Arden Key-DE/OLB-LSU

It seems to be an unpopular position, but the more I watch his highlights (not actual game footage, I don't have the time), he has "it". He has the pass rushing killer instinct that our defense needs. We get killed too much on 3rd and 8+.

For me:

1. Chubb - probably gone unless we trade up
2. Nelson - insure our new FQB
3. Harold
4. Key

Each of those players immediately shifts one of our weaknesses into strengths. A lot will ride on FA and other desperate teams. Oh how good it is to not be desperate

Originally posted by NinerBuff:

It seems to be an unpopular position, but the more I watch his highlights (not actual game footage, I don't have the time), he has "it". He has the pass rushing killer instinct that our defense needs. We get killed too much on 3rd and 8+.

For me:

1. Chubb - probably gone unless we trade up
2. Nelson - insure our new FQB
3. Harold
4. Key

Each of those players immediately shifts one of our weaknesses into strengths. A lot will ride on FA and other desperate teams. Oh how good it is to not be desperate

...watch the actual games and your opinion will change. Add all the weird off the field stuff with him and he's got a giant red flag on him. It's possible once hes drafted he's a model citizen and not lazy...possible but I don't wanna find out here.

Originally posted by NinerBuff:
It seems to be an unpopular position, but the more I watch his highlights (not actual game footage, I don't have the time), he has "it". He has the pass rushing killer instinct that our defense needs. We get killed too much on 3rd and 8+.

For me:

1. Chubb - probably gone unless we trade up
2. Nelson - insure our new FQB
3. Harold
4. Key

Each of those players immediately shifts one of our weaknesses into strengths. A lot will ride on FA and other desperate teams. Oh how good it is to not be desperate

NO DOUBT, his highlight video is f**king sweet.

Originally posted by genus49:

Originally posted by NinerBuff:
It seems to be an unpopular position, but the more I watch his highlights (not actual game footage, I don't have the time), he has "it". He has the pass rushing killer instinct that our defense needs. We get killed too much on 3rd and 8+.

For me:

1. Chubb - probably gone unless we trade up
2. Nelson - insure our new FQB
3. Harold
4. Key

Each of those players immediately shifts one of our weaknesses into strengths. A lot will ride on FA and other desperate teams. Oh how good it is to not be desperate

...watch the actual games and your opinion will change. Add all the weird off the field stuff with him and he's got a giant red flag on him. It's possible once hes drafted he's a model citizen and not lazy...possible but I don't wanna find out here.

Fair enough, and I may just be late to the party. But I do find it at least interesting that all the draft "experts" see him as a top-10 pick, except for NinerTalk, where he may or may not be worth a 1st round pick.

I've seen comparisons to Bruce Irvine, Vic Beasley, and one draft guy compared him to Jason Taylor.

Again, I may be off base, but I'm trying to get disparate opinions because I won't be doing a full assessment myself.

Originally posted by NinerBuff:

Fair enough, and I may just be late to the party. But I do find it at least interesting that all the draft "experts" see him as a top-10 pick, except for NinerTalk, where he may or may not be worth a 1st round pick.

I've seen comparisons to Bruce Irvine, Vic Beasley, and one draft guy compared him to Jason Taylor.

Again, I may be off base, but I'm trying to get disparate opinions because I won't be doing a full assessment myself.

His talent is legit. We've all seen big talent players fail due to laziness or off the field stuff.

Again, a lot of his evaluations thus far are from last year's tape and projection on the type of player they thought he would develop into this year. He did not live up to expectation.

Originally posted by Heroism:

Originally posted by NinerBuff:
It seems to be an unpopular position, but the more I watch his highlights (not actual game footage, I don't have the time), he has "it". He has the pass rushing killer instinct that our defense needs. We get killed too much on 3rd and 8+.

For me:

1. Chubb - probably gone unless we trade up
2. Nelson - insure our new FQB
3. Harold
4. Key

Each of those players immediately shifts one of our weaknesses into strengths. A lot will ride on FA and other desperate teams. Oh how good it is to not be desperate

NO DOUBT, his highlight video is f**king sweet.

Not that impressive. 80% of that video is him running around unblocked. A couple nice speed rushes not even a hint of any counter-moves.

Originally posted by adrianlesnar:

Again, a lot of his evaluations thus far are from last year's tape and projection on the type of player they thought he would develop into this year. He did not live up to expectation.

He has been a big disappointment. His bust factor is way up there.

Got one.

Originally posted by Phoenix49ers:

Originally posted by adrianlesnar:

Again, a lot of his evaluations thus far are from last year's tape and projection on the type of player they thought he would develop into this year. He did not live up to expectation.

He has been a big disappointment. His bust factor is way up there.

Still a 1st round pick ? Or bc he has been such a disappointment he falls that far ?

I think he is a far better pass rushing prospect than Chubb, but he is such a liability in the run game it scares me. He is more explosive and fluid than Chubb and can consistently force the qb to move in the pocket, but he has trouble taking rb's down 1v1 and can't get off any blocks in the run game. If you gave him and Chubb the exact same scenarios throughout a game, Key would come away with more sacks but Chubb would have the all around numbers, i.e, tfl's, tackles, etc. Do people really see any of these pass rushers becoming all pro's or pro bowlers, because that's what we need to get with the top 10 pick.

Originally posted by jersey49er:

Still a 1st round pick ? Or bc he has been such a disappointment he falls that far ?

Still a first rounder IMO. Between 3rd and 5th pass rusher off the board.

Originally posted by NinerBuff:

Fair enough, and I may just be late to the party. But I do find it at least interesting that all the draft "experts" see him as a top-10 pick, except for NinerTalk, where he may or may not be worth a 1st round pick.

I've seen comparisons to Bruce Irvine, Vic Beasley, and one draft guy compared him to Jason Taylor.

Again, I may be off base, but I'm trying to get disparate opinions because I won't be doing a full assessment myself.

How many busts over the years have been rated Top 10 by those same experts? Mostly these guys are looking at a player's upside and disregarding character issues. In a vacuum, Key has Top 5 level talent. Looking at him overall, he rarely has played up to that potential.



This is a dude who quit the team in the spring and then showed up grossly overweight for the season. Just based on those factors alone I don't want this team to have anything to do with him.

Originally posted by NinerBuff:

Originally posted by genus49:

Originally posted by NinerBuff:

It seems to be an unpopular position, but the more I watch his highlights (not actual game footage, I don't have the time), he has "it". He has the pass rushing killer instinct that our defense needs. We get killed too much on 3rd and 8+.

For me:

1. Chubb - probably gone unless we trade up
2. Nelson - insure our new FQB
3. Harold
4. Key

Each of those players immediately shifts one of our weaknesses into strengths. A lot will ride on FA and other desperate teams. Oh how good it is to not be desperate

...watch the actual games and your opinion will change. Add all the weird off the field stuff with him and he's got a giant red flag on him. It's possible once hes drafted he's a model citizen and not lazy...possible but I don't wanna find out here.

Fair enough, and I may just be late to the party. But I do find it at least interesting that all the draft "experts" see him as a top-10 pick, except for NinerTalk, where he may or may not be worth a 1st round pick.

I've seen comparisons to Bruce Irvine, Vic Beasley, and one draft guy compared him to Jason Taylor.

Again, I may be off base, but I'm trying to get disparate opinions because I won't be doing a full assessment myself.

For what it's worth matt miller doesn't have him in his top 32 draft board

Arden Key scares me as I see shades of Aldon Smith both good and bad (off the field issues).