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Okay guys, I figured I'd do my best to explain here why I do not like Lewan's film. Some feel that I am unfairly criticizing him because of my vocal concerns over his character...and it's understandable. I've been a harsh critic of his off the field transgressions. However, I promise you that I do my absolute best to separate off the field from on the field when evaluating a prospect. In this post, I'll try to illustrate using photos the major concerns I have with Lewan.
Problem #1
Here's one of the biggest concerns I have with Lewan and one of the biggest causes of the problems in his game. Lewan is a waist bender. Look at his posture here. In case some don't understand why waist bending is a negative, I'll explain. For an OL, you want a guy that bends at the knees rather than the waist. And it's a natural thing, you can rarely teach a guy to bend at the knees just like you can rarely teach a body-catcher to snatch the ball consistently with his hands. Bending at the knees allows an OL to sit back in his stance, keep his butt down, keep his center of gravity low, and stay centered on his feet.
By doing that, the OL is better able to maintain his balance. When he bends at the waist, he puts his weight forward over his toes which throws off his equilibrium. It makes him much more susceptible to being yanked off balance by a DE.
On the first play, Max Bullough (who has no business beating Lewan) is able to attack the inside gap, rip under Lewan's arms and pull him off balance allowing him to pressure the QB.
Problem #2
In some of the pictures it's hard to see, however, in each of these pictures Lewan has gotten his hands up into the helmet and/or facemask of the defender. It's a thing you see consistently when you watch him play, especially when he's struggling. Lewan's punch timing and placement is quite inconsistent and often when his punch is poorly placed or late, he tries to compensate by grabbing the defender by the facemask. He got away with far too often in college. NFL Officials don't tend to be too forgiving with LTs when it comes to getting their hands up in the opposing DL's helmet.
This is a tough habit to coach a kid out of because it's instinctual for him. It's a defensive mechanism when he's worried he'll get beat. Issue is that you see it far too often before Lewan actually is at risk of getting beat. There are many more examples of this that I didn't post. These are just a few from two games.
Problem #3
So here's one thing that scares the hell out of me with Justin Smith and Aldon Smith in our division. Lewan, because of the aforementioned problem with bending, can get too upright. Especially when he is late with his punch. Being 6'7"+ also doesn't help. When this happens, strong DEs with long arms can get onto his chest plate, lock out his arms, and have their way with him. Clowney does that in both clips here. In the second clip, he ends up drawing a holding call when Lewan grabs him to stop him from sacking Gardner.
Lewan struggles to absorb punches and has to get his hands on the defender first...especially stronger defenders. Because of his poor bend, when they get underneath his pads, he has no way of stopping them from putting him on skates and pushing him back to the QB. An OT that bends well has the ability to give ground to the DE while widening his base, bending at the knees, and dropping his butt in order to try and recover to anchor back in. A guy like Lewan is going to have issues doing that.
Problem #4
Again, we're going back to Lewan's stiffness. In order to win leverage in the run game and because he's an aggressive guy, Lewan fires out of his stance low but bends heavily at the waist while doing it which gives him very little balance and lateral agility. Clowney was able to side-step Lewan multiple times in the game and blow up running plays in the back-field after Lewan whiffed. The final two pictures are of the same play. Clowney blows up Dennard Robinson on the play after he swims over Lewan. As you can see in the fourth picture, Lewan has his head down and weight too far forward which allows Clowney to use his right arm to grab Lewan's shoulder pad to push him off balance while swimming over the top with the left arm. After that, Dennard Robinson is a sitting duck as seen in the third picture. In the second picture, Joey Bosa gets underneath Lewan and drives him right back into the HB.
Another major issue with Lewan as a run blocker is that he's not a powerful drive blocker. A lot is made out of Lewan's run blocking and from what I've seen on film, it's unwarranted. IMO, the kid is a much better fit in the ZBS than the PBS. He's excellent at blocking down, blocking on the move (due to his straight-line speed) and blocking at the second level (due to his motor and aggressiveness). However, Lewan doesn't have a powerful initial pop as a straight up drive blocker and doesn't consistently show the ability to bury the defender. He gets little push when doing straight up power blocks. It's not from a lack of effort as he does a nice job of latching on, sustaining his blocks, and driving his legs. He just doesn't get much movement. I question how powerful he is in the lower half. When you put his film side by side with a powerful road grader like Robinson, it's striking how little push he gets in comparison.
Lewan's aggressiveness, motor (always plays through the whistle), mobility, and use of angles should be commended as a run blocker but he's not the type of guy that blows the man in front of him off the ball.
Problem #5
Here's the nail in the proverbial Lewan coffin for me. Taylor Lewan has heavy feet, a tendency to over-set in his kick-slide, and struggles to redirect to counter moves. That's a terrible thing for a NFL LT. Which is why I have a sneaking suspicion that Lewan ends up at RT in the NFL. Ohio State's defense took Lewan to the woodshed. And they weren't doing anything special. For example, in the third picture, the Ohio State defender stopped, took a step towards the inside gap, and then exploded around the corner. Lewan was left in the dust as he could not redirect his momentum in time to cut off the player around the corner. Gardner was able to get rid of the ball before the player got there. And that's understandable, it happens.
However, issue is that Joey Bosa embarrassed him doing the same thing all game long. Bosa's go to move was to attack the corner with a speed rush before cutting back into the inside gap. And he used a variety of moves while doing it. In the final two pictures, he used a spin move to beat Lewan inside. In the second picture, he beat Lewan with a club move back inside. The problem here was that Lewan had no ability to redirect and counter these moves. He was not able to redirect and slide quickly enough in position to cut-off Bosa. This led to Bosa picking up 1.5 sacks and hitting Gardner another few times during the game.
In the NFL, you better bet pass rushers are going to do their homework and if they see that weakness, they will exploit it all game long. And once they start to exploit that inside gap, Lewan is going to over-compensate and give them the corner.
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My personal opinion is that I would not touch Lewan in the first round...solely based on film. I'm not even taking character into account with that evaluation. Despite Lewan's measurables, he's not a graceful or effortless mover on the field like Jake Matthews and Greg Robinson. He's not light on his feet. He's not an overpowering drive blocking mauler in the run game. He's not a technically sound player. He doesn't bend naturally. I really have to say that I don't understand why he's rated as highly as he is. He has great speed for an OL in a straight-line, he is a nasty kid that plays through the whistle, he has a non-stop motor, and he's a very effective zone run blocker. However, I don't think that's enough to off-set the other glaring flaws in his game and I don't think the issues he has are easily fixable.
Personally, I think Taylor Lewan is Scout's fools gold. Has the nasty demeanor, size, and measurables that teams love...but ultimately, the film just doesn't match-up to the current projections out there for him right now.
Anyone disagree? I'm more than willing to hear out dissenting opinions. I don't believe my opinion is infallible.
Problem #1
Here's one of the biggest concerns I have with Lewan and one of the biggest causes of the problems in his game. Lewan is a waist bender. Look at his posture here. In case some don't understand why waist bending is a negative, I'll explain. For an OL, you want a guy that bends at the knees rather than the waist. And it's a natural thing, you can rarely teach a guy to bend at the knees just like you can rarely teach a body-catcher to snatch the ball consistently with his hands. Bending at the knees allows an OL to sit back in his stance, keep his butt down, keep his center of gravity low, and stay centered on his feet.
By doing that, the OL is better able to maintain his balance. When he bends at the waist, he puts his weight forward over his toes which throws off his equilibrium. It makes him much more susceptible to being yanked off balance by a DE.
On the first play, Max Bullough (who has no business beating Lewan) is able to attack the inside gap, rip under Lewan's arms and pull him off balance allowing him to pressure the QB.
Problem #2
In some of the pictures it's hard to see, however, in each of these pictures Lewan has gotten his hands up into the helmet and/or facemask of the defender. It's a thing you see consistently when you watch him play, especially when he's struggling. Lewan's punch timing and placement is quite inconsistent and often when his punch is poorly placed or late, he tries to compensate by grabbing the defender by the facemask. He got away with far too often in college. NFL Officials don't tend to be too forgiving with LTs when it comes to getting their hands up in the opposing DL's helmet.
This is a tough habit to coach a kid out of because it's instinctual for him. It's a defensive mechanism when he's worried he'll get beat. Issue is that you see it far too often before Lewan actually is at risk of getting beat. There are many more examples of this that I didn't post. These are just a few from two games.
Problem #3
So here's one thing that scares the hell out of me with Justin Smith and Aldon Smith in our division. Lewan, because of the aforementioned problem with bending, can get too upright. Especially when he is late with his punch. Being 6'7"+ also doesn't help. When this happens, strong DEs with long arms can get onto his chest plate, lock out his arms, and have their way with him. Clowney does that in both clips here. In the second clip, he ends up drawing a holding call when Lewan grabs him to stop him from sacking Gardner.
Lewan struggles to absorb punches and has to get his hands on the defender first...especially stronger defenders. Because of his poor bend, when they get underneath his pads, he has no way of stopping them from putting him on skates and pushing him back to the QB. An OT that bends well has the ability to give ground to the DE while widening his base, bending at the knees, and dropping his butt in order to try and recover to anchor back in. A guy like Lewan is going to have issues doing that.
Problem #4
Again, we're going back to Lewan's stiffness. In order to win leverage in the run game and because he's an aggressive guy, Lewan fires out of his stance low but bends heavily at the waist while doing it which gives him very little balance and lateral agility. Clowney was able to side-step Lewan multiple times in the game and blow up running plays in the back-field after Lewan whiffed. The final two pictures are of the same play. Clowney blows up Dennard Robinson on the play after he swims over Lewan. As you can see in the fourth picture, Lewan has his head down and weight too far forward which allows Clowney to use his right arm to grab Lewan's shoulder pad to push him off balance while swimming over the top with the left arm. After that, Dennard Robinson is a sitting duck as seen in the third picture. In the second picture, Joey Bosa gets underneath Lewan and drives him right back into the HB.
Another major issue with Lewan as a run blocker is that he's not a powerful drive blocker. A lot is made out of Lewan's run blocking and from what I've seen on film, it's unwarranted. IMO, the kid is a much better fit in the ZBS than the PBS. He's excellent at blocking down, blocking on the move (due to his straight-line speed) and blocking at the second level (due to his motor and aggressiveness). However, Lewan doesn't have a powerful initial pop as a straight up drive blocker and doesn't consistently show the ability to bury the defender. He gets little push when doing straight up power blocks. It's not from a lack of effort as he does a nice job of latching on, sustaining his blocks, and driving his legs. He just doesn't get much movement. I question how powerful he is in the lower half. When you put his film side by side with a powerful road grader like Robinson, it's striking how little push he gets in comparison.
Lewan's aggressiveness, motor (always plays through the whistle), mobility, and use of angles should be commended as a run blocker but he's not the type of guy that blows the man in front of him off the ball.
Problem #5
Here's the nail in the proverbial Lewan coffin for me. Taylor Lewan has heavy feet, a tendency to over-set in his kick-slide, and struggles to redirect to counter moves. That's a terrible thing for a NFL LT. Which is why I have a sneaking suspicion that Lewan ends up at RT in the NFL. Ohio State's defense took Lewan to the woodshed. And they weren't doing anything special. For example, in the third picture, the Ohio State defender stopped, took a step towards the inside gap, and then exploded around the corner. Lewan was left in the dust as he could not redirect his momentum in time to cut off the player around the corner. Gardner was able to get rid of the ball before the player got there. And that's understandable, it happens.
However, issue is that Joey Bosa embarrassed him doing the same thing all game long. Bosa's go to move was to attack the corner with a speed rush before cutting back into the inside gap. And he used a variety of moves while doing it. In the final two pictures, he used a spin move to beat Lewan inside. In the second picture, he beat Lewan with a club move back inside. The problem here was that Lewan had no ability to redirect and counter these moves. He was not able to redirect and slide quickly enough in position to cut-off Bosa. This led to Bosa picking up 1.5 sacks and hitting Gardner another few times during the game.
In the NFL, you better bet pass rushers are going to do their homework and if they see that weakness, they will exploit it all game long. And once they start to exploit that inside gap, Lewan is going to over-compensate and give them the corner.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My personal opinion is that I would not touch Lewan in the first round...solely based on film. I'm not even taking character into account with that evaluation. Despite Lewan's measurables, he's not a graceful or effortless mover on the field like Jake Matthews and Greg Robinson. He's not light on his feet. He's not an overpowering drive blocking mauler in the run game. He's not a technically sound player. He doesn't bend naturally. I really have to say that I don't understand why he's rated as highly as he is. He has great speed for an OL in a straight-line, he is a nasty kid that plays through the whistle, he has a non-stop motor, and he's a very effective zone run blocker. However, I don't think that's enough to off-set the other glaring flaws in his game and I don't think the issues he has are easily fixable.
Personally, I think Taylor Lewan is Scout's fools gold. Has the nasty demeanor, size, and measurables that teams love...but ultimately, the film just doesn't match-up to the current projections out there for him right now.
Anyone disagree? I'm more than willing to hear out dissenting opinions. I don't believe my opinion is infallible.
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