The same caveat from the other thread applies here (I will update the original post), I'm mostly going by what I've read and trying to apply it to the Colts scheme. It makes sense that he must have good play on tape given how highly he is thought of. It just seems strange that he'd have a lower level of competition to go against and still he didn't produce the way you'd expect. Maybe that's just him being doubled every down (because what other Houston defender do you really have to worry about?).

Watching the game tape, that's exactly what it seemed like. Every team they played doubled him on every down at a minimum. Several times, the entire interior OL's assignment was to block Ed Oliver. He's not as compact as Donald, but if he's playing at 275 and throwing people around the way the tape shows, that's rare power. If a good DL coach gets a hold of him and can teach him some pass rush moves beyond his violent hand punch, he could be special. I'd like to see what Eberflus and co. could do with him.

Kinda doubt Oliver is there at 26 :cool:

I would've doubted that myself, and he probably won't be, but apparently there's concern about his size among NFL teams and IMO there's a bit of prospect fatigue about him. It seems he's not a Top 5 lock as many think.

A lot of that will be taken care of with weigh-ins at the Combine and other pre-draft stuff. No hiding behind friendly school-published numbers then.

I am personally a big fan of TFL stats for college DL. A guy whose sack and TFL numbers are about the same is kind of a red flag. You want a player who was constantly in the backfield, even if it did not always mean a sack. TFL means he was in position to pressure the QB and the weird nature of college offense probably kept it from happening as much as it otherwise would.

That is what I find intriguing about Gerald Willis III. 18 TFLs is excellent production even though 4 sacks isn't anything to write home about. I see him projected as a 2nd rounder many places. I watched him vs. LSU and he beat his blockers a ton. Really good hand usage, power, and ball awareness. I think he lacks conditioning a little. And he stands up rather than keeping low and driving sometimes. Stuff that coaching and experience can help, and probably stuff that he would've worked through had he not taken a year off in 2017. When he was on he was hard to stop.

The concern that I've heard is that he hasn't been a productive pass rusher. That's a red flag for a guy with his size and athleticism. Also, he didn't get much better from freshman to junior year. Is there much growth there? Maybe he just needs good coaching, but it's enough cause for concern that he's sliding down relative to how we was talked about before the college season.

He definitely needs to learn some pass rush moves (maybe learn martial arts like Jared Allen did to learn how to handfight well?), but watch his tape and the reason for the lack of productivity becomes obvious very quickly. He gets doubled at a minimum on every play. I'd wager that if he ever got any one on one opportunities, his tape in those scenarios would look a lot like Aaron Donald's.

Simmons injured his knee while training - initial reports suspect it is a torn ACL. Will probably have to sit out his entire rookie season.

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/sta...37763568705536

Would make a lot of sense for the Colts given the extra draft capital.