forums

Why did Damien Martinez drop in the draft?

Advertisement
He was always ranked in the top 25 or so of RB's coming out.
There were 9 guys drafted in Rounds 6 and 7. Overall I think he was the 22nd RB drafted.

What am I saying? His talent level was readily available in the later rounds.

I loved Damien.
He was a very good back for us in the second half of the season and I hope he has a nice career in the pros.
 
He was clearly good and capable back and certainly talented enough to be a feature back on another team. But our offense sometimes just didn't give him the football. Overall he had a good Jarrett Peyton level season statistically.

When your stars don't get to shine they're not going to be first rounders usually
 
Maybe he's got too much Eddie Lacy..
I don't think it's about what the specific weight is. It's more than he can in out of shape in his junior season. So that's something the teams are going to have to deal with.
 
miamimike305 said:
Exactly. I still get flack til this day when i tell people that the best RB on the roster was a freshman last year. And that we also need another RB bc Mark Fletcher shouldn't be #2.
Click to expand...
You get flack because you’re wrong.

Can Lyle turn out to be better than Martinez? Absolutely and I hope that he will be.

Was he better than Martinez last year? Absolutely not.
 
Ironmanfootball said:
He showed up for his audition out of shape. It took him months to have any spark. You think the NFL wanted to see that happen again on a guy with no 'stand out' traits?
Click to expand...

I look at it different - IMO he showed up to his audition in shape - 226 Senior Bowl & 217 Combine.

But it didn't match his 230 lb. playing weight.

And his production power, tackle breaking were absolutely stand out traits - combined with good athleticism (although it was at 217)

4 Miami RB's have ever had 1,000 yds - 6+ YPC - 10+ TD's in a single season:

2024 Damien Martinez
2014 Duke Johnson
2002 Willis McGahee
1997 Edgerrin James

This was a special talent....and he was only a 7th RD draft pick. It's confusing.
 
Advertisement
bshaw28 said:
I look at it different - IMO he showed up to his audition in shape - 226 Senior Bowl & 217 Combine.

But it didn't match his 230 lb. playing weight.

And his production power, tackle breaking were absolutely stand out traits - combined with good athleticism (although it was at 217)

4 Miami RB's have ever had 1,000 yds - 6+ YPC - 10+ TD's in a single season:

2024 Damien Martinez
2014 Duke Johnson
2002 Willis McGahee
1997 Edgerrin James

This was a special talent....and he was only a 7th RD draft pick. It's confusing.
Click to expand...
It is a huge head scratcher and it is probably a combination of what you said and possible other off-field issues. Who knows but he is absolutely the best RB we’ve seen here in a while.
 
bshaw28 said:
I'm a huge Damien Martinez fan. IMO in the "Best RB since Duke Johnson" debate, Martinez is the answer.

I'm still confused as to why he dropped so far in the draft - and my best guess is weight issues.

Who knows if this really affected his draft position. But if I were a scout, and a RB was fluctuating 20-25 lbs. (241 - 217) I'd want some answers as to why.

I hadn't seen his weight discussed much, and I had been posting there was weird stuff going on, so here it is.

241/232
241 is what he was reported to weigh at Oregon St. 232 is what he was listed at on Oregon St.'s roster.

238/230
238 is what he was reported to weigh when he came to Miami. 230 is what he was listed at on Miami's roster.

The announcer during the Iowa St bowl game said this (which has been overlooked - I think because they said it right after his 75 yd run):

"Aaron Feld strength coach for Miami said when he showed up he was like a potato. That's what he called him. Said he dropped about 12 pounds the first quarter of the season, got a little bit lighter, and that speed has shown up specifically in the last half of the season."

"That's a great point because Mark Fletcher was the guy that has some of that burst in the run game. Damien was slow getting going, but knocking off those pounds he looked like a different guy"

241/226
241 was his "verified" weight coming into the Senior Bowl. 226 was his weight at the Senior Bowl.

This is where it gets weird because (see tweet below) Martinez claimed he always played at 226. Which doesn't seem true. I think his team tried to control the narrative on his weight and it backfired.

217
217 was his weight at the NFL Combine. I still don't understand why he shed so much weight. If it was to run a faster 40, great, but his 40 time at 217 is kind of irrelevant if he plays at 230. If he told teams that was more his normal eight or what he plans at playing at, then his film as a 230 thumper is now kind of irrelevant.


Click to expand...

Deep draft nothing crazy
 
He has very good vision and our offense didn’t showcase him. In a different offense, say a Coker or Steven’s offense, he doubles his receptions, stays one more year and goes 2nd round worst case scenario.

Hate to say it, but we just had too many quality tools to go to last year on offense and utilizing a RB like Edge, Highsmith or Gary were, isn’t Dawsons style.

I see him as a potential Ekeler type with enough receiving reps. Just my opinion.
 
Calinative said:
Maybe he's got too much Eddie Lacy..
I don't think it's about what the specific weight is. It's more than he can in out of shape in his junior season. So that's something the teams are going to have to deal with.
Click to expand...
Just based on seeing him, this is what I'd go with. I didn't think he was in great shape. I think he's likely a guy that if he's not lifting, training, playing, etc. might be inclined to gain some weight. Maybe that's why he improved as season wore on and he got in better and better shape? We think all athletes are supernatural but some struggle with weight loss as much as average Joe. Still shoulda gone higher though.
 
bshaw28 said:
I look at it different - IMO he showed up to his audition in shape - 226 Senior Bowl & 217 Combine.

But it didn't match his 230 lb. playing weight.

And his production power, tackle breaking were absolutely stand out traits - combined with good athleticism (although it was at 217)

4 Miami RB's have ever had 1,000 yds - 6+ YPC - 10+ TD's in a single season:

2024 Damien Martinez
2014 Duke Johnson
2002 Willis McGahee
1997 Edgerrin James

This was a special talent....and he was only a 7th RD draft pick. It's confusing.
Click to expand...
I meant to Miami. He had a nice 6m off of training and Corvallis has nothing to do but drink. He had fun.
 
I thought he should’ve went sooner. But I do think it was a combination of deep draft and then being a bruising physical back that showed up @ 217.
 
Advertisement
Unless they think you’re AP or Saquan level, the RBs all get lumped into a huge group of very good, but not great. Pretty much a crapshoot as to who goes where after you get past the first 2 or 3 RBs.
 
As others have said, it was an unusually deep RB draft. Martinez isn’t a great receiver and isn’t dynamic, so he got lumped in with other good runners.

All I know is he was great for the Miami Hurricanes. His power was a difference-maker against college defenders. I think he can be a good pro in the Gus Edwards mold.
 
Calinative said:
Maybe he's got too much Eddie Lacy..
I don't think it's about what the specific weight is. It's more than he can in out of shape in his junior season. So that's something the teams are going to have to deal with.
Click to expand...
IMG_0743.jpeg
 
Back
Top