RoverBack ~ Quenton Meeks ~ Stanford Cardinal
6010/210
Old Roles are getting dramatically transformed, and virtually every Front 7 ~ or Front 6!! ~ Defensive Job Description is transitioning into an Hybrid Role where the Defender is asked to excel in multiple Roles and in multiple Fronts.
For that reason, and in order to offer NomenClature that speaks not to archaic, obsolete "Positions", but rather to Skill Sets that accurately reflect the dynamic Changes of the 21st Century Game and the Roles they have spawned, I have undertaken to craft Terminology that is designed to break Skill Sets down as they really are.
Defensive Coordinators have, since Time Immemorial, employed highly creative terminology in devising Defenses and in designating Assignments. In that Spirit, I have admittedly indulged myself considerably in devising the following NomenClature. It is undeniably colorful, but I like to think that there's an underlying Logic, as well:
Rovers ~ RoverBack is my term for what Earthlings refer to as "Strong Safeties". I don't find the employment of "Safety" as a moniker for a Position to be nearly as demeaning as "LineBacker", mind you, but it's still a pretty lame term for a Gladiator, if you ask me. The Prototype would be somewhere around 6000/210, or thereabouts.
Rovers are of course Hybrids, in that they are tasked equally with Run Defense and Pass Defense.
When evaluating RoverBacks, this is how I break things down:
Power: Above all: Core Power. Torso Power is important, but Core Power, from the Knees to the Ribs, is absolutely crucial.
Agility: Acceleration, Ricochet, Fluidity, and Verticity ~ that's Turn & Burn Acuity, to you Earthlings!!
Processing Speed: How quickly and effectively one Reads & Reacts to the developing Play.
Tackling: Thunderous Booms are all very well, but I'm more interested in form and efficiency!!
Run Defense: Power, Agility, Combat Skills, Processing Speed, Motor, Navigating Traffic, and Tackling.
Pass Coverage: Agility, Processing Speed, and Field Vision.
CatchPoint Capacity: Tracking, Timing, Combat Skills, and WingSpan.
Broken down into SubCategories, it'd go something like this:
Power
* Core Power ~ lower body Power. Core Power trumps Torso Power. Tyrannosaurus Rex had exceptional Core Power.
* Torso Power ~ upper Body Power. Important, but not crucial. T Rex had lousy Torso Power...yet was King.
Agility
* Fluidity, above all things: Core Agility & Flexibility makes everything possible.
* Ricochet ~ How crisply and how rapidly one breaks in a new direction.
* Acceleration ~ Short Speed or Quickness. Closing Speed.
* Verticity ~ The Ability ~ or lack thereof ~ to Flips Hips and Turn & Burn in Pass Coverage.
Processing Speed
* How quickly and effectively one Reads & Reacts to the developing Play.
Tackling
* Impact
* Form
* Efficiency
Run Defense
* Power
* Agility
* Combat Skills
* Processing Speed
* Motor
* Tackling
Pass Coverage
* Agility ~ Fluidity, Ricochet, Acceleration, and Speed, baby!!
* Processing Speed ~ Reading and Reacting with Speed & Precision to Offensive Tactics.
* Field Vision ~ Processing Speed with an emphasis on the Tactical LandScape.
CatchPoint Capacity
* Tracking
* Timing
* Combat Skills
* WingSpan
* Vertical Agility
Power: 66. Projecting'm to RoverBack with a RoverBack's responsibilities, he's still pretty impressive.
Agility: 55. 33 at CornerBack, but plenty of Fluidity, Acceleration, and Speed to play Rover.
Processing Speed: 80. Excellent read and react speed and efficacy.
Tackling: 90. Strong Form, consistently, and a strong Hitter.
Run Defense: 90. 100 at CornerBack, and I'm only sliding it down to account for a more demanding role. Meeks is Quick, mentally very Quick, exhibits outstanding Combat Skills, navigating Traffic, and is extremely Aggressive.
Pass Coverage: 66. For a RoverBack's usual Foes in the Passing Game, Meeks has more than enough Agility to compete effectively, combined with tremendous Press Coverage skills. Furthermore, he's battle hardened as a Boundary Corner, and I would strongly suspect that keeping up with Tight Ends and Flex Ends would be comparatively easy.
CatchPoint Capacity: 75. Moderate Production as a Corner at Stanford, but I'm thinking that that had a lot to do with barely keeping up with faster Foes. Meeks brings an extraordinary combination of Tracking & Timing and Combat Skills to the CatchPoint battle, and impressive Hands as well. I strongly suspect that he'd blossom here as a RoverBack.
"Strong Safety", to you Earthlings!!
Ceiling? Beast!! 1st/2nd Round. Meeks has exhibited a tremendous combination of outstanding Run Defense potential, impressive Pass Coverage Potential, and excellent CatchPoint Capacity potential, as I see it. Furthermore, it is very unusual and extremely invaluable to discover such excellent Processing Speed combined with such tremendous Run Defense potential, at RoverBack, which, as I see it, has the potential to become an increasingly crucial hybrid role, notwithstanding the dramatic Bear Market in RoverBacks and CenterFielders during this Year's Free Agency.
Floor? UFA, if they deploy'm at CornerBack, but as a RoverBack ~ a hypothetical scenario, mind you? Contender. 4th/5th Round. There was a dramatic Bear Market in RoverBacks, this year, and I strongly suspect that they might be getting phased out in many Defenses by Gryphons, the larger MidFielder/Rover Hybrid role that's been emerging!!
Risk/Reward Ratio? If he ends up on a Team that has a starting Rover in its Scheme ~ and I always write these with such theoretically optimal conditions in mind ~ excellent. Meeks boasts Intelligence and Drive in spades, and, should he ultimately end up on the right Team, I think his chances of becoming All He Can Be are damned good.
Thank you so very much, Draft BreakDown, without whom my Work would be virtually impossible.
Market Value UFA!! | Yankee Grade 2nd Round!! |
Please also note, Fellow FootBall Fiends: These CyberScouting Reports are not intended as predictions of success or failure, but as assessments ~ ludicrously amateurish assessments ~ of potential success. FootBall is a rough and often unfair business, and many a worthy Prospect has fallen far short of his potential, sometimes not because of his own failings, but because of those of coaching, scheme, timing...or because huge investments were made on other Prospects.
In other words: If any of my Super Dooper Deeper Sleepers ever fail to fulfill their vast potential, I’m confident that it goes without saying that it wasn’t their fault…or mine!!...Yes, I think that I'm being funny.
In other words: Caveat Emptor, Fellow FootBall Fiends!!
Enter at your own risk!!