NFL GridIron Gab Daily Digest

Anthony Costanzo, LT, Boston College, 6′7 295

Position Ranking: #2


Strengths: Costanzo is a high effort player who consistently shows good overall technique. Has sound fundamentals, well coached, and uses technique to gain leverage on opponents in the run game. Works to get inside hand placement and plays with consistent knee bend, playing balanced and disciplined. Ideal height and arm length for the position. He will extend arms at the snap and jolt oppenent with heavy hands. Puts himself in proper position to handle outside speed rush; good initial kick out in release to get depth in his pass protection. Shows enough quickness to consistently get to the second level and neutralize linebackers and safeties. Can pull and trap effectively to open running lanes inside with above-adequate quickness. Has enough foot quickness to re-direct on double moves in pass protection. Tough. Plays to the whistle. Good lateral quickness to angle block. Consistently plays over his pads.

Needs Improvement: Athleticism is only above-adequate. Won’t be able to drive opponents off the line of scrimmage with the same consistency unless size and strength improve. Not extremely quick off the snap, can be buckled back against athetic opponents with a good combination of quickness and strength; may always have trouble with elite edge rushers. Shows some trouble handling a quick initial inside move which may lead to holding calls and a loss of leverage. Will have trouble adjusting quickly in space against some NFL linebackers. Size and bulk must improve to be elite.

Bottom Line: A four year starter at Boston College, Anthony Costanzo is a coach’s dream and won’t make many bad decisions along the offensive line. He’s smart and is quick to recognize what an opponent hopes to do against him; very aware of stunts and loops. Costanzo’s effort will never be questioned as he’s a high character player in this regard, but isn’t extremely physical, nor does he play with a mean streak. Overall strength and athleticism won’t allow him to be the dominant player he was at times during his career at Boston College, and must improve to become an elite tackle in the NFL. Foot quickness isn’t impressive, but neither a detriment to his overall game. I feel Costanzo’s commitment to sound technique, along with his football intelligence will allow him to grow into a quality starting left tackle in the NFL, but he may need to begin his career at right tackle. Anthony Costanzo is the most technique savvy tackle in this draft class and won’t be available long once the selections start.

Draft Projection: Mid 1st to early 2nd round.

Senior writer jclombardi reports QB Rodgers is a nominated FedEx Air Player of week.

Quarterback Rodgers of the Packers is a finalist for the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week honors for games played on December 23-28. Rogers completed 25 of 37 passes for 404 yards and four touchdowns in the Packers' 45 -17 win over the New York Giants. Fans can vote for their great quarterback on NFL.com/FedEx from 9 a.m. EST on Tuesday through noon EST on Friday to determine the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week. The winners will be announced Friday evening on NFL.com. As part of the program, FedEx continues its support of Safe Kids USA by making weekly $2,000 donations in each of the winning players' names. The funding, allocated to local Safe Kids coalitions in that team's city, is used for pedestrian safety improvements throughout the year.

The Jaguars already need help to win the AFC South Sunday, but their chances of beating the Houston Texans in their regular season finale took a huge hit Wednesday as QB David Garrard will not play in the contest.

The team announced on its Twitter feed that Garrard will miss the road game with a finger injury. The 32-year-old will have surgery on his right middle finger on Thursday.

“I think (Garrard) initially banged it in the Indianapolis game (on December 19th) and then banged it again this past week,” said Jacksonville head coach Jack Del Rio. “He’s got some disruption in there that’s going to require surgery to fix.”

Trent Edwards will likely be under center for the Jags. Garrard sat out Jacksonville’s Week 7 loss at Kansas City after suffering a concussion against Tennessee on October 18th.

He has thrown for 2,734 yards with 23 touchdowns and 15 interceptions through 14 games this season. The Jaguars need to beat the Texans and Indianapolis to lose to the Titans to secure a playoff spot.

It will be interesting to see how Brett Favre explains to his wife about the $50,000 fine he was hit with today over the case of having to send pics of his privates to former Jets game-day hostess Jenn Sterger.

The league didn’t suspend Favre, but instead took the stance of fining him for a "failure to cooperate" with the investigation into the allegations he sent inappropriate messages and lewd photos.

The league said Commissioner Roger Goodell "could not conclude" that Favre violated the league's personal conduct policy based on the evidence currently available to him. This despite the fact that Favre basically admitted he sent the messages.

"The forensic analysis could not establish that Favre sent the objectionable photographs to Sterger," the statement said. "The review found no evidence to contradict the statements of both Favre and Sterger that they never met in person, nor was there anything to suggest that Sterger engaged in any inappropriate conduct."

Goodell determined Favre was "not candid in several respects during the investigation resulting in a longer review and additional negative public attention for Favre, Sterger and the NFL," the statement said. The league's investigation began in October and the fine was announced Wednesday.

The NFL also reviewed media reports that Favre pursued two massage therapists who worked at the Jets' facility in 2008, when Favre played for the team. But the league said that claim could not be substantiated because people with "potentially relevant information" declined to be interviewed or cooperate with investigators.

Sterger’s lawyer rleased a statement saying, “While I am not privy to how Mr. Goodell reached such a finding, we strongly disagree with his conclusion that there was insufficient evidence to support a violation of the policy.”

DeMarco Murray, RB, Oklahoma 6′1 207

Position Ranking: #2

Strengths: A very good athlete with dynamic qualities; gamebreaking ability. Solid and muscular build with even distribution in both upper and lower body. Very good speed to get to the perimeter on stretch runs and shows a second gear once he turns upfield. Impressive short area burst/quickness for his size. Decisive to the line of scrimmage and won’t hesitate to hit the crease between the tackles. Light on his feet, balanced, and can stop and start momentum on a dime. Runs with good pad level and works to fall forward when finishing his runs. Consistently slips linebackers in space and is sharp in and out of cuts. Patient and waits for blocks to develop. Soft hands in the passing game and was as much a receiver as a running back for Oklahoma. All-purpose player who was asked to return kicks, play tailback, and run passing routes. Has improved his route running year to year and was one of teams most reliable receivers; over 150 receptions. Alert and physical in pass protection. Runs a 4.42 40 yard dash.

Needs Improvement: Running strength is only adequate for his size; often goes down on square contact. More of a finesse runner and will bounce left to right when straight ahead will get positive yards. Doesn’t always work to move the pile and lacks the overall strength in lower body to do so consisistently. Has only missed a handful of games in four year career but always seems to be playing with nagging injuries. Downfield vision.

Bottom Line: DeMarco Murray has the ideal combination of size and athletic ability for the running back position at the NFL level. He was given plenty of responsibility at Oklahoma during his time there and improved in every area of his game year to year. His gamebreaking ability wasn’t always on display game to game however, and I believe this had to do with his heavy workload as an all-purpose player.

Murray will need to develop a more physical mindset at the next level and work to add functional strength, especially in the lower body, as he won’t have the wide open running lanes he did in college. Vision could also improve as he didn’t always seem to anticipate blocking downfield and find the second level cutback lanes. Overall, his versatility will be a huge asset to teams and the argument can be made that Murray is as good a receiver as he is a running back. His constant bout with nagging injuries is a slight concern and will need to be looked at closely by teams. As long as he stays healthy, Murray should continue to be a productive player at the next level.

Draft Projection: 1st round.