Dear Ursula

Can’t deny that he is one bad ass player.

Some of those plays are definitely Ray Lewis circa 2000.

I was watching highlights today on him and I couldn’t believe it. He doesn’t look huge or in better shape than any other guys, but his motor is ridiculous. He was knocking line man on their asses straight up the middle to break plays up in the back field. His closing speed is insane. He came in from 10-15 yards in about a second to sack a QB….guy never saw it coming. Unbelievable. If his “character” issues weren’t do hyped up he’d go in the top 5 picks.
I watched some highlights of his “dirty” plays too on purpose to see what the hype was about. Some of the calls seemed questionable. I think he’s gained a rep for being “dirty” and draws some, not all, flags as a result. Suh’s rep is comparable to how people view Burfict IMO. Made a few mistakes, some stupid plays and now he’s under a micro scope and the media just furthers his labeling as a “dirty” player.

Yea, I’m sorry, but if he’s still there when we pick I think you have to take him. He immediately makes the Defense better. A LB with his range doesn’t come along that often, if ever. Sideline to sideline, north south. Blitzing or against the run. I can’t even imagine what he and Ray could do to other teams. If he truly lacks a high football IQ I think his natural talent will suffice from what I’ve seen until he can be taught how to game plan (watch film, study ect.) My only knock on him from watching the highlights, other than the personal fouls, would be that he needs to stop spearing people. He’ll get called on that in the NFL. Other than that he’s a great tackler.

Completely agree fan. I’m still very much on this bus. I tried to take all the negative stuff and talk myself out of it as well and I can’t do it. Just too much potential here.

Does Burfict speak like an idiot during interviews? (i.e. Kindle, Dez Bryant)

Sometimes hitting too hard is portrayed as being dirty.

That he will still be available in the early 20’s and then somebody will trade up and jump in front of us.

Not that I am on the Burfict Bandwagon yet, but just playing some scenarios out in my head- I could see the Eagles at 15 taking him or the Lions at 23. I think the Titans may be an X-factor sitting at 20 in that they could take Vontaze or trade out to someone who will. My biggest fear is the Patriots at 27 and Green Bay at 28. Patriots, like the Titans, could take him (they could use him and are not against taking head cases) or trade out right from under our noses. That would be the second time in recent times that Belichick would have screwed us as remember in 2010 he jumped one spot ahead of us in round 2 to grab Gronkowski. And I know Gronk was on our board and we would have taken him. Could you imagine if we had Gronk (and either Pitta or Dickson) instead of Sergio? Can you say 7 point Super Bowl XLVI favorites heading into Indy?

Green Bay I believe has the biggest chance of screwing us. I really think they are going to try really hard to trade out of 28 and garner extra picks and I could totally see them trading to say, Dallas, who would then snarf up Burfict. They jumped ahead of us to grab Dez Bryant. Although all things being equal, that does not upset me nearly as much as the aforementioned Gronkowski affair….

Cant wait until the DRAFT!!!!!

Dear Fandemonium,

I’ve been on a business trip and unable to get back to these boards until getting home just a few minutes ago, so my apologies. So here’s a bit more of what I can say:

As Mr MaLoR says, and I agree, Burfict is one bad ass. That picture of him pointing at, and indeed calling out Barkley is a CLASSIC photo. I LOVED that shot.

But here’s the thing. The guy has a Grade A+ body and physical abilities. He played the Mike position. He made highlight reel plays. And at the same time, his tackle totals for the year-69-was only good enough for tying for 33rd in the league.

Think about that stat. He played a position where he should have racked up big tackle totals but somehow he didn’t. Why was that? Was his defensive line that bad? Nope, it was a veteran unit that did okay. The problem was that most of the time he was out of position plus he does a poor job shedding blockers. Put a big OL hat on him and he disappears. Compare him to Ray Lewis? Anyone who does that here has no idea about what makes Ray Lewis such a great MLB.

Well then, how is he with coverage skills? Jeez, everyone in Pac-12 land knows he can’t cover. That’s just not his thing. He likes blitzing the QB.

Last year he had 5 sacks of the QB. Not bad….of course three of them came in the first game against a FCS team, Cal-Davis. He had two sacks against real competition over 11 games. That also is not good.

So okay, he doesn’t tackle much, makes Ellerbe look like he can cover Gronkowski in his sleep, and can’t sack the QB. He must have great locker room leadership skills. And in fact he is quite the leader in the locker room as evidenced by the way he beat up an incoming freshman WR before the opening game last season, a kid much smaller than himself. In the locker room. That’s what being a leader is, right? Picking on someone smaller than you? (Oh-and notice that his highlight reel plays involve him against smaller players.)

So okay, he sucks at tackling, covering, blitzing, and is a locker room cancer. His coach who coached at two NFL teams, benched him more and more as the season dragged on and the team went down the tubes. But at least he doesn’t have the awful background that Jimmy Smith had…of course that background of Smith’s wasn’t really that bad, just a kid putting himself in the wrong situation and he obviously learned from it and became a great CB on a really bad Colorado team. Burfict never got arrested THANK GOD but played himself out of the lineup at AZ St.

So with Burfict:

Plusses
Highlight reel hits
Like to intimidate
People here think for some highlight reel tape he makes plays like the best LB of all time in his prime.
Has a great body if you are into that sort of thing.

Minuses
Doesn’t tackle much
Can’t cover
Locker room cancer
Not a leader on the field either
Did not improve since his freshman year causing him to get benched much of his last year
Compares unfavorably to Jimmy Smith in any way.

To sum up:

Hey, we all like to play the Mocking the draft game. I do too. And we like to argue for our favorite players. Totally understandable-I do it too. But the reality is none of us here has either seen nearly enough tape or watched these players in person to make a real judgement. With Burfict, a player that had a lot of hype coming into last season, none of us here can really evaluate him. Living on the west coast I am sure I saw more of him than most everyone here as I saw all but two of his team’s games. But that is not what I am basing my judgement on here. I am judging him on his stats, what we heard from his coach, his lack of playing time, and the judgement of his Pac-12 peers who did not vote him even honorable mention. You think a 9 minute highlight reel stacks up against what I got? How many quaaludes did you take today?

Burfict is a thug who does not know how to play football. He hits hard but rarely. He is a waste of space on an NFL roster and if he gets taken before the late rounds, he’ll be a bust. I can name a dozen ILBs in this draft that I’d take before our man Burfict.

judgement of his Pac-12 peers

“Between the whistles,” USC Coach Lane Kiffin said, “he’s as dominant as there is in the country.”

Monte Kiffin, USC’s defensive coordinator, described Burfict this way: “He’s unbelievable. He’s big, fast, strong. He’s got great talent. He’s going to be playing on Sundays, there isn’t any doubt about that.”

Tony Dye plays safety for UCLA, but at Corona Santiago High he was a running back who had the misfortune of twice facing Centennial.

Linebacker Burfict left a lasting impression.

“He hit me harder than I’ve ever been hit in my life,” Dye said.

“They don’t make too many 245-pound guys that can run like him,” Lane Kiffin said, adding, tongue firmly planted in cheek, “that’s why he should definitely leave this year and go to the NFL.”

UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel is similarly complimentary, comparing Burfict to perennial All-Pro Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens.

“Some people show up and they understand math or are great writers,” Herring said. “He understands football.”