Former NFL DE on Lewan and his opinion on our stacked lines
A former NFL DE reviews Lewan's play during last year to evaluate his draft stock. I'll let you read the article, but here's a money quote:
Basically, Michigan was cheating [ed: not literally] lining up a tight end to Lewan's side. But it was the stupidest kind of cheating ever.
http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2014/4/11/5582246/2014-nfl-draft-scouting-report-taylor-lewan
Neither of his "bad" reps looked that bad.
He was correct about the odd tendency of Lewan blasting out on a screen, looking athletic and ominous, and ultimately hitting no one. That happened a few times. Of course that happens to a lot of lineman, and whether it was bad luck or a thing are debatable. He'll also struggle a bit with really powerful bull rushers.
And he wasn't a punishing run blocker. But I don't think that matters as much in the NFL. Get in front of your guy and wall him off on runs, protect the passer. He's a crazy elite athlete at that size and sure-fire early pick.
when your bad reps arent bad is how you get to be a 1st round pick, which is basically what hes saying. Article says Lewan should be a solid tackle in the NFL and a plug and play starter but might never be an Elite starter. Basically a Jeff Backus type, solid NFL talent who struggles occasinally but sticks around for a while
Really lost balance with hands and feet because of the fake inside rush, and got beat pretty easily. The ND one was a stretch though. Ultimately, his guy got around him, and Lewan wasn't going to contain his guy for 7 seconds, but Lewan also essentially took the DE completely out of the play and gave DG a huge throwing window a lane to step up into.
he's definitely better than a Backus-type, that would be his floor. Much more athletic than Backus, more so than even Jake Long. I don't think he'll be a punishing/dominating run blocker, but I think that's a dying breed at LT in the NFL anyway.
Good is the floor, and he could certainly be elite. I think he has more upside than Matthews (who's more consistent, more punishing), and I haven't seen the Auburn kid enough to judge. May depend on what the team is looking for. Lewan needs more weight and or leg/core strength to handle bull rushes. If he has that, he could be the LT you tune in on Sundays to watch battle pass rushers. Like Strahan-Runyan. The bowl game vs. Clowney was a possible preview.
When you're better than all but, at most, 31 other people in the WORLD at something, you're pretty good at that thing.
That being said, this was really an interesting analysis because I'm not sure White had any particular biases going in. At the end of last year, many MGoBlog readers would have thought of Lewan as a potential Elite NFL tackle. This article says maybe not. I enjoyed it.
When all your momentum is travelling towards the sideline trying to get out to block a little CB who can jump sideways real quick you either have to catch them off guard or breakdown and see what you hit. Greatest lesson in football is to keep your head up and always see what you hit. Pancaking is overrated as far as I'm concerned as long as the runner sees your butt and not the defender you made a successful block. It is up to the runner to make cuts off of your block.
It is also up to the runner to understand the OLs body position with regards to the defender. Close enough to cut but not too close that he can't react. I have seen Denard cut too tight of a block in space and get armed tackled by a defender reaching out as well when he had plenty of green to get around and up the sideline
I too was a little surprised he picked that play as an example. On that play (against ND) Gardner executed a play fake, took a 7 (?) step drop, stepped up and passed the ball and the DE Lewan was blocking was still 5-7 feet from Gardner. That seems like a lot of time to give your QB.
Yea, I noticed that as well. Maybe not the best examples of Lewan struggling.
April 11th, 2014 at 12:54 PM ^
He knows he will get the coaching he needs in the NFL that he didn't get at Michigan.
April 11th, 2014 at 12:54 PM ^
he also doesn't give lewan a glowing review, so i don't like him that much.
April 11th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^
Where was the good doctor and his diagnostic talent last year, you know, when the patient was still viable and could benefit? Spot-on analysis. Time for new medicine.
we were so successful running there. Oh wait, we weren't successful running anywhere.
errrr
It's actually pretty interesting to read these evaluations, but in this case, it was particularly intriguing for me when it came to this line:
The fact that Michigan was so reluctant to put their best offensive lineman out on an island made it harder for me to actually assess how he played. Or, more importantly, it inhibits my ability to project how he might play in the NFL.
I think that speaks to something that was feared in a way, but here is someone actually saying it - the scheme was so convoluted that it was more difficult to make these sorts of individual assessments. It was a hopeful evaluation overall though, as White does seem to believe he would probably be a starter out of the gate.
I actually think the conclusions on Lewan are pretty spot on. He does a great job of getting into run blocks, but for whatever reason doesn't tend to finish as well as he should. He does lean a bit forward in his pass set. I'd also add that he tends to get his hands too high, though, like the author said, he does a great job getting them inside.
Some of the examples he uses aren't the best (the ND DE fanned way outside and way too far upfield, Lewan was fine on that play; on the Nebraska play he went after the wrong guy, it wasn't missing the block from getting juked, though I did see examples of that last year, just not there; the MSU video was a mistake by the LG, who wasn't supposed to follow the guy on the stunt, and Michigan was trying to run into the boundary and pass to the field because of MSU's cover 4 defense, hence the TE to the boundary). I'll cut him some slack though, I know from watching videos and trying to pull examples that sometimes you have something you saw several times and go to try to pull an example and you never find the one as good as the one you're thinking of without watching the whole thing over again. Either way, this is the problem with someone doing something like this though: they are unfamiliar with the situations regarding each team and the teams they're facing.
For instance, he wants more counters to take advantage of Lewan pulling. Clearly he didn't watch Michigan try to run counters early in the season, it was extremely ugly, even for Lewan (pulling wasn't his strength), though oddly he shows a play vs MSU with the TE lined up away from Lewan to the field and Michigan running a counter toward Lewan, therefore contridicting both of us in one clip. Most of Michigan's screens did include Lewan leaking out into space, ever tunnel screen (he calls them smoke screens) featured Lewan leaking out, as did many of the middle screens. Michigan didn't run many traditional screens, part of that was because it depends more on the interior guys. There were also plenty of instances of TEs being on the other side and the interior still really struggling, TE doesn't fix those issues.
In all honesty, Borges may have put the TE towards Lewan more than I remember, but that just doesn't seem like it was even really remotely on the bad list of things. Schofield tended to do fine on the right side for the most part, and I remember specifically twice when they lined up a TE to Schofield's side and it resulted in miscommunication and a sack, so I dunno.
In the end though, I think his evaluation of Lewan is pretty spot on, and Borges's offense had much bigger issues than the ones that prevented White from getting a better evaluation of Lewan.
Looking on the bright side isn't this also cause for some optimism, in that next year's falloff at tackle may not be as great as feared?
It was an interesting read but incomplete.
He basically concludes that Lewan < Matthews/Robinson because he only saw one pancake block in five games. Also, he claims that since the offense was shitty he didn't get to see Lewan challenged all that much. Thus Lewan is worse than Matthews/Robinson.
Also, there seems to be a big mystery as why the TEs were being slid to Lewan's side. I don't think it's a mystery. It was clearly another instance where Borges was trying to out-outsmart the defense by making them think that we were going to run on Lewan's side.
And of course the only person Borges ended up outsmarting was himself.
Am getting quite tired of all the Borges dissing... its a shame it didn't work out, and lets leave it at that.
Calm down Al
That's like me saying I'm tired of traffic jams, but I chose to live in NYC, DC or LA.
If you chose to visit a Michigan blog, you have to understand there are going to be things that the general fanbase is extremely happy and unhappy about.
If you visit MGoBlog you're going to have to hear about the history of the university, Woodson, uniforms and helmets. You're also going to have to hear about Al Borges, Rich Rod, and and our shitty offensive line.
If any of those things bother you, good or bad...maybe you should stop visiting.
NYC has no traffic, because there's never, ever any reason to drive there. Take the subways. Take them the first time you go and never drive a car there ever. Cabs are allowed/required from time to time.
L.A. has traffic. Just an impossible amount of traffic.
...I've lived there for 2 years. You don't drive BECAUSE of all the traffic. It may be cabs, public and private transportation...but it is traffic.
Lived in DC for 3 years, so I know they have traffic as well. LA, I have not lived in...but you just confirmed that, so 3 for 3.
I drive (sparringly) in NYC. It isn't fun, but you can do it. And the traffic is turrible.
Interesting, I've lived in and around NYC my whole life (and I'm old) and drive there all the time. You have to pick your spots and know when and where it's feasible. I just never thought of it as non-driveable
April 12th, 2014 at 12:07 PM ^
I think we can all admit that, well, Borges called a bad offense at times last year, and that people bitching about Lewan being complicit in the team's struggles need to stop. But it is in the past, and at this point beating it to death doesn't mean anything.
I agree that 2013 is in the past but I don't hear people claiming Lewan was complicit in the team's struggles. The only thing I have heard questioned was his leadership but that is really difficult to measure from outside of the locker room.
The article is one guy's opinion. I don't remember anyone else saying that about the TE helping Lewan the whole season and there were a ton of knowledgeable guys watching.
April 12th, 2014 at 10:29 AM ^
Wow-sounds like something I might've said. Repeatedly. On this very board.
About 10,000 times last year.
I think most people did. Thank goodness Borges is no longer here. He was just brutally bad.