Christian Sam R6 #178 ILB Arizona State

ZMart100

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Christian Sam ILB from Arizona State pick #178

Combine:
6'2", 244 lbs, 31 1/2" arms, 10" hands
4.75 40, 28 bench press reps, 32" vertical, 114" broad jump, 7.03 3 cone, 4.25 short shuttle

NFL.com
Sam is an inside linebacker who has the ability to swing over to a WILL spot if needed. He absolutely "looks the part" and he's got the play strength necessary for handling inside linebacker duties. Scouts have questions about his overall football character and his play speed is a little below the NFL norm for the position. Sam's athletic numbers were average at the Combine, but they look good enough on tape. His timed speed could cause him to drop a round or even two, but he has enough talent to become a solid NFL backup who can step into starting reps if needed.
CBSsports.com
Somewhat speedy run-and-chase linebacker who possesses the strength to deliver a big pop upon impact. Lacking in coverage despite his athletic talents. Best as free-roaming run-stopper.
'17 vs UCLA

'17 vs Oregon

'17 vs Texas Tech
 

SMU_Sox

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I actually really like Christian Sam and think he has more upside then the average 6th round pick. Kyle Crabbs has talked about him before on his podcast,

LB Christian Sam is a likable prospect to play in either an odd or even front. A plus athlete with the potential to return to a more dynamic form, Sam has a high ceiling and could be a quality starter if able to become more disciplined with his eyes to take him to the football.
Kyle felt that Sam's play in 2017 was impacted by his 2016 injury and he is someone with 1-2 years of development time could be a 3 down LB and someone who can defend against the run or pass. I scouted him as well - I think he just needs more time to speed up his game. He's a plus athlete. Put him back into the development slow cooker and coach this guy up.
 

EL Jeffe

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I did a little bit of a deep dive on Sam because Loyko was really high on him, and Loyko is really good at evaluating Patriots fits. I watched three complete 2017 tapes (UCLA, Washington and Oregon) to get a better feel for his skills. Here's what I saw:

Pros: Like the NFL.com write-up states, he really does look the part physically. He's not one of those guys who played at 220 and then bulked up for the combine / pro day / visit cycle. His 244lb. weigh-in looks pretty close to his playing weight. The high school DB background showed, as Sam looked comfortable with his drops and playing in space. Good awareness in zone coverage. He's an effective tackler, but not a heavy, violent striker. When kept clean, he was able to make in-the-box plays in the running game. ASU moved him around between WILL and MIKE, and at times lined him up on the edge as a blitzer.

Cons: Lacks any high-end traits. Not long/strong enough to hold-off OL; got engulfed and taken out of the play whenever an OC/OG got to the 2nd level. As a result, I can't see him playing MIKE at the NFL level and will probably have to play WILL (Caserio indicated as much in the post-draft press conference). As a WILL, lacks the speed & explosiveness to "run & chase." Ran a 4.75 40 which to me reflected his play speed. Really struggled getting to the perimeter on stretch/RPO concepts. Doesn't close ground quickly. Motor was just okay. Ineffective blitzer; lost 1-on-1 battles vs. RBs.

Bottom Line: Good, productive college linebacker who does most things adequately but nothing that jumps out. His run/coverage versatility helps and if he can handle special teams, has value on an NFL roster. Only caveat is a foot injury that wiped out his 2016 season; it's possible that impacted his explosiveness and that could be something that rebounds in time (I didn't watch any of his 2015 games to get a point of reference pre/post foot injury athleticism). Good value for 6th round but I don't project more than a reserve role from him.
 

Super Nomario

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Only caveat is a foot injury that wiped out his 2016 season; it's possible that impacted his explosiveness and that could be something that rebounds in time (I didn't watch any of his 2015 games to get a point of reference pre/post foot injury athleticism). Good value for 6th round but I don't project more than a reserve role from him.
I haven't watched Sam but some of the writeups I read suggested that he looked a lot more athletic in 2015 than in 2017, so it is probably worth checking out.

EDIT: Also @SMU_Sox said the same thing above. I'm an idiot.
 

SMU_Sox

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Fun fact that probably no one but me cares about but Christian Sam played football for Allen, Texas. I currently live in Allen, Texas. They've won the state championship a lot recently, 5 times in the past 10 or so years. They invested in a massive new stadium and then couldn't open it because of engineering mistakes. My son plays defensive tackle for Allen.
 

SMU_Sox

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I haven't watched Sam but some of the writeups I read suggested that he looked a lot more athletic in 2015 than in 2017, so it is probably worth checking out.

EDIT: Also @SMU_Sox said the same thing above. I'm an idiot.
Quick question for you... does ITP have the ability to look at Sam's 2015 film? I think given the lack of options on youtube you'd have to look at ASU's 2015 games and find him manually. I tried to look at his 2015 tape pre-draft myself but came up empty. Just seeing where people get their videos to scout.
 

Super Nomario

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Quick question for you... does ITP have the ability to look at Sam's 2015 film? I think given the lack of options on youtube you'd have to look at ASU's 2015 games and find him manually. I tried to look at his 2015 tape pre-draft myself but came up empty. Just seeing where people get their videos to scout.
I'll ask the scout who worked on that one. A lot of times people do end up going to full games. Sometimes you can find a cutup of another prospect on that team, or another prospect against that team (like this one of Josh Rosen against Arizona State in 2015). Then you might only get a subsection (in this case, not many run plays) and you have to be eagle-eyed about who's who on the field (you can't always read the numbers).
 

SMU_Sox

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Not much more to add but Sam played special teams every year at ASU. I like how both Berrios and Sam offer that to help them stick on the roster (as Super Nomario mentioned).
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Its worth noting that Sam's combine performance stacks up pretty well against that of Rashaan Evans, who the Patriots missed out on in the first round to the dismay of many. Each was better in one of the jumps, each better in one of the agility runs. Sam ran a 4.75 40 and Evans refused to run the 40 (at both the combine and his pro day), suggesting he wouldn't have run much faster (if at all).

Its damn hard to find 250 pound linebackers who can run a 4.5, especially if you're not picking in the top half of the first round.
 

bakahump

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I am not saying its not important.

But what does .25 of a second equate to in a 20x20 box? IOW the difference between a stud and a 5th rounder.

I am not good with the math, but i am quick with the Google.

Is this right?
Yards per second:
4.0 = 10
4.1 = 9.8
4.2 = 9.5
4.3 = 9.3
4.4 = 9.1
4.5 = 8.9
4.6 = 8.7
4.7 = 8.5
4.8 = 8.3
4.9 = 8.2
5 = 8

A guy that runs a 4.4 will add roughly .9 yards (2.7 feet) over a guy that runs a 4.9 every second. A guy that runs a 4.5 will add a yard every five seconds over a guy running a 4.6


So about .5 Yards per second. Which seems significant. I mean a running play can take 6-8 seconds. But it also not accounting for the fact that the LB can take an angle as opposed to this being a linear race.
So would this seem to indicate that a 4.75 guy will tackle a RB 1-2 yards further along his path then a 4.5 guy?

Might BB be fine with that as long as a tackle is made at that initial point? Its the slow guys who miss the tackle when they get there that hurts you. Badmosi vs Hightower if you will.

Obviously in passing situations speed is even more important as a 1-2 yard separation can lead to an easy completion in many cases.