http://www.thehuddlereport.com/huddlenotes/?p=532 Drew typically has some pretty surprising ratings on players, not all I'm given to agree with, but I appreciate that he makes his own observations to form his own opinions, basically an independent thinker. Not unlike Dave Razzano in that regard though they do like some different players and Drew never worked for any NFL teams as far as I know.
Nate Solder has the same talent as Jake Long? Really? I've seen Jake get his *** handed to him by John Abraham, not by somebody we'll never see play in the NFL - I've seen Solder do that many times.
Heck, every OT gets beat sometimes. I've seen Walter Jones get whipped too and he was probably the best pass blocking left tackle of the past 15 years. Statistically, according to CBSsports.com, Nate did pretty good:
Thats not what I'm saying. Solder will be beaten by an inside move all the time. Just watch. Despite being very athletic, he struggles with this aspect. He lacks power to ride/wash the man down the line and out of the play. Defenders get right past him that way. He may have gotten away with against Colorado State, but go watch the Cal game from this year and you'll see a 240 lb man walk him backwards into the lap of the quarterback on more than one occasion. He doesn't use his hands well, and from what I've seen I'd reckon he doesn't have strong hands either. He's not crap, but to say he has the same talent as Jake Long is in my opinion a good sized falsehood. Jake owns his man for the most part, Solder is going to get thrown around a bit in the NFL, unless he gets seriously stronger. But, even with a good program, thats likely two years away before it truly becomes his baseline IMHO. [video=youtube;xghOYI59XXg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xghOYI59XXg[/video]
I agree he doesn't have the same level of development coming into the league, and perhaps Drew should have said he had the potential, once he gains some strength, to be on a par with Jake.
