10-21-2014, 12:42 AM
What's up guys. I just finished about two hours of breakdown and analysis on Vic Beasley, and I would love to share my thoughts.
Vic Beasley is a 6'3, 235 pound Redshirt Senior who plays the Edge position on Clemson's defense. I went into this thinking that he would be an Otto due to his lack of length and size, but I will say more about his projection later. Anyway, for this study I looked at three of his games on www.draftbreakdown.com - Georgia, NC State, and FSU. This was an excellent bevy of games and the quality as well as quantity should give us a good look at his skillset. I should also mention that he was double teamed in each one of these games.
For front-seven players I'm going to eschew my usual chart in favor of the stats I recorded when watching the games. As such, Beasley recorded 13 pressures, 4 tackles, 1 missed tackle, 4 sacks (one negated by penalty), and a strip-touchdown through these three games. These are pretty good stats, I suppose, with an average of over a sack and four pressures a game. But let's look a little deeper.
Strengths: Vic Beasley is all about speed, and has excellent change-of-direction skills to go along with it. He can chase the ball-carrier down from anywhere on the field. It's the best part of his game, bar none. He also shows good use of hands, whether it be swim moves, rips, or slaps (he can spin but not very well). His speed also allows him to crash down along the back side of the line and generally create a mess of things in the backfield. I was pleasantly surprised by his capabilities in coverage - he uses his fluid hips and foot speed well, of course, but the thing that stood out to me was his vision, always following the QB's eyes. Generally speaking, Beasley is a very athletic rush linebacker who can hold his own in coverage.
Weaknesses: There is almost no power in his game. The only time he can generate any leg drive is when he is transferring speed to power, but he can't keep it up for long, and when his momentum runs out, he's stifled. Any time he attempts to go inside, he's pretty much negated on the play - at times he can use a finesse move, but generally speaking, if you put a blocker or two on this guy in the trenches you can handle him pretty good. Beasley also seemed to have a little bit of a deficiency in field awareness. If the offense was running a screen, he rarely sniffed it out, and there are times he broke contain (such as the Seminoles' go-ahead touchdown in the FSU game). He also didn't show the bend that I expected coming off the edge, which he will need to improve on if he wants to compensate for his lack of size. Finally, it just seemed like he had a whole lot of pressure, and not a lot of sacks. The comparison I thought of was Barkevious Mingo at LSU a few years back - he has all the athleticism in the world, and constantly seems around the ball, but never seems to finish the play.
Grading: (10 is the perfect OLB prospect, 0 is a Pee Wee kid)
Agility/Athleticism: 9 (This guy has speed, quickness, and agility in spades. Definitely the strength of his game)
Field Awareness: 7 (Takes good angles on tackling but can get lost in screens or break contain at times)
Pass Rush: 8 (Makes a whole lot of pressure with his speed but never quite finishes the play)
Coverage: 7 (Combination of fluid athleticism and good vision give him an above average grade)
Strength: 4.5 (Truly a crippling element to his game. He really struggles to get off blocks and is a liability, at times a big one, on run plays)
Flexibility: 6 (Not a very good bender; he fell many times trying to turn the corner on a tackle)
Block Shedding: 7 (Has good use of hands on pass rush, but against the run he can't seem to get it done)
That's a total of 48.5 out of 70, which, when adjusted, grades him out as a 69.3. It's a low grade, I know, but I'm sticking to it... If anything, I would lower his athleticism - he doesn't have near the fluidity of Mack or Clowney last year.
So, as far as his projection to the Jags... As I said, I was scouting him to play Otto, but his lack of strength makes that an impossibility, and would even make him struggle for reps at LEO. I think this guy is a true 34 OLB in the NFL, but he's gonna need to put on strength if he's going to have staying power. I would take him mid-late day two, but I feel like he'll be drafted much earlier by people who are smarter than me. If I seem pretty down on this guy, trust me, I'm as surprised as you are. I expected a much more complete prospect... But at this point, if he tries to use his one-dimensional game against NFL tackles who are bigger, stronger, and faster, he will be shut out more often than not.
So, to sum it up, Vic Beasley is a classic speed rusher with very little strength, who may lack a true position in the NFL. I graded him 69.3 out of 100, and I think his best bet is to add muscle and try to play 34 OLB. I wouldn't take him in the first round and probably not early on Day Two, and I think he lacks a role in the Jaguars' defense. I think we should stay away from this guy.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Leave your comments here, or at the 'hub' of my scouting, the link to which can be found in my signature.
Vic Beasley is a 6'3, 235 pound Redshirt Senior who plays the Edge position on Clemson's defense. I went into this thinking that he would be an Otto due to his lack of length and size, but I will say more about his projection later. Anyway, for this study I looked at three of his games on www.draftbreakdown.com - Georgia, NC State, and FSU. This was an excellent bevy of games and the quality as well as quantity should give us a good look at his skillset. I should also mention that he was double teamed in each one of these games.
For front-seven players I'm going to eschew my usual chart in favor of the stats I recorded when watching the games. As such, Beasley recorded 13 pressures, 4 tackles, 1 missed tackle, 4 sacks (one negated by penalty), and a strip-touchdown through these three games. These are pretty good stats, I suppose, with an average of over a sack and four pressures a game. But let's look a little deeper.
Strengths: Vic Beasley is all about speed, and has excellent change-of-direction skills to go along with it. He can chase the ball-carrier down from anywhere on the field. It's the best part of his game, bar none. He also shows good use of hands, whether it be swim moves, rips, or slaps (he can spin but not very well). His speed also allows him to crash down along the back side of the line and generally create a mess of things in the backfield. I was pleasantly surprised by his capabilities in coverage - he uses his fluid hips and foot speed well, of course, but the thing that stood out to me was his vision, always following the QB's eyes. Generally speaking, Beasley is a very athletic rush linebacker who can hold his own in coverage.
Weaknesses: There is almost no power in his game. The only time he can generate any leg drive is when he is transferring speed to power, but he can't keep it up for long, and when his momentum runs out, he's stifled. Any time he attempts to go inside, he's pretty much negated on the play - at times he can use a finesse move, but generally speaking, if you put a blocker or two on this guy in the trenches you can handle him pretty good. Beasley also seemed to have a little bit of a deficiency in field awareness. If the offense was running a screen, he rarely sniffed it out, and there are times he broke contain (such as the Seminoles' go-ahead touchdown in the FSU game). He also didn't show the bend that I expected coming off the edge, which he will need to improve on if he wants to compensate for his lack of size. Finally, it just seemed like he had a whole lot of pressure, and not a lot of sacks. The comparison I thought of was Barkevious Mingo at LSU a few years back - he has all the athleticism in the world, and constantly seems around the ball, but never seems to finish the play.
Grading: (10 is the perfect OLB prospect, 0 is a Pee Wee kid)
Agility/Athleticism: 9 (This guy has speed, quickness, and agility in spades. Definitely the strength of his game)
Field Awareness: 7 (Takes good angles on tackling but can get lost in screens or break contain at times)
Pass Rush: 8 (Makes a whole lot of pressure with his speed but never quite finishes the play)
Coverage: 7 (Combination of fluid athleticism and good vision give him an above average grade)
Strength: 4.5 (Truly a crippling element to his game. He really struggles to get off blocks and is a liability, at times a big one, on run plays)
Flexibility: 6 (Not a very good bender; he fell many times trying to turn the corner on a tackle)
Block Shedding: 7 (Has good use of hands on pass rush, but against the run he can't seem to get it done)
That's a total of 48.5 out of 70, which, when adjusted, grades him out as a 69.3. It's a low grade, I know, but I'm sticking to it... If anything, I would lower his athleticism - he doesn't have near the fluidity of Mack or Clowney last year.
So, as far as his projection to the Jags... As I said, I was scouting him to play Otto, but his lack of strength makes that an impossibility, and would even make him struggle for reps at LEO. I think this guy is a true 34 OLB in the NFL, but he's gonna need to put on strength if he's going to have staying power. I would take him mid-late day two, but I feel like he'll be drafted much earlier by people who are smarter than me. If I seem pretty down on this guy, trust me, I'm as surprised as you are. I expected a much more complete prospect... But at this point, if he tries to use his one-dimensional game against NFL tackles who are bigger, stronger, and faster, he will be shut out more often than not.
So, to sum it up, Vic Beasley is a classic speed rusher with very little strength, who may lack a true position in the NFL. I graded him 69.3 out of 100, and I think his best bet is to add muscle and try to play 34 OLB. I wouldn't take him in the first round and probably not early on Day Two, and I think he lacks a role in the Jaguars' defense. I think we should stay away from this guy.
Thanks for reading, everyone. Leave your comments here, or at the 'hub' of my scouting, the link to which can be found in my signature.