STRENGTHS Vontaze  is a  powerful, quick, dominating and passionate defensive player who  reminds  me a lot of Lawrence Taylor (former OLB, NY Giants).  He has the size,   strength and speed to play any one of the linebacker positions in a  4-3  defense or a 3-4 defense at a high level for the team that drafts  him.   He can rush the passer or shed blocks and make tackles in the hole.   Vontaze is a head up, wrap up, squeeze and drive tackler.  He  shows leadership skills through his play on the field and will not  stand  for players around him who do not put forth the same effort that he  does.
He has the athletic talent to cover in passing situations  close to the line of scrimmage, but the truth is, you want Vontaze to  attack the line of scrimmage on just about every down.  Vontaze is  the type of player who will have to be accounted for on every single  play.  He is the type of player that screams across the line of  scrimmage, to the QB, before the start of a crucial play, in the middle  of a game, "Do you feel lucky today?!"  I call him Vontaze (Shotgun)  Burfict because he explodes to a play like a shotgun going off and that  explosion can spray out and impact just about anyone in its path...friend or foe!     
       CONCERNS        Vontaze  lacks good  lateral agility, which is why I think he is a better fit as a outside  linebacker in a 4-3 or 3-4, although I believe he can handle the  middle also.  On  third and long you want him attacking because he is not best going  backwards and defending against the deep pass in the middle of the  field. He also has a tendency to not play well with his teammates.   He will go off on his own, kind of like Troy Polamalu does.  This  is both a good and a bad thing.  A good coach will take advantage  of this; however, it will drive a bad coach crazy.  In  doing a search on Vontaze I could not find any OFF-Field issues --  just ON-Field issues.  If there are off field situations that match the  on-field situations,  then I would take Vontaze off my board, but so far I  find nothing.  I am giving Vontaze the benefit of the doubt for his  on-field issues because of the coaching situation but I'm not giving  him  a pass on the penalties, arguing with referees and other immature crap   he does against other teammates.  
       BOTTOM LINE I know you are all shocked and think I am selling  out or excusing this kid's attitude because of his talent.  That  could not be further from the truth. I'm not ready to hang this kid out  to dry because of what I suspect was more of a coaching problem than a  problem with Vontaze.  I watched him in his bowl game and saw what  you saw, but I asked myself, "What makes a kid act this way?  Why did he hang his team out to day and just not show up to play?"  This  kid looked to me like someone broke his heart, like a child not getting  what they wanted after asking for it  over and over again.  He didn't have problems like  this last year!  Why this year?  If a kid is not doing drugs,  being arrested for DUI, beating and raping woman, how are we supposed to  know if his problems on the field are because of him or the coaches.   I suspect the answer lies that both parties are at fault.  This is  why you see players go from one college to another.  It's because  there are personality conflicts.  Vontaze is a handful, no doubt,  but downgrading him because of a lack of communication or personality  conflicts with coaches does not do it for me. 
I'm not giving  Vontaze an excuse for behaving the way he has this year.  I am  saying that I need more specific criminal information for me to  downgrade a player who has top ten talent and, from where I'm sitting,  the  information I have gathered on Vontaze, attitude is a push.  It's a  push because the coaches on that team are as much to blame as Vontaze  is  and Vontaze is a kid.  Those coaches are suppose to be adults.   Before I sat down to do this profile I had made up my mind to give  Vontaze a TBR rating of seven, but the more information   I gathered on him, the more I realized that he did not deserve it.   This is a kid that just needs some direction and to feel that he is  wanted.  He also needs a coach he will respect and listen to.   He needs direction on and off the field because his attitude makes you   question if this kid can handle the money at the next level.  The  closer we get to draft day, the more I believe Vontaze will move up  the boards,  you can bet an agent will see to that.
If a team wants to draft  him, positive marketing to the fans will have to happen.  The  question you may ask is, would I draft him in the first  round if he is rated on Rob's board as a first rounder?  My  answer?  Only  if the Value board and Talent board matched or the talent board shows  talent exceeding the value board's round rating.  That's how we  draft players on draft day.  That's our system and we stick to our  system on draft day.  This system is not a computer system; it's a system based on film work for the talent portion and   calculated information on players draft value on the value portion.  It's not  perfect  -- but it's pretty damn good and we have proof that it is.   So to answer the question:  I would draft Vontaze in the second  round or maybe late in the first if all our TBR 1st rounders are gone  and off the board.