Would you like to Senior-Size your Linebacker today?

Well the Senior Bowl practices have ended and as is the usual deal with these things, my impressions have changed almost 360 degrees from the week before.

Although as a whole I was more impressed by the small-school prospects in the East-West Shrine Game and practices, there were a couple of players this week who I never targeted that are now square in the cross-hairs.

First and foremost, the linebacker squad really went into a heady spin for me and came out looking much different than where I was at this time a week ago. I can't wait to see the game to see the linebackers and safeties going full speed and hitting people. But here are my end of practices impressions of who some of the top players were:

1. Linebacker Marcus Freeman was top notch at everything he was asked to do. He squared up on tackles, lowering his shoulders each time. During cover drills, he blanketed the receiver everytime, keeping one hand on him like a shutdown corner. He looked the part even at 6'1" 235lbs, he somehow looked bigger than that but moved much more fluidly than the competition.

2. Derrick Williams, WR. At 5'11", 197lbs, he's the spitting image of Ted Ginn, Jr, and doesn't fit into the Dolphins book, but he was the most impressive of all the WRs at the practices. Sharp routes, good hands, and decent speed. Brian Robiskie got a lot of press coverage but I was not impressed with his routes or hands, and though he is 6'2" 207 lbs, he looked wiry.

3. BJ Raji, DT. Don't know what to say other than he was just dominant and should be very impressive in the game. When all is said and done he will likely be a top ten pick.

4. Keenan Lewis, CB. This one is a head-shaker. He looked damn-impressive in practice with his 6'1" 198 lb frame being VERY physical at the line. Several times I noticed him walk right up to the WR, less than a yard away, then jump forward and shove the shite out of him after the snap. He would continue to be disruptive during the play. Essentially he completely took his guy out of the play. Sounds great right? Well, yeah in practice. In a game he's going to be called for pass interference, so it's a matter of if his field awareness is such as to lay off before the ball is in the air.

5. William Beatty, OT. This guy can start for us at RT right now. What else can I say?

6. Eric Wood, C. At 6'4", 305 lbs with 10 1/8" hands and a 33" reach, he has the body of a center, but what he showed during practices was an ability to stand up the DT. None of the other centers were able to do this on a consistent basis.

7. Kyle Moore, DE. The 'unknown' USC guy at the party, he possibly was the most impressive because he had the lowest expectations coming in. Since the media thinks of USC as New England-West, we can't escape all the hype. Moore had no hype coming in. The other USC guys were bland and uninspired with the possible exception of Matthews, and the occasional spark shown by Moala, who seemed to get worn down later on in practices. Moore looked like an NFL defensive end to me, possibly more than any other player there. At 6'5" 265lbs, he will most likely fit into a 4-3 DE role. His stock definitely improved.

Some stock down linebackers, just for food for thought:

Sintim and English looked essentially identical, and while both were good coming off the edge as DEs, they both looked absolutely horrible standing up. When asked to do cover drills they stuck out like sore thumbs. They are expected to be stand up LBs in the NFL, but right now they're both 'projects' at that position.

Maualuga is an enigma. During the college season, he looked like Ray Lewis junior, in constant attack mode with a great motor. In practices this week he looked like a couch potato got pulled out of the stands. Is it that he just let himself go during the off-time? Or is he that bad of a practicer? Pete Carrol, any comments?

Nic Harris should not have been converted. He really hurt his stock by moving up from the safety position. Don't these guys have agents? Why are they letting the Bengals coaching staff push them around?

And why are the Bengals and Jaguars the coaching staffs? How does that work?