Buckner at 4?
Seriously?
Stanford made him their biotch all afternoon, the fact that our scouts watched that tape and think Buckner I top 5 is the most troubling
Do you even know how to watch football?
First of all, let me just say that Buckner is not meant to be a 4-3 DE in the NFL where has to play on the edge in space against 310-320 lb OT's. He can do it at times, especially in run downs, but to me that is not his 4-3 position. In a 4-3 he is a gap-shooting 3 technique and since our scheme seemingly doesn't place much of a priority on size he can probably rotate in at 1 technique a bit too, as well as DE in run downs. But to me he is most valuable as an interior pass-rusher in a 4-3, you put him next to Crawford inside in nickel/dime and then rotate him between DE/3 technique/1 technique during other downs.
With that said, take a look at 5:21, 6:28, 8:29, 11:50 and 17:34 of the Stanford game.
At 5:21 he is quite literally triple teamed, holds his ground, gets penetration in the backfield and gets in on a stop for loss. Now, he wasn't the only reason the play was stopped for a loss but there is a reason the DL to his left was unblocked and gets penetration while the OG lined up across from that guy pulled to Buckner's side where he was being double and triple teamed yet Buckner stood his ground against 2-3 guys and still got into the backfield.
At 6:28 he puts Josh Garnett quite literally on his *** with a hump move and gets into the QB's lap in right around 3 seconds. The QB got the ball out just as Buckner got there but this is a top 50ish OG prospect who is known for his power that Buckner puts on the ground. The key here is that he shows this while matched up 1 on 1 with Garnett as an interior pass-rusher in a clear passing situation.
At 8:28, again matched up 1 on 1 with Garnett in a clear passing situation as an interior rusher and walks him all the way back into the QB's lap in right about 3 seconds to the point where Garnett is actually level with the QB as the QB throws the ball. Again, this is a top 50 type of OG prospect known for his power that Buckner walks right back into the QB's lap.
At 11:50, another obvious passing situation where he is matched up 1 on 1 with Garnett. He gets Garnett off balance with his off arm and then beats him to the outside for the sack. Got to the QB in just about 3 seconds just like the other instances but this time some of his teammates actually got a bit of pressure as opposed to the other times where the QB had a completely clean pocket aside from Buckner getting to his lap right as he releases.
At 17:38, another obvious passing situation lined up across from Garnett, beats him to the outside where the LT is waiting for him with nobody to block, pushes off the LT and gets to the QB in under 3 seconds, hits the QB right as he releases but the QB gets it off, mostly because there is no pressure from anybody but Buckner. He beats Garnett here to the point where Garnett gets so off balance that he almost falls over about 5 yards away from where Buckner actually ends up.
Keep in mind that this is a guy who very often was asked to 2-gap and take on double teams, often times on the edge which I don't think is ideal for him to begin with. You can't expect a guy to fight through double teams in a 2-gap assignment and get a bunch of quick penetration, that's not what they're asking him to do, especially when they have him doing that on the edge where he struggles to get around the corner to begin with. They also slant and stunt him alot in order to get the OL moving in one direction while bringing a DL or LB around behind him to the open area.
And this is a game against Stanford, one of the best teams in the country, on the road, against one of the best/most powerful running games in the country, and Buckner really shows off amazing strength as a pass rusher against probably their best/most powerful lineman in Garnett. The key is that you have to separate natural ability from what he is asked to do within a scheme. The fact that he gets held up on double teams on the edge in a 2 gap system shouldn't matter really if you're looking at him as an interior pass rusher who will only play DE in spots, primarily in run downs, especially when you should clearly be able to see the talent as an interior pass rusher. I think he relies a bit too much on his power when rushing from the inside but every DL coming out of college needs to work on their pass rush technique.
And of course there were plenty of times where he doesn't make much of an impact on a play, he gets beat by a double team or the play goes away from him but that is the case with every prospect. There are plenty of times where Bosa gets rooted out on a run play by a double team, is stoned in his pass rush or lets a RB run right by him. There are plenty of times where Ramsey lets an easy INT bounce right off his hands or gets beaten by a WR where he loses track of the ball in the air. The key is to see the ability these guys do have and know where their best fit is. If we draft Buckner with the plan to play him on the edge 90% of the time, that's a huge mistake, if we plan on playing him as a guy who can give you snaps at DE/3 tech/1 tech and then be used strictly on the interior in passing downs, then we'll have a player.
With all that said, we need to go QB at 4.
