The Big, Happy Thread of Eric Fisher
 

In the wake of the Alex Smith trade, the Chiefs are likely in the hunt for a new left tackle to replace the departing Branden Albert (unless Albert signs, in which case our attention will shift to defensive line).

I've already made some effort to familiarize ourselves with draftnik favorite Luke Joeckel in a previous thread as a step towards knowing our options. Other options include Eric Fisher and Lane Johnson.

So this thread will be dedicated to getting to know the one candidate we definitely know the least about, Eric Fisher of Central Michigan.

The first thing to discuss out of the gate, of course, is that Fisher is from a smaller program, and that alone makes him a dark horse at best for the #1 overall selection.

Fisher is #79. Really tall white dude playing LT.

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There's a handful of game-long videos like this one on YouTube, so feel free to watch if you're interested in embedding yourself into All Things Fisher.

A few things you'll notice from the game tape once you do watch him:

1. Unlike Joeckel, teams are very comfortable throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Fisher. With but a few exceptions, Fisher vanquishes anything you throw at him. Rotate a defensive tackle over to him? No problem, bull rush is stifled. Blitz a cornerback around the corner? Fisher is fast enough to meet them at the edge and erase them.

2. Like Joeckel, however, there's not a ton on these highlights that's particularly exciting. He doesn't play with a ferocious edge, like more left tackles. He does have outstanding leverage and technique. He really drops his hips against the bull rushes, and though his kick slide is a bit labored, he still gets out to the edge as fast as about anybody. But in the above clip, there's one pancake the entire game, and that's better than almost every other game he plays.

3. It's not particularly obvious how you can beat Fisher other than send more guys than he can handle -- but even that's incredibly difficult because he shows an uncanny ability to block more than one guy. He can push a dude off and neutralize somebody else, and there's actually a play in the tape above where he blocks two guys with one push.

4. This is another lockdown blocker. He's got a good reach and once he squares you up in either pass or runblocking, it's over.

5. He needs to get a ton better at chopblocking. That's not a particularly hard skill to learn, but good lord he's currently terrible at it.

6. The Chippewas (team mascot) send him downfield to block with some frequency, and he always finds his mark and neutralizes them. He dissects where his block needs to go decisively.

7. He is extraordinarily quick in small spaces. He doesn't plow the way but he is an effective runblocker with very fast feet. (You could see his fast feet on display at the Combine.)

8. His ability to work with teammates is pretty strong, and he's never really fooled by blitzes, stunts, or anything like that. Evidence of a smart lineman.

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As for his measureables:

Fisher played all four seasons. In 2012, he allowed 1 sack total. He didn't end up on anybody's Elite Prospect Radar until he beat the shit out of his opponents at the Senior Bowl, which apparently he was able to do because he looked up their names ahead of time and studied them on YouTube. Coaches claim he's a film rat and perfectionist. They say he "sets a tone" by working really hard, but there's no real mention of him being a leader, nor does he really come across like one. He just seems, personality-wise, that your typical smart tackle.

He's 6'7", 306 lbs. His arms are fairly long, at 34+". At the Combine, he benched 27 reps, which is merely not bad. He will need some time in an NFL strength and conditioning program.

Fisher seems like a little more of a natural fit for the Chiefs zone blocking scheme because of his quickness and sheer speed, which on both fronts he has Luke Joeckel beat handily. He ran a 5.03 40-yard dash, with a 10-yard split of 1.70, which was I think the 7th or 8th best at the Combine. He's athletic, is what I'm trying to say.

I reject what most people say about Fisher, which is that he's a "project with high upside." I honestly think they are saying that just because he's from a small program. Don't believe it -- his technique is surprisingly polished and his footwork is NFL caliber now. This is a guy you can plug in on Day One at LT. He's not a boom/bust guy. He's a rare known quantity from a small program.

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Interesting factoid: he's got good size, he's not a true mauler, and he's really quick -- so I'd compare him to Joe Staley, who is also a left tackle (49ers), who is also the only Central Michigan Chippewa in the NFL who's been selected in the first round. So there's that.

LMAO

Why? WHY? We just spent top-5 picks in 08 & 09 on DL, and the 11th overall in 2012. Are you really suggesting we have to keep going back to this stupid, failed strategy? Just stick the Shaun Smith/Pitopatputa types of the world in there. What diff does it possibly make?

See my sig ! Can we resign Albert and still have a use for Fisher ? I just think albert gets resigned.

If we let Albert go and take a LT at 1 i will be ****ing mad! We've basically robbed Peter to pay Paul with swapping Cassel for Smith and now swapping Joeckel or Fisher for Albert. How have we gotten any better by this?

Sometimes I wish they would just fire Teicher so a reporter with balls can write objectively.

Can you imagine what papers in NY would say if this was their team and they took a LT? I can see the headlines now...

"Team ruins only 1st overall pick in team history by making lateral move."

I just want to remind people why Fisher is thought so highly of:

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This is the OL vs. DL drills from the Senior Bowl. There's plenty of Fisher here, he's #79, tall as a mother****er, and playing with Central Michigan's gray helmet.

If you go to 2:15, you can see a video of him playing Illinois' Michael Buchanan.

Yes, that's right. He's that good.

Now look at a few of the rushes being handled by the other passrushers both before and after.

Yes, Fisher is that good.

There's much more Fisher in here. It's all that good.

**** YOU

At 7:10, he beats Okafor pretty handily.

9:33 they talk about Fisher some. And beats the shit out of Okafor again.

Goddamn.

Fisher will likely be a very good LT, but that still doesn't make me think Alex Smith will be any better of a QB.

13:00

Fisher gets bulled by Okafor.

15:45

Okafor goes for the bull again, Fisher reanchors and stymies him.

The very next play, some asshole from San Jose State got his shit pushed in by Fisher.

who gives a shit

Lol



Opinion change?

19:45

Fisher stymies Datone Jones. Commentators: "it's not even a contest."

Next snap, Fisher punishes Okafor for trying to bull him again.

Does this surprise you, he was deep throating Tyler Wilson then started deep throating Alex Smith.

38:05

They spotlight Fisher.

Not a lot of action, apparently, for realistic optimism.

"Here's your new contract Brandon. You said you didn't want to play RT.

We agree. Welcome to guard..."

Because I like my graphic from the other thread, I shall post it again:

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/pictu...pictureid=1349

Fisher blows Albert off the page in terms of raw athleticism.

Love watching this kid work.

Thanks for posting. I'm a FisherMan!

He's an OT.

We'll only notice him if he ****s up.

Great pick.

Alex is probably calling Miami right now to talk $3it on Albert...

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-sh...170310346.html
Eric Fisher’s mom has been his guiding light through a long road to the NFL
Eric Fisher may have believed that he was worth the first overall pick in the 2013 NFL draft, but he had to work exceptionally hard over the last few years to bring followers to that cause.

“I think I answered all the questions," he said soon after the Kansas City Chiefs gave him that honor. "Coming out of a small school, obviously people are going to have questions. What kind of competition did he face? What kind of athlete is he? I think I proved myself at the Senior Bowl, the combine, pro day. … I think I answered all the questions.”

The road ahead is filled with potential, but the road taken was far from a sure thing.

On one of his college visits as a high school recruit, the 18-year-old Fisher drove six hours from his home in Rochester Hills, Michigan to talk with an NCAA coach of some renown. When Fisher arrived, the coach wished him luck, but said that he had to skip the visit because he had a golf outing.

"Yeah, it was a little frustrating," Fisher told Y! Sports this week, during a media tour for Tide detergent. "Obviously, he's probably kicking himself."

One can only assume that the coach, who Fisher would not name, spent a lot of time in the last year doing just that. Fisher was a lightly-regarded prospect -- a 230-pound tackle out of Stoney Creek High -- but even he was surprised by the lack of interest he received from the big schools. Shut out of the Big 10, Fisher weighed offers from Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan, and chose the latter. Just a few years later, Fisher heard his name called as the first overall pick in the NFL draft. And in the end, Fisher felt most at home where he wound up.

"It just all felt right," he said of his time at Central Michigan. "I really liked the coaching staff at the time. Just the atmosphere of that school. The game-day atmosphere ... our stadium only holds 30,000 people, but at the same time, it feels like one of those big-day atmospheres, so it was nice. "

Eric Fisher and his mother, Heidi Langegger, during a recent media blitz. (Tide)The one person who was always at his side through the process was his mother, Heidi Langegger, who raised him as a single parent. Fisher's father was in the picture, but he lived a few hours away, and it was up to Ms. Langegger to be her son's primary voice of support and validation when few others believed in his football future.

"I think part it comes with a work ethic, and bringing Eric up with a strong work ethic," she said of her son's current success. "Nothing in life is free. I had looked into the different one-a-day camps, sent him out there, and wanted him to know that if he wants something bad enough, then you work for it, anything is possible. And for Eric, his work ethic, even when he was in high school, every morning, 5:00 a.m., whether they had to be there or not, he was working out on the football field or in the weight room and he was very dedicated. It's something he wanted, and he went after it, and he's obtaining his dream."

She taught him that work ethic while working as a data analyst for Volkswagen, looking at failure rates on the different technical components on cars. Even as her son's "failure rate" started to dissipate when he became a star in college, and excelled at the Senior Bowl and the scouting combine, she let him know that he should retain the character that got him there.

"I think there's a difference of my life changing – I don't want to change, and I don't want Eric to change," she said. "I want him to stay true to who he is. He's a hard-working young man. This is a huge blessing for him, for me, and it makes me really proud to say Eric's, you know, he's turned out to be a great man. As for changing our life, there's no denying that, you know, in the NFL, he's going to have a much bigger paycheck than I've ever seen in my entire lifetime, but it shouldn't change us. I think that's important to stay grounded."

One thing that will change, and Ms. Langegger has already agreed to it, is that she will never have to work another day in her life. It was the least the son could do for his mother, and that was decided a while ago.

"Eric sat me down and said 'Mom, you knew this is going to happen'," she remembered. "I said 'Yeah, I realize that, Eric,' and he said, 'I want you to retire'. And I said 'Okay'. I am going to enjoy it. I live in the country on some acreage and I want to do some gardening and I guess, at this point in my life, I'm going to do what I want to do. This has really been great for us. Eric had mentioned that Tide brought us in yesterday, and we've been traveling around all of New York City, different radio stations, and TV stations. Wanted to say 'Thank you' to Tide. I've always used Tide, as far back as I can remember, and it's done great for Eric, with all the dirty clothes he brings home from football, especially the ones that he forgot to take out of his duffel bags. It's wonderful, and I have to say I'm very proud of Eric.

Fisher said that he had no clue whether the Chiefs would take him, and that he just had to keep his head on straight. It was easy to see where he got that mentality. As to what the Chiefs will get? Fisher let loose with the list of attributes.

"I'll bring my work ethic. I just want to play football. I take pride in what I do. I take pride in not letting the quarterback get touched and put rushing yards up. Rushing is a very important part of football. You can't really pass the ball if you can't run the ball. They're getting a very hard worker and a player who takes pride in what he does."

No question about it, but playing left tackle in the NFL isn't as tough as raising a son as a single mom. Even when Eric Fisher starts stoning professional defensive ends on Sundays, he'll have to work a while to be the toughest person in his family.

"I think he turned out pretty good," Heidi Langegger said of her son, and the journey in raising him. "One time he even said I did a good job. It's doable. It can be done. It's the same as Eric going to a small school.

"If you put your mind to it, if you're dedicated, hard-working, and have a good work ethic, anything is possible."

Obviously, Eric Fisher listened to his mom. And look where he is now.

Because we are the Chiefs.

Because we are the Chiefs