My take on AJ Arcuri

[oldnotdead]

This is the first time I got to see video of AJ's play and this is what I saw. Arcuri is a big man with good arm length. His physical traits stand out and on first look, you see an NFL OT. Then you turn to the tape and you can see why he dropped in the draft. He's a big man with his length giving him a good play radius, but the crucial thing lacking is his quickness off the snap. His slide was smooth but if he's beaten off the snap like he many times is, he struggles to recover. If he can stay in phase then he looks fine. He was occasionally abused by edge rushers with speed. He would be dead meat against NFL level speed rushers. Arcuri lacks the foot quickness you look for in an NFL OT. He also lacks acceleration and it shows when he's asked to do more than in-line run blocking. He struggles on the second level. He looks to be strictly a zone blocker on run plays.

One thing I did note is that he can drop his hips to play with leverage. That is something a lot of men his height cannot do. Jackson can and it's why he can play with leverage at OG. Edwards cannot and it's why he is many times driven back into Stafford or allows contact in the backfield on running plays. Arcuri does seem to struggle at times in run blocking but he looks solid in his pass blocking. This is why he might be able to play inside despite his height as he can dip his hips for leverage which is the name of the game at OG. It will be interesting to see where they play him.

At this point I see him strictly as a depth player.