away from the "absolutely" word in the NFL Draft. Can make you look bad later, haha.

I do feel like there may be some revisionist history going on with Burfict's on the field play in this thread because he tested poorly however.

There are no "absolutes" here, of course. But the second part is what I'm getting at - last week most people thought of him as a late first/second rounder when taking his ability and character into account. Suddenly there's a "4.9" next to his name and people think he's a different player. He's not. You never put on his tape and found yourself amazed that he ran somebody down way down the field - that's not his game. His game is getting into the middle of all the trash and hitting people. Hard. That's what he'll get drafted for, because he does it as well as anyone. But it'll be at a point where a coach or GM feels justified investing a pick on a talent that has the potential to hurt a team as well as help it... same as before. But trying to say he's going to fall all the way out of the draft now because he ran slow? Saying that a person on the street is the same caliber of athlete...because he ran a 4.9? Please.

[Caulibflower]

Originally Posted by BeerBaron

I feel like the fact that him going undrafted is even a legitimate prediction at this point says a lot about him.

Haha... It's not a "legitimate prediction" just because you made a thread about it.

[Bengals78]

I never saw his play as real first round talent.

[TACKLE]

Originally Posted by Caulibflower

Haha... It's not a "legitimate prediction" just because you made a thread about it.

^^^^^^^^^^

[Shane P. Hallam]

Originally Posted by Bengals78

I never saw his play as real first round talent.

I gues JBCX may have been right about something then, haha.

[BeerBaron]

Originally Posted by Caulibflower

Haha... It's not a "legitimate prediction" just because you made a thread about it.

It's absolutely a legitimate prediction or else I wouldn't have made it at all.

Don't attempt to discredit something by laughing at it. It just undercuts your own argument which was.....?

What does this guy do that you would want on you NFL team? Get personal fouls? Throw punches? Bomb every physical challenge and interview presented to him at the biggest job interview of his lifetime?

The guy is going to get the James Harrison treatment right away if he even gets on the field. Officials will be keyed in on and if he so much looks at a guy wrong, personal foul.

Or how about when a team annoys him? The Packers were untying Suh's shoes throughout the game up until he decided to stomp on a guy. Opposing teams will absolutely try to annoy Burfict until he does something stupid. When a guy openly admits his first instinct is to take a swing when under duress, you bet your ass teams will try to bait him into doing it.

You want to waste a draft pick on a "big hitter" and nothing else? Fine. You want to waste your coaches time trying to tame a head case when you could simply draft someone who isn't mental and save that time? Fine.

Just don't come crying to me when he's out of football.

[vidae]

Originally Posted by BeerBaron

Just don't come crying to me when he's out of football.

Why would anyone come crying to you?

[Bengals78]

Originally Posted by Shane P. Hallam

I gues JBCX may have been right about something then, haha.

I saw a handful of ASU games and in everyone he was invisible or didnt stand out like everyone kept telling me.
When all you hear about a guy is "Ray Lewis 2.0" or "He is a such a beast" and then you never see him play like either of those and you hear about the off-field stuff and him being batshit crazy, I could never see it.

[Caulibflower]

Originally Posted by BeerBaron

It's absolutely a legitimate prediction or else I wouldn't have made it at all.

Don't attempt to discredit something by laughing at it. It just undercuts your own argument which was.....?

He's still more than physically capable of being a starting MLB in the NFL.

What does this guy do that you would want on you NFL team?

Hits really, really hard. Disrupts the middle. Can cover.

Get personal fouls? Throw punches? Bomb every physical challenge and interview presented to him at the biggest job interview of his lifetime?

The guy is going to get the James Harrison treatment right away if he even gets on the field. Officials will be keyed in on and if he so much looks at a guy wrong, personal foul.

Or how about when a team annoys him? The Packers were untying Suh's shoes throughout the game up until he decided to stomp on a guy. Opposing teams will absolutely try to annoy Burfict until he does something stupid. When a guy openly admits his first instinct is to take a swing when under duress, you bet your ass teams will try to bait him into doing it.

You want to waste a draft pick on a "big hitter" and nothing else? Fine. You want to waste your coaches time trying to tame a head case when you could simply draft someone who isn't mental and save that time? Fine.

Just don't come crying to me when he's out of football.

I'm not saying he's my favorite player, or that I'd target him in the draft. I'm just saying I think it's kind of an overreaction to say he's going to go undrafted. I mean... think about why you're saying this now. It's because the combine is going on right now. This thread exists because he ran slow. No one expected him to interview well. Everyone knows he's a head case. Despite that, he can play football at a high level, and at some point there will likely be a team that feels it's justified on drafting a player who's a character risk. They get drafted every year. Maurice Clarett was brought up; many people thought he shouldn't be drafted, yet he went in the third. You might call the Broncos idiots for that, but who's to say some other team wouldn't have picked him in the fourth? Troubled players still have value, and with Burfict, you're talking about a player who would likely be a first rounder if he didn't have the baggage and maybe ran a tenth or two faster. I just think saying he'll go undrafted is a bit... hasty. Reactionary.

[A Perfect Score]

This is pretty reactionary, if you ask me. The same thing happened when Spikes ran a 5.0, and he still went in the second round. I don't see much talent differential, if any, between those two players, so unless he interviews very poorly, I don't think Burfict goes undrafted.

BeerBaron, if you don't understand what all the fuss was about after catching a few ASU games this year, then go watch his tape from last year as a SO. He has some extremely good games and he's as violent a football player as I've seen at the college level in the last few years, something that's very, very undervalued in what can be a league of wrap up tacklers.

Now, obviously there's a huge number of negatives to look at in this scenario as well. The 5.0 isn't representative of what's seen on tape, and I think if you let him play downhill, at least to start, he can still contribute early in his NFL career. He's one of those players who just needs to see the light, and the best you can do is give him the opportunity to do that and hope that eventually, he realizes what it takes to play professional football and wisens up. He won't go in the first like he could have if he had been eligible last year, but I certainly don't think he goes undrafted. Rounds 3-5 is where I see him now.

[Go_Eagles77]

So his official time is 5.09... lol

[Chargerfn909]

Thank God. I NEVER got why people were on this dudes jock. Knucklehead.