Reaction to Draft: exceeds, meets, or meh

[MTK]

Originally Posted by warriorzpath

... a lot of these draft picks and UDFAs will replace several underperformers and players who were just completely overwhelmed on the NFL level last season. And just a thought - Orakpo, you can learn a lot from Trent Murphy on "proving" yourself and not being complacent.

Rak hasn't proved himself?

[Gary84Clark]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

Rak hasn't proved himself?

Yet on the same token Kirk cousins has proven he is an NFL caliber starter. lol !!!!!!!

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Gary84Clark

Yet on the same token Kirk cousins has proven he is an NFL caliber starter. lol !!!!!!!

Enough crazy train for one stop please

[warriorzpath]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

Rak hasn't proved himself?

It's not really a judgement call to debate. It's more about his attitude when he said it (not having to prove anything). A true competitor is always driven by "proving" themselves to try to be the best. Orakpo is good, but he always had the potential to be much greater.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by warriorzpath

It's not really a judgement call to debate. It's more about his attitude when he said it (not having to prove anything). A true competitor is always driven by "proving" themselves to try to be the best. Orakpo is good, but he always had the potential to be much greater.

I think you're twisting his words a bit.

And anytime contracts are involved, players can be a bit testy.

[warriorzpath]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

I think you're twisting his words a bit.

And anytime contracts are involved, players can be a bit testy.

Actually, he does have something to prove- that he's worth a hefty long-term contract. If he doesn't, then he may just get tagged again.

[SirLK26]

Originally Posted by warriorzpath

Actually, he does have something to prove- that he's worth a hefty long-term contract. If he doesn't, then he may just get tagged again.

No, Rak is right. He really has nothing left to prove. He's primarily a pass rusher, and he's rushed the passer at an elite level 4 out of 5 years, the one exception being a year where he was injured for 14 games. The total sack numbers aren't elite, but that's because OLBs in our system haven't rushed as much in recent years as most other teams' do. Orakpo's sack percentage numbers are right among the elite in the league, better than Terrell Suggs, Jared Allen, and Mario Williams, and the same as Clay Matthews.

He'll be 28 next year, so we can expect a few more years of elite pass rushing from him. If the choice was up to me, I'd try for a 5 year deal with little guaranteed money in the final year, something in the range of 60-65 million total. Who knows what the FA market will look like next year, so those numbers could be way off.

[warriorzpath]

Originally Posted by SirLK26

No, Rak is right. He really has nothing left to prove. He's primarily a pass rusher, and he's rushed the passer at an elite level 4 out of 5 years, the one exception being a year where he was injured for 14 games. The total sack numbers aren't elite, but that's because OLBs in our system haven't rushed as much in recent years as most other teams' do. Orakpo's sack percentage numbers are right among the elite in the league, better than Terrell Suggs, Jared Allen, and Mario Williams, and the same as Clay Matthews.

He'll be 28 next year, so we can expect a few more years of elite pass rushing from him. If the choice was up to me, I'd try for a 5 year deal with little guaranteed money in the final year, something in the range of 60-65 million total. Who knows what the FA market will look like next year, so those numbers could be way off.

It's hard to argue when it's all about opinions, but since there are still circumstances around his lack of elite pass rush numbers- it still says he has something to prove whether or not he's in an ideal situation.

But whether he likes it or not, he'll probably have something to prove to the Redskins that he's worth the contract he wants. If not - I say tag him and ride him out until he proves it.