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Alfred Fincher
Position: Inside Linebacker
College: Connecticut
Height: 6-1
Weight: 241
Hometown: Norwood, Mass.

Analysis | Injury Report | Agility | High School | Personal

OVERVIEW

Fincher was a three-time letter-winner at Norwood (Mass.) High, where he played under Doug Flutie's prep coach, Tom Lamb, and earned All-Bay State League honors as a senior. He was also a member of the Boston Globe and Boston Herald All-Scholastic teams, and also the Gridiron Club of Massachusetts gave him all-state honors.

Fincher was not highly recruited and joined Connecticut as a reserve in 2001, recording 10 tackles in mostly special-teams action. He took over the middle-linebacker slot as a sophomore, ranking third on the team with 91 tackles (53 solo), including 1½ sacks, nine stops for losses, an interception and two fumble recoveries. He started every game in the middle in 2003, posting 113 tackles (67 solo) with 10 stops behind the line of scrimmage, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and an interception, earning All-Independent honors.

He capped off his career by garnering All-Big East Conference first-team accolades in 2004. He led the team with 140 tackles (56 solo), ranking fifth in the nation with an average of 11.91 hits per game. His five forced fumbles ranked second in the country to Texas' Derrick Johnson (six). He also had an interception and deflected seven passes.

Only John Dorsey (184 in 1983, 154 in 1982, 144 in 1981), Don Thompson (154 in 1974) and Vernon Hargreaves (149 in 1982) had more tackles in a season at UConn -- all compiled during the school's Division I-AA tenure.

In 47 games as a Husky, Fincher started 35 games. He recorded 355 tackles (183 solo) with five sacks for minus-34 yards and 33½ stops for losses of 110 yards. His 354 tackles rank fifth in school history and his 33½ stops for losses rank fourth. He also recovered five fumbles, caused six others, intercepted three passes for 61 return yards and deflected 12 balls.

ANALYSIS

While Fincher seems to have "flown under the radar" during his first three years at Connecticut, scouts took notice of his ability in 2004. This is an athlete with excellent body control and hand usage. He uses his compact frame with force and is very active with his hands to stun and jolt. He sees the ball immediately and gets to the point of attack with good urgency.

Fincher has fluid hips and a smooth running motion to squeeze through trash and make negative-yardage tackles in the backfield. He has very good field vision, quickly making reads and reacting to the play. Fincher has the ability to distinguish between running and passing plays quickly and has the ability to sift through traffic to make the tackle.

Fincher is very effective making plays on the move and has enough short-area burst to reach and explode into ball carriers on the corner. He gets good depth in his pass drops and can mirror and re-route tight ends in the short area, but does not have the sustained speed to stay with receivers on deep routes. His lateral range makes him appear faster than his timed speed. He has a good flow to the ball and displays the ability to squeeze through tight quarters and sift through trash to make the play.

Fincher shows good zone awareness and can cover runners coming out of the backfield. He is a good take-on type who is very physical around the ball. He does a very good job of protecting his feet against cut blocks and can separate from offensive linemen with his hand punch. He is not used much as a pass rusher, but has good acceleration to collapse the pocket. He will generally stay low in his pads, and even when he gets high in his stance, he rarely struggles to disengage. His strong hand usage upon contact allows him to stun, jolt and stack at the point of attack.

His tackling skills and lateral agility make him a very interesting prospect. While some teams project him as a mid-rounder, there are very few middle linebackers in this draft with his upside. He has very good body control in the open and excellent hip snap to explode into ball carriers. His quickness to the edge lets him force the action back inside and he shows good awareness, handling the switch-off in zone coverage. In a 3-4 defense, he could be just as effective as Pittsburgh's Kendrell Bell or Baltimore's Ed Hartwell, two players that quietly go about their job but make the players around them look better.

INJURY REPORT

No injuries reported.

AGILITY

4.76 in the 40-yard dash … 400-pound bench press … 545-pound squat … 329-pound power clean … 32-inch vertical jump … 9-foot-11 broad jump … 32 3/8-inch arm length … 9¾-inch

FireVenturi

400 lbs bench.....what a girl

blake6900

I like this pick. This guy\'s a stud. We needed a run stopping LB and we\'ve got one. He may not be a flashy pass rusher like Blackstock but a defense has to start by stopping the run. Now we can.

TheDeuce

OK, I\'m going to do this in a civilized way. Perhaps I made a judgment about this kid too soon. I\'ll admit it, I was probably wrong about his ability. But I still think Blackstock could have helped us. Anyways, you said \"a defense has to start by stopping the run. Now we can.\" You think that the addition of this one guy is going to solve all of our run defense problems? I don\'t know. Anyways, I guess I\'m just so angry about our 2nd round pick that everything else that happened with this team seemed to be so much worse than it really is. I\'ll give this Fincher kid a \"good pick\" in my book. Let\'s hope he can really develop and we can all enjoy his \"upside.\"

papz

You are too quick to pass judgement. Bullocks will be a very good player for us. He is my favorite pick out of the three so far. Look under the other thread in which I posted about us drafting him... very solid pick.

TheDeuce

Papz

Hey man I hear ya. I think this kid could be a good safety, I like his speed a lot. I just can\'t justify passing on the other LBs to take him. That\'s all I\'m saying.

papz

I see your frustration, but there is nothing to be frustrated a lot. Look at all those linebackers and where they dropped to. There is a reason why they dropped and why even championship teams would pass on them and select their no namers. Lots of these players are overhyped.

TheDeuce

Well Burnett didn\'t drop at all. I think we should have nabbed him. I can understand about Blackstock tho. Whatever, I love this team, I just don\'t want to be disappointed again.

nola_swammi

I would\'ve prefer Corey Webster instead of this guy. I am not saying he want be a good player but we just pick up FA Dwight Smith. We also still have Mitchell. I would say this pick should be a lb but I am satisfied w/Fincher. Corey Webster would\'ve been the logical pick since we are using Fred Thomas as trade bait. We have 3 corners for sure, it wouldn\'t hurt to have another one to challenge the Brown & Craft

ScottyRo

I may be wrong but...

The Saints signed D. Smith, who had proclaimed that he wanted to play CB. However, he was announced as FS for NO. Now, We\'ve drafted a FS. Anyone else think that may have all been deception and that we are likely to move Smith to CB and start the rook as long as both do well? I do.

Here\'s another...

Saints sign FA Mayberry (RG) and proclaim him the new RT. Then we draft a RT. Sounds like more pre-draft deception to me.

I said in a thread a week or so ago that i don\'t trust a thing out of Haz or Loomis\' mouths before the draft and I think these moves are proof positive of why.