Quote:This is essentially what has kept me from liking Fournette at four. 

 

I believe it's Fournette's lack of lateral agility and quickness that keeps him from being able to improvise at the line of scrimmage when there is no hole. You put it down to patience/vision/burst, which also makes sense. 

 

Folks like to call him an "AP-level-prospect"  but you may never see the following type of improvisation at the LOS from Fournette because he doesn't possess that type of lateral agility or quickness: 

 



 

The few times you see Fournette improvise his way out of contact behind the LOS, he simply overpowers one guy.  That will get harder to do on the next level. More often he gets tripped up quickly when the gaps are filled.  

The vast majority of his big runs at LSU came straight through gaping holes up front. 

AP took the run in the above clip to the house, BTW. When Fournette does manage to bounce outside after contact, he's usually tripped up after a modest gain.  It's not that he has zero ability to move laterally and improvise, but that part of his game pales in comparison to the better NFL backs IMO. 

 

I still believe he can do great things for an NFL team possessing an O-Line that consistently gives him a lane, but I doubt his impact on a team with an average or worse line. I'm not trying to blast the guy. I think he's a first rounder.  I just don't see a complete enough skill set to take him at 4. 

 

 

(clip:  www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-game-highlights/0ap3000000540258/Adrian-Peterson-highlights)  ^

 

Yup, this is my biggest concern for him. He simply has not shown a large volume of horizontal jump-cuts near or at the LOS to make me believe it is something he can do, and especially at the NFL level where players are faster, bigger, stronger. If I'm taking a RB at #4, he better not be someone reliant on good blocking to excel. 

 

He needs to be a self creator when blocking isn't ideal too.

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