kearly
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I actually have a tiny bit of free time today, so I figured I'd take this opportunity to weigh in on Joel Bitonio in a more in depth manner than I had done so previously. There are some things I'm seeing in his game that I'm not really hearing others talk about just yet, so I feel this opinion needs to be expressed.
First off, I think Bitonio is obviously a good athlete. If there is a SPARQ rating for OL, he's probably #1 among the draftable prospects. His combine did him a world of good, and when Rob compares his measurables to Logan Mankins it is hard not to be amazed by the degree of similarity.
Mankins himself played for Fresno State, currently a Mountain West Conference rival to Nevada. Mankins obviously made the jump just fine. I'm not the biggest fan of comparing prospects just by numbers though, I'm much more comfortable making comparisons based on the eyeball test. I don't know much about how Mankins plays the game so I don't know how Bitonio compares.
Anyway, I don't think Bitonio moves quite as well as his combine numbers suggest, he doesn't fly around to the degree that guys like Xavier Su'a-Filo do (I'm not a fan of Su'a-Filo, but the dude deserves his due- he can haul ass). That said, he should be more than quick enough to handle duties as a pull blocker in Tom Cable's scheme. I think Bitonio comes very close to being in the same mold as guys like Sweezy and Unger because of his lack of weight, lack of lower body power, but compensates with quickness, relatively long arms for pass protection, and nasty.
I think Bitonio's greatest asset is his combination of effort and athleticism. Look at how quickly JR Sweezy became an NFL starting guard, holding his job this whole time, because he had those two qualities in abundance. Bitonio is also a really accomplished cut blocker who I'm sure will draw ire from opponents. Really, the more I watch his game the more I think I'm watching 2013 Sweezy.
I think however much you like Bitonio, you should grade him as a guard, not a tackle. Tackles play on an island often with no help outside, so this necessitates playing with both head and shoulders cocked back as far possible. Otherwise, the defender can grab the tackle, yank him forward, and then dip and rip past him all in one motion. Bitonio plays with a lean and pinches his shoulders forward. He is not terrible in pass protection but he looks oh so much like a guard when he pass protects, and this is typically not something that is coachable. Against FSU he struggles against pass rushers who stay low and attack him outside. He could probably "flex" to play tackle in emergencies but he will be an exploitable weakness there against elite pass rushers most likely.
My biggest issue with Bitonio is his run blocking, particularly his poor leverage, reliance on getting away with holds in the run game, and lack of lower body usage.
When engaging his assignment on a run play, Bitonio starts high and stays high, standing almost straight up, back arched. At this point he has close to zero lower body power, meaning that blowing an assignment straight back without double team help is pretty unlikely. Instead, he routinely engages in arm battles where he grabs and yanks the defensive lineman, at most he might turn the player 90 degrees and accomplish the one thing John Moffitt was actually good at, what I call "clutch blocks." Bitonio doesn't overpower guys, but he can turn them out of a play or do just enough to occupy them as the RB whooshes by. The problem is, on power running plays you are going to need to do more than occupy a blocker, and Seattle's biggest weakness last year was in the power run game, where they were near the very bottom of the league despite rushing for a ton of yardage overall.
When Bitonio does move a guy (by himself), it is just about always laterally. A defender shoots a gap and Bitonio pushes him from the side where the defender has no ability to resist movement. These are blocks any NFL lineman can make, and even Bitonio, standing tall and essentially blocking the guy with his wrists and his belly button, can move defenders laterally in these situations. You take these plays out of consideration and Bitonio almost never dominates on 1 on 1 drive block battles.
Because Bitonio plays very high in the run game and relies on his upper body to generate run blocking movement, it shouldn't be a surprise that this guy holds like a sumbitch in the run game. I was stunned how often Bitonio visibly held or yanked a defender in the run game, and yet he was never called for it. Maybe Tom Cable doesn't mind this trait, because under Cable the Seahawks have racked up holding penalties on running plays, especially when Robert Turbin decides to break one.
I think as an interior lineman Bitonio will be a slightly above average NFL player which actually makes him a good value at the #32 pick, which isn't nearly as valuable as people believe it to be. If you get a solid player in that range you are doing better than most. For as much as we lament the James Carpenters, Lawrence Jacksons, and Kelly Jenningses, the surprising fact is that all three of those players are basically par for the course in that draft range, which is loaded with draft busts and mediocre journeymen.
I think if we draft Bitonio, he'd probably be a good pass blocker at LG, a good pull blocker, but a mediocre at best power run blocker and probably a guy that is going to draw a lot of flags in the run game. If our goal is to improve a woeful 2013 interior power blocking performance, Bitonio is far from the best choice. If Seattle cares more about interior protection and pull blocking than power blocking, then Bitonio makes sense. And if Seattle drafts Bitonio, they need to be prepared for the likely event that he won't be a future replacement for Okung at LT, though he eventually might prove to be a replacement for JR Sweezy.
First off, I think Bitonio is obviously a good athlete. If there is a SPARQ rating for OL, he's probably #1 among the draftable prospects. His combine did him a world of good, and when Rob compares his measurables to Logan Mankins it is hard not to be amazed by the degree of similarity.
Mankins himself played for Fresno State, currently a Mountain West Conference rival to Nevada. Mankins obviously made the jump just fine. I'm not the biggest fan of comparing prospects just by numbers though, I'm much more comfortable making comparisons based on the eyeball test. I don't know much about how Mankins plays the game so I don't know how Bitonio compares.
Anyway, I don't think Bitonio moves quite as well as his combine numbers suggest, he doesn't fly around to the degree that guys like Xavier Su'a-Filo do (I'm not a fan of Su'a-Filo, but the dude deserves his due- he can haul ass). That said, he should be more than quick enough to handle duties as a pull blocker in Tom Cable's scheme. I think Bitonio comes very close to being in the same mold as guys like Sweezy and Unger because of his lack of weight, lack of lower body power, but compensates with quickness, relatively long arms for pass protection, and nasty.
I think Bitonio's greatest asset is his combination of effort and athleticism. Look at how quickly JR Sweezy became an NFL starting guard, holding his job this whole time, because he had those two qualities in abundance. Bitonio is also a really accomplished cut blocker who I'm sure will draw ire from opponents. Really, the more I watch his game the more I think I'm watching 2013 Sweezy.
I think however much you like Bitonio, you should grade him as a guard, not a tackle. Tackles play on an island often with no help outside, so this necessitates playing with both head and shoulders cocked back as far possible. Otherwise, the defender can grab the tackle, yank him forward, and then dip and rip past him all in one motion. Bitonio plays with a lean and pinches his shoulders forward. He is not terrible in pass protection but he looks oh so much like a guard when he pass protects, and this is typically not something that is coachable. Against FSU he struggles against pass rushers who stay low and attack him outside. He could probably "flex" to play tackle in emergencies but he will be an exploitable weakness there against elite pass rushers most likely.
My biggest issue with Bitonio is his run blocking, particularly his poor leverage, reliance on getting away with holds in the run game, and lack of lower body usage.
When engaging his assignment on a run play, Bitonio starts high and stays high, standing almost straight up, back arched. At this point he has close to zero lower body power, meaning that blowing an assignment straight back without double team help is pretty unlikely. Instead, he routinely engages in arm battles where he grabs and yanks the defensive lineman, at most he might turn the player 90 degrees and accomplish the one thing John Moffitt was actually good at, what I call "clutch blocks." Bitonio doesn't overpower guys, but he can turn them out of a play or do just enough to occupy them as the RB whooshes by. The problem is, on power running plays you are going to need to do more than occupy a blocker, and Seattle's biggest weakness last year was in the power run game, where they were near the very bottom of the league despite rushing for a ton of yardage overall.
When Bitonio does move a guy (by himself), it is just about always laterally. A defender shoots a gap and Bitonio pushes him from the side where the defender has no ability to resist movement. These are blocks any NFL lineman can make, and even Bitonio, standing tall and essentially blocking the guy with his wrists and his belly button, can move defenders laterally in these situations. You take these plays out of consideration and Bitonio almost never dominates on 1 on 1 drive block battles.
Because Bitonio plays very high in the run game and relies on his upper body to generate run blocking movement, it shouldn't be a surprise that this guy holds like a sumbitch in the run game. I was stunned how often Bitonio visibly held or yanked a defender in the run game, and yet he was never called for it. Maybe Tom Cable doesn't mind this trait, because under Cable the Seahawks have racked up holding penalties on running plays, especially when Robert Turbin decides to break one.
I think as an interior lineman Bitonio will be a slightly above average NFL player which actually makes him a good value at the #32 pick, which isn't nearly as valuable as people believe it to be. If you get a solid player in that range you are doing better than most. For as much as we lament the James Carpenters, Lawrence Jacksons, and Kelly Jenningses, the surprising fact is that all three of those players are basically par for the course in that draft range, which is loaded with draft busts and mediocre journeymen.
I think if we draft Bitonio, he'd probably be a good pass blocker at LG, a good pull blocker, but a mediocre at best power run blocker and probably a guy that is going to draw a lot of flags in the run game. If our goal is to improve a woeful 2013 interior power blocking performance, Bitonio is far from the best choice. If Seattle cares more about interior protection and pull blocking than power blocking, then Bitonio makes sense. And if Seattle drafts Bitonio, they need to be prepared for the likely event that he won't be a future replacement for Okung at LT, though he eventually might prove to be a replacement for JR Sweezy.
