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Henry To’oTo’o

TheRealJoker said:
DeMeco was the superior prospect coming out. SEC Defensive player of the year his final year in college and All American. He was also about 10 lbs bigger.

In the underwear olympics he ran slightly slower than To’o To’o (4.67 vs 4.62) but was more more explosive in vertical (39” vs 32”) and broad jump (10’9” vs 9’8”). DeMeco’s vertical would have been 1st at this year’s combine among LBs and broad jump would have tied for 1st.

DeMeco’s 20 yd shuttle of 4.17 would have ranked 1st among LBs at this year’s combine as well. To’o To’o ran 4.40.

None of this is meant to tear down To’o To’o, but just to remind people just how good a prospect DeMeco was and why he immediately became a factor in the NFL (DROY).


I did not realize DeMeco had tiny hands (8.63”) and arms were smaller (31.38”). To’o To’o has much larger hands (10.25”) and arms (32.25”) which will help with block deconstruction. I have written about here in the past about the success rates of LBs and arm length. The number of LBs with sub 32” arm length that have successful NFL careers is quite small. DeMeco is an anomaly in this regard.

DeMeco Ryans | Combine Results | OLB - Alabama

NFL Scouting Combine and Pro Day scores, percentiles and metrics for DeMeco Ryans, OLB, Alabama.
nflcombineresults.com nflcombineresults.com

2023 Draft Scout Henry Too Too - ILB - Alabama

2023 Draft Scout Henry Too Too - ILB - Alabama
draftscout.com
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I know all this but DeMeco fell to the second round because teams considered him too small and slow is what I was getting at
 
I like this pick. He is a converted WR if you can believe it. Still learning how to play LB. He is good with an assignment but not yet great with following his instinct on plays. However, while not flashy, he gets the job done as his assignment dictate. STs no question he will help with. At LB, not great at dropping into coverage. All things I think he will get better at as he learns the position better and with good coaching. Kid has a good ceiling and can help right now IMO. Just might take a year to fully grasp the position.
 
SnakeEyes said:
I like this pick. He is a converted WR if you can believe it. Still learning how to play LB. He is good with an assignment but not yet great with following his instinct on plays. However, while not flashy, he gets the job done as his assignment dictate. STs no question he will help with. At LB, not great at dropping into coverage. All things I think he will get better at as he learns the position better and with good coaching. Kid has a good ceiling and can help right now IMO. Just might take a year to fully grasp the position.
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And a helluva coach to do all that!
 
Henry is a good player with great IQ. He was rated #1 ILB by Lindys Draft guide magazine. A nice bonus seen in the video above is he is a good friend of Christian Harris and Will Anderson. They all should be familiar with the positives and negative traits of the others. Harris even said that he and Henry are very similar players. The main difference I see is Harris is faster than Henry is. Past that his ability is pretty much as good as Harris. And we all saw Harris come on strong once the injury was better. My personal opinion is he needs to get a little stronger and that will improve his overall play. At 6' 1 230lbs he probably can gain another 5 to 10lbs of muscle to make sure as the scouting report I posted above says "Can be knocked around by strong runners" a few more lbs of muscle should help that. This kid has been literally being conditioned by his father since about age 7. So with NFL conditioning he will improve. My only question is seeing he had a solid 2nd round grade, why did he last to the 5th. I did see a video that he seems to have a little Brady in him. He knows every single LB taken before he was and what team. He said he is dead set on making the other 31 teams regret passing on him. Brady was the same coming out of Michigan. Henry has a very strong work ethic and I am sure he will be lifting and working on everything that the team wants even after practice. Plus, very humble and coach able. Might very well do what he says and make many teams wish they had taken him. And making the Texans look good for snagging him

20230508_082619.jpg20230508_082625.jpg20230508_082635.jpg20230508_082749.jpg
 
JB said:
I know all this but DeMeco fell to the second round because teams considered him too small and slow is what I was getting at
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Did Ryans really fall, though? The 4 LBs that went ahead of DeMeco were OLBs. AJ Hawk did move to MLB in his 3rd year due to a knee injury to the Packers starting MLB. Ryans was the 1st true MLB off the board, the 2nd was D'Qwell Jackson one pick later. And Jackson was both smaller and slower than Ryans.
 
Lucky said:
Did Ryans really fall, though? The 4 LBs that went ahead of DeMeco were OLBs. AJ Hawk did move to MLB in his 3rd year due to a knee injury to the Packers starting MLB. Ryans was the 1st true MLB off the board, the 2nd was D'Qwell Jackson one pick later. And Jackson was both smaller and slower than Ryans.
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That was one of the first drafts I closely followed and I recall seeing a couple of mocks with Demeco in the first round, one mock had him as high as #10. I was ecstatic when he dropped to the 2nd round.
 
Lucky said:
Did Ryans really fall, though? The 4 LBs that went ahead of DeMeco were OLBs. AJ Hawk did move to MLB in his 3rd year due to a knee injury to the Packers starting MLB. Ryans was the 1st true MLB off the board, the 2nd was D'Qwell Jackson one pick later. And Jackson was both smaller and slower than Ryans.
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To my recollection, he was widely considered a first round talent
 
Lucky said:
He was the first pick in the 2nd. So it’s not like he went Tom Petty and free falling.
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never said he went free falling. It was a surprise he was there in the top of the 2nd
 
Lucky said:
Here was a 2006 mock from the day before the draft that had Ryans going #40 to the Lions.
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Forgive me for not trusting a Walter Football mock that had Winston Justice, Jimmy Williams, Sinorice Moss and Leonard Pope all going in the first round.
And here's another with him going #27 to the Panthers 2006 Mock

And as posted above by someone I respect that probably has a better memory

The Pencil Neck said:
That was one of the first drafts I closely followed and I recall seeing a couple of mocks with Demeco in the first round, one mock had him as high as #10. I was ecstatic when he dropped to the 2nd round.
Click to expand...
 
SnakeEyes said:
Henry is a good player with great IQ. He was rated #1 ILB by Lindys Draft guide magazine. A nice bonus seen in the video above is he is a good friend of Christian Harris and Will Anderson. They all should be familiar with the positives and negative traits of the others. Harris even said that he and Henry are very similar players. The main difference I see is Harris is faster than Henry is. Past that his ability is pretty much as good as Harris. And we all saw Harris come on strong once the injury was better. My personal opinion is he needs to get a little stronger and that will improve his overall play. At 6' 1 230lbs he probably can gain another 5 to 10lbs of muscle to make sure as the scouting report I posted above says "Can be knocked around by strong runners" a few more lbs of muscle should help that. This kid has been literally being conditioned by his father since about age 7. So with NFL conditioning he will improve. My only question is seeing he had a solid 2nd round grade, why did he last to the 5th. I did see a video that he seems to have a little Brady in him. He knows every single LB taken before he was and what team. He said he is dead set on making the other 31 teams regret passing on him. Brady was the same coming out of Michigan. Henry has a very strong work ethic and I am sure he will be lifting and working on everything that the team wants even after practice. Plus, very humble and coach able. Might very well do what he says and make many teams wish they had taken him. And making the Texans look good for snagging him

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Great post

Henry was a really good pick in the 5th. Very solid player. At best he could become a Dat Nguyen type starter level player.

At worst he will be a core ST's guy and solid backup LB. Well worth a 5th rd pick. IMHO
 
How’d he play? I found it hard to key into exactly what was going wrong on D yesterday. I guess it’s a tough spot to start your first NFL game given the injuries to the DBS behind him.
 
TheRealJoker said:
He was easily fooled by misdirection when Richardson was in at QB when I watched live. All the LBs were actually. Very undisciplined defense all around yesterday.
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I'm really disappointed in Ryans. This was supposed to be a strength of his.
 
It's a massive work in progress that's barely begun. We're 2 games in with all of 2 games worth of tape to identify concerns and to teach and improve upon.

If the same problems persist into weeks 6, 7, 8 etc then absolutely big questions need to be asked, but I'm willing to be at least a little patient with a mountain of a project like taking this defense from dumpster fire to respectable.
 
Henry has done well. I think DeMeco has helped immensely. But he is a limited athlete and that’s why White is getting more snaps. White is much more explosive and sudden and a better all around athlete. Ryans is in the middle of resurrecting White’s career and may be a valuable piece going forward. Not sure if he is signed beyond this year?

If Harris returns it will be interesting to see how snaps are distributed. Seems to me that if White is playing well, Harris might be the primary backup, and Henry is ST and only spot duty, Hansen might be odd man out and cut.

All in all, we are in a much better spot at LB than I had imagined coming into the year. DeMeco is a big reason why.
 
Porky said:
Ryans is in the middle of resurrecting White’s career and may be a valuable piece going forward. Not sure if he is signed beyond this year?
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White's contract currently expires after the end of this season.
 
Lucky said:
White's contract currently expires after the end of this season.
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Thanks Lucky. I’d like them to take a stab at signing him for 2025, and possibly beyond. I think he is well suited for an attacking upfield…play don’t think..type defense. And with Ryans as his mentor and DC…he could blossom here. He was an all-pro in Tampa. He’s got skill, and DeMeco will get his best imho.
 
Porky said:
Thanks Lucky. I’d like them to take a stab at signing him for 2025, and possibly beyond. I think he is well suited for an attacking upfield…play don’t think..type defense. And with Ryans as his mentor and DC…he could blossom here. He was an all-pro in Tampa. He’s got skill, and DeMeco will get his best imho.
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Optimistically, White will feel some sort of appreciation to Demeco and sign a friendly deal if he continues his progress.
 
I thought it was odd To'o To'o was wearing the green dot. I know Harris missed a few games, but I figured if he was going to play as much as he did, why didn't he wear the green dot?
 
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