By Joey Esquire
“I am terrified that the Eagles are going to draft Derek Barnett.” “Sure, he compares to Brandon Graham, if Brandon Graham started every down with both feet in wet cement.” “My nightmare scenario: Barnett, McCaffrey or Ross. And I could live with McCaffrey or Ross.”
These were just some of my quotes about Derek Barnett in the past couple months leading up to the NFL Draft. So of course the Eagles drafted Derek Barnett. Of course they did. How did I not see that coming?
I hated this pick when they announced it. I wanted nothing to do with Barnett leading up to the draft. Then once the draft started and QBs and WRs were flying off the board, pushing down blue chip talent like Jonathan Allen, OJ Howard, Malik Hooker and Reuben Foster, I figured there was no way the Eagles would bypass those obviously great talents for Derek freaking Barnett.
“With the 14th pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, the Philadelphia Eagles select: Derek Barnett, defensive end, Tennessee.” Fuck. My. Life.
MY FIRST THOUGHTS ON BARNETT
When I first watched Barnett, I really did like a lot of what I saw. Barnett has good, not great, size but lacks ideal length for NFL DEs. He has great bend to turn the corner against OTs, has fantastic hands to disengage from blocks when OTs get their hands on him and his motor never stops. And of course that kind of production against SEC competition can’t be a bad thing. But despite all those positives, I didn’t like what I saw.
The main thing I noticed with Barnett is he just didn’t consistently display burst off the line of scrimmage. For all the things he did well, it seemed on most snaps he just didn’t burst forward before the OT across from him was already into his set. I think for a DE in any system, a bad first step is troubling… but in Jim Schwartz’s attacking-style defense, I thought it would be crippling.
“Typically, the ‘Wide-9’ technique player is a pure pass rusher, and usually a speed rusher to be more specific. He aligns himself out wide, angled back toward the quarterback, and has limited run responsibility on the play. His whole job is to get to the quarterback. These are the defensive ends who excel at getting off the ball, blowing past the tackle, dipping their shoulder around the turn, and reaching the quarterback as he completes his drop. The technique clearly gives the defensive end an advantage in pass rushing. He is able to get a couple of extra steps, and momentum built, before the tackle gets in the way. If he has the speed, the tackle may just be trying to push him further back, rather than actually getting in front of the defensive end.”
http://www.thephinsider.com/2016/4/16/11443574/football-101-understanding-the-wide-nine-technique
This impression was confirmed in my mind by Barnett’s performance at the combine, where he tested poorly particularly in the vertical jump, which is designed to measure explosiveness, and the short shuttle, which measures the ability to cover 5-7 yards with quickness. And I heard several draft “experts” echo the concern about the lack of explosiveness, including Daniel Jeremiah and Mel Kiper.
EAGLES DRAFT BARNETT – INITIAL REVIEWS
Jon Gruden: “Well, Jim Schwartz, the defensive coordinator, plays this wide-nine defense. They get in these four-point stances and they get off the ball. They key the ball, and they get off the ball extremely fast, and they disrupt plays, and that’s what you see from Barnett. The strength of his game is his quick get-off. He’s going to get down low in these four-point stances, and he’s going to win with his stance and his get-off. That’s where most of his production comes.”
Ray Didinger praised Barnett as the “best-case scenario” for the Eagles, and mentioned him as a perfect scheme fit who does a great job attacking off the snap.
What the hell were these guys watching? The guy I saw being so slow off the snap, and being such a bad fit for this system was being praised as a perfect scheme fit who does a great job getting off the ball extremely quickly? What was I not seeing? On top of that, obviously Jim Schwartz disagreed with my assessment of Derek Barnett in the Jim Schwartz defense, so I wanted to see what I was missing.
What I started to notice was those seemingly rare plays where Barnett was getting a good jump almost universally came in obvious passing situations. Against Alabama, the first time he saw 3rd and long, he fired off the snap, blew by Cam Robinson like he was standing still, and recorded a sack/fumble on Jalen Hurts. Against Florida, on 3rd and 8 he burst off the line, flew right by the LT and nearly blew up a screen pass. On 3rd and 10, he fired off the snap and took advantage of an over-set by the OT to make a move inside and record a hit on the QB. When I isolated the pure passing situations, I could begin to see what Gruden and Didinger and others were talking about. His first step still wasn’t great, but it wasn’t the liability I had initially thought it was
RESEARCH – THE TENNESSEE DEFENSIVE SCHEME
Under Defensive Coordinator Bob Shoop, Tennesee tries to play most downs in their 4-3 base, which is unusual in NCAA football with the prevalence of the spread. From that base, they generally run a cover 6, with three deep zone defenders and three underneath zone defenders. From this base, they run a number of different blitzes, and one that Shoop loves is a double-A-gap blitz, sending two linebackers and dropping one DE into zone. The result is that on many downs, particularly run downs or run/pass downs, the DE’s primary job is either to drop into an underneath zone, or to contain the pocket; pressure is generated up the middle through the A gaps.
What does all that mean for Barnett? Basically that on early downs, his job was not necessarily to get upfield and penetrate the line. On many snaps in the Tennessee scheme, Barnett’s job was first to cover the C gap against the rush, then if he read pass it was either drop into zone or try to push the pocket without getting too far upfield to where a QB could break the pocket.
Sometimes watching the Eagles under Jim Schwartz, I forget that not every team wants their DEs to explode upfield on every snap. In the Tennessee defense, if Barnett fired upfield every play, he would leave the C Gap exposed. Some of those plays that looked like bad reaction on my first watch may have actually been Barnett assigned to drop into a zone if he read pass or to keep the QB contained in the pocket.
WHY I THINK (HOPE) I WAS WRONG
Derek Barnett has eight games available for watching on Draftbreakdown.com. When I rewatched them and focused on plays on third/fourth with 6+ yards to go. My impression was much more favorable than when I watched Barnett the first time around. I would still say Barnett does not have an explosive first step, and isn’t quite as quick off the line as, say, a Charles Harris, but it doesn’t look so bad that I expect it to hold him back in this scheme. When he is focused on the pass rush, he does actually a decent job of getting off the line, especially when rushing from out wide.
In the Eagles defense, Barnett will be asked to treat almost every down as one of those third/fourth and long situations. He will have limited run responsibilities and will be able to focus on the pass rush. Even after re-watch though, he’s not what you would call an explosive athlete, and he does need to develop a better inside counter move and a spin move if he’s going to be successful in the NFL, but those issues should be coachable. I think he can be a well rounded DE, strong against the run but a pass rush threat as well. Here’s hoping.
