We need to buy-in to some (legitimate) hope for the next year. So lets try. So here is my best positive spin on this pick.
1) The kid is athletically top tier.
2) The kid has top tier range.
3) The kid is extremely physical and (WAY MORE THAN) willing to stick his nose in there.
4) The kid is good in man coverage.
Where does he struggle?
5) Eye discipline (he bites on double moves and route combos where he'll vacate responsibility because he sees something and gets sucked in).
6) Pursuit discipline and tackling technique.
He's basically a more physical (at least Evans WANTS to be physical even if both of them are just awful tackling in the open field and in run support), but less gifted playmaking Malik Hooker. Although it is EXTREMELY hard to break down and re-educate these physical and mental processing fundamentals this late in the game, there is a chance that 5 and 6 can be trained/coached out of him. If they can be, then we have ourselves a very solid player.
I'm going to hold out hope that his 5 and 6 can be re-wired (until he gives me a good NFL body of work that proves that hope futile).
