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Shutdown Corner on the Rams

  • Beyond the Shutdown 50: Gino Gradkowski, C/G, Baltimore Ravens

    Now that the 2012 NFL draft is in the can, it's time to take the Shutdown 50 scouting format forward and get a closer look at some of the surprising and fascinating selections from this year's draft -- the guys we missed in the original 50, but who could be impact players now or down the road. Our next entry: Delaware guard Gino Gradkowski, selected with the third pick of the fourth round (98th overall) by the Baltimore Ravens.

    Overview: Gradkowski did not expect to be selected so early in the draft. According to a profile at DelawareOnLine, he had just settled down in front of the video game console when the phone rang. "I just got done playing a game of NHL PlayStation against my cousin Carmen … I didn't even have time to get anxious about the draft because I was still mad about losing in that game."

    You have to love a lineman who is so competitive that he cannot let go of his rage over losing a video hockey game until Ozzie Newsome's office calls with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

    If Gradkowski is anything like older brother Bruce Gradkowski, then competitive fire will never be an issue. Bruce, now Andy Dalton's backup with the Bengals, has built a seven-year NFL career out of determination and little else. "The whole family has the underdog mentality," the older Gradkowski once said. "We're going to work hard to get the job done. We're disciplined. We're going to know what to do. We might not be the fastest, strongest or the biggest, but we get the job done. That's it. It's in the blood."

    Gino was certainly an underdog heading into the draft. He transferred from West Virginia to Delaware early in his college career so he could earn a starting job, played center and guard for three seasons, and earned All America status at the I-AA level. But Gradkowski was expected to enter the NFL as a seventh-round pick or rookie free agent. Now, he is the heir apparent to Matt Birk, and may someday be snapping to another player who took the Big Program-to-Delaware-to-Ravens path to success: Joe Flacco.

    Strengths: Gradkowski has fine foot quickness and lateral quickness. Delaware's offensive line took extremely wide splits, and the centers and guards pulled, trapped, and blocked on the move. Gradkowski was effective when shuffling to the side on a rollout or peeling behind the center on a trap. He appears to be very football smart and generally finds the right person to block when on the move or picking up blitzes.

    Gradkowski performed well at his Pro Day, benching 225 pounds 29 times and posting respectable results in agility drills. His strength is generally evident on tape, though you must take what you see with a grain of salt when what you see is a blurry image of someone nailing a Towson State defender.

    By all accounts, Gradkowski has a great work ethic and the right mentality for his position.

    Weaknesses: Gradkowski is too small to be a guard in most systems, particularly the Ravens' drive-blocking offense, and at 300 pounds he is a little small to be a starting center. He played guard in his senior season at Delaware and will have to be developed at center, his likely pro position.

    Gradkowski sometimes gets popped by defenders from schools like Rhode Island. He appears to get too high at times and loses leverage. His technique is spotty, and the adjustment to both a new position and NFL-style line splits will take time. Athletically, he is adequate but not superior.

    Conclusion: Gradkowski is an example of the type of player NFL teams know much more about than media draft experts. Ozzie Newsome has the resources to send scouts to Delaware, conduct interviews with players, coaches and professors, and bring small-school prospects to team headquarters for interviews. He knows the attributes his offensive line coaches look for in a center. Newsome's staff saw something in Gradkowski the rest of us did not, and the Ravens were not the only ones: Gradkowski interviewed with many teams before the draft and was not likely to go undrafted.

    What we see on blurry Delaware-Richmond tape is a quick, strong lineman who blocks well in space. What we hear about Gradkowski sounds a lot like his brother: a hard-nosed, high-effort guy who finds a way to stay on the roster. Gradkowski will not be needed for a season or two, but if he pays the price in the weight room and in film study, he could well be a starting center when Birk retires. And Gradkowskis are all about paying the price.

    NFL Comparison: If he develops: Scott Wells, center, St. Louis Rams.

    Beyond the Shutdown 50:
    Bruce Irvin, OLB/DE, Seattle Seahawks | Brock Osweiler, QB, Denver Broncos | Kevin Zeitler, OG, Cincinnati Bengals | Brandon Weeden, QB, Cleveland Browns

  • Tanier’s Team Reviews: The Kansas City Chiefs, via Todd Haley

    Any website can post "offseason grades" for NFL teams, mixing the draft and free agency into transaction soup, then straining it through the mind of some sportswriter who doesn't know who half the players are. Only the Shutdown Corner has the resources to get actual players, coaches, and executives from each team to evaluate their own offseasons! That's right: over the next few weeks, you will get transaction evaluations straight from the horse's mouths: straight talk about who was signed, who was lost, who was drafted, and why.

    (For the satirically challenged: all player, coach, and executive remarks are made by an impersonator).

    In this segment, former Chiefs coach Todd Haley breaks down the offseason moves of the team that fired him at the end of last season. We have a bad feeling about this.

    TODD HALEY: Wash your windshield, mister?

    I don't scrub windshields for the money. I have a coaching job now as offensive coordinator for the Steelers. I carry this slop bucket because I like it. It's comforting to wash windows while the mad clown stares at me with his dead, gray eyes, whispering razor truths mortals dare not speak aloud, truths that pierce flesh and cut an inky scarlet line against the throat of the he-goat …

    Sorry, my thoughts meander sometimes. The Chiefs had a productive offseason. At the skill positions, they added Peyton Hillis to a running back committee that already includes Dexter McCluster and Jamaal Charles, who is ahead of schedule rehabbing his knee injury. Kevin Boss joins Tony Moeaki, also on schedule to return from a knee injury, to give the Chiefs two tight ends who can block and catch. Two rookie wide receivers, Devon Wylie and Junior Hemingway, will provide extra depth behind Dwayne Bowe, Steve Breaston and last year's top pick Jonathan Baldwin, who started to come on late in the season. Matt Cassel, yet another player who missed much of last season with injuries, won't have to worry about throwing to the likes of Keary Colbert or Anthony Becht.

    That's right, everyone gets to come back to Kansas City but me, the guy who got blamed for not being able to build an offense around Tyler Palko and Terrance Copper, while the dead-eyed clown stares back at me from the mirror and cackles. "You ever played cornhole with the devil, son?" he asks, his raspy voice a rusty hypodermic needle scraping gutter concrete. "He don't use no beanbags, boy." And that he-goat just brays and brays like he sees the end coming and don't know whether to fight it or welcome it.

    Moving on to the defense, Dontari Poe was one of the most physically gifted specimens in this year's draft class. The Chiefs have a bad habit of striking out with big defensive tackles, from Ryan Sims to Glenn Dorsey, so my former assistant Romeo Crennel will have to be careful about Poe's development and role if he doesn't want Poe to become an overpriced space-eater the greasepaint smears and the sharpened steel glints in the pickup truck headlights behind the barnyard. The loss of Brandon Carr is going to hurt at cornerback, because Stanford Routt is an adequate No. 2 corner behind Brandon Flowers. But the defense will be better if it is not  on the field as often, and when the muffled brays fade to pitch-black silence, vengeful darkness sated all-too-briefly by the still-quivering sacrifice.

    The AFC West is a wide-open division, and everyone has a chance to win, except me. That's right, stare at this thatched nest of a beard, look back at my insistence on rotating running backs every other play and benching receivers for no discernible reason, and judge me. "Brought it on himself," you say, behind the safety glass of your Honda Civic, one finger on the panic button of your key chain. You'll see who brought what on whom when the Clowngoat Apocalypse rains jealous fire upon us all. Scott Pioli thinks his Super Bowl rings will save him ... well, they are gonna shine like beacons, live bait to coax the dark forces from their smoky pits. This Patriots Junior routine isn't gonna work, and when it fails, everybody is gonna know Todd Haley wasn't crazy. He was the one who saw.

    And they will know just where to find me, here in this underpass.

    Tanier's Team Reports:
    Indianapolis Colts     | St. Louis Rams | Minnesota Vikings | Tampa Bay Buccaneers| Cleveland Browns | Washington Redskins | Jacksonville Jaguars | Miami Dolphins | Carolina Panthers | Arizona Cardinals     | Seattle Seahawks

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