STRENGTHS
Ryan plays football like a junk yard dog just looking to bite someone in the ass. He has an excellent burst off the ball and although he is a bit undersized when playing from a three point stance, he uses his quickness, techniques and football intelligence to gain advantage. He does an excellent job working against bigger players defending against the run and that is very impressive. Ryan is an instinctive football player with leadership skills through his play on the field. He has just enough athletic talent to drop off the line and defend those pesky screens and as far as running a sweep to his side you better bring more than one offensive player to block him or you won’t make the yardage you need to make on that down. Ryan’s ability to shed blocks is unique because of his long arms and quick feet. There might be more athletic players who play the same position as Ryan does in this draft but there are none that play his position better. Remember the name Ryan (Junk Yard) Anderson.

CONCERNS
There is a Mug shot of file for DMV arrest. The domestic violence arrest was a “she kicked my car so I kicked her car”. Some will say where there is smoke there is fire, I say I think if that is what happened than Ryan got a taste of what could have been worse. Hopefully… it was a learning experience for him. Athletically, what you see with Ryan’s play on the field is what you will get at the NFL level. There is not much room for improvement except in experience, instincts and getting stronger. That goes a long way with me personally.

BOTTOM LINE
Ryan reminds me a lot of Patriots Rob Ninkovich. He is not as strong but he gets the most out of his athletic talents and that along with his effort on every play will make Ryan as valuable to his team’s defense as Ninkovich is to the Patriots. The NFL has a problem. That problem is selecting players who look the part, do not produce as expected at the college level and then expecting then to produce better at the NFL level. Ryan doesn’t look on film to be that type of player. I would rather pay him 1st round money than a lot of other players who’s workouts might be better but on the field, don’t live up to their workout numbers. Remember a talent grade does not suggest what round I think a player will be selected in, look at Rob’s value board for that. I don’t profile players to try and coincide with what others may think about the round that player might be selected in. I just profile players and let the politics of team needs, value of position and style of offense or defense a team is running deal with what round a player might be selected in. Ryan is a 3/4 OLB/DE and that means unless he can prove in workouts that he has the athletic talent to play in any style of defense not all teams will rate him the same. That’s the politics of the draft.

Drew Boylhart  JAN.2017