During the season, I tend to dig into either specific plays or look at some of the bigger picture takeaways. Scheme and gameplan and blah blah blah. The preseason is different because those things don’t really matter. I’m more concerned with how individual players looked. So I watch a ton of players, taking notes and gathering clips, then look up and realize I don’t have time to write about them all. What a fool I’ve been! The week is almost over! This week I got a chance to write about Jordan Love
and Trey Smack, but then it all went south on me.
So, today, we’re just doing a bit of a data dump. I’ll write about some of the players I watched on offense, throw out some notes and clips and we’ll all move on with our days. Let’s go.
Offense
Isaiah Neyor (80)
Week 1 saw Neyor as a possession receiver. A lot of stuff close to the line. He has speed (ran a 4.4 40 at the Combine), but we didn’t get a chance to see him open it up last week. He had a few snaps running deep this week. I’ll say that it didn’t look quite as explosive as Sturdivant, but his speed was on display more than we saw in week 1. He shows a solid ability to stack the corner when he gets over the top, as well.
One issue I had in Week 1 was Neyor’s blocking. He showed both a willingness to block and an understanding of where to be, but every single block attempt involved him wrapping his arms around his target. We saw some better form in that regard this week.
In the shorter area, he shows some really nice snap at the top of his routes to create separation.
Week 1 saw him working primarily outside. This week saw him in the slot a bit more, and he looked good when put there. If he’s able to improve his blocking form, working as a blocker out of the slot could be a nice spot for him.
We didn’t necessarily get a ton of flashes this week, but he continues to show a well-rounded skillset.
J. Michael Sturdivant (87)
Unlike Neyor, we pretty much only got go routes from Sturdivant in Week 1. His explosion/speed was on full display, but we didn’t see much more than that. This week we got a little more, with Sturdivant showing good, sharp breaks at the top of his shorter routes.
This is something that could really serve him well with more room to work: threaten with his speed, then break off a route.
In this next clip, you can see him attacking the outside shoulder of the defender before snapping back inside. Unfortunately, this is the play he was injured on, so there were limited snaps for Sturdivant this week.
We did get to see a bit of blocking, and the process looked much better than we had previously seen. In Week 1, he was tentative and didn’t always seem to know where he was supposed to be as the play unfolded. This week he attacked the blocking much better.
Drake Dabney (49)
I thought Dabney looked much more comfortable this week. Locked down some of his blocking assignments, and was at the very least a general nuisance when he wasn’t locking up. He knew where to be and wasn’t shy about engaging. Has a little movement as a receiver as well. Not necessarily a field-stretching type of guy, but there might be a little more here than I had previously thought.
McCallan Castles (47)
Looked a lot like Dabney in terms of his approach, but didn’t work quite as well as a receiver. Of the two, I’d certainly prefer Dabney at this point, but Castles showed some nice things as a blocker.
Jager Burton (52)
I didn’t get a chance to highlight Burton on all of these clips. Apologies.
If you’ve seen one clip of Burton this week, it’s this one. And it’s a good one. He’s working as left guard, going against Zach Allen. Burton has good drive off the line, controls the rep and ends up burying Allen. Tremendous rep.
I’m also a sucker for a young guy who is always looking for work. As the rep goes on Burton doesn’t have anyone to block, so he puts a shoulder into #96.
You can also see his strength as he drives as part of a double team. He keeps driving through the whistle, which is always something I like to see.
Unfortunately, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. We saw him win against Zach Allen earlier. Here, he very much does not do that. Allen gets into Burton’s body and easily sheds the block attempt to hit Lloyd.
Down in the low red zone, he fires off and gets out over his skis quickly, allowing #98 to control the rep and easily shed the block.
Burton has showed some really nice stuff that makes me believe he will be a good player, but it doesn’t seem like he’s ready just yet. There are too many reps of him getting overpowered or controlled through the entire rep. Other times it seems like he’s fine, but the defensive lineman is just holding him in place until he needs to shed.
Burton also got beat multiple times by an inside swim move. His recovery move was to turn and lunge with his arms wide, which feels like offensive holding waiting to happen.
Albums listened to: Pedro the Lion – It’s Hard to Find a Friend; Dolly Parton – Ultimate Dolly Parton
