Linebacker is a weak spot on the Las Vegas Raiders’ roster, where the defense is looking for players on the depth chart to separate themselves heading into the regular season. In the Raiders’ preseason game last Saturday against the San Francisco 49ers, second-year pro Tommy Eichenberg answered the call.
Eichenberg led Las Vegas with seven total tackles, and his impact went beyond the traditional box score. According to Pro Football Focus, the Ohio State product was the team’s third-highest graded
defender (77.6) and was second-best in coverage with a mark of 80.5, surrendering just nine yards when targeted. The latter is significant since that was considered his weakness coming out of college.
So, let’s flip on the tape and break down the 2024 fifth-round pick’s performance.
The Raiders run a fire zone here, where the two other linebackers (No. 33 Jamal Adams and No. 42 Matt Jones) blitz, leaving Eichenberg in the middle of the field and as the only underneath defender. Meanwhile, the 49ers run a play-action bootleg with a drag route from the outside receiver at the top of the screen and the weakside tight end working across the formation and into the flat.
The offense’s play call is designed to put the linebacker in conflict via a levels concept, giving him a threat behind and in front of him. However, Eichenberg does a great job of staying deep in his zone to take away the crossing route from the wide receiver, and then rallying to the tight end in the flat after the ball is thrown. Finally, he takes a good angle and shows off some closing speed to make the open-field tackle and keep this to a one-yard gain.
This time, San Francisco comes out in an empty formation, forcing the linebacker to play in space as a slot corner over a wide receiver at the top of the screen. In other words, that gets a run-defending backer like Eichenberg out of his element.
The 49ers try to take advantage of this matchup by running a screen to the slot receiver. However, Eichenberg is quick to read it, crashing downhill and getting his hands up to take on the block and pushing the tight end backward, who is lined up at a wide receiver position. Additionally, the outside receiver comes to block him, so the second-year pro ends up occupying and holding his ground against two players.
That prevents the pass-catcher from getting up the field and allows Sam Webb (No. 27, the outside cornerback) to make the tackle short of the sticks.
PFF didn’t give Eichenberg as much love against the run last weekend, posting a slightly above-average 64.1 grade in that department. But he did have a few quality reps that were encouraging for his development.
His ability to take on blocks was one area where he struggled as a rookie, often having a hard time getting extension to be able to make tackles. But here, the former Buckeye meets San Francisco’s fullback in the B-gap with good leverage and hand placement at the point of attack to generate some knockback power and lock out the fullback. So, when the running back hits the hole, Eichenberg’s able to get off the block and get involved in the tackle short of the sticks.
Finally, this next play against the run doesn’t have Eichenberg taking on a block, but it is a well-timed blitz to defeat the receiver’s block. On top of that, the linebacker does a good job of getting flat down the line of scrimmage once he gets into the backfield to make the tackle from the backside of the play for about a one-yard gain.
So far, Eichenberg has turned in a pretty good preseason. He’s still a long shot to be a Week 1 starter, but he’s shown improvement to be a quality backer off the bench and potentially take on a starting role down the line.
