Why Mazi Smith's NFL Debut was pretty good - Video Analysis

Some players aren't immediately ready to play the full load. As long as he can contribute on a rotational basis and continues to get better thats fine for this year.

If we're still seeing a part time, limited snap player a couple years from now then please pass judgement.
 
I said months ago: expect little to nothing of Mazi in year one. He'll need time. My message faced nothing but attack.

I'm not down on the player at all! But let's not gloss over it: he's been a bit less impressive than even I expected. Let's give the kid time...but also... let's not compose fiction about where Mazi is right now.
 
I went back and watched him a bit. He is remarkably bad. He has terrible technique. Clearly has not improved at all. It’s too bad.
I have been saying this since last year.

I am glad you took the time to actually watch him!
 
He had a good play at the 5:00 mark, and another at 9:00. The rest was kinda meh. He will improve, but at the moment he is a good rotation piece but not a starter.
 
Some players aren't immediately ready to play the full load. As long as he can contribute on a rotational basis and continues to get better thats fine for this year.

If we're still seeing a part time, limited snap player a couple years from now then please pass judgement.
Yes. Most people don't remember but Russell Maryland didn't play a lot at first either. And he turned out alright.
 
So now we’re on the end of the spectrum and saying it was a great review?

I saw good snaps and bad snaps. He’s not a bust and he certainly wasn’t “great.”
 
Once he gets out of his own head and realizes he can throw OL off him instead of wrestling with them, he’ll be fine. One thing that has improved was that in almost every rep, he was pushing people towards the backfield vs. the constant getting pushed sideways in the preseason (I wonder if his knee injury was a little more than what they said it was). In the preseason, seemed like every time he took on double teams, he would kick that leg out, leaving him on one leg. Don’t care how strong you are, but power guys need BOTH legs to generate that power.
 
Once he gets out of his own head and realizes he can throw OL off him instead of wrestling with them, he’ll be fine. One thing that has improved was that in almost every rep, he was pushing people towards the backfield vs. the constant getting pushed sideways in the preseason (I wonder if his knee injury was a little more than what they said it was). In the preseason, seemed like every time he took on double teams, he would kick that leg out, leaving him on one leg. Don’t care how strong you are, but power guys need BOTH legs to generate that power.
No, it's even more simple than that. Mazi has a horrific habit of standing up at the snap. In doing so, he loses the leverage battle. He got away w/ it in college, as he is so strong he could manhandle most OL's even w/ this technique flaw.

Now, though, he's in the NFL where everyone is strong. If he ever corrects this flaw and stays low, he will be pushing the OL back into the QB on a regular basis. He has the strength to do so.

Hard to say why it's not corrected. He might be stubborn, but in all likelihood, it's just a matter of reconditioning his instincts. It's very hard to relearn something after doing it wrong for his entire career.
 
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