Tremaine Edmunds - LB - Virginia Tech

God, please not Edmunds.

Greg Gabriel's breakdown on Edmunds.

http://www.profootballweekly.com/draft/2018/prospects/tremaine-edmunds/

Tremaine Edmunds Linebacker
Virginia Tech
Year: JuniorHeight: 6-5Weight: 253 40-Yard: 4.54Arm: 34 ½ Hand: 9 ⅜
Bench: 19Vertical: N/A Broad: 117 3-Cone: N/A20-Yard Shuttle: N/A60-Yard Shuttle: N/A

Strong Points: Tall, lean, long and well-muscled frame. Still has growth potential. Runs well and has good change of direction and body control. Plays with bend. Two-year starter who was very productive with more than 100 tackles in each of the past two seasons. Consistent run defender who makes plays vs. both the inside and outside run. Excellent range. Shows he can get rid of blockers fairly quickly. Very good in coverage --plays man against backs without a problem and can get depth very quickly in zone. Will be a 20-year-old rookie. Combine workout was outstanding.

Weak Points: Not an anticipator but more of a reactor. He can get away with that in college but not the NFL. Might be too tall to play inside at the NFL level. Can get tall at times when taking on blocks. Not as much pass rush production as a guy with his physical traits should have. Needs to develop pass rush moves.

The Way We See It: A true junior, Edmunds is a unique prospect -- it's not often that we see inside linebackers who are close to 6-foot-5. Very productive college player, but he is more of a reactor than an anticipator. In the NFL, instincts matter at the LB position. He can get tall at times, but Edmunds still uses his hands well to shed. He's better in pursuit than defending runs right at him. Needs to make a few more plays at or near the LOS (line of scrimmage). Very good coverage guy who gets depth with his drop and can play man. Plants and closes on the ball quickly. Not used a lot as a blitzer/pass rusher and needs to develop his pass rush technique. Overall, Edmunds is a very good prospect who is not quite there yet. With his frame, he might be better off outside, but if he plays there he needs to improve his pass rush skills. Has a lot of upside. He will be graded differently by each club depending on their profile for the position. With his size and athleticism, he has some Brian Urlacher to him -- but he's not Urlacher. He can control the middle of the field in zone similarly to what Urlacher was able to do. I'm not as high as others on Edmunds because he doesn't have top instincts, but at his age they will get better. Could be a top-10 guy.

Upside:

Long, massive and rangy defender — great arm length, explosiveness, athletic profile and size-speed combination. Can't draw them up too much better for the position. Great athleticism on display at combine shows up on tape too. Natural strength is impressive, and he's got a lot of room to develop and get stronger. Keeps his feet moving and can pivot and change directions with ease. Closes on the ball in a hurry.
Will break extremely fast on underneath passes thrown in his area. Watch this film-study play where Edmunds reads the eyes of Miami (Fla.) QB Malik Rosier and breaks on the drag route to break up the pass nicely:

https://giphy.com/gifs/ZcbIem1AaGDlSTwCaV

Can pinball off blockers and keep his momentum going toward the ball. Squares his shoulders nicely and plays with a downhill thump and purpose. Effective rusher who can scream off the edge, arrive quickly on a green-dog blitz or loop around on stunts. Explosive when working downhill, especially in the run game. Sets a good, hard edge against the run, especially in goal line and short yardage.
Tackling is strong, especially for such a young player and particulary in space. Closes nicely from depth and hits his targets. Scrapes down the line, keeps his balance and can shed blocks on the move. Wraps up and closes the deal with his condor wingspan and good burst. Rarely whiffs, and at the very worst he can slow down ballcarriers for others to finish off the play.
Has template to be a good coverage player. Rare that a 250-pound player can check backs and tight ends in man coverage, but he can carry them past the second level. Even occasionally matched up with receivers. Has the athleticism to be a Tampa-2 "Mike" and drop into deep zones. Loose hips — can turn and run in a flash. Will read quarterbacks' eyes for tells. Tries to bait them into throwing to his man, knowing he can make up the distance in a jiffy.
Highly productive player. Always seems to make 2-3 disruptive plays per game. Clean medical history — no known injuries at Tech. Strong character marks from NFL teams.

Downside:

Gap integrity looks like that of a 19-year old. Will take the wrong gap and watch runners go where he should have been. Eyes get too big — gets greedy and will overplay the ball. Takes on blockers at poor angles and gets cleaned out of plays. Has to key better on OL movement and diagnose run plays just a hair faster. Doesn't use his hands well enough at this point to stack and shed interior OL blocks. Can get blown up by crack-back blocks — must do better job of keeping head on a swivel.
Instincts are still developing in coverage — prone to getting fooled by play action and misdirection (see first quarter of the Miami game) and will have trouble locating the ball at times. Sometimes gets lost in space. Plays too shallow sometimes and doesn't cut off enough of the field.
Watch here as the Hokies are in man coverage and Edmunds (No. 49, middle of your screen) is supposed to be checking Clemson RB Tavien Feaster, who appears to be staying home initially to block. But just as Edmunds gets a bit distracted by the crossing route underneath, Feaster releases to a wheel route in the flat and is gone — leaving Edmunds in the dust:

https://giphy.com/gifs/QKWwLcQbZ0VqvadleB

Still developing physically, too. Carries his weight well but needs to add take-on strength. Isn't a Brandon Spikes-type of linebacker and could add a little more nastiness as a hitter.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by IdahoNiner:
Why do you guys troll him so hard? If you don't like what he says, move along, or put him on your ignore. Kind of tired of seeing people target him, without adding anything to the discussion. Its old. Its obnoxious.

He likes Edmund. He voiced his opinion. Get over it.

In addition to that, Foster is never playing another snap for the 49ers. You can take that to the bank.

These are discussion forums.

I think its that he builds up prospects to unrealistic levels of hype and then post draft has a meltdown and threatens to quit the forum when the 49ers inevitably end up drafting someone else.

Nothing wrong with liking a player but when you continually get one-itis over them and then get over the top mad because the team didn't evaluate them the same, well you're asking for people to give you crap over it.

Except he did none of that in this post, and the response he got was a clear troll response. Actually, the vast majority of any responses he gets are troll responses not even remotely related to the topic he is commenting on. This all goes back mostly to his opinion about Fournette, but also his comments on a few other topics. I notice some posters get more leeway when they respond to certain posters this way. I missed where this was a Fournette discussion, or any other of the discussions where people cant accept that others are entitled to their own opinions.

There is no excuse. I had a group of posters for several weeks follow me around from topic to topic posting this kind of nonsense, instead it was directed at my comments about Jet being a third down change of pace back up until this point in his career. Apparently that gave certain posters the right to follow me from thread to thread trolling every post i made with "third down back comments". I was actually told by one of these posters i was not entitled to an opinion, because in his own words, i did not have season tickets, so i had not invested as much into the team as him.

It seems tolerance only goes one way for opinions around here. Rascal is entitled to his, no matter how outlandish or hyped, and he should not be trolled by other posters for it. If they dont like his opinion, and want to discuss, then discuss the specifics of the post, otherwise, its old and tired.

Originally posted by okdkid:
You're a good dude. People -- for some reason -- get really tied to their blog-influenced opinions on athletes they have not, and will never, meet in their lives. I don't agree with much of what Rascal has to say, but he's coming from a good place.

Originally posted by IdahoNiner:
Except he did none of that in this post, and the response he got was a clear troll response. Actually, the vast majority of any responses he gets are troll responses not even remotely related to the topic he is commenting on. This all goes back mostly to his opinion about Fournette, but also his comments on a few other topics. I notice some posters get more leeway when they respond to certain posters this way. I missed where this was a Fournette discussion, or any other of the discussions where people cant accept that others are entitled to their own opinions.

There is no excuse. I had a group of posters for several weeks follow me around from topic to topic posting this kind of nonsense, instead it was directed at my comments about Jet being a third down change of pace back up until this point in his career. Apparently that gave certain posters the right to follow me from thread to thread trolling every post i made with "third down back comments". I was actually told by one of these posters i was not entitled to an opinion, because in his own words, i did not have season tickets, so i had not invested as much into the team as him.

It seems tolerance only goes one way for opinions around here. Rascal is entitled to his, no matter how outlandish or hyped, and he should not be trolled by other posters for it. If they dont like his opinion, and want to discuss, then discuss the specifics of the post, otherwise, its old and tired.

If someone is being personally attacked, that is one thing, if you're being ribbed because you threaten to quit the forum every single year and have a full on meltdown every single May after the draft, that is a whole other matter altogether.

So once again, if it gets to personal attacks, the mods will step in and put a stop to it, if people report something, the mods are going to step in and review the comments posted and take action if necessary.

If you think that is what is happening here, feel free to report it, otherwise we are done here and moving back to the topic at hand.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:
If someone is being personally attacked, that is one thing, if you're being ribbed because you threaten to quit the forum every single year and have a full on meltdown every single May after the draft, that is a whole other matter altogether.

So once again, if it gets to personal attacks, the mods will step in and put a stop to it, if people report something, the mods are going to step in and take care of it.

If you think that is what is happening here, feel free to report it, otherwise we are done here and moving back to the topic at hand.

Ribbed is what your calling it? He gets those comments on every single post he makes. And litteraly nothing else. Ribbed would be a tongue in cheek comment once in awhile, while also offering legit discussion for him to comment back to.

I disagree i guess, which is fine.

And for the record, i have never, and will never report a post or poster. This is a discussion forum. I put up with the good and the bad.

Understood on the bold.

Edmunds or trade down are likely the best options for the group 49ers at 9. Just can't imagine Barkley falling that far, because you take him no matter what.

Please.

God.

No.

One draft analyst nailed it when he said... 'He was that productive at VT without having a single f*cking clue what he was doing.'

My only question is was that due to youth or was that due to a red flag like laziness or limited cognitively? Not assuming either, just assigning some risk.

Originally posted by Lobo49er:
Please.

God.

No.

Got an uneasy feeling this is the guy at 9 as the draft gets closer. Still too much of a Baalke feel to him for me, but with that said, I rather we choose him than Davenport.

I still say he is a colt.

He's the single player that scares me the most.

Save your SPARQ guys for later in the draft when you're looking for coachable athletes and hunting for potential over demonstrated instincts and performance.

Originally posted by strickac:
He's the single player that scares me the most.

Save your SPARQ guys for later in the draft when you're looking for coachable athletes and hunting for potential over demonstrated instincts and performance.

hyperbole alert.

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by strickac:

He's the single player that scares me the most.

Save your SPARQ guys for later in the draft when you're looking for coachable athletes and hunting for potential over demonstrated instincts and performance.

hyperbole alert.

Good thing I don't know what a hyperbole is; otherwise, I might be offended.

Originally posted by strickac:

Originally posted by Jcool:

Originally posted by strickac:
He's the single player that scares me the most.

Save your SPARQ guys for later in the draft when you're looking for coachable athletes and hunting for potential over demonstrated instincts and performance.

hyperbole alert.

Good thing I don't know what a hyperbole is; otherwise, I might be offended.

If only you had a way to find out...