VONTAZE BURFICT

[Nas]

You all remember him? fml and to think the Giants could have drafted him in the fucking 7th round.

 

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10478179/hot-read-how-scouts-avoid-missing-next-vontaze-burfict

 

 

VONTAZE BURFICT IS not in the room. He isn't one week away from his first trip to the Pro Bowl. He isn't stretched out on a white leather sectional couch at his girlfriend's parents' house. He doesn't have a Chihuahua asleep on his thigh. And there isn't a vacuum cleaner whirring down one hallway while a piano plinks down the other.

 

Okay, actually, he is here, and that is all happening. Physically. But mentally, the Bengals linebacker is far, far away from this home in North Texas.

 

He's asked to review some plays that have been loaded onto a laptop. But he politely says he doesn't need to see the film. Instead, his eyes fix on the floor beneath his feet and tap into the hard drive of his mind. Every play is in there. Every tackle over the past two years -- all 298 of them -- is ready for on-demand analysis. Like Professor X on the Cerebro.

 

First it flashes to Week 1 against the Bears. Bubble screen left to Brandon Marshall. Burfict flares from the middle as if someone had emailed him the playcall before hand. He lights up Marshall for a four-yard loss. "I'd visualized it prior to the game," he says. "I'd pictured it so many times, I knew it was coming."

 

Now his brain fires backward, to 2012. Week 7 against the Steelers. Mike Wallace catches a short pass that looks like a sure touchdown. It's not; Burfict miraculously appears, making a shoestring bring-down inside the 10. "In college I would have tried to hit him high and probably would have missed. Now I think with my hands. I tackle with my hands."

 

But then Burfict finds a sore spot for him, and an illuminating one for us. What he's about to describe, in painstaking detail, is a direct window into the ultimate unexplored part of evaluating NFL talent: the football brain.

 

Burfict squints and burrows into his mind. Paul Brown Stadium, on Dec. 22, 2013. He's standing on his own 30-yard line, up 42-7, in a blowout win against the Vikings. Minnesota has the ball at the end of the third quarter, a meaningless drive in a game that Cincinnati would win by four touchdowns.

 

It's not meaningless to Burfict. If he recalls all of his tackles in HD, then his memories of what's about to happen are in Imax. It's a missed tackle, one of only two he says he had all season. "Cordarrelle Patterson, right?" he asks.

 

In his head, he can visualize the entire sequence. Patterson takes the toss for a sweep to the wide side of the field, bolting for the corner. Burfict feels the play before he sees it. He blows through the line untouched. But as he arrives at Patterson, so does Vikings fullback Jerome Felton. The collision is massive, and as usual, Burfict flattens his target. Patterson is just a few feet away to the left. He's still in the backfield, having hesitated briefly waiting for the block, but he's about to take off.

 

As Burfict describes the scene, his hands come off the dog and start working on the ghost of Felton. "I was supposed to spin the fullback, but instead I boxed him. I figured Patterson wasn't going to cut it up because of all the linebackers bunched up in the middle. So I boxed him with the fullback and then immediately tried to get off the block."

 

Now his eyes close as his hands make a dual sweeping motion. "As soon as I got off the block, I had both my arms out. He was right there. Then in one step, he was running full speed to the sideline. I was one step behind it. One move behind it. As soon as I looked up, he was gone. He scored on a 35-yard touchdown. I got a concussion on that play. But I remember it."

 

Hey, you know no one drafted you in 2012 because you weren't supposed to be able to think like this, right? "Yeah, I know." There are pages of scouting reports saying you lacked the kind of discipline it took to break down film like you just did? "Yeah, I know." So if we had come to you three years ago and asked you to do this same thing then that you did just now, would you have been able to?

 

"Hell no."

[Sephiroth]

You talk about him as if we don't have Spencer Paysinger. I don't know if you heard or not, but he worked really hard last offseason to win a starting job.

[Mr. P]

I was all about him in the later rounds.

[gmenroc]

I vaguely remember hearing him labeled as a 1st rounder but his off the field stuff dropped him...maybe an injury too, but I don't know. I was not in the camp who wanted him early on, but certainly by the 4th or 5th round, I'd have snagged him given our LB core.

[Nas]

I vaguely remember hearing him labeled as a 1st rounder but his off the field stuff dropped him...maybe an injury too, but I don't know. I was not in the camp who wanted him early on, but certainly by the 4th or 5th round, I'd have snagged him given our LB core.

 

that's what leaves me pulling my hair out... spending a 5th rounder on a guy like that is actually worth the gamble... heck we've had bigger busts in much earlier rounds...

[BleedinBlue]

Coulda, woulda, shoulda!

 

First round picks are a flip of the coin, 2nd-4th picks are the roll of a single dice, 5th-7th is a total crap shoot.

 

For every first round bust, there's always stars that emerge from late rounds or undrafted free agents. Hell, we found Cruz in the scrap heap of UDFA's. Scouts do not have a crystal ball and have to rely on college stats, the combine, the competition they faced, health issues, mental attitude, background checks, team chemistry, etc. They see something shiny and sometimes it's pure gold, but more often it's fools gold.

 

There's a lot of luck involved in the draft. When you luck out, the GM is a complete and utter genius such as the world has never seen. And when his picks don't pan out, the GM is a complete and utter asshole who should have picked a star that has only been discovered in hindsight.

[gmenroc]

I'm not saying the GM was inept in any way regarding Burfict...because EVERY team passed on him....7 TIMES!!!

 

But, I'm more just a little surprised. This was not the case of finding a diamond in the rough as we did with Cruz or the Patriots did with Brady...or we did with Bradshaw...etc. This was a case where the talent was obvious. It was the off field stuff that scared teams away. So I guess I'm just a little surprised that in this instance, the talent didn't outweigh the off-field stuff like it normally does for other players.

 

I think that the talent, coupled with our need at the time....should've made this a pretty clear pick...but again, I'm not a GM and I've not been the one burned before by a player's off-field antics.

[JMFP]

His inability to do backflips really sunk him down Reese's chart.

[BlueInCanada]

I'm not saying the GM was inept in any way regarding Burfict...because EVERY team passed on him....7 TIMES!!!

 

But, I'm more just a little surprised. This was not the case of finding a diamond in the rough as we did with Cruz or the Patriots did with Brady...or we did with Bradshaw...etc. This was a case where the talent was obvious. It was the off field stuff that scared teams away. So I guess I'm just a little surprised that in this instance, the talent didn't outweigh the off-field stuff like it normally does for other players.

 

I think that the talent, coupled with our need at the time....should've made this a pretty clear pick...but again, I'm not a GM and I've not been the one burned before by a player's off-field antics.

 

I think it's just the history of the NFL.

 

For every player like Burfict who straightens up and flys right, you have another 20 players who get drafted and arrested and are usually off the team in a couple years.

[Allstarjim]

There is no guarantee he would have worked in another place other than Cincinatti. Burfict wanted it, and without him waiting to change, it wouldn't matter, but Marvin Lewis mentored him and I've heard that he and the coaching staff that took a hands on approach in guiding him and teaching him how to conduct himself as a professional. I have no problem with passing on him given his reputation.

[Sephiroth]

His inability to do backflips really sunk him down Reese's chart.

 

That, and the fact that even though he had "all the measurables but didn't put it all together in college," he was still a linebacker.

 

Thank God we have Mark Herzlich though. What would we do without that guy?

[JMFP]

 

That, and the fact that even though he had "all the measurables but didn't put it all together in college," he was still a linebacker.

 

Thank God we have Mark Herzlich though. What would we do without that guy?

 

Agreed.....Reese has quite an eye for guys who never did shit in college but should totally fucking explode at the pro level.

[Balloonknot]

So wait your bitchin about a guy that 32 teams passed on in the draft.

[boohyah]

So wait your bitchin about a guy that 32 teams passed on in the draft.

There are 31 teams who missed out on Victor Cruz.

[TrashTalker92]

There is no guarantee he would have worked in another place other than Cincinatti. Burfict wanted it, and without him waiting to change, it wouldn't matter, but Marvin Lewis mentored him and I've heard that he and the coaching staff that took a hands on approach in guiding him and teaching him how to conduct himself as a professional. I have no problem with passing on him given his reputation.

 

 

I've seen Burfict played a couple of games during his college years.. the dude was a straight up beast, he was a magnet to the ball carrier. But then i see him screaming and yelling at the refs causing his team to loose couple of games and a bowl game.... he was a talent football player but couldn't control himself as a professional on the field. I really did want him but I don't know how he'll work out in the city of NY and Tom isn't the hold hands type of coach, dude expected you to be a professional right off the bat. Then again, this just my opinion. On another note, i also wanted Te'O... but Giants never had a chance in the second round.

[Sephiroth]

So wait your bitchin about a guy that 32 teams passed on in the draft.

I'm bitching that Reese completely neglected an entire position on the team so that we could draft a fourth - string DE and a third - stringer at QB.