Film Room: Leodis McKelvin Highlights
Posted on April 1st, 2008 by Bassett
Over the course of the next few weeks, we are going to try and run highlights most every day of college players that you might or might not be familiar with, but could be names you will be hearing more as the Draft approaches. Today’s installment: CB Leodis McKelvin of Troy State.
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wow he is a great punt returner….i would be very happy with him or gholston….i really dont want mcfadden i think he is overhyped and i think its more important considering we have leon and TJ and then chatham to back them up to draft for the defense in the first round then a wr in the second
god, he looks small. sure he’s 5′11″?
He might be a good punt returner but we have plenty of those in our arsenal. I’m not all sold on his coverage skills. The INTs came from deflections from other players or desperate heaves. I dont think we can waste our first rd pick on this dude(6th or later).
Don’t know if anyone has seen this, but Todd McShay has a new mock in which he has the Jets taking Gholston at six and says “recent workout times have sent his draft stock soaring, and I hear from reliable sources that the organization is infatuated with him”.
http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/draft08/insider/columns/story?columnist=mcshay_todd&page=mcshaymock0401&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fnfl%2fdraft08%2finsider%2fcolumns%2fstory%3fcolumnist%3dmcshay_todd%26page%3dmcshaymock0401
Then he has the Jets taking Jonathan Stewart with the 36th pick and it makes me somewhat certain that he’s full of it.
Wow, I’m actually *less* impressed with him after watching his “highlight” tape. As jet4lif mentioned, his coverage was pretty mediocre on those INT’s / fumbles – he took some gambles and they paid off, but he won’t get away with that in the pros. I didn’t see an ability to play press coverage, which is critical in our system. Even the punt returns just seemed like him having better speed than the competition he faced at Troy.
Man, if this is one of our alternatives at #6, I’m praying for Al Davis or Herm to do something stupid and let a top-5 guy drop to us.
He looks like a very good talent but, for the Jets to take him at six, would be a big mistake. I have a laundry list of players to take ahead of him.
Ilan – yeah why would we take a 2nd round RB? I can barely deal with the DMC talk with no pash rush to speak of. The Jets will will draft a WR with that 2nd pick. If not depth on the offensive line, CB, DE are all more pressing needs than RB.
pound4pound – couldn’t agree with you more after watching those highlights. For all of the Jets good work in setting themselves up to take the best available player, I think we should start crossing our fingers right now that Ryan goes in the top 5 so Ghoulston is there for us. If this guy is the best CB and neither Dorsey or Ellis are worth drafting at DE we’ve got some serious sweating to do on Ghoulston.
Why isn’t Justin Miller being counted on as the 2nd CB, he had a great camp last year before the injury? I don’t think there is a chance in the world we draft a CB in the 1st round. I think they’d sooner take “less than the chart” value to trade down to avoid bigger than Revis money on a lesser prospect at the same position.
Didn’t we all laugh and blast Miami for taking a punt returner at #9 last year? Punt returners are a dime a dozen. The draft muncher has us taking a TE in the second…He guys!!! “We want Sapp!!!, We want Sapp!!!, We want Sapp!!!” sure a TE… Should be fun to watch!?!
Rodgers-Cromartie is better. He reads the QB better, puts himself in better position to make plays and he has a nose for the ball. I watched a few highlight reels on You Tube (that Bassett will likely be posting soon, so I won’t do it here), including the Senior Bowl, and the man can hit. He’s a little stiff when he runs, but he runs with power. If we draft a CB at #6, I’d rather have Rodgers-Cromartie than McKelvin.
F24 – Miller may have had a good preseason last year but he was downright awful against the Pats when it counted. My lasting memory of last year is Miller apparently being fooled by the snap of the ball (!) and then falling over his own feet while trying to cover the slot receiver.
SJF – I like DRC too, but maybe he is better at reading QBs because he plays against lower level opposition where the QBs are easier to read. Mind you, Tennessee State are probably not that much smaller than Troy – and I guess he did have two picks against draft prospects in the senior bowl. Scratch that thought!
I agree with you guys who were unimpressed. This showed me nothing of his coverage and tackling skills. I don’t know what Pat Kirwan sees in this guy. I can’t believe that someone chose to show him off as a punt returner and outfielder. This surely doesn’t raise his stock IMO. I also agree that Rodgers-Cromartie looks like the better pick.
He is ranked higher on all the experts draft boards over DRC, Aqip Talib, Jenkins, Cason, etc. He has the ability to shut down the opposing team’s WR. Look at what he did against Calvin Johnson in 2006. 2 catches for 9 yards nothing else! He shut down the best WR prospect in the country that year!! I wish he had better hands but whatever as long as he can keep the WR from catching the ball that’s awesome.
And for whoever said we don’t need a Punt returner. What? We have 2 excellent Kick returners who aren’t great at punt returning. So McKelvin would take that job right away if given the opportunity. I think his punt returning ability is a plus and not the reason we take him, but if Long and Gholston are off the board I don’t see a problem pulling the trigger for the best man-to-man cover corner in the draft.
Vbsiena24, McKelvin didn’t actually shut down Calvin Johnson – CJ suffered a leg injury on a hit from Troy’s safety in the 2nd quarter and didn’t have another catch after that. I’m also not sure whether McKelvin had primary responsibility for CJ in the first place.
Maybe Leodis is the second coming of Deion Sanders, but there wasn’t anything in this highlight tape that showed that kind of game. Also, here’s what Scouts Inc says are his major strengths and weaknesses. He sounds like more of an athlete (or a slot cover man) than a complete football player, and that just doesn’t seem to mesh with the prototypical Mangini player.
Strengths: Is a fluid, smooth and explosive athlete. Displays very quick feet and leverage in-and-out of pedal. Shows good technique and footwork in coverage. Explodes out of his pedal and typically gets a very good jump on the ball. He displays outstanding quick-twitch athleticism and change-of-direction skills. One of his three touchdown returns in 2007 came versus Big 12 opponent Oklahoma State.
Weaknesses: Is a finesse cover corner. Does not like to support the run and will avoid contact if at all possible. Plays a lot of man-off coverage and needs to improve his ability to press WR’s at the line of scrimmage. Bigger WR’s usually can dictate their routes. Despite outstanding experience in the return game, he displays marginal ball skills. Really needs to improve his hands in order to reach full potential on defense and in the return game in the NFL.
Demario Minter and Paul Oliver of Georgia both shut down CJ too. Heard of either of them? Thought not. It was largely down to Reggie Ball’s inability to get him the ball rather than an impressive feather in the cap of the CBs.
Eric Weddle did a decent job on him too and he isn’t even an NFL cornerback (he plays safety for SD).
McKelvin is pretty good though, it’s just an awful highlight reel. However, in both the Troy games I saw this year, his side was barely thrown to, so I would have struggled to put together a highlight reel too. He did make some plays as a returner though, so it would have ended up similar to this.
Revis is a solid PR, but the FO wouldn’t risk him back there, so why would they for the sixth pick, who would be earning more money?
I am one who believes that production trumps workout numbers every time. I actually go to the trouble of comparing players’ pre and post combine rankings.
I don’t want to pick with a #1 pick any player whose ranking drops or increases by more than five points or whose rating amongst his peers goes up or down 15. Drops indicate the skill set is not commensurate with performance; increases indicate folks are forgetting what the player failed to do with his skills in college.
McKelvin’s rating has increased by five points and his ranking has jumped 26 places. Stay away.
BTW, with this system, CBs who skill sets match their performance seem to be: Mike Jenkins (who should be a mid first round selection around 15) and then Aqib Talib who should be a late first rounder (26).
Harlan
That’s a sensible approach, but draft experts have become better at projecting combine results, so some of the better known guys who are good athletes already have an assumed solid combine display factored into their draft projection. Classic example is Gholston, whose stock hasn’t moved much despite posting great numbers, because they were no better than we all expected anyway.
McKelvin (from Troy State) is not among the better known…
Is there anyone at a position in the top five in this draft that we cant find 5-15? I dont like picking at six for this reason and I didnt really like the season it took to get there either. Move out of the pick!