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Sergio Kindle:A Tale of Two Players.
By TOMApril 21st, 2010 |
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He was the best of passrushers. He was the worst of passrushers. He was at his best flashing outside and hitting the Quarterback. He was at his best slashing inside and stopping the Dive play. He played his best running the horn and harassing opponents QBs. He played his he best dancing around the LOS like a chicken with his head cut off. He looked his best moving forward. He looked his best moving backwards and laterally in coverage and against the run.
The problem with judging Kindle is that he looked like a completely different player in 2009 than he looked in 2008. In 2008 some Draftnics thought he was the best passrushing prospect in the Draft. Some had him rated higher than Brain Orakpo, something I thought then and still think is ridiculous. Orakpo is bigger, meaner, faster, taller, has longer arms, more production, and less Character Concerns than Kindle. The only area Kindle rates higher than Orakpo is experience as an OLB and on Special teams. He actually says he wants to play Special Teams and enjoys it. In 2008 Kindle was placed in the starting lineup for the first time and garnered 10 Sacks, 5 Hurries, 15 Pressures, 14 TFL, 2 PBU, 1 FF, 1 punt block, and 53 Tackles. He also added a Sack (at the Buck 0:36) and 3 Tackles in the Fiesta Bowl, giving him 11 Sacks on the season. He also played SLB a lot (SLB 2:13), and had a Pressure (SLB 2:03). Without starting every game he still averaged .77 Sacks per game. Where he caught everybody's eye was flashing around the outside and showing that knack for hitting the Quarterback. He was smaller and thinner and looked more like a Linebacker, and was listed at 6-3, 239. He looked at his best out on the edge in space when he was moving forward (SLB on Right 5:53).
What is most important to Pats fans is that in 2008 he played a hybrid position and started 11 of 13 games, and looked like a super athletic OLB. In 2008, he started more games as the Strong-side Linebacker position (9) than he did at the Defensive End position (2). He played the "Buck", which is a special Right D-End passrushing position in Muschamp's defense, and was all sound and fury rushing the horn. BB likes to take long tall college passrushers and convert them into OLB. The conversion process can be one of the most difficult aspects in judging a college player. With Kindle that conversion is much less of an unknown, because he played SLB at Texas for three seasons in a Pats-style defense that Will Muschamp runs (according to BB). So they have an abundance of film of him playing OLB in college do things that BB wants his OLB to do. As a true freshman, he was the primary back up at SLB and got on the field long enough to garner 3.5 TFL, 13 tackles, and 8 Special Team Tackles. In '07 he was still solely a back up SLB, and garnered 4 TFL, got his first Sack (credited with a half Sack), had 19 Tackles, and 8 Special Teams tackle. So by the 2008 season he had already been a SLB for two years in a Patriots style defense. He played primarily as the starting SLB, while also transferring inside to a passrushing D-End (the Buck) on passing downs. He was named All-Big 12 SLB by the coaches. In 2008 he looked like the perfect fit for the Pats system.
Then came the 2009 season. He was named team captain. He pumped up and added over ten pounds of muscle. He looked like a big strong 3-4 OLB. He garnered 70 T, 5.5 Sacks, 18 TFL, 4 PBU, 10 Pressures, and 2 FF (although he is now listed as having had 6 Sacks on the season). He was the worst passrusher of the five OLB/DE who have a chance to go to the Pats in the first two rounds of this Draft: Jerry Hughes 11 Sacks, Brandon Graham 10.5 Sacks, Emerson Griffin 8 Sacks, and Ricky Sapp 6 Sacks. He often looked to me to be better against the run than the pass. He improved on BB’s top criteria for an OLB, Setting the Edge. He was constantly slicing inside to stop the run up the middle. His motor was non stop, and he pursued like a bankrupt bounty hunter in the run defense. He did a great job working through traffic to get to the ball carrier. He also started to float around on passing downs. Not flashing up field and not dropping into coverage, and looking like a chicken with his head cut off. He would hustle, but sometimes stop trying get up field when he saw the pass, and kind of float? It was strange. He stopped playing SLB, and started at the Buck position for all 13 games. He sometimes showed his great burst off the line, but he seemed to be playing more backwards and sideward than bursting up field like he did in 2008. He would rush the passer as much as he floated. He still played some SLB and dropped into coverage, and continued to look smoother and more comfortable in coverage when he dropped. However, he too often would charge up field on a pass rush, and then stop and dance around the LOS. He seemed to be at his best in pass defense dancing around the LOS scrimmage playing the QB spy
Then came the Championship game, and he was kinetic again and suddenly looked like the best 3-4 OLB prospect in the Draft again. He garnered 2 sacks and 8 Tackles in the game, giving him 7.5 (or 8) Sacks and 78 Total Tackles on the season. He still played Special Teams, even in the Championship game (on left of screen #2 1:50). He still played with a lot of fight and hustle in the running game (Buck hustle down field to make tackle 2:37.5). He was stout against the run, and was most impressive when teams ran the ball inside, and he could slash inside the ORT and slice down the line and hit the RB (Buck slicing inside on Dive 2:33). He still stalled around the LOS sometimes (Buck stops at LOS, hustle down field to make tackle 2:41), which may be a matter of coaching, as more and more college QBs seem to be at their best while scrambling. So more and more passrushers seem to be playing the LOS spy, and mirroring the QB where he looks or goes. He seemed to be molding into a hybrid of his two selves, the 2008 SLB passrusher, and the 2009 D-End who seemed to be better against the run than the pass.
What the Pats need is a passrusher who can scare QBs again. if they want to get back to the Super Bowl again they cannot have a pathetic passrush like they had last season. What BB wants is and OLB who is a hybrid of the 2008/2009 Sergio Kindle. Over his career Kindle showed he has that knack for making plays in the backfield. In his career at Texas he garnered 19.5 Sacks (3 in Bowl Games), 39 TFL, 56 Pressures, 18 QB Hurries. He is definitely athletic enough to play out in space, and has the instincts, size, and strength to play the run. He played a lot standing up in his first three seasons at Texas. No matter they lined him up he looked like a 3-4 OLB, and even though he mostly played with his hands down in 2009, he still played standing up some and look smoother in coverage.
BB has to get a double digit Sacker in this Draft. The good news is that he had double digits sacks two years ago, so ever though he didn't look like a guy with double digit Sack potential last season, he has proven he has double digit Sack potential in 2008. He can blast off the line with the best of them, and his initial burst and explosion off the line is as good as anyone in college the past two years. Even though he struggled with the extra weight in 2009, he seemed to grow more comfortable playing at 250 as the season wore on, and was at his best in the Championship Game. In his career he has started 11 games at SLB in 25 career starts. He plays the run very well and Sets the Edge well enough to start next season for the Pats. Although counting on a rookie 3-4 OLB to start is always a tenuous situation at best. He played in a similar system and has been learning the same techniques the Pats teach their OLB for the past 4 years.
His biggest concerns are Character Concerns, or rather his driving skills. He was arrested for a DWI in 2007. He crashed his car into an apartment building in 2009, and claimed he was texting, but with a DWI on his record you have to be suspicious. He didn’t look good at his Proday, and you could see his left knee was really hurting him, and that has to be checked out.
The question is, what
happened during the 2009 season? As homers we can blame it on the weight and
change of position;-) He did not look like the same player during the 2009
season as he did in 2008, until the Championship game. Over the past two
seasons you can see he can do everything BB want a 3-4 OLB to do on film: be
strong against the run outside the OT, Set the Edge so no RB gets outside of
you, be able to play in space and tackle smaller quicker guys out on the
edge, look competent moving backwards in coverage and be able make to make a
play on the ball in the passing lanes, and be at your best moving forward
attacking the QB. It is a very diverse and really opposite set of skills to
be: stout against the run and also be excellent out in space, and great at rushing
the QB and also be able to cover the TE or RB coming out of the backfield. In
2008 he showed he could rush the passer and play out in space, and in 2009 he showed he could be
stout against the run and still be good in coverage. Plus, he played a lot standing
up, and played that odd LOS Spy that Suh made so popular this season. If BB
can get the best of his play from 2008 and the best of his play
from 2009 out of him, then he will be a Pro bowl player.
My opinion before I thought the Pats were actually going to Draft him:
He is another of the super athletes are still learning to play football. In his first, his first two seasons at Texas he almost literally produced zero stats (6 total Tackles), and he was one of the top recruits in the country. I add this because when top High school players take a couple of years to adjust to the College game, they usually take a couple of years to adjust to the Pro game. He is explosive when he stays low. He has excellent lateral quickness, and can bend his knees and move to the side. Doesn’t have good hands. In 2008, he started 11 games across for Orakpo so he had a lot of Run-Free-to-the-QB Sacks, and had his best season. He had 45 Tackles, 12.5 TFL, and 10 Sacks. Last season, when he received a lot more attention, and didn't have a single Run-Free-to-the-QB Sack, I don't think you could say he was even average. Except for the Championship Game, he look like more of a Chicken-with-his-head-cut-off player, than an All-American. Now I know this is a bit subject, because I didn't watch Kindle play every game. Sometimes you watch a players best games, like I seemed to watched Emerson Griffen's best games and I watch Derrick Morgan against Clemson when he looked like the best player in the Draft. However, sometimes you watch a player worst game, like I seemed to watch CJ Spillers worst games. I thought I kept watch Kindles worst games? However, when you look at his stats, he had 70 Tackles, 22 TFL, 4 Passes Defensed, and 5.5 Sacks. Which is what I saw. A guy who was much better against the run and better in coverage, than he was rushing the passer. The goods news, or the bads news, for Pats fans is that he looks destined for Foxboro. BB always raves about the Texas D-Coordinator Larry Muschamp, and how he coaches a lot of similar things as the Pats do. Kindle also played a DE/OLB hybrid, which is similar to what he would do in the Pats 3-4 defense. Watch for him at the Combine, he will be a Combine Wonder, but I wonder how much of a Passrusher he really is?
Kindle is a super athletic edge rusher. Has not had a very productive season no career for that matter. Whenever I watched him play he never really seemed to produce any Sacks, pressures, or really anything in the Pass Defense. Had a great Championship Game, and I thought he showed a lot of smarts. He was playing that odd LOS spy that Suh seemed to have made so popular this season, a lot. Yet he still seemed to be able to get to the QB and disrupt his timing with more consistency that I ever saw him do. Plus, he was very consistent against the run. He displayed a great knack for slicing inside and grab the RB on plays run right up the middle. He is not super stout against the run, and needs work setting the edge, but for a super athletic Passrusher I thought he was pretty good against the run.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me:
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