Tweet
Forked from: BillsZone Mock Draft: Who should Bills select in third round?
Yes. I have seen Daryn Colledge play at least half a dozen games on TV--I really liked the offense that Coach Hawkins ran at Boise St. and think their blue turf is really funky!
The first time I really noticed Colledge was when Boise St. played Fresno St. in 2004 when the announcers mentioned that being favorably compared to Fresno's Logan Mankins (who started last season as a rookie for the Pats). I knew Mankins was good, so I tried to pay attention to Colledge after they said that and I was impressed. Colledge looked like he was slightly larger and more athletic than Mankins. Not only was he very effective as a pass blocker, but he made a tremendous block on a short-yardage goal-line play that really caught my eye because he took out two defenders in opening the hole for his RB to score. After that, I decided to keep an eye out for Colledge in future Boise St. games.
He was absolutely dominant as a pass-blocker against Hawaii in 2004 and Nevada and Fresno St. in 2005. He did a really good job against Elvis Dumerville and a very good Louisville team in their bowl game in 2004 after struggling a little at the outset (I believe he gave up a 1st quarter sack), especially during Boise State's big comeback. He made some huge blocks during that game. Colledge followed up that effort by shutting out a healthy Mattias Kiawanuka of BC, not giving up a sack against BC in 43 passing attempts in Boise State's bowl game loss this season.
After the Louisville game, I thought that Colledge had the potential to be a pretty good "sleeper" in this year's draft. After seeing him play this season, especially against BC, I thought that he would be a solid late second or third round pick. Then came the Senior Bowl.
Colledge was solid in the brief clips of the workouts prior to the game that I saw him in--but I must admit that that only was a couple of plays and it was hard to judge much from those. The reports were that he did well in the practices, but those were just reports. What really captured my interest and convinced me that he is going to be a player that I would like to see in a Bills uniform was his play during the game.
Knowing that the Bills could use a OLT, I concentrated on the play of the left tackles during that game. In my estimation (and I said this in a post here immediately after the Senior Bowl), Colledge was the second best OLT in that game after D.Ferguson. Going up against Lawson and Mario Williams, Colledge did allow one sack for a short loss on a rollout to the right when the receiver was covered and there was no room for the QB to step up to avoid the pursuit. But, that was the only time that his man came close to the QB on the passing plays that he was in for--and he played most of the second half because J.Trueblood was ejected during that game. Where Colledge was even more impressive was on running plays where he made the key block to spring three long gains and on several occasions not only made good blocks on a defensive lineman, but followed that up with solid blocks on either a linebacker or a safety--and, I'm not talking about "brush-blocks", but solid hits. On a couple of running plays, including one that would have resulted in a TD if the RB had not fumbled, Colledge actually made three blocks: kocking the DE to the outside away from the runner, then, hitting a pursuing LB, and, then, making a block on a safety downfield. And, this against top-level competition.
Now, that's not to say that Colledge doesn't have some weaknesses in his game that he really needs to work on to be a top-flight player on the pro level because he does. He's not very graceful: he gets to his man and doesn't give up, but he's not always in the best position or on balance--he needs to improve his footwork to improve on this or the faster, smoother, stronger players on the NFL level will take advantage of this to get by him and will have the speed to get to the QB or RB that much sooner. He doesn't have the longest arms, like Ferguson or McNeill, and will have to rely more on technique, footwork and tenacity rather than his physical ability to get the job done: that means that he has less margin for error than more physically gifted players and may take a bit longer to develop as a pro because it simply takes longer to refine technique and footwork and he doesn't have the same margin for error that other guys may have.
But, what Colledge does have--what he demonstrated in all of the games that I saw him play--that will help him to overcome those weaknesses in his game is tenacity and drive. When I saw him, if he was able to get into a player, that was it, he didn't let go unless he wanted to in order to make another block. Even if he was beaten, he wouldn't give up on the block: he might be off-balance or a little out of position and would still do whatever he could to get even just a part of himself between his man and the QB or RB. That tells me that he has the determination necessary to keep working to make himself better. And, he has a real mean-streak to his game: you can see that he doesn't just knock people down, he likes knocking them down and, when he can, burying them (in the Senior Bowl he was all alone in space with the DE and kept pushing him all the way to the sideline until he pancaked him on the wide side of the field on a running play).
I don't think he is ready to step in and play right away in the NFL, but I do think that, with a little seasoning to work on his technique and footwork, he is someone who will be a player and a starter in the NFL for a lot of years. I think he could play OLT in the NFL--I think he is a LOT better than J.Fabini was at this stage--but, now that I've heard the Bills and others talk about him as possibly being an offensive guard and thought about that, I think that he could potentially be a terrific offensive guard.
Originally posted by eyedog
The first time I really noticed Colledge was when Boise St. played Fresno St. in 2004 when the announcers mentioned that being favorably compared to Fresno's Logan Mankins (who started last season as a rookie for the Pats). I knew Mankins was good, so I tried to pay attention to Colledge after they said that and I was impressed. Colledge looked like he was slightly larger and more athletic than Mankins. Not only was he very effective as a pass blocker, but he made a tremendous block on a short-yardage goal-line play that really caught my eye because he took out two defenders in opening the hole for his RB to score. After that, I decided to keep an eye out for Colledge in future Boise St. games.
He was absolutely dominant as a pass-blocker against Hawaii in 2004 and Nevada and Fresno St. in 2005. He did a really good job against Elvis Dumerville and a very good Louisville team in their bowl game in 2004 after struggling a little at the outset (I believe he gave up a 1st quarter sack), especially during Boise State's big comeback. He made some huge blocks during that game. Colledge followed up that effort by shutting out a healthy Mattias Kiawanuka of BC, not giving up a sack against BC in 43 passing attempts in Boise State's bowl game loss this season.
After the Louisville game, I thought that Colledge had the potential to be a pretty good "sleeper" in this year's draft. After seeing him play this season, especially against BC, I thought that he would be a solid late second or third round pick. Then came the Senior Bowl.
Colledge was solid in the brief clips of the workouts prior to the game that I saw him in--but I must admit that that only was a couple of plays and it was hard to judge much from those. The reports were that he did well in the practices, but those were just reports. What really captured my interest and convinced me that he is going to be a player that I would like to see in a Bills uniform was his play during the game.
Knowing that the Bills could use a OLT, I concentrated on the play of the left tackles during that game. In my estimation (and I said this in a post here immediately after the Senior Bowl), Colledge was the second best OLT in that game after D.Ferguson. Going up against Lawson and Mario Williams, Colledge did allow one sack for a short loss on a rollout to the right when the receiver was covered and there was no room for the QB to step up to avoid the pursuit. But, that was the only time that his man came close to the QB on the passing plays that he was in for--and he played most of the second half because J.Trueblood was ejected during that game. Where Colledge was even more impressive was on running plays where he made the key block to spring three long gains and on several occasions not only made good blocks on a defensive lineman, but followed that up with solid blocks on either a linebacker or a safety--and, I'm not talking about "brush-blocks", but solid hits. On a couple of running plays, including one that would have resulted in a TD if the RB had not fumbled, Colledge actually made three blocks: kocking the DE to the outside away from the runner, then, hitting a pursuing LB, and, then, making a block on a safety downfield. And, this against top-level competition.
Now, that's not to say that Colledge doesn't have some weaknesses in his game that he really needs to work on to be a top-flight player on the pro level because he does. He's not very graceful: he gets to his man and doesn't give up, but he's not always in the best position or on balance--he needs to improve his footwork to improve on this or the faster, smoother, stronger players on the NFL level will take advantage of this to get by him and will have the speed to get to the QB or RB that much sooner. He doesn't have the longest arms, like Ferguson or McNeill, and will have to rely more on technique, footwork and tenacity rather than his physical ability to get the job done: that means that he has less margin for error than more physically gifted players and may take a bit longer to develop as a pro because it simply takes longer to refine technique and footwork and he doesn't have the same margin for error that other guys may have.
But, what Colledge does have--what he demonstrated in all of the games that I saw him play--that will help him to overcome those weaknesses in his game is tenacity and drive. When I saw him, if he was able to get into a player, that was it, he didn't let go unless he wanted to in order to make another block. Even if he was beaten, he wouldn't give up on the block: he might be off-balance or a little out of position and would still do whatever he could to get even just a part of himself between his man and the QB or RB. That tells me that he has the determination necessary to keep working to make himself better. And, he has a real mean-streak to his game: you can see that he doesn't just knock people down, he likes knocking them down and, when he can, burying them (in the Senior Bowl he was all alone in space with the DE and kept pushing him all the way to the sideline until he pancaked him on the wide side of the field on a running play).
I don't think he is ready to step in and play right away in the NFL, but I do think that, with a little seasoning to work on his technique and footwork, he is someone who will be a player and a starter in the NFL for a lot of years. I think he could play OLT in the NFL--I think he is a LOT better than J.Fabini was at this stage--but, now that I've heard the Bills and others talk about him as possibly being an offensive guard and thought about that, I think that he could potentially be a terrific offensive guard.
Comment