Quote:
Originally Posted by Dante84
Okay, just watched that video, and he has one of the most unique tackling styles I've ever seen. I'm not sure how I feel about it...
Obviously he is throwing dudes like rag dolls, but almost all of his tackles were initiated by using his hands instead of his body. On other guys, I would say these are arm tackles and that won't play well in the NFL. On him, he seems very strong and so maybe it will?
The other thing is that he rolls the runner up, by using his momentum to spin them down. Would he be easily thrown off a spinning NFL runner with great balance? Or would he put them all on IR by destroying them?
Concerning for me was the horse collars, of which I saw like 4 in the highlight video. That's 15 yards a pop.
I really liked his speed, aggressiveness and the angles he takes... he also seems to fight through blocks well.
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What I saw w/r/t to the tackling was a guy that just doesn't always play with the correct leverage.
When he gets his pads down, he gets into the body, wraps and finishes. But he gets to the point of impact a little too upright fairly often so he can't really explode/drive through the hit.
I don't think it's a tentative thing because he's aggressive as hell. It's just an odd technique flaw that doesn't appear to have been coached out of him. I agree that it's not something that would work nearly as well at this level but I also don't think it would take too terribly much to coach it out of him. My worry there, more than the tackling, would be his ability to disengage from blockers. Playing that upright, he'll get eaten alive by any OL that got through the DL. Part of that comes from being
tall. Cunningham is just a hell of a lot taller than you're used to among ILBs. So he's going to have to play very smart to keep guys from getting inside/underneath him.
He's not going to be the athlete that DJ was in his prime, IMO. He won't be quite as strong a coverage backer (DJ really was elite in that regard...even if he couldn't catch half the interceptions he put himself in position to make). I think Cunningham will be merely solid in coverage. The massive length might help him get his hands on a few balls that many ILBs wouldn't even if it costs him a little lateral agility.
But a solid coverage backer who enjoys playing run support is a definite 3-down answer, IMO.
Best case scenario? NaVorro Bowman seems an interesting comp. I don't know that he's quite as agile as Kuechly but plays a very similar game and is built very similarly as well.
Dude's a hell of a prospect, IMO. I still don't think its terribly likely that he gets past mid-late teens.