Chris Cooley praised the Commanders’ selection of Johnny Newton, but also offered a few concerns.
Not to be overlooked, Sheehan proposed that other teams possibly knew of Newton’s injury and that the Commanders did not. Newton fell into the second round, and Commanders GM Adam Peters was in disbelief Newton was still available at No. 36, where Peters selected him.
Here are a few selected quotes from Cooley’s review:
“He is a consistently productive guy,” Cooley said. “Four blocked kicks at Illinois. I love a dude that can block kicks! There is a knack to it.”
“He is a compact 6’2″, 304 pounds…He is not thin.”
“First team All-American. He wrecked Maryland; he wrecked Wisconsin. He can wreck a game. There is no doubt about it; he can play in the backfield.”
“He will come off the ball, quick twitch, and he can transition from speed to power. He can play inside; he can play nose. Quick hands, quick feet. When you are playing against Johnny Newton on the other side of the ball, you are worried he is going to beat you right now.”
“His hand-fighting is excellent. He will battle through that and get off of stuff.”
“I think when he wants to, he can crash back-side run plays really well.”
“He has great pass-rush moves; his high end is really high end.”
“I think the number one negative I see is he picks and chooses. There are times you can write L-A-Z-Y…It’s not that he can’t run down the line of scrimmage. It’s not that he can’t chase the ball carrier. It’s not that he doesn’t do that. He just picks and chooses.”
“He’s a guy you want to make sure is always going; you got to make sure he is always rolling or have him out.”
“His pad level is not very good. He plays upright; he plays high.”
“He plays around blocks as well, which you can’t get away with in the NFL.”
“Honestly, I think he is a great pick. He is going to be around a couple of defensive tackles (Jonathan Allen, Daron Payne) who will not accept anything but “go” all the time. I think it will be a really good fit for him.”
“There are a couple of concerns, but so much positive to him, so much upside to him.”