The Redskins Portal - ESPN 980

The Senior Bowl is now all about the carnage left behind. Three full days of practices and a day of walk-throughs in a ballroom (weather related) plus a game that was played with a choppy (at best) flow - leaves me wanting more, thirsting for more information and evaluation.

It is extremely early in the process, and by no means  - is one week a complete judge or even fair. The game tapes over the course of a year or a career, will help determine that. However, I do believe the Senior Bowl provides a great showcase and a glimpse into what you can expect on the next level.

I fully understand that anybody could look bad or good in a few practices or in a game, and of course -- the Senior Bowl does not attract every top end player that is draft eligible, but compared to the combine - it is real football, with pads on. The combine is great for measurables, the Senior Bowl (and to some degree the other college all-star games) is less about spandex and more about seeing how you are likely to respond to adversity. It's a very strong evaluation tool.

We will have our "Five the Redskins Should Take" later this week - but here is our 2011 version based on last year's Senior Bowl, in which we nailed both Ryan Kerrigan and Leonard Hankerson http://www.espn980.com/blogs/chris.php?action=blog&post_id=1779.

For now, we'll  take a look at "Five the Redskins Should Avoid" -- or in other words, five players that had poor, inconsistent weeks based on what I saw during NFL Network's coverage of the Senior Bowl practices and during their game broadcast, and also by talking to some experts.

1. CB - Janoris Jenkins - North Alabama

Perhaps the most disappointing player that had high expectations coming into the week. In the actual game, Jenkins was beat for a touchdown by Russell Wilson on Wisconsin and Marvin Jones of California. All week long, Jenkins 'sat' or 'squatted' on routes and in this case - Wilson rolled to his right to try and get a good throwing lane and was able to get the throw around the out-stretched hands of Courtney Upshaw to Jones who ran a modified corner route.

NFL Network/NBC Sports NFL Analyst Mike Mayock (who has become a superstar in the last 5-6 years) said this of Jenkins - who repeatedly got torched in 1-on-1's and on Saturday;  "Jenkins, bit on intermediate stuff all this week" right after the corner bit up on a play that should have resulted in another touchdown.  WR Gerell Robinson ran right past Jenkins on a sideline go-route, and was WIDE OPEN, but Michigan State's Kirk Cousins mis-fired and led Robinson to his back shoulder and high/wide for an incompletion. Jenkins was locked in on Cousins, who just missed it. I will break down the QB's later, but it was just an inexcusable failure to make the play.  Jenkins was badly beaten on the play.

During practices, Jenkins according to my notes -- was run past easily by the electric Florida RB/WR Chris Rainey - who is a 4.3 speed guy, but clearly still has to learn how run routes. Jenkins was then run past by North Carolina's Dwight Jones in a 1-on-1 period. Jones was slow in his route, and then accelerated and blew right past Jenkins. I didn't notice Dwight Jones (Marvin Jones stood-out) do much of anything else the entire week, so that goes down as alarming in my book.  The worst example of Jenkins' struggles during the week was Texas A & M WR Jeff Fuller blowing past Jenkins as he was looking for a 'stem' route, as Fuller gave a jab step to the outside, planted and ran a skinny post. Again, Jenkins was squatting on the route.

In talking to a Redskins coach on Monday, he felt Jenkins was just over-confident and did not think the receiver talent could blow past him. The coach raised the specific play by Fuller as an example, and feels it could be corrected with proper technique and coaching - but the entire week was a very big concern for me or any team. Not to mention, Jenkins got kicked out of  Florida, because of off-field (repeated marijuana incidents)  issues. Not exactly what I want to see out of a guy who considers himself the "best cornerback" in the draft.

The most shocking development of Senior Bowl week is quite a few scouting types had high grades on Jenkins DURING this week, like this one - according to the Jacksonville.com & the Florida Times-Union:  “He’s very athletic, explosive,” Jaguars director of player personnel Terry McDonough said after watching him at Senior Bowl practices this week. “You look at his lower body, he’s very explosive in his lower body; he’s not a small guy by any means. He’s been covering these guys all week; he’s stood out. He’s a first-round pick.”

Who am I to question a scout -- but I have to think that this particular evaluator will see things a little differently when he plugs in the coaches tape. If I can see all of these issues, and Mayock saw what he saw -- the only thing I can chalk it up too - is McDonough was watching other players a little closer.

Allen Wilson of Scout.com says of Jenkins, Janoris "has recovery speed, is instinctive and grades out as a strong tackler. He bites on fakes and is a bit overaggressive, but his penchant for gambling can be curbed through coaching. He looks like a potential first-round draft pick. Off-field issues triggered Jenkins' exit from the University of Florida."

2. OT - Mike Adams - Ohio State

Another highly touted prospect who had moments of brilliance and other moments where I was left wondering if he was a sure-fire first round pick and quite honestly, that's being nice. Adams' Senior Bowl week in 2012 reminded me of what Nate Solder did or didn't do in 2011. Both struggled at times, especially in the 1-on-1 drills, but both are tall, relatively slender offensive tackles -- and Solder was drafted No. 18 overall and will participate in the Super Bowl this Sunday for the New England Patriots (4 PM, ESPN 980).

In Saturday's all-star game, Adams showed a nasty, but undisciplined streak on the very first series of the game. After one play, he came in late to the pile from behind, and shoved a defender into the pile of players for no reason. Adams was very fortunate to get away without a personal foul call. A few plays later, Adams had a 'X-criss-cross' kick-out block with the tight end, and got into a pushing and mauling match with the opposing defensive end after the whistle. Adams finished off the engagement by shoving his opponent down after the whistle, but again did not get whistled.

Adams played a very good first half, although his series were limited by my count to only three - as the North squad rotated left-tackles. The 2nd half was a slightly different story as Adams yielded a coverage sack, on another kick-out blocking situation. Adams showed his obvious athleticism by switching out to block Alabama's Upshaw, and Adams walled him off initially to give Wilson a nice horseshoe bracket pocket. Wilson never got rid of the football or made an attempt to pass the ball -- and took a sack as Upshaw kept pushing through Adams.

It wasn't really Adams that could directly be blamed, BUT - he still did ultimately give up the sack.  Looking back at my practice notes - I was disappointed by what I was able to gather from the North team practices from Monday through Wednesday. On Monday, Adams got beat in 1-on-1 drills by Marshall's Vinny Curry, who gave him an initial hand thrust and then dipped underneath Adams, who was beat so bad -- that he wound up holding Curry. On Tuesday, Adams was working at right tackle, and on one rush - got out of his stance awkwardly, he pushed his counterpart (Jack Crawford from Penn State) instead of punching or jabbing, and got run around fairly easily.

On Wednesday, once again - Curry beat Adams, who was  working on the right side again. Adams seemed more comfortable certainly on the left side, where he working during the actual game - and during Wednesday's practice session he did a pretty decent job against Virginia's Cam Johnson, who flashed all week.

Wes Bunting (@WesBunting)  of National Football Post  wrote this during last week's practices: "Mike Adams has a real presence about him. He’s a big kid with a long set of arms and when he shoots his hands inside on contact, he has the ability to control blocks and slide his feet through the play. However, the only time he gets himself into trouble is when he doesn’t extend his arms and looks to catch opposing lineman at the point. Nevertheless, the talent is there for this guy to be a top-20 pick.  

Chris Steuber (@ChrisSteuber / www.chrissteuber.com), an NFL Draft Analyst, who has worked for Scout.com/FOX and NFLDraftScout.com/CBS, along with currently serving as the Director of Player Personnel for the Georgia Force told me via twitter direct,  "He plays a bit high, but he's 6-7, so he will have to adjust. I thought he did OK during the week; was really good in the game.  He cheats with his kick slide against speed rushers; can be over aggressive & susceptible to inside spin move. Talented. Late 1st, early 2nd RD.

3. WR - Jeff Fuller - Texas A & M

The guy was very stiff all week long, except when he blew past Janoris Jenkins in 1-on-1's (see above for more), but maybe it was because he did not have his quarterback, Ryan Tannehill (broken foot), to be on the same page with.

4. QB - Kellen Moore - Boise State

We know the guy is a winner, and played well along with his Boise teammates in games against BCS competition. Nobody doubts his willingness to succeed. Mike Mayock consistently talked about Moore being a great anticipation thrower.  You can absolutely see that, time and time again.

Moore made two great potential touchdown throws that were dropped by his targets in the actual game, and certainly you could not have thrown the ball any better -- BUT -- just about everything else worries the heck out of ya.

His arm strength or lack of it - is very concerning, especially if you play in windy conditions or have any semblance of an offense that takes shots down the field (every one of them). According to my practice notes, Moore was un-natural on a rollout with a  play action fake, that he awkwardly delivered an incomplete pass on. On Tuesday, during the team period (11 v 11) he threw a ball way behind his target on a quick inside slant. Another play, he got a bad snap - which completely threw the timing of the play off - but Moore recovered the bad snap and made a terrible throw for an incompletion. Several other throws I noted were way off target, and inaccurate.

It seemed like more than arm strength, accuracy was a major issue on the underneath throws.

5. CB Alfonzo Dennard -  Nebraska  (5-10, 205)

He was not 100% which I suppose is a good thing - because Dennard was up and down in the practices that he participated in. He did not play in the game because of the injury.

This was Wes Bunting's take early last week on Dennard: "I came away unimpressed with Nebraska CB Alfonzo Dennard. He’s a compact kid who displays some natural click and close ability. However, he allows his cushion to be eaten up far too much in his drop and lacks much of a burst/second gear when asked to turn and run. He’s a guy who opposing receivers were able to routinely outpace today as he didn’t demonstrate the type of speed needed to run out of his transition vertically."

My practice notes on Dennard showed that he  squatted on a Marvin McNutt route who blew past him and was late on overthrow.  He was stiff again, but showed a little  feistiness on a  break up pass intended for California WR Marvin Jones. Jones, actually dropped the  pass, but Dennard was closing. 

Dennard showed a little tighter coverage, and looked better,  more comfortable as the week ramped up; but still got beat by Marvin Jones over the shoulder in 1's. He was also beat by McNutt again as he was playing with plenty of cushion in his coverage. McNutt gave Dennard a stutter shake to inside.

Dennard did do some things right. He did a great job in coverage on an  inside cut break up in tight press coverage. He showed excellent recognition and made a great break up on a slight underthrow by Russell Wilson - on a  50 yard in-air bomb, after initially getting beat on the route. It was a good recovery, but helped that the ball was underthrown.

Chris Russell // RussellC@Redskins.com // www.twitter.com/russellmania980 // www.facebook.com (Chris Russell or ESPN 980)