There has been kind of a push against Jabrill Peppers lately. It was a predictable one. But I don't know that it is a well founded one.
Saying that this is one of the most unique players I've ever looked at would kind of be understating things a little bit. That much should actually be obvious. It's not just that he played Wildcat QB, RB, WR, PR, KR, FS, SS, SCB, CB, WLB, and SLB. It's that he played them well. He didn't play any of those positions in a way that makes you say yeah but he basically only did it to say he did it. He added value to the team and helped win football games at all of those positions. He's one of the best return men I've seen and would step onto the Dolphins and immediately take that job from Jakeem Grant. He looks like LeSean McCoy as a running back and wildcat. Legitimately the only guy on the Dolphins I can think of that I might like to see on jet sweeps more than Jabrill Peppers is Jakeem Grant, and right now Jakeem is going through a crisis of confidence that isn't allowing his abilities to shine so really that means Jabrill Peppers would be the most attractive player on the Dolphins for those types of roles.
As a perimeter corner, his 2015 tape showed that he does have some things to work on. You know, stuff that reminds you that hey this was a true sophomore (in 2015) and perhaps he may need a little bit of work staying in phase with the receiver while looking up for the ball. But he was physical as hell, quick as hell, fast as hell, and easily stayed in the hip pocket of receivers in man coverage. And he dominated them physically without drawing penalty flags. And he played plenty of slot, and as Harbaugh stated was easily their best slot corner. He's everything you want there because of his physicality, speed, and quickness. You could draft him at this position and say yeah he's out corner opposite Xavien Howard, but perhaps even better because he could move to the slot while you have a perimeter specialist like Tony Lippett come on the field in nickel whereas Xavien Howard is perimeter only. Jabrill would be another Antoine Winfield but bigger and stronger. Or another Cedric Griffin at the least.
You have to admire what Don Brown did with him this year, playing him as his Sam. On a chess board, Jabrill Peppers would've been the queen. Put him on the strong side, and absolutely demolish any attempt at quick game. Any passes behind the line of scrimmage, screens, runs to the outside, etc. Delayed blitzes keep the QB on an egg timer at the worst of times, and at the best of times create flat out panic as this blur comes running at you ready to smack you with the force of a train. He drew extra OL attention because of his speed, opening up pass rushers to one-on-ones with favorable spacing. Or because he came on a delay, he could choose his gap and knife through at blazing speed. Lots of teams try and use a "spy" on the QB. Miami did it with Dion Jordan. The way Jabrill Peppers was used as a spy makes that look pathetic. If the QB attempted to buy any extra time, that's it. He's off to the races and SMACK. Escape the pocket, execute zone-read, throw the ball behind the line of scrimmage, you're dead at the hands of Jabrill Peppers.
But because of that unique role I think it's left some folks confused about what to do with Peppers. That's where I say you've really got to go back to the 2015 if you want to see him playing and excelling at more normal positions.
What probably makes Peppers so unique to me are his strength and his zero to sixty. The latter is one of the best I've seen and the former is certainly the best I've seen on a 205 lbs defensive back prospect. That's why he could be used in such unique ways. You could toss a Vontae Davis in at linebacker and he'd have something resembling Jabrill Peppers' speed and build. He wouldn't have quite the same acceleration and COD but the speed and build would be similar. The physicality though, even with Vontae being a pretty physical corner, just wouldn't be even close to the same. On the other hand you can toss an Aarion Penton type in at that position, real small guy but VERY fast and VERY agile, quick twitch. That all might actually be similar to a Jabrill Peppers, long speed probably even faster. But the physical strength...not in the same area code. Peppers was unique because he had the physical strength of a 235 lbs linebacker but the speed, acceleration and agility of nobody I've seen play the linebacker position.
Add into all that Jabrill Peppers' unique stamina, energizer bunny going non-stop for 60 minutes...this is just a unique player that's being over-thought.
