Weapons Check: Darron Lee – Preseason Week 1

[JetNation]

Our second film breakdown of the Weapons Check series deals with rookie linebacker Darron Lee, out of Ohio State University.  Lee, played mostly with the second unit, but did make his presence known during the game.  Since defense is more reactive, it’s hard to grade Lee’s performance on a preset rating scale, similar to the ones dealing with players on offense.  We’ll break down some plays, and see how Lee is adjusting.  Unfortunately, preseason games aren’t privy to coaches camera, therefore these film breakdowns are not comprehensive by any means.

1) 

The first play we analyze is a group tackle by the Jets.  Darron Lee doesn’t seem to get official credit for this tackle, but he’s a big reason the runner was stopped.   Lee displays his biggest advantage on this play, which is speed.  He beats the guard to the outside, preventing the offensive lineman from gaining leverage on this play.  If Lee is slower, then this play works much better because the offensive lineman would be right in the path of Lee, but the speed helps him evade the block.   Lee also shows great closing speed on this play, which is something that stands out with him on tape from college.   While it is not a display of extreme athleticism, it is definitely good to see the extra burst from the linebackers on defense.  While he doesn’t get much credit on the play, it looks like Lee makes the biggest impact on this stop.

2) 

This is not a successful play for Lee, nor the Jets.  The reason this play is here has nothing to do with the run either.  What is important about this play happens right before the running back takes the ball to his left.  The Jets run a double A gap blitz through the same gap, banking on the first defender to create spacing for the second blitzing player coming behind him.  From a defensive standpoint, think of the first blitz-er acting almost as an offensive lineman as the worst case scenario, trying to open up the hole for the runner behind him.  The Jets run this blitz to perfection here, as Lee has a direct path to the RB (and if it was a passing play, then the QB) but the RB makes a quick cut that gives him some space.  Remember, this is the second string unit, so it does not have stalwarts such as Mo Wilkerson, Leonard Williams, or Sheldon Richardson.  The right side of the defensive line gets pushed back, creating an escape route for the RB.   Lee doesn’t do anything else on the play, but the execution of the blitz was very good.

3) 

Statistically, this is probably the best play of Darron Lee’s night.  Subjectively, it’s probably one of his worst plays of the night.  Remember the last A-gap blitz on the previous play, well it’s very much the same concept, but a C-gap blitz on this play.  On this play, the lead blitz player acts the same as before and takes out a blocker with Lee tasked to follow him.  However, the guard for the Jaguars recognizes this blitz pattern, and hands over his responsibility to the center, and then engages Lee, stopping him in his tracks.  Lee isn’t going anywhere on this play, but Chad Henne gifts him a sack by essentially falling right in front of Lee.   Lee does his task by falling on top of Henne, but this is not a good play by Lee.  Rather, the right side of the defensive line makes great penetration into the backfield (unlike the last play), therefore flushing Henne out of the pocket on a 3rd and long.

4) 

The tackle on the running back might just be Lee’s best play of the night.  At the onset of this play, Lee is mirroring the RB, thus it’s his responsibility to stop him.  Lee absolutely annihilates the C-gap on this play, and blows up the play in the backfield.  What is most impressive about this tackle?  The closing speed.  The RB is a about a step away from the right hash mark, and Lee is a good two yards away from him, but Lee makes the tackle before the RB has hit foot on the hash mark.  Last year, this is a play where the RB absolutely makes it to the outside for a few yards.   The Jags have this play set up pretty well, and if not for Lee’s tackle, they have blockers out in space for every Jet in the area, except for the single high safety.

5) 

There is a penalty on this play, negating this tackle.  However, since it’s preseason, it’s more important to see the ability here than the result.  This is a simple run to the left, with the offensive line sliding to the left.  The LT is supposed to slide out, and then seal off the LB from getting to the RB.  If the LT does his job, there is a decent hole for the RB to run through here, but Lee shows off his speed and beats the LT inside, blowing up the play.  There was a lot of chatter about the size of Lee and how blockers will over-power him, but people are under estimating the impact of speed on the game.  These blocking assignments are rooted in timing, and Lee’s speed throws off this timing.  If Lee is a hair slower, the LT on this play comes around and blocks him off.   There are plays were Lee will be over-powered (The sack play being an example) but his speed adds such a dimension to the defense, that it’ll disrupt the blocking schemes of an offense.

6) 

This is an experiment in slower GIFs to showcase Lee’s ability with more clarity.  If there is a problem viewing these slower paced plays or if you feel that a regular paced play makes for better viewing, please let me know in the forums.  Since defense is harder to dissect, a slower paced film helps people understand the intricacies better, in my opinion.

On this play, the right side of Jacksonville’s line slides left.  The left side of the offensive line blocks their man one on one.  Since the right side TE and Tackle slide , this leaves the RG free to engage the LB in the open.  The Jags would presume in this case, the OLB to the left has to contain the run, therefore would run to the outside lane (which he does), and ergo a huge hole should be open right up the middle.  Darron Lee shows off his speed again, by simply beating the RG to the hole, robbing the guard of any leverage and stopping the play.  This is another timing play that would work on slower LBs, but fails here because the offensive line’s timing is thrown off.  Lee makes the tackle on this play for minimal gain.

7) 

The best of Lee, the worst of Lee.  This is a short yard run, where the Jets crowd the line and bring their linebackers on a blitz.  Lee slips through the gap, and has a clear shot at the RB, showing off his elusiveness.  The Jets have single high safety with man coverage across the board, and everyone else is running towards the ball, so they sold out for the run.  The RB has room to the outside on this play, and there is a decent chance he can get to the edge on this play, if Lee does not enter the vision of the RB.  However, Lee’s presence forces the RB to reverse course, which makes Lee miss the tackle.  However, this change in course led the RB to run right back into where the Jets had strength in numbers, so in the grand scheme of things, it was a good play.

Remember at the start of the article, it was stated that it’s almost impossible to grade defensive players because it’s a reactive game?  This would be a good example as to why.  Lee’s main priority in this case is to either tackle the runner (in which case, he fails) or prevent him from getting outside (which could explain his over-zealousness to get ahead of the RB, and would mean a success), but it’s hard to tell without knowing the call.  This is also the same on pass coverage, where a TE might run right past him on a play.  This could either indicate a zone defense for the LB (in which case, fine play) or missed coverage on man defense (terrible play), thus creating a high vulnerability to assumptions when trying to grade them.

8) 

This play is here to just show Lee covering a TE.  There aren’t many plays that show him in coverage, and the ones where he was in coverage, the route isn’t clear with the TV camera angle.  This is one of the few angles on TV that showed him in coverage and he seemed to handle himself fine on this play.  The TE on this play doesn’t run a complicated route, and sits down in the middle of the field as if it was zone coverage, even though the defense played man coverage.  Lee doesn’t really lose separation when the TE takes a step outside, and he’s right next to him to jump the route if the pass was thrown to the TE.

Conclusion:

Darron Lee is not a perfect prospect by any means.  Perfect prospects go in the top 5 of the draft.  However, Lee is a great prospect that adds much needed speed to the defense.  This breakdown shows that while there are occasions where he gets held up by stronger blockers, he can wreck havoc by disrupting the timing of blocks.  Lee displays excellent closing speed, and on numerous occasions, shot through the gap before the offensive lineman was ready to block him.  There are times where he will be taken out of a play because he wasn’t able to bull-rush an offensive lineman, but he makes up for those with his ability to blow up plays in the backfield.  We can’t analyze his coverage skills until the season starts with the All-22 camera angles, however the scouting reports glowed about his coverage skills because he’s a converted safety.   He looks like a much welcome addition to the Jets defense.

Please read our report on Jalin Marshall from Preseason Game 1, here

Please provide feedback on the article, and discuss this article on our forums, here.  I would love to hear feedback on the slower GIFs, to see if it’s a good idea or not, moving forward.

 

Click here to read the full story...

[jetsons]

Great job!!!!!!!...  I like the regular speed & the slower speed, I think having a play shown in regular speed & then the same play shown in slower speed would be a fantastic way of analyzing the play.  I know that may be asking a lot...  Either way you do a great job, much appreciated.

[Integrity28]

Tiny backer getting first team reps this week...

[Jetdawgg]

Great job here bro. The slower gifs make for more intense viewing. The Jets have been missing the speed of Lee for years. The D will be brutal this season. 

[Jetsfan80]

1 hour ago, Integrity28 said:

Tiny backer getting first team reps this week...

Oh, so the people complaining about Lee behind behind Erin Henderson on the depth chart last week were being too quick to judgment?  Wow, doesn't sound like JN at all!

[Jetsfan80]

4 hours ago, Jetdawgg said:

Great job here bro. The slower gifs make for more intense viewing.

Especially since, on full speed, the tiny linebacker is so fast you have to watch 12 times to be able to finally follow his movements. 

[thatboyjack]

JetNation I like the new slower GIFs. Great Job!!! I hate to be the one to point it out but you made an "oops" in the article.  #6) " This is an experiment in slower GIF...." it wasn't Lee who beat the RG. Lee (#50) filled the C gap on the offense's left side, which forced the ball carrier back towards the middle into the LB who beat the RG.

 

 

[peebag]

5 hours ago, Integrity28 said:

Tiny backer getting first team reps this week...

Tiny Linebacker is fast.  No one can catch him to hold him close.

[drdetroit]

It sucks having linebackers that can actually run and cover people!

[win4ever]

8 hours ago, jetsons said:

Great job!!!!!!!...  I like the regular speed & the slower speed, I think having a play shown in regular speed & then the same play shown in slower speed would be a fantastic way of analyzing the play.  I know that may be asking a lot...  Either way you do a great job, much appreciated.

Thanks!  I appreciate it.   It might be a bit too much to put both, because the slower GIFs take a ton of space since it takes longer for the play to develop, so it might be a bit too much for folks that might be reading on their phone.  The QB breakdowns in the regular season, I usually just try to take the best angle on the coaches film.  I was thinking about doing a weekly weapons check article, but we already know Marshall/Decker are good, so it might not be all that fruitful.  

7 hours ago, Integrity28 said:

Tiny backer getting first team reps this week...

He played well in the first game for sure, and I think he adds a dimension of speed that really help the defense out.  

6 hours ago, Jetdawgg said:

Great job here bro. The slower gifs make for more intense viewing. The Jets have been missing the speed of Lee for years. The D will be brutal this season. 

Thank you.  Yeah, I really liked the slower GIFs, but it takes about 3 times more space to record it, so when it's in an article, it loads slower for some people.  I was worried that it might be too choppy in that case.

The D should be really good this season, especially if Williams makes a leap.  I don't think I've been this excited about the LB crew in a long time, they can legitimately cover and rush the passer.  

5 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Oh, so the people complaining about Lee behind behind Erin Henderson on the depth chart last week were being too quick to judgment?  Wow, doesn't sound like JN at all!

I think they had him behind to learn some plays and build up confidence, which seems to be a big thing with the regime, not pushing players too quickly.  Even Leonard Williams was a backup to start last year I believe, ditto with Devin Smith (although in his case, it made sense with injury) and Mauldin.  I'm guessing they want Lee to have faith in the system by succeeding against second stringers so doubts aren't in his mind in real games.  

2 hours ago, Jetsfan80 said:

Especially since, on full speed, the tiny linebacker is so fast you have to watch 12 times to be able to finally follow his movements. 

Lee is certainly fast, and what makes him great is his closing speed.  It just jumps out to me on tape even from college.  

1 hour ago, thatboyjack said:

JetNation I like the new slower GIFs. Great Job!!! I hate to be the one to point it out but you made an "oops" in the article.  #6) " This is an experiment in slower GIF...." it wasn't Lee who beat the RG. Lee (#50) filled the C gap on the offense's left side, which forced the ball carrier back towards the middle into the LB who beat the RG.

 

 

Thank You.  Wow, I completely screwed that up.  For some reason I had Lee going in the middle on my notes. I must be going blind, lol.  Thank you for pointing it out, I'll edit it now.