NFL Trade Rumors
49ers director of player personnel Tariq Ahmad said he was most impressed by second-round DT Alfred Collins‘ explosiveness at the line of scrimmage.
“Alfred can get off blocks and cover a short area very quickly,” Ahmad said, via The Athletic’s Matt Barrows.
Ahmad has a connection with Texas OL coach Kyle Flood from their seven years together at Rutgers. Ahmad said the coach Collins would dominate practice while with the Longhorns.
“One of the things he kept telling me about Alfred was that Alfred destroys practice,” Ahmad said. “He’s the hardest guy that they had to block on the interior of the defensive line — getting off blocks, creating knockbacks.”
Although Collins has some stylistic differences from what they run in San Francisco, he’s confident the rookie’s length and power make him a capable player.
“He doesn’t attack like we attack,” Ahmad said. “But because of his length and his power, we feel we can get that out of him.”
Cardinals DC Nick Rallis highly praised first-round DT Walter Nolen, saying he’s proving to be “very coachable” in their offseason program.
“I knew he was gonna be the talent that we saw on tape, but I would say he’s very coachable, great to work with,” Rallis said, via CardsWire. “You see him take those coaching points immediately to the field, whether that’s an individual or when going against the offense. And I can tell he studies hard outside the building because he’s got things down pretty fast. So pretty impressive so far.”
Regarding second-year OLB Jared Verse, Rams DC Chris Shula said they aren’t trying to put any extra pressure on Verse to elevate his game after winning Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2024.
“It’s not really elevate,” Shula said via Stu Jackson of the team’s site. “And we were just talking about it this morning. We don’t want him to put any extra pressure on himself. Just like we talked about with (defensive end) Kobie Turner last year, you don’t gotta replace Aaron Donald, you don’t gotta do anything else, just be the best version of yourself.”
Regarding receiver and return specialist Britain Covey, ST coordinator Chase Blackburn thinks it was good to bring in competition this offseason.
“I think competition breeds success, so it’s a good thing for us,” Blackburn said.
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