** UDFA - Bengals sign HARDY NICKERSON, MLB **

[|BlackJesus|]

 

He may have the best chance of the FA's to make the 53 based on his NFL blood lines and how his dad played for Marvin.

[|BlackJesus|]

Hardy Nickerson 

6'0

232 lbs 

Analysis

Strengths

Always looking to play downhill. Is willing to take chances and shoot the gaps to make a play. Energetic and always plays as hard as he possibly can. Productive tackler, posting more than 100 tackles in each of his last two college seasons. Scrapes with square pads and good quickness. Has only allowed three broken tackles over his four years of football. Willing to fling himself into a gap and sacrifice his body against pulling guards and iso-blocking fullbacks. Father was one of the NFL's most menacing inside linebackers in his day.

Weaknesses

Struggles to disengage from big tight ends, and even wide receivers have had some success blocking him. Play strength must increase. Instincts are below average. Can be slow to read and react and will run himself out of his run fits more than he should. Herky-jerky and plays with excessive wasted motion post-snap. Takes inconsistent angles to the ball, which gets him beat in run game and in coverage. Submarines iso blocks on the edge of the run lane rather than the middle of the hole.

Sources Tell Us

"He may get a legacy grade from some teams based on his tackle production and his bloodlines, but I'm struggling to find consistent tape of him where he looks like an NFL linebacker." -- Regional scout for NFC team

Bottom Line

Nickerson is a try-hard WILL linebacker in a 4-3 defensive front who might lack the instincts and consistency to make an NFL team. While the tackle production is solid, third day (Rounds 4-7) draft pick and special teams performer could be his ceiling. Based off the tape, making an NFL roster could be difficult.

 

[|BlackJesus|]

Highlights 

 

 

[|BlackJesus|]

A Hardy throwback

Posted 23 hours ago

by Geoff Hobson 

 

The Hardy Nickersons: The Elder as a Buc in the '90s (left), The Younger with Illinois last year.

 

Marvin Lewis can now officially be called an NFL senior statesman and not because he convenes his 15^th rookie minicamp Friday as Bengals head coach.

 

It’s because one of the guys in that camp, undrafted Illinois linebacker Hardy Nickerson, is the son of a guy Lewis coached in his first season in the NFL as the Steelers linebackers coach. Lewis had Hardy Otto Nickerson for one season before he moved on in free agency, a vehicle he helped move as a plaintiff in the case that sued the NFL for free agency.

 

One of the most highly regarded players of his era on and off the field, Nickerson’s impact on Lewis helped form a coach. The 1998 winner of the Whizzer White Award as the NFL’s Man of the Year. A member of the All-Decade team for the ‘90s. He also may be the only man to play for both Marvin Lewis and Sam Wyche.

 

“Smart as a whip,” Lewis recalled this week. “All business. Sudden. Very sudden. Never wasted a step. Tough as hell. Couldn’t ask for a better person to break you in. Every day they did. Every day. All those guys. Hardy. Greg Lloyd. David Little. Jerrol Williams. Jerry Olsavsky. They were very demanding.”

 

Nickerson was a six-year veteran that year ascending to the elite when Lewis arrived as strictly a college coach who had to grow up fast in quirky room full of veterans.

 

“Very detailed and demanding,” is how Nickerson remembered Lewis that first year. “He has a way of getting the best out of players. It was one of my best years. That season kind of set the stage for me in terms of becoming a free agent in that first class … That year made me highly sought after. I probably owe a lot of that to Coach Lewis getting me coached up.”

 

Hardy The Younger has never met Marvin Lewis, but you get the idea he’s going look pretty familiar to the head coach. He was nine years old when his father retired so on those slow days of off-days or walk-throughs or maybe a family day in training camp, he was used to being in an NFL locker room. From the time can remember he was clopping around in cleats or wrapping himself in a gargantuan jersey, or trying to pull on his helmet without it going over his eyes. Now this week at Paul Brown Stadium he’s going to wake up in a dream when they’re giving him his own NFL jersey for a full work day.

 

“It’s something I always wanted to do. I looked up to him and always wanted to do what he did,” The Younger said as he prepared to fly to Cincinnati. “I was exposed to the locker room. That created that love for the game. I always wanted to play. You can just go out there and let it loose. Especially at my position. You have to be a guy that’s passionate, physical, and loves to play the game.”

 

The cleats don’t walk far from the helmet.

 

So it wasn’t very surprising to Lewis when Nickerson himself became an NFL linebackers coach under Lovie Smith in Chicago and Tampa Bay after his 16-year journey through three decades, four franchises, and five Pro Bowls. Lewis hasn’t talked to Nickerson since he took the defensive coordinator job at Illinois last season when he followed Smith to Champaign, but he could hear him on tape.

 

Marvin Lewis coached Nickerson The Elder in 1992.

 

During the draft process just completed Lewis was watching an offensive player work against Illinois when he was struck at how well the defense responded and reacted.

 

“I’m thinking, ‘Gee, these guys are well-coached,’” Lewis said. “Then it clicked. Look who’s coaching them. So I sent Lovie a text.”

 

In the middle of it was Hardy William Lindsay Nickerson, a 5-11 chip off the old 6-2 block racing sideline-to-sideline as the Illini middle backer, getting his dad’s defense lined up, and racking up 107 tackles, much like Hardy Otto Nickerson did for Lewis’ linebackers when he led the Steelers with 114 tackles in 1992.

 

“Smart. Physical. Captain. Plays like a coach’s son. Great to get him,” said Bengals linebackers coach Jim Haslett. “I just hope he doesn’t come in here telling me I’m doing it wrong.”

 

Haslett was laughing, of course. He coached against Otto Nickerson as a player and coach and, like Lewis, has known him a long time. When he was scouting the kid he would smile because the body language was oddly familiar. Bill Tobin, the Bengals Midwest scout, was also part of a mix that gave The Younger a draftable grade.

 

“Coach Haslett was really big getting Hardy there,” The Elder said. “He talked to Hardy at the combine. He communicated with Hardy right away after the draft was over and that went a long way.”

 

Back in the day, when the draft was shoe-horned into 12 rounds weekend mornings and afternoons, 1987 to be exact, the 6-2, 230-pound Nickerson was a fifth-round draft pick out of Cal by the Steelers. Thirty years later he was there for his 5-11, 232-pound son after the draft when the call didn’t come. He and his wife were on one phone and Hardy was on the other. The advice was old school.

 

“You want to make sure you get to a place where you have a chance. Where you’re wanted first,” The Elder said. “And the scheme is something you’re familiar with and you have an opportunity to make the team … I think Cincinnati is the best fit for him.”

 

He says The Younger grew up in schemes like the Bengals’ 4-3 defense, like what The Elder used at Illinois and what the Younger played in the East-West Shrine Game after the season. And he’s been able to adjust, too. He thinks he can play all three spots, but figures the Bengals are going to put him in the middle.

 

Look, here’s a kid who has his degree in legal studies from Berkley and has already started his master’s in sports administration after playing three seasons at Cal. Smart? When his dad got the call to Illinois, he couldn’t resist. He had already played under him in high school when The Elder was the head coach at Bishop O’Dowd in Oakland.

 

Nickerson The Younger has been watching another undrafted backer for years; Vontaze Burfict.

 

But …

“He wasn’t able to make a lot our games because of the schedule when he was with Tampa,” The Younger said. “I just wanted to spend my senior year close to family.”

 

And that’s how he made the Bengals’ decision, too. There was plenty of interest. The Bucs, for whom The Elder went to four Pro Bowls and became a Tampa icon, called every day leading up to the draft. And there were others.

 

But, in the end, it came down to a linebacker corps where the best player, Vontaze Burfict, and the best backup, Vincent Rey, came out of the ranks of the undrafted.

 

“You want an opportunity,” The Elder says.

 

Those last two backer spots are always there to be claimed. And with the help of Nickerson the competition at Bengals linebacker has just amped up to warp speed with the drafting of Oklahoma speedster Jordan Evans in the sixth round and the signing of the undrafted Big Ten tackling machines Nickerson and Brandon Bell of Penn State.

 

The core looks set with starters Burfict, Kevin Minter, Nick Vigil, and the backup Rey. Now the rookies are in a pitched battle with incumbents Marquis Flowers (last season’s third-leading tackler on special teams), P.J. Dawson (a third-round pick in 2015 working his way back from spending last year on the practice squad), as well as a first-year player in Bryson Albright trying to catch on as a pass rusher after playing one game for the Bills last season as a rookie.

 

Plus, fourth-rounder Carl Lawson, a pass rusher from Auburn, is listed as a linebacker but there’s a good chance he’ll end up counting as a defensive lineman.

 

Whatever, the linebacker positon is now a mad dash after a season it was viewed as a celebrity walk. Nickerson isn’t a burner, but his 4.78 is a nice 40 and along with Bell’s 4.68, and Evans’ ridiculous 4.51, they’re faster than last year.

 

“It’s a good group,” Haslett said.  

 

Hardy William’s favorite linebacker has always been Hardy Otto. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t watching others.

 

“I loved watching Ray Lewis growing up,’ he said. “(Derrick) Brooks. Nowadays I like watching (Luke) Kuechly.”

 

He also loves watching No. 55 and he’s been doing it a long time as a fellow West Coast guy.

 

“He brings that physicality,” Nickerson said of Burfict. “I’ve been watching him since Arizona State. I saw a lot of Pac 12 games. I see him out there bringing the wood. I’m excited to play with him. He’s physical. He flies around.”

 

Here’s another reason The Younger likes him. Burfict also got a late call.

 

“He’s another guy that came out undrafted showing everybody. Sideline-to-sideline.  Making plays in the run game and the pass game,’ he said. “A guy that’s going to change the game whether it’s a big hit or a takeaway.”

 

It’s a different game than when The Elder came out of the fifth round, of course, in 1987. Chuck Noll and Tom Landry were still coaching. Bill Walsh and Joe Montana were still seeking that third Super Bowl title to cap a dynasty. Bill Belichick was the defensive coordinator for the Giants, Marvin Lewis was coaching the linebackers at New Mexico, and A.J. Green wasn’t born yet.

 

“I think I’ve got a shot,” The Younger said. “I’m just going in ready to work. That’s the biggest thing. I’m thankful for the Bengals giving me a shot. I’m just going to take it day by day. The effort is going to be there. I’m excited to go out and make the best of it.”

 

Maybe it’s not all that different.

 

http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/A-Hardy-throwback/575a53ac-bb34-47a5-a396-ef4972f21db6

[snarkster]

May grab a PS berth, but Burfict, Minter, Vigil, Ray & Lawson are locks which probably leaves 2 spots (no matter if they consider Lawson a 7th backer or 10th/11th DL).  In my mind, Flowers, Evans, Dawson & Albright are ahead of Nickerson (in that order) and he's no better than even with fellow UDFA Brandon Bell of Penn St.  I'll also be somewhat mildly surprised if the club doesn't add another body to the LB group via a Journeyman Veteran FA or a Veteran/Rookie waiver claim before camp breaks..

 

[Big Alice]

May grab a PS berth, but Burfict, Minter, Vigil, Ray & Lawson are locks which probably leaves 2 spots (no matter if they consider Lawson a 7th backer or 10th/11th DL).  In my mind, Flowers, Evans, Dawson & Albright are ahead of Nickerson (in that order) and he's no better than even with fellow UDFA Brandon Bell of Penn St.  I'll also be somewhat mildly surprised if the club doesn't add another body to the LB group via a Journeyman Veteran FA or a Veteran/Rookie waiver claim before camp breaks..
 

I'm really surprised that there's a question about Carl Lawson. My immediate reaction was "rush end".

The more I think about it, though, maybe the Bengals really will try him at LB. Regardless, as you said, he's a roster lock.

As for the guys you said are ahead of Nickerson, I don't think there's anyone on that list that's done anything to create any separation. The camp battle for those last couple spots is going to babe legitimate free-for-all.




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[snarkster]

On 5/5/2017 at 9:22 AM, Big Alice said:

I'm really surprised that there's a question about Carl Lawson. My immediate reaction was "rush end".

The more I think about it, though, maybe the Bengals really will try him at LB. Regardless, as you said, he's a roster lock.

As for the guys you said are ahead of Nickerson, I don't think there's anyone on that list that's done anything to create any separation. The camp battle for those last couple spots is going to babe legitimate free-for-all.

Sent from my iPhone using Go-Bengals.com

 

I believe Lawson is a lock, but as a hybrid.  Whether they list him as a DE./LB is the real question.  If a LB, I could see them lining up Clarke/Smith/Willis across from Dunlap on 3rd down/passing situations with Lawson (or even Willis) in as a "LB," then move him along the LoS and bring him at the QB from a variety of different slots.

[|High School Harry|]

Special teams player.