The Arizona Cardinals were impressed by linebacker Owen Pappoe in the predraft process. He was one of their top-30 prospect visits and head coach Jonathan Gannon and defensive coordinator Nick Rallis both liked what they saw and heard.
They believe he has the skillset and intelligence to be successful in the NFL.
“Everyone has different things of what they like to do with linebackers in this day and age, but one of our huge criteria of linebacking play is being able to play in space,” Gannon said this last week. (LB) Kyzir (White) was a safety at one point in his career and he’s really no different. The ability to run from sideline to sideline, match routes and cover receivers is critical to that position.”
Pappoe is athletic. Moving in space, keeping up with guys in coverage and chasing sideline to sideline will not be a problem physically.
He also has the mental side down.
“I think one thing that I’m very excited about is his ability to process (and) diagnose,” Rallis said. “He’s got a natural feel to play in there and you could tell he’s played a long time at a high level in college football. You can see whether it’s the run play— getting to where I have to get to. ‘Oh, here comes this blocker. Let me transfer my eyes to the block, defeat the block and get back to getting to the ball carrier.’ He’s very polished with his skillset at that position.”
With rookie camp coming up and and offseason program going on, we will see soon how well he can do everything.
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