Tuesday, April 11, 2017

2017 NFL Draft Profile: Reuben Foster

Reuben Foster, Alabama
6-0, 229
Foster was a four year player at Alabama. He won the Butkus Award as a senior, and was a finalist for the Bednarik Award. He has had some neck stinger injuries during his career, which led to an incident at the combine. While he was awaiting medical attention for an assessment, he became impatient with NFL medical staff, and created a scene. He was asked to leave the combine as a result.
As a freshman, he finished with 12 tackles and one TFL.
As a sophomore, he finished with 23 tackles, two TFLs, and one sack.
As a junior, he finished with 73 tackles, eight TFLs, and one sack, while also adding nine PBUs and three QB hurries.
As a senior, he finished with 115 Tackles, 13 TLFs, five sacks, two PBUs, and eight QB hurries.
The Good
Had very solid production as a junior and as a senior.
Violent hitting style.
Has solid speed and explosiveness.
Excellent in pursuit.
Very rangy, and can get from sideline to sideline in a hurry.
Fearless in the gaps, and makes big plays.
Can cover in drop back, and can cover backs in the flat.
The Bad
Body tackler, with poor overall technique. He is working on becoming a better wrap up guy, but he should know how to do that by now.
All violence, no subtlety.
Does not play with solid instinct or grasp of what an offense is doing with consistency. His mentality is more "Hulk smash" than is necessary.
Plays with pure and raw physical intensity, and lacks a mental part to his game.
Plays out of control at times.
Rides the wave with blockers.
Drops his head too often, and has gotten injured because of it.
Plays at his best at current weight, but that is simply too small to make a difference on the next level, and his play suffers when he bulks back up.
Final Overview
Many scouts and services are impressed with this guy. The simple fact is that I am not. I see a wildly out of control player who will get exposed on the next level if he does not get his head together. His behavior at the combine, due to the fact that he was tired of waiting, was completely unacceptable.
He will likely get drafted fairly early in the process because of his raw athleticism, but I would not be the personnel guy buying into his act. He gets drafted high because this is a weak class, not because he is the next Lawrence Taylor. 

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