Scouts Analyze Atari Bigby

[Bretsky]

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=699411

A COUPLE POINTS

But you're talking about a guy who, in the grand scheme of things, probably is a quality backup and special-teams guy."

One scout rated Bigby in bottom 20 of 64 safeties

One AFC personnell guy said lower third

Another AFC scout rated him 25th among 64

One NFC scout said he doubted Bigby could start for his team, and neither of that team's safeties is highly regarded

"

[Bretsky]

As a sidenote I'm still willing to wait and see on Bigby

What I see so far is a hard hitter whose style of tackling I appreciate
But a guy who really lacks ball and coverage skills and I don't think we can rely on him unless he's playing center field. When in that position he's been opportunistic and has capitalized on some INT's.

[HarveyWallbangers]

If I had to guess, I'd say Bigby would be somewhere slightly below average as a starter. To me that would put him in the #33-#48 in the league. I've seen worse safety play. These scouts missed on him, and probably have a harder time believing he could be any good. Positives: tackles hard and pretty well and seems to have a knack for making plays. Negatives: his coverage skills are below average and makes too many boneheaded penalties.

[Tarlam!]

Ya gotta be pleased with the Rouse pick, though.

I like the "feelgood" part of the Bigby story, but I want the best Satefy on the field. If that is Rouse, then, sorry Atari!

[Oscar]

Harv makes a good point here. I also recall him making a similar comment about the so called scouts take on Grant. I don't want to turn this into a fire Schotty thread....What about the coaching with these young men we have in the secondary? (Not counting Al and Chuck as young guys.lol) Some here have said even Carrol played better the one year Bates had his guys with Washington coaching back there. I know there are certain things that can't be coached or taught for that matter....Just wonder how much a guy like Bigby or even Collins would benefit from a different style of coach..

[deake]

Isn't it about putting a player in a position to best use his talents, Bigby is a solid tackler and looks to be a scarey biltzer. Didn't that guy from the Boys make the pro bowl just by being a solid tackler. Looks like he is doing a better job with the dumb penalties. Seems like it took Sharper a while to figure our how to be a cover guy. Looking forward to seeing how he does next year with a new coach.

[MJZiggy]

Wow. I agree with everyone. I'm holding out hope for him (how many guys have these scouts panned, only to have them pull it together and take off--I swear we heard these same-type comments about a certain Greg Jennings who by the end of last year had scouts saying he was nothing special.

Bigby IS hard-hitting and opportunistic but does have coverage issues and needs to learn to tackle on the FIELD, not the sidelines, thank you...

And let's just hope Marty gets the gig in Atlanta.

[TennesseePackerBacker]

I wish Rouse would be starting by the playoffs, he'll be the future of our safety position. The first quote hits Bigby pretty well, backup/special-teamer.


edit: Rouse's interceptions were coverage-based, while Bigby's have all been deflections, throw in the fact Rouse can play the run and I think you have a better all-around safety.

[Scott Campbell]

I wish Rouse would be starting by the playoffs, he'll be the future of our safety position. The first quote hits Bigby pretty well, backup/special-teamer.


edit: Rouse's interceptions were coverage-based, while Bigby's have all been deflections, throw in the fact Rouse can play the run and I think you have a better all-around safety.


I'm in agreement. From what little we've seen, it looks like Rouse has tremendous ball skills. And I don't know how you can keep play makers like that off the field. I think Rouse has a chance to make the coaching staff make a decision between Collins and Bigby.

[Tarlam!]

The knock on Rouse was inability to tackle consistantly. Has he improved in that area?

[packers11]

I don't think there is anyway the coaches pull Collins or Bigby... They will remain the starters this year unless something dramatic happens (Carroll against eagles)...

This will make a good discussion in training camp next year though... A very good one...

[Fritz]

Maybe scouts get paid to look for negatives, so they tend to focus on them, but I am getting tired of all the player-bashing that seems to go on every time a paper does one of these "here's what the pro scouts say" articles. They didn't like the Jennings pick or the James Jones pick, they scoffed that TT would give up a sixth round pick for a running back who was no more than a special teams player. It's like they're afraid to say something positive unless a guy has already been to three or four pro bowls.

As for Bigby himself, I'm not super-impressed. He does fly around, and he seems to tackle well, but his coverage skills do seem lacking - he's that guy who is always a second late. But that may be because he's still young - the game might slow down for him next year. I'm not ready to assign him to the bottom third of the NFL quite yet.

[Brandon494]

I do like Bigby but I just think Rouse has so much more pontenial. Rouse does seem to miss a few tackles thats just because he goes for the big hit alittle too much, but he is a rookie and he will learn how to wrap up.