NFL1000 Week 6 Scouting Notebook: Where Has Khalil Mack Gone?
Welcome to Bleacher Report's NFL1000 Scouting Notebook, our weekly series where we use the power of the 17-man NFL1000 scouting department to bring you fresh insights into the game and explain some of the more interesting (and potentially controversial) grades we give players every week.
This week, we'll start with an unheralded role player in the Dallas Cowboys' resurgent offense.
The All-22: Cole Beasley's Breakout Year
by Doug Farrar, NFL1000 Lead Scout
Without looking, can you name the receiver who leads the NFL in Football Outsiders' opponent-adjusted DVOA and DYAR metrics, as well as Pro Football Focus' Wide Receiver Rating, which indicates a quarterback's passer rating when that receiver is targeted? If you guessed Julio Jones, Odell Beckham Jr. or A.J. Green, you would be mistaken.
No, the most efficient receiver in the NFL this season by several sabermetric standards is Cole Beasley, the Cowboys' fifth-year undrafted receiver from SMU. At 5'8" and 180 pounds, Beasley has done most of his work in the slot throughout his NFL career, and he's been reasonably productive before 2016, but not at a superhuman level.
In 2015, he caught 52 passes on 74 targets for 536 yards and five touchdowns, his best season to date. In six games this season, he's already brought in 33 catches on 39 targets for 390 yards and three touchdowns. Last year, he was good for 31 first downs—through six games in 2016, he's already amassed 22. And he’s been Dak Prescott's primary security blanket, leading the team in all relevant receiving categories as Dez Bryant struggles with injuries.
What's been the difference this season? Availability certainly helps—with Bryant on the field for fewer than 200 snaps so far, per Pro Football Focus, the pecking order has shifted in Beasley's favor. But more than that, he's an ideal receiver for a young quarterback because of his ability to define openings. This shows up over and over on Dallas' 2016 tape. Moreover, Beasley is versatile and intelligent enough to line up all over the formation in the offense designed by head coach Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. That's been evident all season, but never more so than in the Cowboys' 30-16 Week 6 win over the Packers.
Let's start with this 22-yard reception with 8:44 left in the first half. Beasley is lined up in the left slot in a Twins look with tight end Jason Witten in front of him. Safety Morgan Burnett takes Witten up the seam, leaving slot cornerback Micah Hyde to deal with Beasley. Watch the way Beasley takes a jab step to the numbers and then runs a perfect quick angle to stop Hyde in his tracks. Witten has cleared the middle of the field with his upfield route, and Beasley has a wide-open space on a slant. Beasley's awareness of field openings is a hallmark of any great slot receiver.
Let's move to Beasley's four-yard touchdown reception with 10:26 left in the game. He's the outside man on the right side; watch how he okey-dokes cornerback LaDarius Gunter into thinking that it's a stalled route. Then Beasley makes a decisive cut to the boundary, Gunter trips all over himself to catch up and that's all she wrote. This kind of subtle deception is something I've seen from Doug Baldwin over the years.
Most of Beasley's receptions are short stuff—he has just three receptions over 20 yards this season and one reception in which the ball was thrown more than 20 yards in the air. However, when he uses his knack for finding open space on deeper passes, he's successful.
Here's a good example in Dallas' 28-14 win over the Bengals in Week 5. With 1:56 left in the first half, Beasley is the middle guy in a trips right concept, and at the snap he stops cornerback Darqueze Dennard in his tracks on an up-and-out route for 18 yards.
There's no doubt that Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott are the fixtures of Dallas' impressive 5-1 start, along with the best offensive line in the business. But Beasley is more than a beneficiary this season—he's become a vital cog and a big reason why Prescott looks like the Cowboys' quarterback of the future.
The All-22: Raiders EDGE Khalil Mack
by Joe Goodberry, NFL1000 AFC Defensive Ends Scout
Oakland Raiders edge defender Khalil Mack has become a household name. He's one of the young superstars in the NFL. The talent he possesses is easy to see, but why hasn't Mack compiled the numbers many expected in 2016?
The Chiefs game was a perfect example of what I've seen for most of the year. Mack ended up with five tackles and a sack on the day, but why didn't he take the game over?
Let's start with the sack because it was on the first drive of the game. Mack is lined up on the right side against Kansas City's Eric Fisher. Mack rips off the line, drives through Fisher with one arm, displays immense power and discards the Chiefs offensive tackle. Mack then makes an impressive tackle as quarterback Alex Smith tries to escape.
This play shows Mack's upside, but it was also his only clear win as a pass-rusher on the day.
Mack just doesn't get the opportunities to affect the game. The Chiefs threw the ball only 25 times and used play action to kill the rush on seven of those attempts. That leaves 18 passes, and Oakland asked Mack to drop into coverage six times. Most of these snaps didn't lead to much, but he was in coverage during one long reception instead of rushing the passer.
When you take out the passes where Alex Smith got rid of the ball quickly, Mack ended up with just a handful of opportunities to rush the passer. Let's not forget the handful of snaps where he was cut-blocked, chipped or doubled. While those didn't happen often, they will kill the aggressive mentality of a pass-rusher.
But Mack isn't just a pass-rusher—he can impact the run game as well. He saw 30 rushes while he was in the game, but the Chiefs ran the ball toward Mack on just four occasions. One of those snaps ended up being a decent gain by Jamaal Charles as Mack lost sight of the runner.
Mack did have an impact versus the run to offset this snap; he had a tackle for loss where he was unblocked and another run stop where he powered through the Chiefs tight end. Neither of those snaps garnered high grades, and as a result he came out of this game without impacting many plays.
Offenses just aren't allowing Mack to take over, and the Raiders defense isn't giving him much help with the talent around him and the varying roles they ask him to play. Perhaps it would be best to move him around a little less; he spent 45 percent of his plays standing up before the snap and had a left/right alignment split of 32-24, respectively. Maybe that's an effort by Oakland to keep offenses guessing, but some pass-rushers are just more comfortable on one side.
The talent is still there, and I'm sure Mack will have his breakout game. However, when that happens, it will likely be because the Raiders have a big lead and the opposing offense can't play keep-away all game.
Scouting Spotlight: Patriots Linebacker Dont'a Hightower
by Derrik Klassen, NFL1000 4-3 OLB Scout
Linebacker Dont'a Hightower makes New England's defense click. There are only a handful of players across the league who can wear as many hats as Hightower does. He excels in all three defensive phases: pass rushing, run defense and coverage. He is a multifaceted player who can handle any task from any alignment.
Against the Bengals, Hightower saw time both as an off-ball player and as an edge player on the line of scrimmage. He is more often used on the line of scrimmage on passing downs, but he can set the edge well too, so Hightower's edge alignment has become a wrinkle to the Patriots defense that the team can use anytime. Early on in Sunday's game, Hightower even had a back-side pursuit from an edge position that helped corral a Bengals running play for a loss of yards.
The fascinating part about Hightower's excellence is that, more often than not, he is not the one making the play that goes in the box score. While he had a gaudy stat line this Sunday, Hightower is normally the quiet hero who keeps the city of Foxborough safe from disaster.
Regardless of alignment, Hightower is able to direct flow and control the game the way that he does because of how well he reads the play as it is happening. Of course, his subtle athleticism and brute strength give him an advantage too.
The Bengals offense had the Patriots defense on the ropes early in the third quarter. With 12:27 left in the quarter, Cincinnati tried to punch in a score through the ground from 10 yards out, but Hightower wasn’t having it.
He immediately steps toward the play as the ball is snapped. Shortly thereafter, a pileup forms in the B-gap (between guard and tackle), and Hightower realizes that if he storms into that mess, he would take himself out of the play. He remains patient, widens his path to the ball and swallows up whatever room running back Giovani Bernard had left to work with.
Had Hightower rushed into that play, Bernard could have picked up more than two yards. Hightower put his rare patience and malleability on display to minimize the Bengals' efforts.
Hightower can go full speed into a play if he needs to, though. Take his sack safety on Andy Dalton last Sunday, for example.
Hightower did not show blitz pre-snap and remained off the ball until the ball was snapped. That did not stop him from getting to Dalton in an instant.
With 7:05 left in the third quarter, as the ball is snapped, Hightower hesitates for just a moment to read the running back's release and then picks his spot. The running back jumps into the B-gap to help with protection, so Hightower sprints through the A-gap (between center and guard) once he reads that the running back splits out wide in his pass set. Cincinnati's left guard tries to make a late effort to deter Hightower, but it is far too late. Hightower slips into the backfield, grabs Dalton with one hand and rips him to the ground, granting the Patriots two points and possession of the ball.
As a coverage player, Hightower did not make any outstanding plays, but he did his job. When thrown at in the short areas of the field, he minimized yards after catch, and as the game went on, he coaxed Dalton into avoiding him entirely.
Quality coverage play doesn't have to be flashy or fancy. A linebacker's job in coverage is mostly to avoid big plays down the seam and prevent short throws from turning into explosive plays. Hightower did exactly that.
It was quite the afternoon for Hightower. By game's end, he had accumulated 13 total tackles and 1.5 sacks, one of which was the safety mentioned above. Hightower was all over the place Sunday. He wreaked havoc and did everything in his power to keep the Bengals offense down. After he had dealt with injury struggles for the first month or so of the season, seeing Hightower return to his elite form was a treat.
Scouting Spotlight: Falcons DT Grady Jarrett
by Charles McDonald, NFL1000 Defensive Tackles Scout
Grady Jarrett is one of the best nose tackles in the NFL. The 6'0", 305-pound defensive tackle doesn't fit the classic measurements of the mammoth, space-eating nose tackles that we normally see, but he's the prototype for the new age of NFL nose tackle. Brandon Mebane, Earl Mitchell, Bennie Logan and Clinton McDonald (to name a few) have shown it's possible to thrive as a slighter nose tackle. All of these players have similar listed measurements and possess rare movement skills for nose tackles.
Jarrett's skills were on display for the Falcons when they lost a barnburner this week against the Seattle Seahawks. Jarrett's athleticism is eye-popping, and he repeatedly gave the Seahawks offensive linemen all they could handle.
It's rare to see a nose tackle make plays in space and on the run the way Jarrett does. At 5:27 in the first quarter, Seattle is trying to run outside zone to the boundary out of 12 personnel, where they have a numbers advantage after motioning Doug Baldwin across the formation. Jarrett is the first player to move at the snap of the ball and blows up center Justin Britt before he can get his second step in the ground.
After he knocks Britt back, his eyes shift to the backfield to find the ball-carrier. Britt actually does a decent job of recovering to get back in front of Jarrett, but once he does, Jarrett tosses him aside before zooming down the line of scrimmage to make the tackle for a one-yard gain.
Jarrett's explosive ability shines through on this two-yard run by Christine Michael at 5:49 in the second quarter. If there's one area Jarrett needs to develop, it's his ability to capitalize off his disruption and finish plays in the backfield. However, his penetration ability has been a positive influence on a young, growing Falcons defense.
Jarrett beats Britt and throws him to the ground before the handoff is even completed. He's shaded over Britt's right shoulder, and his hand placement on the play his superb. He gets his man hand (right hand) in Britt's chest and his gap hand (left hand) on the center's shoulder pad. The combination of his first step and hand placement allows him to shock Britt at the snap of the ball before executing a quick swim move to get him in the backfield immediately after the ball is snapped.
Michael makes a great play to cut away from Jarrett upon receiving the handoff, but the penetration forces him away from his blockers play side and into the arms of Keanu Neal, who is waiting for the cutback on the backside of the formation. Neal forces a fumble with a big hit, but the Seahawks recover the ball.
As we sit 21 games into Jarrett's career, he hasn't developed as a terrifying interior rusher (yet), but he does a great job of capitalizing on pressure created by others. In this play at the 4:59 mark of the third quarter, the Falcons are lined up with two 3-techniques with Jarrett and Derrick Shelby lined up over the offensive guards. Atlanta sends LaRoy Reynolds on a blitz into the B-gap Jarrett was occupying, which puts Jarrett on a stunt into the A-gap on the snap of the ball.
Shelby does a great job of forcing Russell Wilson out of the pocket toward Jarrett. Once Jarrett recognizes Wilson's re-established position on the field, he explodes toward the quarterback, hitting him upon the delivery of the ball. The pressure and hit force Wilson to throw just too far, and he misses Jimmy Graham in what would have likely set up a 2nd-and-short opportunity for the Seahawks.
The last play we'll focus on encapsulates everything Jarrett brings to the table as a budding talent in the league. At the 12:17 mark in the fourth quarter, he starts off the play by throwing Britt to the ground and essentially resetting the edge that was lost when Garry Gilliam pancaked Vic Beasley.
Jarrett slips before he can attempt the tackle but shows great hustle and athleticism by chasing Michael all the way across the field, where he stops him for no gain with the help of Ricardo Allen. There are plenty of defensive tackles who hustle like Jarrett, but few have the athleticism to keep pace on a pursuit lane against arguably the most athletic back in the league.
Atlanta landed a gem in the fifth round of the 2015 draft in Jarrett, who is continuing to grow each week during the season. His play reflects well in this week's NFL1000 rankings—he’s second in the defensive tackle rankings behind Los Angeles' Aaron Donald.
Scouting with Schofield (and Wharton): Alshon Jeffery vs. Jalen Ramsey
By Mark Schofield, NFL1000 NFC Receivers/Tight Ends Scout, and Ian Wharton, NFL1000 AFC Cornerbacks Scout
Alshon Jeffery had a solid day for the Chicago Bears in their loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 6, catching seven passes for 93 yards. But if you tuned in for only the first half, you might be surprised at those final statistics.
In the first half, Jeffery was effective and ran crisp routes, particularly against rookie cornerback Jalen Ramsey.
In the first part of this video, I'll highlight first how Jeffery was able to get separation from Ramsey early in the game, focusing on change-of-direction ability, strength at the line of scrimmage against the press and strength after the catch.
However, in the second half, Jeffery's lone catch came away from Ramsey. The rookie defender matched up against Jeffery on four targets and did not allow a catch and had a critical pass defended on Chicago's final offensive play. To highlight how Ramsey flipped the script, I enlisted the help of cornerback guru Ian Wharton, who is scouting the AFC cornerbacks for the NFL1000 project. As Wharton illustrated to me, Ramsey was effective in the second half playing both press coverage and off coverage.
.jpg?w=480 "Jaguars Broncos Football")
.jpg?w=600 "Report: Pickens Signing Tag")
.png?w=600 "Top 300 Prospects 📊")
.jpg?w=600 "Vrabel to Get Counseling, Miss Draft")