OT Cornelius Lucas visits Dolphins
- Thread starter Daytona Fin
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MiamiDolfan85
DA M.I.A IS WHERE I STAY
Sounds like a RT to me...love his size
DKphin
Active Roster
hoops
Tua time!
it's not an ideal fit by any means but if you are talking 6th or 7th round whatever...it wouldn't bother me much...miami wouldn't bedrafting him depending on him from the get go or at least as plan a that late anyways
ckparrothead
Premium Member
Lucas is better than a 6th or 7th rounder on 2013 tape. I was uncomfortable with his 2012 tape though I saw the physical potential and immediately graded him as a draftable player because of it. Sometimes the long-legged guys get this high hipped, straight legged look to them where they're bending at the waist too much in order to get their pad level low enough. He worked that out for the most part in 2013. He bent at the knees a whole lot more.
The guy is a heck of an athlete for a 6'8" human with the wingspan of a 7'4" human. He can move his feet. Sometimes those big guys you think they're moving slow but they're not.
Don't know that I've even seen him come close to being beaten on an outside rush. Hard to beat a 7'4" wingspan to the outside unless he's a statue or he's weak, neither of which apply to Lucas. And his cut blocking is unfair for that frame and size. But when he gets his hands on players he not only keeps them from the QB, he creates and maintains space. That's so valuable. The QB ends up feeling like he's throwing in practice instead of a real game.
Some of the most entertaining blocks he makes are ones where he didn't have to engage at all. He gets out into space quickly enough and with enough balance that defenders see this huge 6'8" tall and 7'4" wide balanced, moving obstacle and end up voluntarily taking themselves way out of the play because they have no idea how to get around him. Happens on blitzes too.
He's not infallible. He gets beat like most guys get beat. Late to recognize a delayed linebacker blitz in zone protection, got sucked too far to the inside by a slanting lineman and can't get back out to pick up the blitzer. Good early recognition of stunts but the delayed linebacker blitzes can get him. Sometimes when a guy is out in the wide 9 and there's a tight end to his side releasing, and he just ends up having to kick too far back for too long before finally making contact, his inside shoulder is vulnerable. But that's not the same as being vulnerable to the inside move. Plays like this the pass rusher arcs so wide he can't even make contact with Lucas until a full 2 seconds after the snap, can't get to the QB until probably 3 or 3.5 seconds, and in the NFL the ball is out at 2.5 seconds as often as not.
Seen the Baylor, TCU, North Dakota State and Michigan games...but everything you need to know is in the Texas game. Faced a pair of NFL players in Jackson Jeffcoat and Cedric Reed who like to flip sides and move about during games. The pair combined for 24 sacks in 2013. And it's not that they had a poor game against KSU. They combined for 4 sacks in that game alone. But none came on Cornelius Lucas' watch and he thoroughly dominated them. Wasn't even close. He bent at the knees, moved his feet, used those long arms to keep them off his body making their spin moves and tricks look pathetic. Their outside rushes washed out way behind the quarterback's setup point. Jeffcoat came close to beating Lucas one time in a similar situation to what I described above (the wide 9) but he couldn't get to the quarterback's original setup point until 3.5 seconds and even then wasn't free to sack the quarterback as Lucas still had his arms around him. By that time the QB was gone of course, because 3.5 seconds is a lifetime especially in the NFL.
Only question to me is whether the guy is side-specific. Has he played on the right? Is he comfortable there? Is he one of those guys that thinks left side, right side doesn't matter, football is football? Or is he one of those that you're going to start hearing about halfway through training camp is having trouble and can't get comfortable on the right side. That's my biggest concern.
The guy is a heck of an athlete for a 6'8" human with the wingspan of a 7'4" human. He can move his feet. Sometimes those big guys you think they're moving slow but they're not.
Don't know that I've even seen him come close to being beaten on an outside rush. Hard to beat a 7'4" wingspan to the outside unless he's a statue or he's weak, neither of which apply to Lucas. And his cut blocking is unfair for that frame and size. But when he gets his hands on players he not only keeps them from the QB, he creates and maintains space. That's so valuable. The QB ends up feeling like he's throwing in practice instead of a real game.
Some of the most entertaining blocks he makes are ones where he didn't have to engage at all. He gets out into space quickly enough and with enough balance that defenders see this huge 6'8" tall and 7'4" wide balanced, moving obstacle and end up voluntarily taking themselves way out of the play because they have no idea how to get around him. Happens on blitzes too.
He's not infallible. He gets beat like most guys get beat. Late to recognize a delayed linebacker blitz in zone protection, got sucked too far to the inside by a slanting lineman and can't get back out to pick up the blitzer. Good early recognition of stunts but the delayed linebacker blitzes can get him. Sometimes when a guy is out in the wide 9 and there's a tight end to his side releasing, and he just ends up having to kick too far back for too long before finally making contact, his inside shoulder is vulnerable. But that's not the same as being vulnerable to the inside move. Plays like this the pass rusher arcs so wide he can't even make contact with Lucas until a full 2 seconds after the snap, can't get to the QB until probably 3 or 3.5 seconds, and in the NFL the ball is out at 2.5 seconds as often as not.
Seen the Baylor, TCU, North Dakota State and Michigan games...but everything you need to know is in the Texas game. Faced a pair of NFL players in Jackson Jeffcoat and Cedric Reed who like to flip sides and move about during games. The pair combined for 24 sacks in 2013. And it's not that they had a poor game against KSU. They combined for 4 sacks in that game alone. But none came on Cornelius Lucas' watch and he thoroughly dominated them. Wasn't even close. He bent at the knees, moved his feet, used those long arms to keep them off his body making their spin moves and tricks look pathetic. Their outside rushes washed out way behind the quarterback's setup point. Jeffcoat came close to beating Lucas one time in a similar situation to what I described above (the wide 9) but he couldn't get to the quarterback's original setup point until 3.5 seconds and even then wasn't free to sack the quarterback as Lucas still had his arms around him. By that time the QB was gone of course, because 3.5 seconds is a lifetime especially in the NFL.
Only question to me is whether the guy is side-specific. Has he played on the right? Is he comfortable there? Is he one of those guys that thinks left side, right side doesn't matter, football is football? Or is he one of those that you're going to start hearing about halfway through training camp is having trouble and can't get comfortable on the right side. That's my biggest concern.
phinfan1983
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Slow footed OL players usually don't have a good career, because quicker defenders get around them too easy. We run the zone blocking scheme which requires good foot speed.
If you employ power blocking he's a good fit, otherwise, you're putting a square peg in a round hole.
If you employ power blocking he's a good fit, otherwise, you're putting a square peg in a round hole.