Arden Key

College football and the NFL Draft

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Mikefive
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Been watching some tape on this guy. Yikes, is he interesting at 6'6" 250! I like his tape better than Harold Landry's, although they're similar players. The differences as I see them...

1. Key has an incredible first step and 0-60 acceleration. It's a bit apples and oranges with Landry who generally is coming from a 3 point stance and Key usually a 2 point. But I'd put Key as faster and Landry's certainly not bad.
2. Key had clearly better hand usage. He uses his hands to disengage and fight off the OT clearly better than Landry does.

I know he tested at his pro day at 4.8+ and weighed 230-something. That stuff doesn't bother me much, especially the 4.8. He doesn't play anywhere close to that slow.

Now of course, his character issues are really scary. I wouldn't use #39 on him. But if somebody got his head screwed on straight, that guy will be a difference maker at the NFL level.

Discuss.
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G08
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That's funny you posted this, I was watching his highlights during lunch. Taking him at #39 would make me feel a ton better about Quenton Nelson at #8.

He came in to Halas Hall for a private visit, so I'm hoping Pace is vetting him in case he decides to wait until day 2 to address our dire need of pass rushers.
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Mayock said his pro day drill workouts were very impressive.
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Hiphopopotamos
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Nope.

Arden Key only actually participates in about 10% of his snaps.
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Mikefive
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That's not what I saw on tape.
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You see that his criticism is motivation, then you watch the Alabama tape and you see a guy playing his ass off. He's playing with emotion... he looks good. Still very lean and upright at times when I'd like to see him bend. He's grabbing and diving sometimes when I'd like him to hit. I can't imagine he'll be BPA at 8 but at 39 yeah I could deal with it. We already have one OLB with weight issues and some rumors about lack of motivation (Lynch) - will Fangio want two projects like this? Maybe it's good to have two of them motivating each other?
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The question I have with him is his mental makeup. He had a great sophomore campaign and then in the offseason he gets in trouble with some off the field issue that hasn't been publicly divulged.

He also had some injury problems that required him to undergo shoulder surgery in May to repair a partially torn labrum in his rotator cuff. He broke his pinkie finger at some point in Game 3 or Game 4, playing with it bandaged for more than a month. He sprained the medial collateral ligament in one of his knees in Game 10 against Arkansas, then sat the remainder of the season, skipping LSU's Citrus Bowl appearance.

He also came into the season overweight. He's got a lot of explaining to do, quite honestly.
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Is he the real comp to Aldon Smith?
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Honestly... The guy he looks like to me is... Leonard Floyd.
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Nanky wrote:Is he the real comp to Aldon Smith?
Nah, maybe off-the-field stuff concerns if you look at it that way.
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For whatever it's worth:

Rob Rang (Lindy's) comps Arden Key to former Chief Derrick Thomas.
Lance Zierlein (NFL.com) comps Key to Willie Young.
Matt Miller (BleacherReport.com) comps Key to Danielle Hunter.
Eric Edholm (PFW) and Joe Marino (NDT Scouting) comps Key to Dion Jordan.
Kyle Crabbs (NDT Scouting) comps Key to Randy Gregory.
Christian Page (Optimum Scouting) comps him to a blend of Gregory and Jordan.
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dplank wrote:I agree with Rich here
RichH55 wrote: Dplank is correct
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Key depends on if your mixing me real with physical and what year you watch.

I like the Willy Young comp. At his best he is more fluid.
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