Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots May 7, 2019 - Tape Tuesday: Yodny Cajuste

Episode Date: May 7, 2019

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Hey there everybody, welcome on into a Tuesday installment of the Lockdown Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield back in the big chair for today, Tuesday, May 7th, 2019. Basically we're sort of back on schedule in a way because usually Tuesday is a tape Tuesday show while we're doing some more tape stuff. That's right. We are continuing our way through the 2019 Patriots draft class. And we've talked about a number of players so far. We talked about Nikhil Harry.

We talked about Juwan Williams. We talked about Juwan Williams. We talked about Chase Winovich. We did some Damian Harrison yesterday's show. We even dipped out of order on Friday's show. We talked about Jarrett Stidham. Well, today, Yannicka Juice, the tackle from West Virginia who the Patriots drafted at 101 overall. 6'55 315

and we're going to talk about one game in particular I watched a ton of his stuff but I'm going to focus my discussion on just one game and you'll see why in a moment but before we do any of that your usual reminder here at the outset to follow me on twitter at mark scofield check out the work at places like inside the pylon.com pro football weekly the score matt waldman's rookie scouting portfolio and of course that trio of sb nation websites big blue view bleeding green nation and of course pat's pulpit Now let's talk Kajus here. What's interesting about the things I get access to is, because I studied Will Greer, I had a number of West Virginia All-22 at my disposal.

So when I started this film review of Kajus, I had a number of games at my disposal that I could watch. So I was able to watch him against Iowa State. I was able to watch him against Baylor. I was able to watch him against Baylor. I was able to watch him against Texas. I was able to watch him in a number of different situations. But then it dawned on me that one of the great ways to sort of evaluate a player at a position where one-on-one matchups is kind of the big thing, right? It's kind of maybe everything. You want to watch them against fantastic competition.

Obviously, left tackle is a situation where you're going to see some very good players attacking you. You're going to be tasked with defending, in this case,

Tom Brady's blind side. If he steps in at left tackle, which he was in college, you're going to be tasked with defending, in this case, Tom Brady's blind side. If he steps in at left tackle, which he was in college, you're going to be tasked with protecting Tom Brady's blind side. And so I thought, look, in a one-on-one situation, how is he going to do against elite competition? So the game I want to talk about is West Virginia's game against TCU. Why? LJ Collier, TCU's defensive end was drafted in the first round. Picked 29 overall.

And he was matched up against Caduce the entire game. And he got six tackles total. I believe either five solo and one assisted or one assisted and five solo. One or the other. But the bottom line number is this.

Zero sacks. Zero. And I want to run through a couple of the plays. First pass rush situation, he handles a speed slash outside rush from Collier. Keeps his hands at the ready. Once he strikes, once Collier starts, he chops, then rides him to the outside. We're going to talk about Kajus' hands a lot in today's show next pass rush rep

he doesn't fall for a jab step to the inside from Collier and when he loses at the initial strike point he re-anchors and so Collier jab steps to the inside then comes outside he loses the initial hand fight but he re-anchors.

Doesn't give ground. Collier doesn't get anywhere near Greer. Next pass rush rep. His great upper body strength, great hands. Collier tries him outside again, and this time he just locks those elbows, locks them up, anchors, doesn't get close to him. Then this play. Next pass rush rep, the hands are just amazing. Collier flashes his hands to get into his body. He just chops them, chops those hands away, gets them staggered,

then gets them to the turf, basically lands on him. And, yes, you could say there's kind of a teabag situation. You could just say that. He plays with a bit of a mean streak at times. There's another play that's on a pass rush rep. This is a run blocking rep, but he shows good mental process and the defensive line from TCU slides right before

the snap, so it changes his assignment. Doesn't matter. Still strikes first. Wins at the point of attack. Next pass rush rep here. He again misses on the chop. So Caillou will flash the hands. He misses on the chop but immediately snaps the hands up. So his hands are so quick. He misses on that chop but he doesn't sort of take the time to loop his hands around. He just brings him right back up, chops and and strikes right beneath the throat, basically, and controls him and wins the rep that way. This was fascinating.

Because to this point in this game, I've been basically working chronologically through this TCU game. Collier hasn't gotten close. Hasn't gotten close to Greer. Then they decide in this next play they're going to slide the protection away from Collier. So Kajus slides down to the right. They bring an H-back and a running back to Collier. And what happens? He gets a hit on Greer. Like immediately when Kajus moves away, Collier gets involved and

gets a pressure on the quarterback. That right there was kind of a put the pen down moment because now I'm starting to wonder, is he just beating up on lower competition here? And the second he moves away, this guy gets right home. Loopers. Doesn't get fooled by him.

There is a loop twist where they brought Collier inside and looped the defensive tackle out to the outside. Once he sees Collier go down, his eyes come up. He's looking for the looper. He finds him. He identifies him. He strikes him. He stones him. Loved seeing that from him. His length.

So long at times. Now, I know we've talked about, oh, you don't need length. We played last year after they drafted Isaiah Dwin. We played the Dante Skarnecchia talking about how Matt Light had short arms and stuff like that. Well, what I think about the difference between length on a measurement and length on film, you could see with Kajus.

Now, he comes in at 34-inch arms, which people say is kind of a threshold, right? You could see it with him. You do see that length. There are times when he can extend and lock out and just win. Love seeing that. And finally, the hands. I've talked about the hands a lot i want to finish with this he can be patient with the hands at times sometimes he doesn't say you know try to chop right away or get into them right away he will wait he will watch he will mirror and then with those hands he can be so quick and so if he's to a point where he can read the rush, run the arc, and then strike, he will be patient with his hands. Once he gets his hands into you, chances are he's going to win the rep.

I love seeing his hands usage. Now, I know people have said, for example, I'm looking at Lance Zerline right now. His wide hands will draw referee attention on the next level. Perhaps. No, that's one weakness that he might have. I'm looking at Lance Zerline right now. His wide hands will draw referee attention on the next level, perhaps. That's one weakness that he might have. Another weakness that he might have is how he was kind of used. Most of his pass sets were lateral was his first step, not really a kick slide. His slide steps at times can be shaky.

And so he's going to need some refinement. But I think there's a lot for Skarniecki to build upon. Another potential weakness that I saw in film, Zerline saw it as well, because he writes, needs more consistency at protecting inside edge. There are times when he does get beaten to the inside on film. Collier got him once, but he was able to sort of re-anchor and ride him to the front of the pocket, so he didn't get close to Greer. But there are times when he gets beaten to the inside, and that's going to be something

to watch as well. Now, where does he fit in New England's plans on the offensive line? We will talk about that next on this Tape Tuesday installment of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Tape Tuesday installment of the Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this taped Tuesday installment of the Locked on Patriots podcast, talking about Yannick Jus, the Patriots' new offensive lineman tackle from West Virginia University. And we're going to talk about where I see him sort of fitted into the Patriots' plans

along the offensive line in a moment. But first, look, I know a lot of you that are listening to this show are probably Patriots fans or probably Celtics fans, and you probably are looking for more content on those two teams. Of course, there's Locked on Celtics, which is a fantastic show. I've talked about that before. But did you know there is also Locked on Red Sox?

Jake Devereaux has all the Red Sox takes you need to get you caught up on where they are, to get you caught up on the game the night before, and to get you ready for the next one. So please, do check out Locked On Red Sox wherever you get your podcasts, whether it's iTunes, Stitcher, Himalaya, anywhere else. Give Jake Devereaux a listen. You're going to love that show. He's doing fantastic work covering the Red Sox in and out. I couldn't imagine having to do a show covering baseball.

I mean, in one sense, yeah, you've got a game, another game, another game. It's a different rhythm, but that's tough. That's nonstop. That's relentless. So hats off to Jake and everybody at the Locked On Podcast Network who are covering baseball teams this year. Let's talk about Kajus a little bit more to get you out of here. Where I see him fitting in, and I think initially he is Isaiah Wynn insurance, right?

We all anticipate Isaiah Wynn coming in, solidifying the left tackle spot, being the left tackle, protecting Tom Brady, a guy that can play left tackle in the NFL because he played at the SEC. He's got Skarnacki working with him. Length, don't worry about it so much because, look, come on. He's played the position. He can do it. Now, of course, there are some things to worry about here.

One, he is technically a rookie. I didn't see any regular season action last year. He was sidelined with an Achilles injury. And so there's going to be some mental development that takes place or needs to take place. There's going to have to be some physical rehabilitation development because he's coming off an Achilles injury, which is a tough injury for tackles for offensive linemen to work back from. And so there's no sort of guarantee that it all comes together.

Now, if that were the only thing that we had to worry about, maybe we could feel confident that it's going to get itself worked out because look, they've got Leradrian Waddle. Well, not anymore. He's now a member of the Buffalo Bills. And so you come into

this preseason period now we were looking at Isaiah Winn yeah slotted in a left tackle but behind him you've got Cole Croston and Dan Skipper as other tackle types and so that's why I think

yeah they've added a Tyree St. Louis for example an undrafted free agent but I don't think he's really going to be too much of a guy to bank on and so at the outset I think bare minimum could use is as I said Isaiah Wynn insurance if Wynn just doesn't have it or doesn't get back then yeah you're starting what might be a true rookie at left tackle who's a third-round pick. That's if crossing or skipper don't pan out. And so Kajusa's some insurance there.

If Wynn pans out, though, I think he's their swing tackle. He's their Adrian Waddle right away. And that's not bad to get in the third or the fourth round. Wait, third round. Yeah, at the end of the third round, a one-on-one. Good in pass protection. Moves well. You've got some concerns with Isaiah Wynn.

He could probably play on the right side. He's done a little bit of that as well. And so I think, bare minimum, Kajusha's their swing tackle in 2019, which is something you need to have and something they needed to get because of Waddell moving on. And this is part of the reason why,

not just Wynn, but with Waddell's departure, we thought that they would have to address offensive line, and they did it. And we're going to talk about the Arkansas guard that they picked later this week. And so I do like this pick. I think he was a guy that was getting some early day two buzz. They get him late day two.

I think it's a nice selection. And so I think he has a role to fill for this team in the wars to come and to get a player like that at the end of the third round I think it was a great pick for the New England Patriots

so that will do it today now we're going to get Helder Froholt we're going to talk about him next and then we're going to get into yes believe it or not we're going to round out this week

so we're going to have Froholt on Wednesday Thursday Brian Cowart Believe it or not, we're going to round out this week. So we're going to have Froholt on Wednesday, Thursday, Brian Cowart, and then Friday we will close out this series. I don't know if I could do a whole show on a punter, so we're going to put together Jake Bailey, the punter, as well as Ken Webster, the defensive back from Ohio State. We're going to put those two guys together to close it out on Friday.

But that will do it for this. And then we'll be on to some other stuff. But that will also do it for today. I will be back tomorrow. Until next time, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.