Originally Posted by : Overview
Speaks finished strong in his final year in Oxford, sacking the quarterback six times in the team's final six games from the defensive end position. He started all 12 games for the Rebels in 2017, posting 67 tackles, eight for loss which included seven sacks to garner second-team All-SEC by league media. The Jackson, Mississippi native and four-star recruit was a defensive tackle initially, redshirting in 2014 and then starting two of 13 games played the following year (32 tackles, 5.5 for loss, one sack, two pass breakups). Speaks played in every game again as a sophomore, starting seven, making 28 tackles, 1.5 for loss, and a sack.
Originally Posted by : Strengths
Big man with good speed and plus athletic ability
Has experience at a variety of spots along defensive line
Has size and length to play in odd or even front
Punches with good hand placement, arm extension and rolled hips when allowed to two-gap
Has attitude and edge
Flashes potential to become more proficient with hands as a weapon
Able to play ahead of move blocks and disrupt into backside gaps
Plays with plus awareness
Responds well to flow of the play
Offers a little more pass rush than expected as power end
Pairs hands and feet to help free him as interior rusher along the edge
Arm-over move has some potential
Weaknesses
Had just one season of big production
Inconsistent at leveraging gap
Plays top-heavy with high pad level
Allows blockers under his pads when attacking gaps
Hip-tightness leads to narrowing of his base
Struggles to hold ground against down blocks and can be rolled out of the gap
Has straight line speed, but lateral agility and foot quickness are average in tight quarters
Goes over the edge with emotions
Chippy hitter willing to lead with helmet when play is ending
Ejected for targeting against Kentucky and ejected against Mississippi State for two unsportsmanlike penalties
Reid says Brett Veach "wore him out" watching tape on Speaks. Watched all of his snaps from last season, says he never saw him on the ground. Compares him to Tamba Hali with size and metrics.
Some of us never gave up hope on a rookie changing positions, being coached by Bob Sutton, who had pressure rates on par with Tamba Hali before getting injured.
Originally Posted by BWillie:
If Taco Charlton's name was Stuart Anderson and went to a MAC school would we even give a shit about who this guy is?
Taco Charlton is a nobody. Just because he was a name in college doesn't mean he's going to be good now.
Cool name.
Big school.
Notoriety.
Sucks.
There are a long list of those guys who failed out of the NFL.
I would argue Taco had at least some resemblance of production at the NFL level last season with the Dolphins (bad team albeit). Weeks 3-7 he had 4 sacks through those 5 games. I don't know if Taco will be a guy to rave about but honestly Speaks and Taco are pretty much in the same boat. Both guys who were drafted in the top end of the draft and haven't lived to expectations. Anyone's guess if either of them become a useful player or if they both fall into obscurity. [Reply]
Speaks is going to beast this year (don't know if that's exactly how you use 'beast' but whatever).
Uncle Bob basically depth charged his career from Day 1, and he knows he has to prove himself this season or he's probably out of the league, and probably bagging groceries or something, so he has to produce in 2020. And he has the prerequisite physical and mental abilities already; he just needs to get down to a razor sharp focus and execute.
And I got a feeling that's what he's going to do once he gets on the field. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Megatron96:
Just watched one college highlight reel. I like his inside move, his recognition, and his quick trigger. I'm going all in. Speaks is going to blow up this year. 8+ sacks, 8+ TFLs, 8 PDs.
Mark it down.
Let's pump the breaks there, tiger. If Speaks picks up 6 sacks, we should all be thrilled. If he wraps his arms around Tom Brady again and actually takes him to the ground this time, we should all do cartwheels. That's progress and it's a great first step.
Veach saw something in him, and at this point that has to count for a lot. [Reply]
Originally Posted by TwistedChief:
Let's pump the breaks there, tiger. If Speaks picks up 6 sacks, we should all be thrilled. If he wraps his arms around Tom Brady again and actually takes him to the ground this time, we should all do cartwheels. That's progress and it's a great first step.
Veach saw something in him, and at this point that has to count for a lot.
Hahaha, I was wondering when someone was going to comment on my 8s!
Obviously those projections are probably inflated a bit. Especially the PDs; that'd be a ton of PDs for any part-time player. And I'm pretty sure that Speaks won't start to begin the season.
But I got stuck on "8" somehow the other night, so in a fit of goofiness, I went with it. [Reply]
I recently re-watched several games from the 2018 season and Speaks flashed fairly often but couldn't finish a ton of plays due to his lack of mobility and speed.
His instincts are there and his tackling is fine but he really needed a year to re-shape his body.
I'm not making any predictions for him but I won't be surprised if his play and contributions are greatly improved from the 2018 season due to his apparent weight loss, which should result in increased speed, endurance and agility. [Reply]
Speaks was unfortunately a result of old man Werthers playing him at ****ing LB. Of course he looked like a fat, slow POS. What 280lb+ DL isn’t looking like that against RB’s in the flat?
I think there’s a big void in the inside rush that Speaks can take advantage of. Nnandi isn’t an effective pass rusher. Saunders hasn’t proven that either. Pennel isn’t a pass rusher either. Tanoh is really it and and he seems more effective at DE to me bc his height is hurting his pad level when he’s playing inside.
Speaks was an above average athlete for a DT. For comparison, Chris Jones 10 yard split at the combine was 1.68 seconds while Breeland Speaks was 1.64.
Aaron Donald’s 10 yard split was 1.59 seconds. Speaks is really not that far behind in terms of raw numbers. He has ability and athleticism, he was just lazy last year. [Reply]
Originally Posted by RunKC:
Speaks was unfortunately a result of old man Werthers playing him at ****ing LB. Of course he looked like a fat, slow POS. What 280lb+ DL isn’t looking like that against RB’s in the flat?
I think there’s a big void in the inside rush that Speaks can take advantage of. Nnandi isn’t an effective pass rusher. Saunders hasn’t proven that either. Pennel isn’t a pass rusher either. Tanoh is really it and and he seems more effective at DE to me bc his height is hurting his pad level when he’s playing inside.
Speaks was an above average athlete for a DT. For comparison, Chris Jones 10 yard split at the combine was 1.68 seconds while Breeland Speaks was 1.64.
Aaron Donald’s 10 yard split was 1.59 seconds. Speaks is really not that far behind in terms of raw numbers. He has ability and athleticism, he was just lazy last year.
It doesn't speak (pun police) very highly of him if his measurables are somewhere in the neighborhood of Chris Jones and Aaron Donald but he could barely even sniff the field. [Reply]