Joe Mixon Thread: 4 Year extension in Cincy

[knuckles50]

I've been watching tape recently and if you just look at what is happening in games I rank the top rbs as Mixon, Cook, Fournette, then McCaffery. Now I know Mixon won't be the 1.1 since he has huge character concerns, but what if he didn't?

[ZPalmtree]

Do Cook's off the field issues concern you?

[nathanq42]

I'd take him 1.1 even with them... Not saying it was right, but he was 18 years old, and it was 3 years ago. But his pro days says more athletic than Cook, and arguably better than fournette. His tape says he is a better overall running back than Cook and fournette. Only thing that'd stop me from taking Mixon is of he didn't get drafted, but he is going first round, maybe second.

[kasermap]

Mixon is the 1.1 for me and that is where I will be taking him. I'm not sure why his off the field issues are a huge concern, it was one mistake 3 years ago when he was 18.

[osubuckeyeman]

I think if you are willing to take him at the 1.5 then you should be willing to take him at the 1.1.

[DrNoish]

I traded to 1.05 for Mixon and that's pretty much out the window now. If I could get the 1.1 I'd take him. Unfortunately the guy wants the 1.05+Hopkins to do it and he hold 1.1 and 1.2, so I'll be settling for what falls

[nathanq42]

I traded to 1.05 for Mixon and that's pretty much out the window now. If I could get the 1.1 I'd take him. Unfortunately the guy wants the 1.05+Hopkins to do it and he hold 1.1 and 1.2, so I'll be settling for what falls

Probably cook/Davis/williams

[Troyte83]

I am on board with Mixon as a talent, but the draft will be a big indicator of where he falls in rookie drafts. If he falls to the third round on a team with an already established starter it would be hard to take him 1.1. Now if he goes late first to a playoff caliber team needing a rb, then choo choo ! Jump on that train!

[Harper46]

I'm definitely willing to take him 1.1.

As mentioned above he was an 18 year old who made a huge mistake but seems to be genuine in his admission of his guilt and taking responsibility for his actions, it's not like the Tyreek Hill situation. All the things that are said about him are of a positive nature bar this one horrendous incident. On field best player in this draft imo.

[OhCruelestRanter]

I think if you are willing to take him at the 1.5 then you should be willing to take him at the 1.1.

I think this is pretty astute.

[Vcize]

Now I know Mixon won't be the 1.1 since he has huge character concerns, but what if he didn't?

I think for one thing we'd at least be discussing his concerns as an actual player.

That's not to say that he has a lot of them but I think we fall into this trap when a guy has off the field or injury concerns where we just kind of ignore everything else and fall into the mindset of "well obviously he's the perfect player, but let's talk about that off the field stuff".

We saw it a few years ago with Jameis Winston (not that it worked out poorly), and then again last year with Sam Bradford where people spent so much time discussing Bradford's injury concerns that they kind of forgot that he just wasn't really a very good quarterback.

Again, not equating that to Mixon, but I'd be interested in some serious discussion about Mixon as a player and what his faults are there, and where he excels. It seems like every discussion about Mixon breaks down to either talk about the incident or gushing about how people are going to ignore the incident because he's so perfect. I highly doubt there would be such a unanimous ignoring of any discussion of on the field faults if there weren't the off the field faults to distract us.

[DrNoish]

I traded to 1.05 for Mixon and that's pretty much out the window now. If I could get the 1.1 I'd take him. Unfortunately the guy wants the 1.05+Hopkins to do it and he hold 1.1 and 1.2, so I'll be settling for what falls

Probably cook/Davis/williams

I'd very happily take Cook. Less happy, but still feel good with Davis/Williams. Team two in sig, so obviously RB is a major concern, and teams know it so nobody will trade me guys without demanding major payouts. Unless landing spot horror I liked Cook above Fournette anyways, obviously pre-combine, but I'm not overly combine ranking.

I also agree with much of the above post above except when it comes to the QB's. They both looked good, and I still like Bradford as a talent. It not working doesn't dissuade me as much with Bradford, I just think he's that potential high talent that got screwed in the draft. He hasn't and probably still won't be that QB that landed in the good spot with mediocre or better coaching. He has a shot in Minnesota to show it this year, but the original Rams taste is stuck in people's mouth. One year in Philly people spout but then give passes to other players. I just feel like he drew the short stick and it's a bummer we'll never know his potential. He's my younger Josh McCown, except I like Bradford. Anyways... I digress via wine...

Continue..

[Friction]

I have not seen this mentioned once in all the Mixon threads either, but I am pretty sure he was the number two rb coming out of high school, behind Fournette. I might be remembering it wrong, but he was definitely near the top, if not second. Obviously, what happened, happened and Samaje went on a freshman tear out of nowhere, including the single game rushing record. I don't think I will pull the trigger at 1.01 on him in the league I have it, but may go 1.02 in a different league. I still think Leonard has the best chance of being the next elite back, but it's really coming down to the draft now, regardless. And man is Mixon going to be a ppr beast. He is really dynamic in that way.

[psfox2010]

I have the 1.01 and I will be taking Mixon with the pick. Watching tape to me it's obvious who the top RB is.

[IBall2]

Besides the standard "Character Issues" I think Mixon still needs to work on a few things. Full disclosure, I do own Mixon in the 1 league I've already drafted rookies so I am a fan, but I haven't heard many people talk about the negatives besides the character issue.

His running skills inside the tackles seems average to me. When he has a big hole he can hit it and get big gains with his speed, at times it looks like he might be waiting to long for a homerun while behind the line of scrimmage. His athleticism against NCAA talent allowed him to sit behind the line of scrimmage and survey the field a lot without hitting a hole right away (similar to Bell) but I have no idea how hard/easy that run style is to transfer over to the NFL against far superior talent. Here's an example https://youtu.be/CQor_C1-5X0?t=169 and here's another example of a similar play https://youtu.be/CQor_C1-5X0?t=235

I've also seen a few times on draftbreakdown where he will lower his head to initiate contact and goes down (sometimes with barely getting hit), where he could have bounced around the defender and picked up more yards if he would have kept his head up. Example https://youtu.be/B9l2nh6NQ1Y?t=186 , cant find any others for some reason but I'm sure I saw it multiple times.

I've noticed he gets pushed back into the QB during pass blocking sometimes but that seems pretty standard from RBs entering the NFL and some can fix that issue, some can't. Here's an example https://youtu.be/CQor_C1-5X0?t=157 and another example https://youtu.be/B9l2nh6NQ1Y?t=121 But I've also seen times where he has some great blocking in pass protection like this one https://youtu.be/uEBg7OMnRHc?t=82

All that being said, these are relatively minor things that can be corrected with some coaching and I'd still take him top 2 in a rookie draft if he gets drafted in the top 3 rounds of the NFL.