Tag: Donte Whitner

Former Browns safety Donte Whitner has strong opinion on Dak Prescott

The former safety didn’t hold anything back when talking about the Cowboys quarterback

It wasn’t a good day for Cowboys fans on Sunday after they got dominated by the NFL’s best team the San Francisco 49ers. After the game former Cleveland Browns safety Donte Whitner was asked for his take on the game and he responded by saying that Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys has not lived up to the hype he receives.

Whitner did not mince words as he said he doesn’t see anything special with Prescott and believes the team has to cover up for his deficiencies. He believes the team is forced to give him easy throws in order to assist Prescott.

It feels like an overreaction to one game as Prescott has shown time and time before that he is a top-notch quarterback in the NFL. He isn’t the best at the position but he is absolutely in the top half of the league. He has shown the ability to go out and win a game on his shoulders by elevating the players around him.

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The five top-rated Ohio State cornerback recruits since 2000

The five top-rated Ohio State cornerback recruits since 2000 #GoBucks

We have been diving into some of the more highly touted recruits in Ohio State history. We recently discussed the quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, offensive tackles, guards, center, defensive ends, defensive tackles, inside linebackers and outside linebackers. We wanted to look into the history of recruiting cornerbacks.

Some exciting names are on this list. Even though 247Sports‘ recruiting rankings only go back to 2000, there are some memorable names. It is always fun to reflect on how some of these guys performed and whether they lived up to expectations.

This list only confirms the insane wealth of talent Ohio State has had at the cornerback position. Some of the guys that just missed the cut are Damon Webb, who is in the Canadian Football League; Jermaine Mathews, who will be a true freshman this season; and the elite Eli Apple.

Top five NFL combine vertical jump performances by Ohio State players all time

Top five NFL combine vertical jump performances by Ohio State players all time.

The 2022 NFL scouting combine took place in Indianapolis, Indiana, and it always provides a unique, stress-inducing showcase for future NFL players. The combine is typically the most important part of the pre-draft process for many NFL prospects and serves as the most important job interview these young men may have in their lives.

Any seasoned NFL scout will tell you the combine is not the end all be all and is just a part of the process, but fans love the idea of the underwear Olympics and seeing some of these freak athletes accomplish insane feats in the bench press, shuttle run, 40-yard dash, vertical jump, and broad jump.

The following are the top five vertical jump performances by former Ohio State football players. We are only tracking numbers from the NFL scouting combine and not from pro days and only numbers since the NFL scouting combine moved to Indianapolis in 1987.

More Buckeye best NFL combine performances: Bench Press, Shuttle, 40-Yard Dash.

*THIS YEAR’S PERFORMANCES WILL NOT BE INCLUDED

Throwback Thursday: Peyton Manning delivers a big block on Donte Whitner

Five years ago, Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning delivered a big block against Browns safety Donte Whitner.

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Peyton serving pancakes 🥞 (Oct. 18, 2015)

A post shared by NFL Throwback (@nflthrowback) on

During the 2015 season, Peyton Manning’s last year in the NFL, he delivered a big block on former Browns safety Donte Whitner in a 26-23 win. Footage from the play can be seen in the above video, courtesy of the NFL’s Throwback page on Instagram.

Manning actually played pretty poorly in that contest, throwing three touchdown passes with just one touchdown, finishing the day with a 53.3 passer rating. Denver’s defense showed up and helped the Broncos clinch a win over the Browns in overtime (that was a reoccurring theme in 2015).

Though he didn’t have a big day passing, Manning’s block was effective and humorous. Manning was an aging quarterback nearing the end of his career and the last thing fans expected to see from him was a big block on a two-time Pro Bowler.

After helping Denver win the Super Bowl, Manning retired from football in 2016. He will be eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.

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Roman Harper pushes back against ex-49er Donte Whitner’s trash talk

Former New Orleans Saints safety Roman Harper fired back after ex-San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner took jabs at his team on Twitter.

The San Francisco 49ers are readying to kick off against the New Orleans Saints in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Sunday, leading former players from both teams to take to social media to reminiscence about their glory days, and maybe air some grievances ahead of this year’s Festivus celebration.

Former 49ers safety Donte Whitner fired the opening salvo, claiming his team delivered “karma for Bountygate” to the Saints in their infamous 2011 playoff game. In that matchup, Whitner got away with a dangerous helmet-to-helmet hit on Saints running back Pierre Thomas on the opening drive, knocking Thomas unconscious and concussing him. Whitner insisted that his tackle was made “The legal way,” which angered retired Saints safety Roman Harper.

“Bro what a joke,” Harper wrote, pointing out how the 49ers won that game after the Saints offense committed five turnovers, and giving Whitner’s defense credit for creating so many takeaways. He then warned Whitner against putting on a tough-guy act on social media.

At the time, Whitner’s hit on Thomas was ruled legal because Thomas not a defenseless player, having completed several football moves (catching a pass and running upfield) prior to being struck. But after increased public awareness about the dangers of concussions suffered in sports put pressure on the NFL, rules changes in 2017 and 2018 outlawed all helmet-to-helmet hits like this under a blanket policy. Thomas was lucky to not suffer line-changing effects from the brain injury Whitner inflicted on him; others haven’t been so lucky.

Harper was one of several Saints players involved in the NFL’s “Bountygate” scandal, in which league commissioner Roger Goodell used the testimony of a disgruntled former Saints team employee (who now works in the league office) as grounds to suspend multiple players and team personnel for much of the 2012 season. Upon reviewing Goodell’s evidence for the claims made against the Saints and the under-oath testimony of then-linebackers coach Joe Vitt and others implicated in the drama, NFL-appointed arbiter and former commissioner Paul Tagliabue overturned all player suspensions and later reprimanded his successor in an interview with Rolling Stone.

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