Melvin-Saurus-Rex
By Joey Nicks
“With the 16th overall selection in the 2012 NFL Draft the New York Jets select, Quinton Coples, DE, North Carolina.” ONE MORE PICK! Then it’s our turn! “With the 17th overall selection in the 2012 NFL Draft the Cincinnati Bengals select, Dre Kirkpatrick, CB,Alabama.” IT’S HERE! Who is it going to be!?! San Diego needs a man, a myth, a legend to bring us out of the depths. We need a Tyrannosaurus Rex! Melvin Ingram!
Despite Melvin Ingram’s “T-Rex arms” (Hence the article title, thank you Ernie), San Diego drafted amazingly in the first round. It’s hard to imagine a player with this athleticism and play making ability fell this far. Yes questions about Ingram are there, BUT what draft pick doesn’t have them? His weakness appears to be in his arm length, size. Size is to me isn’t a plus or a minus. I feel like that is silly, if the man has the ability to play he can play. Melvin has proven he can do whatever it takes to make a team better whether it’s give 100% on the game field or practice. His work ethic I don’t think will be a problem. He loves to play ball and will do what it takes to succeed.
As for his arm length you could be a little nervous, but Ingram also posses great hand speed. This will definitely help on the pass rush to keep opposing linemen’s hands off him. Besides that this has proven to be a speed game now more then power, and while power is still a major plus Ingram posses speed to get around the outside corner.
Overall with everything in front of me I could give this pick a solid A grade. Melvin posses the skill and ability to be a big time impact player in this league, he just needs to learn and apply it in this level. With the opportunity to learn from Philips, Johnson, and Barnes he can have a major impact. What I also like about this pick is that you can use him in different scenarios and teams will look at him as a threat wherever he is. He could be a decoy or the threat which is a HUGE plus. A perfect example is the 70 yard fake punt touchdown against the Bulldogs. Ingram burned everyone and took it to the house.
With day one of my draft recap complete we did great. We addressed pass rush, defense, and attitude all in one. Not to mention draft a very entertaining player to watch, I mean how many players have a handshake with the commish? Make no mistake about it though; this T-Rex is also a man eater the AFC West should most definitely fear.