Pass Pro Lab: Greg Van Roten
Greg Van Roten joined me for the latest Pass Pro Lab to break down tape from his career and some of the techniques that have helped him stick in the league for more than a decade.
Van Roten entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of Penn in 2012. Since then he has made 105 regular-season starts, with stops in Green Bay, Seattle, Toronto, Jacksonville, Carolina, New York, Buffalo, Las Vegas and with the Giants. He is one of only eight undrafted offensive linemen since 2004 to reach 100 career starts.
A lot of this session centered on how aggressive he is in pass protection.
Van Roten likes to dictate the start of the rep instead of letting a defensive lineman get into his rush. That shows up with his up-kick (which he got from watching Brandon Scherff), the way he throws his outside hand and how often he is willing to close space against elite interior rushers.
We watched reps against Fletcher Cox, Quinnen Williams, Jalen Carter, Daron Payne, Chris Jones, Dexter Lawrence and others while talking through when that approach works, when it can get him in trouble and how he changes it depending on the alignment, protection and help around him.
We also got into where some of those techniques came from. Van Roten talked about learning from Josh Sitton, Andrew Norwell, Trai Turner and other linemen he played with, taking his up-kick from Brandon Scherff and working under several different offensive line coaches over the course of his career.
The final portion of the conversation goes back through his path into the league. He went undrafted, spent time on Green Bay’s practice squad, left the NFL, played two seasons in the CFL and eventually worked his way back into a starting role.
Van Roten talked about what Jeff Saturday and Ryan Kalil taught him, how his approach changed under Frank Pollack and Aaron Kromer, and why being exposed to so many different techniques ended up helping him later in his career.
“I learned throughout my career there are multiple ways to get the job done.”
That probably sums up his career as well as anything we discussed.
We covered:
Dictating terms in pass protection
The up-kick and where Van Roten got it from
Outside-hand placement and changing up his strike
Fletcher Cox, Quinnen Williams, Jalen Carter and Chris Jones
Playing with help and knowing when to take a shot
Passing off games with Jermaine Eluemunor
Why “pass pro isn’t passive”
What he learned from Josh Sitton, Andrew Norwell and Trai Turner
Surviving against Dexter Lawrence
Why some successful reps still aren’t clean
His path from UDFA to the CFL and back to the NFL
Jeff Saturday and Ryan Kalil
Frank Pollack and Aaron Kromer
Building a tool bag over 100+ NFL starts
Why assignment grading from outside the building is so difficult
Full audio is available to everyone. The complete film room and timestamps (below) are for paid subscribers.
