Defenses
used to be built from the inside out, but that is no longer the case. As the
league has evolved towards pass heavy offenses, defenses have changed as well.
Cornerbacks and edge rushers are now the premier positions, while interior
linemen and linebackers have lost some of their former glory.
But
that doesn’t mean that top notch athletes can’t still dominate at these
positions. The depth doesn’t measure up to the other positions, but at the very
top of the draft there are some excellent options for teams looking for someone
in the middle. They may not be the traditional run stuffers of the past, but
today’s athletes still have a valuable role to play in NFL defenses.
Zach
Cunningham, Vanderbilt
Cunningham
is one of my favorite players in the draft. Freakishly athletic and absolutely
relentless, he flies all over the field and finds himself involved in every
single play. Every game he makes a couple plays that will take your breath
away, scraping through traffic an impossibly long distance to corral a ball
carrier in the backfield. The most common criticism of him is that he misses too many tackles, and while this is absolutely something he needs to clean up, it
really doesn’t bother me. Because for every tackle he misses he creates at
least two more that other linebackers would never have a hope of reaching.
The
first things you notice about Cunningham are his arms. They are insanely long,
measuring in the 94th percentile of linebackers and the 90th
of all players. They are noticeable just watching them dangle from his
shoulders, and he puts them to magnificent use on the field to both wrap up
ball carriers and keep himself clean of blockers. He simply isn’t blockable in
the open field, as he uses his length, quickness, and technique to swat his way
free without losing speed on his way to the ball carrier.
The
biggest flaws in Cunningham’s game are mental. He plays extremely aggressive,
and it allows him to make spectacular plays, but it also means he can be fooled
by fakes. He sometimes takes steps in the wrong direction, and he bites often
on play action. Part of this may have been schematic on Vanderbilt’s part,
though it was a mistake not to use his quality coverage skills more often. He’s
fast enough that he can usually erase these mistakes, but his margin for error
will be a lot smaller in the NFL. He also has to learn to take better angles to
the ball, as he often tries to undercut blockers and opens holes for running
backs.
Cunningham
is already a very good linebacker, and every flaw he has is fixable. With
proper coaching he could become one of the best in the league. Inside
linebacker isn’t the most valued position, but I would have no
qualms about taking him in the top ten.
Reuben
Foster, Alabama
This
is the fourth year I’ve broken down draft prospects, and this is the third time
I’ve had to look at an Alabama linebacker. And all three times I’ve found
myself a little disappointed. First with CJ Mosley in 2014, then with Reggie
Ragland last year. Foster is better than both of those players, and I still
like him as a top twenty selection. But I don’t see him as the second best player
in the class like some do, and it would be a reach in my mind to take him in
the top ten.
Foster
does a lot of things well. While he isn’t at Cunningham’s level as an athlete,
he is very capable of scraping across the field and making plays at the sideline.
He always looks smooth as he moves, never getting overextended or stumbling as
he is forced to change directions. He keeps up with receivers down the field,
and he makes smart reads in the running game, identifying and
attacking seams to make plays in the backfield.
When
he lets himself attack, I can almost see a player worthy of a top ten pick. But
too often he seems passive in the way he plays. He sits back and waits for
blockers to come to him, and he doesn’t do much to disengage after contact is
made. He can slide off and make a tackle through contact if the ball comes his
way, but he isn’t going to keep scraping after he fills his gap. Most of his
tackles come a couple yards down the field rather than at the line of
scrimmage, and too often he gets caught in a scrum as a running
back bounces outside.
I
see these criticisms, and I remember making very similar ones about the Alabama
linebackers in the past. And it’s starting to make me wonder if this might just
be something in how they’re coached, and if it will go away in a different
scheme in the NFL. I’m certainly open to that possibility, and Foster may prove
well worth a top ten selection. But until I see him being as disruptive as
Cunningham on a play by play basis, I’m not going to be sold.
Jarrad
Davis, Florida
Pass
coverage is crucial for linebackers in the modern NFL, and that’s where Davis
is going to make his money. He is a very smooth athlete, and he is at his best
in space, tracking receivers and disrupting the opposing
passing attack. He spent most of his time in college in zone, where he showed
decent understanding of route concepts and did a good job reading the
quarterback. When he was asked to play in man coverage, he was more than up to
the challenge against both running backs and tight ends.
Davis
has flaws against the run, but on the whole he can be a positive contributor in
that part of the game as well. He flows fast and can make excellent breaks
downhill, knifing through gaps and making plays at or behind the line of
scrimmage. The problem is that he doesn’t always know when to make these
breaks, and he will occasionally shoot into the backfield behind the running
back as he bounces to the outside.
More
concerning is his lack of physicality. Davis is excellent in the open field,
but he struggles when things get messy. He doesn’t flow through traffic very
well, and once he’s engaged with a blocker he really isn’t getting away. He’s
not a great tackler either, and ball carriers usually end up falling forward
for a couple extra yards after he hits them.
This
isn’t an issue of size. He has the frame you look for in linebackers, and what
he really needs to work on is technique. There’s potential here, and for a team
that doesn’t have a chance to grab one of the top two players, Davis is a nice
consolation late in the first round.
Raekwon
McMillan, Ohio State
The
first three players on this list are premier athletes who dominate with their
speed and explosiveness. McMillan is not. He put up a good time in the forty,
and he isn’t a statue like some linebackers we’ve seen come into the league in
recent years. But he struggles to change direction, and he isn’t able to cover
ground from sideline to sideline. When he wins, he does so through knowledge,
patience, and occasional brute strength.
McMillan
is the most physical of the linebackers I studied. When a blocker comes flying
downhill at him, he will charge just as fast and hit just as hard. He has some
struggles after initial contact, but he does manage to work himself free
eventually, suggesting that this skill exists and just needs refinement. He
never gets overpowered, and if he reacts quickly enough he can plug the hole
with the blocker to force the running back to bounce to the outside. He doesn’t
make a lot of plays in the backfield himself, but he can set others up for the
opportunity to do so.
There
are no glaring holes in McMillan’s game. He’s even good against the pass,
despite his questionable agility. My only concern is about his athleticism, and
how it affects his ceiling. Modern offenses will always have an edge to attack
against him, and he isn’t dominant enough in the middle to justify this kind of
vulnerability. He will be a good player, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him
go in the first round. But I think his athletic shortcomings should be enough
to push him into the second.
Anthony
Walker, Northwestern
I’ve
been doing this for four years now, and I’ve never been able to find an excuse
to break down a Northwestern player. Walker is by far the best prospect I ever
saw wear the purple and white, and I was excited to get this chance to look
more closely at him, in the hopes that I could find something that other
analysts were missing. Unfortunately, he seems properly rated, as a decent
option in the third round for a team in need of a developmental linebacker.
The
story on Walker is interesting because he was two different players over the
past two seasons. In 2015 he was a wrecking ball all over the field, flying
from sideline to sideline and using aggressive downhill bursts to make plays in
the backfield. But he was often pushed around physically at the point of
attack, and in 2016 he added twenty pounds in order to get stronger against the
run. This weight cost him a great deal of his speed, leading to a disappointing
final year in college.
There
may be a happy middle ground for him to find. But the fact of the matter is
that he isn’t anything special physically. Even with the additional weight he
is merely average size for a linebacker, and his combine was somewhere between
brutal and mediocre.
But
however athletic he is, what makes him successful is his intelligence and
instincts. He plays aggressively but rarely gets out of position, and his first
step is almost always in the right direction. He struggles in man coverage, but
he is excellent in zone, reading the quarterback’s eyes the entire way and
putting himself in position to make plays on the ball. These skills will
translate to the NFL, and he has the upside of a consistent starter, just never
more than a league average one.
Defensive
Tackles
Jonathan
Allen, Alabama
Allen
isn’t your traditional space eating defensive tackle. He’s small, weighing only
286 pounds. He played all over the line at Alabama, often lining up on the
edge, and while I can imagine an NFL team utilizing his versatility at the next
level, it’s clear that he’s at his best on the interior. He isn’t a great
athlete, and he doesn’t have the burst to round the corner and disrupt plays so
far from the ball. His best trait is his short area quickness, which he can use
to win in the tight spaces on the inside.
There
are moments of breathtaking spectacular play from Allen. He moves laterally
incredibly well, and he often sidesteps a lineman’s punch and gets into the
backfield with barely any contact. He closes downhill quickly, and he does a
good job diagnosing plays on the move. He’s more productive disrupting run
plays than he is at challenging the passer, but with more experience and
technique I think he can become an above average interior pass rusher.
As
much as his explosive flashes stand out, what really sets Allen apart from the
rest of the interior class is his consistency. He makes excellent use of his
hands, which leaves him consistently in position to shed and make plays.
Despite his small frame, his use of leverage makes it rare that he gets pushed
backwards off the ball. Allen rarely has a bad play, and that should continue
to be the case in the NFL.
I’m
high on Allen, but there are definitely reasons to be concerned, mostly around
his size and athleticism. Plenty of smaller defensive tackles have found
success in recent years, but players like Geno Atkins and Aaron Donald are in a
completely different class than Allen. Both dominated at the combine, while
Allen finished in the bottom half of defensive line prospects in every drill
but the 20 yard shuttle (where he managed the 51st percentile). I
worry that he will face more double teams in the NFL and won’t be able to hold
up. I worry that teams will use his aggressiveness against him and run
underneath his penetration. There is more risk with Allen than you would
initially think, and that might be enough to push him out of the top ten.
Malik
McDowell, Michigan State
In
terms of pure physical ability McDowell is probably a top five player in the
class. He stands 6-6, weighs 295 pounds, and was in the 94th
percentile among defensive tackles in the 40 yard dash, the 87th in
broad jump, and the 73rd in the 20 yard shuttle. And if anything
those numbers undersell the way he move on the field. He is explosive, he is
quick, and he is strong, routinely embarrassing anyone who tries to single
block him on his way into the backfield.
As
is often the case, McDowell’s technique lags behind his athleticism. When he
uses his hands he is unstoppable, but those moments only show up a few times a
game. He has an incredible swim move, and he can toss linemen aside with ease,
but too often he ends up trying to push through them with his chest and gets tangled in a pile as the ball carrier scurries past. He can fight through
double teams when he recognizes them, but his awareness is mediocre, and he
gets cleaned up from the side and knocked to the ground far too often.
These
are flaws, but they can be corrected. And if they are, McDowell will become one
of the best defenders in the NFL. He moves in space with ridiculous ease for
someone of his size, circling through traffic and exploding downhill into the
backfield. Against zone runs he can read and match the cuts made by running
backs, leaving the lineman trying to run him out of the play stumbling in the
opposite direction. Like Allen he spent time bounced outside and working as a
defensive end. Unlike Allen, he has the burst to actually win on the edge, even
if he is still more dangerous inside. He is already an elite pass rusher, and
he can reach that level against the run as well with coaching and discipline.
This
is the point where there might be some concern. Obviously I have never met or
worked with any of the players I’m breaking down, but I do hear things through
various professional scouts, and McDowell is someone who has raised red flags.
I don’t know the truth of any of this, and I can only look at who he is on the
field. And on the field he is absolutely worth being selected in the first half
of the first round.
Caleb
Brantley, Florida
Of
the four defensive tackles I studied Brantley is the best when it comes to rushing the passer.
His strength is the work he does with his hands. He’s fairly quick, and even though he
isn’t at the level of either of the players listed above him, he puts his quickness to just as effective use. Combined with consistent and effective hand
fighting, he keeps himself clean to let his athleticism work, disengaging with
ease and shooting into the backfield to make a play on the quarterback.
Brantley
will be an excellent pass rusher for years to come, but I have concerns about
how he will hold up in the running game. At times he can use the same skills
that make him an excellent pass rusher to penetrate and disrupt running plays,
and he is quick enough that he can cause problems on backside runs. But at the
point of attack he is a liability. He isn’t particularly strong, and he doesn’t
turn wins with his hands into leverage. Against double teams he regularly gets
blown off the ball, and individual blockers can push him back sometimes.
And even when he does win, he isn’t strong through contact, and it’s easy for
linemen to turn a loss into a win as they push him in the direction he’s
running and open up a gap behind.
Being
a subpar run defender is no longer a death knell for a defensive tackle, but it
still isn’t a good thing. And this isn’t something I can really see Brantley
improving at either. Maybe he can clean up his technique and learn to recognize
plays quicker so he can switch from a speed to a power play. But he finished in
the 11th percentile in both bench press and arm length, suggesting
that he may simply lack the tools needed to be a strong presence on the
interior, and that makes it hard for me to justify anything more than a late
first round pick.
Montravius
Adams, Auburn
Adams
is pretty much the opposite of Brantley in every way. A big run stuffer who
doesn’t get moved backwards even against double teams, his game is lacking
pretty much every sort of refinement. He doesn’t use his hands, and he doesn’t
threaten the quarterback, and there is little reason to expect his game to
improve in these areas on the next level.
When
Adams wins, he does it with his strength. If he can get even a little leverage
on a blocker, he can use his leg drive to push himself through into the
backfield, turning the shoulders of the man across from him and fighting
through contact to make a tackle for a loss. When he can’t get this leverage,
he is pretty much screwed. Sometimes he can overpower the blocker in front of him
with a straight bull rush, but even deep in the backfield he can’t separate to
make a play.
How
much value is there for a player like this in 2017? A year ago I was a huge fan
of Andrew Billings, who was essentially a stronger and more athletic version of
Adams. I thought he was a top twenty player, and he ended up going in the
fourth round. It’s hard for me to imagine anything better for Adams, even if I
think that’s probably an overreaction. The third round seems like a good place
for him, but once again I may be overstating the value of someone who contributes nothing in the most important aspect of modern football.
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