Entering the 2021 season, there are a host of different players on both sides of the line of scrimmage with something to prove, whether being in a contract year, needing to rebound from a bad season, or because they’re playing a critical role towards the success of their team.
Which player do you feel most comfortable with this year? A healthy James Daniels is pretty good. I'm confident in Andy Reid putting Orlando Brown Jr. in positions to succeed too.
Hi Brandon, I don't know if you saw Miami OL vs Buffalo. A couple of questions a) have you ever seen someone recover from as poor as a performance as Austin Jackson put up on Sunday to become a good NFL starter? And, b) how do experienced NFL coaches justify going into a season with a blatantly subpar OL with no vet presence, then passing on guys like Sewell and Slater, when you are trying to develop and evaluate a young QB? Because I can't make any sense of it. We invested in 2 deep threats in Waddle and Fuller, but our QBs have to get the ball out immediately to survive. Sorry to rant.
a) Im assuming from what youve said(correct me if Im wrong) that the late hand placement is due to not setting properly. For NFL OL, what dictates the depth of the set in terms of is it almost all just depth of the dropback(3 vs 5 vs 7 steps) most plays or is it also supposed to vary and be adjusted based off what the DL is doing as he gets off? Like adjusting your set a bit in terms of the DLs shoulder/foot alignment as one ex and trying to read that on the fly?
b) When you say feet and hands arent in synch, are you primarily just referring to the timing of the strike being off or is there something else also when looking at how those two work in synch?
c) Last two things here are kind of interconnected. I often wonder about the off hand, so in this case that's Thomas's right hand, is his right hand too late and late to engage with the DL or is what he did with his right largely fine? And then you talk about how poor sets contribute to getting your hands knocked down wondering if you could further elaborate on that a little? This is where the right hand usage also comes into play Im assuming to try to prevent the DL from doing this.
A) Late hand placement in general can be from a poor set or in a vacuum the hands are just simply late. Both happen and they often bleed into the other. The depth of the set can be dictated by all of the above depending on the offense, QB, opponent, and even game plan.
B) Primarily the timing of the strike but also not getting to the spot/set point quickly enough + square (feet not being in sync). Thomas is oftentimes too deep (overset) or shallow (underset), which directly impacts his hands. Other times he gets there and his hands are just late or wide. You'll see a windup before he strikes pop up on film too, which contributes to the delayed strike timing.
C) Thomas is striking with 2 hands in both clips above. Ideally the 2-hand strike would be used more sparingly than he utilizes it and more independent hands would be used (harder for a rusher to prepare for & react to). I kind of answered how poor sets can contribute to getting your hands knocked down above.
This is good thank you! Couple things to follow up if you get a chance later on
1) So talking about 1 hand vs 2 hand strike
a) Does the alignment and angle of your shoulders and feet change based off whether you do a 1 vs 2 hand strike? Another way also to think about this I was looking up an old article you wrote a few yrs ago on this
see how at 0:05 on your first clip with Bakhtiari you note "knee to crotch and half man relationship established" how do you want your relative positioning to the DL to be different based off 1 hand vs 2 hand strikes?
b) General question but when you watch the better OL in this league how much do you find their hand placement with one hand strikes changes week to week based off particular opponent? Is it heavily opponent based or do players usually have general tendencies/comfort zones with their hand placement that always show?
c) Last quick thing in terms of what you posted just now
"You'll see a windup before he strikes pop up on film too, which contributes to the delayed strike timing."
I was going to ask about this initially in that Thomas video it looked like to me he was doing this with his right hand around 0:01-0:02? Was he/is that an ex of what you are referring to?
For Bradbury, how much does the below average (to be nice) guard play from the past two seasons play into his middling development? If Ezra makes the leap, how much more likely does that make it that Garrett does too?
I would certainly put Jonah Williams as a top 10 even top 5. He’s already missed 22 of 32 games and while he did show some promise at times last year but overall he hardly has shown much despite being the first OL off the board in the 2019 draft.
He crossed my mind but I was a big fan of him coming out and like you said he’s been good when on the field so I’m more encouraged about him than any of the tackles listed. You’re right though that he has to prove he can play a full season or at least 14-15 games.
Which player do you feel most comfortable with this year? A healthy James Daniels is pretty good. I'm confident in Andy Reid putting Orlando Brown Jr. in positions to succeed too.
Those would be two of the first ones I’d lean towards if I needed to pick. Bradbury/Hernandez would be in consideration too.
Hi Brandon, I don't know if you saw Miami OL vs Buffalo. A couple of questions a) have you ever seen someone recover from as poor as a performance as Austin Jackson put up on Sunday to become a good NFL starter? And, b) how do experienced NFL coaches justify going into a season with a blatantly subpar OL with no vet presence, then passing on guys like Sewell and Slater, when you are trying to develop and evaluate a young QB? Because I can't make any sense of it. We invested in 2 deep threats in Waddle and Fuller, but our QBs have to get the ball out immediately to survive. Sorry to rant.
Good stuff again couple questions that came up through this
1) I saw you tweeted this play out during the wk you linked again here
https://twitter.com/BrandonThornNFL/status/1433110291202691086?s=20
Couple questions from it
a) Im assuming from what youve said(correct me if Im wrong) that the late hand placement is due to not setting properly. For NFL OL, what dictates the depth of the set in terms of is it almost all just depth of the dropback(3 vs 5 vs 7 steps) most plays or is it also supposed to vary and be adjusted based off what the DL is doing as he gets off? Like adjusting your set a bit in terms of the DLs shoulder/foot alignment as one ex and trying to read that on the fly?
b) When you say feet and hands arent in synch, are you primarily just referring to the timing of the strike being off or is there something else also when looking at how those two work in synch?
c) Last two things here are kind of interconnected. I often wonder about the off hand, so in this case that's Thomas's right hand, is his right hand too late and late to engage with the DL or is what he did with his right largely fine? And then you talk about how poor sets contribute to getting your hands knocked down wondering if you could further elaborate on that a little? This is where the right hand usage also comes into play Im assuming to try to prevent the DL from doing this.
Thanks alot again, great stuff!
Thanks for the questions. I appreciate the depth!
A) Late hand placement in general can be from a poor set or in a vacuum the hands are just simply late. Both happen and they often bleed into the other. The depth of the set can be dictated by all of the above depending on the offense, QB, opponent, and even game plan.
B) Primarily the timing of the strike but also not getting to the spot/set point quickly enough + square (feet not being in sync). Thomas is oftentimes too deep (overset) or shallow (underset), which directly impacts his hands. Other times he gets there and his hands are just late or wide. You'll see a windup before he strikes pop up on film too, which contributes to the delayed strike timing.
C) Thomas is striking with 2 hands in both clips above. Ideally the 2-hand strike would be used more sparingly than he utilizes it and more independent hands would be used (harder for a rusher to prepare for & react to). I kind of answered how poor sets can contribute to getting your hands knocked down above.
This is good thank you! Couple things to follow up if you get a chance later on
1) So talking about 1 hand vs 2 hand strike
a) Does the alignment and angle of your shoulders and feet change based off whether you do a 1 vs 2 hand strike? Another way also to think about this I was looking up an old article you wrote a few yrs ago on this
https://blogs.usafootball.com/blog/6283/the-art-of-the-strike-3-techniques-offensive-linemen-can-use-to-fend-off-pass-rushers
see how at 0:05 on your first clip with Bakhtiari you note "knee to crotch and half man relationship established" how do you want your relative positioning to the DL to be different based off 1 hand vs 2 hand strikes?
b) General question but when you watch the better OL in this league how much do you find their hand placement with one hand strikes changes week to week based off particular opponent? Is it heavily opponent based or do players usually have general tendencies/comfort zones with their hand placement that always show?
c) Last quick thing in terms of what you posted just now
"You'll see a windup before he strikes pop up on film too, which contributes to the delayed strike timing."
I was going to ask about this initially in that Thomas video it looked like to me he was doing this with his right hand around 0:01-0:02? Was he/is that an ex of what you are referring to?
Thanks alot again!
For Bradbury, how much does the below average (to be nice) guard play from the past two seasons play into his middling development? If Ezra makes the leap, how much more likely does that make it that Garrett does too?
I would certainly put Jonah Williams as a top 10 even top 5. He’s already missed 22 of 32 games and while he did show some promise at times last year but overall he hardly has shown much despite being the first OL off the board in the 2019 draft.
He crossed my mind but I was a big fan of him coming out and like you said he’s been good when on the field so I’m more encouraged about him than any of the tackles listed. You’re right though that he has to prove he can play a full season or at least 14-15 games.