saintz08

Saints | Looking At Poole - from www.KFFL.com
Tue, 23 Mar 2004 11:35:41 -0800

Brian Allee-Walsh, of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, reports New Orleans Saints officials, including head coach Jim Haslett, are traveling to Los Angeles on Tuesday, March 23, to attend USC CB Will Poole's pro day.

Will Poole CB USC

Strengths
Will is the new size CB that the NFL now needs to go up against the pro WR’s. He is fast and strong. He is a fighter and uses his body to slow up the WR’s. New cover techniques are needed and Will is learning them fast. Will is a good tackler and has good hands to intercept the ball. Will had seven interceptions in his senior year.



Needs to Improve
Will is a little stiff in the hips. His long legs make it hard to change direction. Will has to learn that in the pros, you can only bump for five yards, not all over the field like the college game allows.



Bottom Line
Every time I see Will play, he gets better and better. With his size and the improvement that I have seen on film, you can bet the scouts will look hard at Will. In fact, he could sneak into the first round. He has pretty good speed, but he is not as quick as most corners in the NFL. Without the quickness, the scouts may not feel that Will is an every down CB. That’s the big question -- his quickness. His quickness, or lack of quickness, will dictate if he is a 1st or 2nd rounder. I think the standards for a CB are changing very quickly in the NFL. Every team needs at least one corner that can handle a big receiver in the red zone. This type of corner is not going to be as quick as the smaller ones. This type of corner needs to be physical and have good straight-line speed. He does not have to change direction quickly because those big, long-legged receivers cannot make their cuts as fast. This is what makes a physical strong, tall, good speed corner so valuable in the NFL today. Five or six years ago, Will is a fourth rounder that you would move to safety as a project. Today, he is exactly what teams are looking for…a big, tall, strong corner to cover a 6’5�-220 lbs-4.50 speed wide receiver that is out-muscling our ‘5'9"-185 lbs-4.40 speed with great quickness and change of direction’ pro bowl corner. (That's a mouthful.) I am going to guess that Will goes in the 2nd round, but he’s another player that could sneak into the latter part of the first round.



[Edited on 23/3/2004 by saintz08]

rAge

Hopefully we are looking at him for the 2nd round, or as someone to target in a trade-down in case Vilma is gone. I can\'t imagine taking him at 18.