Pass Rushing Promise
As in the run game, Brown is able to make an impact as a pass rusher with just power alone – and while this can’t be all he brings to the table if he is to be an effective pass rusher, it certainly is useful:
And at the college level, at least he was also able to add some value just by occupying multiple blockers:
He also does a really nice job of manipulating leverage by looking to drive through the gaps between blockers and generate penetration through power in a slightly more indirect fashion:
All of these things add value – all are pretty much just a result of his athletic tools, but where he has shown improvement in recent seasons is in his use of technique to win reps.
He flashes the hand usage to generate leverage advantage which he can then use his power to exploit:
He also demonstrated an ability to use the threat of his power to work blockers off balance and the hand usage to use this to generate quick penetration:
As well as using his power to drive them off-balance before releasing laterally to create clean rushing lanes:
However, given just how powerful he is, it is a shame that he didn’t use this more; this is something that teams will likely want to see him do in the NFL, as while his game has to be more than just power, he could have done a better job of making the maximum impact of that power in the passing game. While he didn’t show a huge amount of subtle nuances as a pass rusher, he did flash a spin move a couple of times, which while in need of work, is at least vaguely promising:
However, while there are a number of things to like – or at least flashes of good technique – there are also still far too many plays where Brown doesn’t really impact the passing game. Some of this comes back to the tendency to bend at the waist that was exposed in the run game, with their being plenty of plays where he either played with too high a pad level:
Or where he over-leans into the block and so puts himself off-balance:
While this habit of leaning rather than bending does show up in the run game as well, it’s far more persistent as a pass rusher – while this is something that he can work on and work around, for a player whose game is so based around power at this point, there are too many plays where his poor leverage largely negates the power advantage he has.
However, the thing that is likely to limit him most as a pass rusher unless he can correct it, is his tendency to expose his frame early in snaps, allowing blockers with good hand usage to get inside hand placement and prevent him from breaking free:
While Deonte Brown is one of the best guards in college football, Derrick Brown is likely going to face more technically adept blockers in the NFL than he did in college, and he needs to show far more consistently good hand usage, not just to allow him to generate leverage advantages inside but also just to keep him in plays after the initial engagement. It isn’t that he can’t do it, it’s just that he doesn’t do it with anywhere near enough consistency.
Brown was a talented but hugely inconsistent player when he chose to return to school a year ago, and it is certainly true that he has made significant improvement in turning those elite flashes into more consistent production in 2019. As a run defender, while he could do with being even more consistent, he should be an immediate plus player for a defense, while as a pass rusher he needs to continue to turn ever-more-frequent flashes into consistent pressure.
Some concerns have been raised about whether Brown can ever offer enough value as a pass rusher to be seen as an elite defensive line prospect, and while he will never be the quickest-twitch of athletes, there are signs on tape that he can become a very good pass rusher to go with his elite run defense. He certainly appears to be trending upwards in terms of technical development, but the question is more about whether he is going to continue to develop as he did in 2019, and at what point his development might start to flatten off.
While Brown is already a pretty good player, he will need to continue to work on his pad level and hand usage as a pass rusher in particular in order to become the player he flashes the ability to be – a player worthy of being drafted seventh overall.
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(Header Photo Via Jeffrey Vest/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
