Comparing Clowney and Demarcus Lawrence against top tier OTs - Lewan and Bitonio

[Nirvana]

Jadaveon Clowney vs. Taylor Lewan




Demarcus Lawrence vs. Joe Bitonio




Clowney is a beast among men. Lawrence has a ways to go.

Lewan looks real good at times, real strong, good anchor. Other times, particularly against the run, Clowney got the better of him. Clowney won the competition, hands down. Clowney looks phenomenal, and scary.

Lawrence looks real good - when not going up against Bitonio. Bitonio won the competition, hands down. Bitonio looks like a special player. Lawrence will need more work and strength to do well in the NFL.

Houston should not think twice about taking Clowney. That defense is going to be special.

 

[Gaede]

Good post. Makes me wary of Lawrence. Bitonio is a good player too. Wouldn't mind him in 2.

 

[Alexander]

All in all, you have to be careful when watching one on one matchups like this and making an evaluation solely off of that.

Even Ware in his prime had games where he had 2 tackles and a sack and nobody worried. Then he would face a more advantageous matchup and rack up a monster game.

The tackles are both good players, both are likely first round or at worse early second in the case of Bitonio. What is interesting is that Lawrence has stated very plainly that Bitonio was the best player he ever faced. As for Clowney, this is the game where he made his name and even then there were times Lewan battled him to a standstill. Shows how good he is as well.

 

[xwalker]

J
Demarcus Lawrence vs. Joe Bitonio
Lawrence looks real good - when not going up against Bitonio. Bitonio won the competition, hands down. Bitonio looks like a special player. Lawrence will need more work and strength to do well in the NFL.

Lawrence had 2 sacks against Bitonio and I noticed a couple of near sacks as well. They double-teamed him quite a bit in that game.

Lawrence has excellent developed skill but is not an elite athlete. He plays the run well using good leverage and better strength than expected for his size.