Ok so I just got finished watching Washington vs Oregon, and before that I watched Washington vs Washington State and Washington vs Boise State. Now the story I'd been told about Joe Tryon was that he struggled early in 2019 but really ramped things up in his final 6 games. Now I had watched the Washington state game before the draft and came aware very unimpressed and couldn't believe this guy was being mocked to us in the 1st round.
I'm here to say that I just don't see it. Yeah I saw a few of those false steps Jon was talking about, but Jon really went out of his way to spin that Oregon tape into a positive. That rep he showed against Sewell was pretty much the lone rep where he did anything but get stonewalled by the him... The guy doesn't have a great off, doesn't have great flexibility and bend or speed around the edge, doesn't have great shock in his hands, he doesn't have a developed set of pass rush moves, he gets pushed around in the run game, but he doesn't shy away from contact, once every 15 or so snaps he'll "win" with hustle and effort but rarely ever wins with skill and even more rarely does he get close to the QB when he does "win" a rep with hustle and effort. He actually does look like a pretty fluid athlete dropping in to coverage.
And I don't know about you but if the best thing I can find to say about a pass rusher is that he looks like a decent athlete when he drops into coverage, there's something wrong with that. And it certainly doesn't suggest to me a guy is worthy of a first round pick.
On the other hand, as I'm watching through these snaps trying to focus on Tryon and being bored to tears, more and more I start to notice #95, Onwuzurike, wreaking havoc and getting penetration damn near every other play. This guy was winning primarily with quickness, off of nasty club rips and swim moves and would also occasionally bull rushing guards and centers into the QB's lap. Now he wasn't winning every rep but he was damn sure flashing more than Tryon was and it wasn't even close.
The only thing In my mind that could have led to Joe Tryon actually being above Onwuzurike on Lichts board is that Licht saw Tryon without a shirt and got goo goo eyes for his muscles. Then when he tested well at his pro day that sealed the deal. Because there is no way in my mind that this decision could have been made based of tape. We could have even traded down to get Onwuzurike! And with all of our interior D-lineman besides Vea being old grizzled vets, adding another young DT would have been a smart move. Not saying we didn't need more depth at edge, we did, but I don't like the one we took just because he's a pretty good athlete with nice muscles who MIGHT be pretty good in 2-3 years when we are trying to win another Super Bowl NOW!
Still have all the faith in the world that our Bucs are going to become back to back world champs, but man these 2 1st picks just don't make any sense to me.
I understand that Licht and co. just won the SB, but that doesn't mean he can no longer make any mistakes. And I think he made 2 big mistakes in this years draft... Go Bucs.
