WingBack ~ Devon Johnson ~ Marshall
Thundering Herd ~ 6004/238
Regarding WingBacks
"Tight End" is a term I apply only to the Players with a Frame built for the classic "In Line" Tight End ~ an Hybrid Player who serves as a combination Blocker and Receiver. Some Tight Ends, like Jimmy Graham, only line up on the Line of Scrimmage occasionally, and some do very little receiving, but they are, optimally, proficient at both.
The Prototype would be about 6050/260 or so.
The "Tight Ends" whose Frames are better suited to be deployed in running Routes from all over the Formation, and who aren't especially renowned for their Blocking ~ though many are adept Chippers ~ I refer to as Flex Ends.
The Prototype would be about 6030/245 or so.
Those of either type who present legitimate Dual Threats ~ who can make a genuine Impact either as a Blocker or as a Receiver ~ are impossible to predict from Snap to Snap, and this renders them extraordinarily dangerous.
Conceivably even more dangerous and dynamic than either of these two types is one of my pet Positions: The WingBacks. I employ this ancient FootBall Term, one still in active use in many High Schools and Colleges, to refer to a Role so ethereal as to be almost imaginary: an Hybrid FullBack & Flex End ~ a Super Hybrid, if you will.
The Prototype would be about 6000/250 or so.
The WingBack, optimally, would be a guy capable of Lead Blocking in the Run Game, Pass Blocking in the Passing Game, or splitting out and running Pass Patterns from SlotBack, Slot End, Split End, or Flanker. He could line up at any of those spots, or on either Wing, on the Line, or in the BackField. He could even go In Motion or run the Ball!!
Such a versatile, dynamic Player could have an explosive Impact on the Competitive LandScape.
The Game has reached a point in its Tactical History that is begging for such a Player.
It awaits only for the NFL to realize the Opportunity.
***
WingBacks could be deployed at FullBack, at WingBack, at SlotBack, at Slot End, or at HalfBack ~ the Ultimate Wild Card.
And they could quite conceivably render genuine Threats in all 3 Phases: Blocking, Catching, or Running.
Therefore, I'll break their Skill Sets down precisely along those lines:
Lineman Attributes
Power: Above all: Core Power. Torso Power is important, but Core Power, from the Knees to the Ribs, is absolutely crucial. All the upper body Strength in the world will still fail if you simply can't dig in your heels. But Core Power enables an Offensive Lineman to project Power in the Running Game and to reject Power in the Passing Game.
Agility: Launch Velocity, Acceleration, and above all: Fluidity or Core Agility. Core Agility is even more essential to sustained good Health ~ and to sustained good FootBall ~ than Core Power. The ability to react with Serpentine smoothness is a tremendous asset in all Aspects of the Game, and certainly in the Hand to Hand Combat that characterizes Trench Warfare. All the Power in the World goes only so far if you're stiff and lumbering out there.
Combat Skills: Paw Power, Mechanics ~ Hand Speed & Positioning ~ and of course: Frame.
Intangibles: Processing Speed and Motor. Processing Speed or Diagnostic Velocity is about how quickly and effectively one Reads & Reacts to how the Rapidly Roiling Tactical LandScape effects Blocking Schemes, and Motor is about Endurance and Drive: How much Work has been put into Conditioning, and how it manifests itself.
Broken down into SubCategories, it'd go something like this:
Power
* Core Power ~ lower body Power. Core Power trumps Torso Power. Tyrannosaurus Rex had exceptional Core Power.
* Torso Power ~ upper Body Power. Important, but not crucial. T Rex had lousy Torso Power...yet was King.
* Anchoring Strength in the Passing Game. The capacity to Stand one's Ground.
* Drive Power in the Running Game. The capacity to drive your man back.
Agility
* Fluidity, above all things: Core Agility & Flexibility makes everything possible.
* Launch Velocity ~ Speed into Contact off the Snap.
* Acceleration ~ Short Speed or Quickness.
Combat Skills
* Paw Power ~ The Power & Speed of the initial Punch.
* Paw Velocity ~ How active the Hands are.
* Paw Positioning ~ It's all about Angles & Leverage.
* Frame ~ Above all: WingSpan.
Intangibles
* Processing Speed ~ Field Vision. Reading Defensive Schemes quickly and effectively, and finding 2nd Level Targets.
* Motor ~ Intensity and Duration.
WideOut Attributes
Separation: Getting Open. This encompasses Combat Skills & Fluidity to beat Press, Acceleration out'f the Blocks, Fluidity and Ricochet in navigating Traffic, Route Running Precision, the capacity to deceive Defenders, and Field Vision for Timing Seems and Open Zones. All other Aspects of a WideOut's Job Description are dwarfed by this one.
Catch Point Capacity: In Transit or Contested: Hands, WingSpan, Vertical Agility, Combat Skills, and Timing.
Navigation: How well he Navigates the Field after the Catch: Power, Agility, Acceleration, Long Speed, and Field Vision.
Broken down into SubCategories, it'd go something like this:
Separation
* Combat Skills
* Fluidity
* Acceleration
* Ricochet
* Routing
* Deception
* Field Vision
Catch Point Capacity
* Timing
* Combat Skills
* Vertical Agility
* Hands
* WingSpan
Navigation
* Power
* Fluidity
* Ricochet
* Acceleration
* Long Speed
* Field Vision
HalfBack Attributes
Power: Above all: Core Power. Upper body Power is important, but lower body Power, from the Knees to the Ribs, is absolutely crucial. An HalfBack's Capacity to break Tackles is more about Core Power than anything else.
Agility: Launch Velocity, Fluidity, Acceleration, and Ricochet. Long Speed is all well and good, but at the end of the day, it is Gravy. What wins Championships is Moving The Chains. And Moving The Chains is accomplished far more consistently by the guys who exhibit the Agility ~ and the Focus ~ to consistently pick up 5 and sometimes 10 Yards at a time.
Processing Speed: Diagnostic Velocity. Field Vision. That ethereal Capacity to Rapidly Read & React to the Rapidly Roiling & Boiling Tactical LandScape...and to foresee and envision Lanes developing before they actually do.
Broken down into SubCategories, it'd go something like this:
Power
* Core Power is most of it. Tyrannosaurus Rex would've made an Hell of an HalfBack.
* Torso Power doesn't hurt, though.
Agility
* Launch Velocity
* Fluidity
* Acceleration
* Ricochet
* Long Speed
Processing Speed
* That ethereal Capacity to foresee and envision Lanes developing before they actually do.
The Prototype would be about 6050/260 or so.
The "Tight Ends" whose Frames are better suited to be deployed in running Routes from all over the Formation, and who aren't especially renowned for their Blocking ~ though many are adept Chippers ~ I refer to as Flex Ends.
The Prototype would be about 6030/245 or so.
Those of either type who present legitimate Dual Threats ~ who can make a genuine Impact either as a Blocker or as a Receiver ~ are impossible to predict from Snap to Snap, and this renders them extraordinarily dangerous.
Conceivably even more dangerous and dynamic than either of these two types is one of my pet Positions: The WingBacks. I employ this ancient FootBall Term, one still in active use in many High Schools and Colleges, to refer to a Role so ethereal as to be almost imaginary: an Hybrid FullBack & Flex End ~ a Super Hybrid, if you will.
The Prototype would be about 6000/250 or so.
The WingBack, optimally, would be a guy capable of Lead Blocking in the Run Game, Pass Blocking in the Passing Game, or splitting out and running Pass Patterns from SlotBack, Slot End, Split End, or Flanker. He could line up at any of those spots, or on either Wing, on the Line, or in the BackField. He could even go In Motion or run the Ball!!
Such a versatile, dynamic Player could have an explosive Impact on the Competitive LandScape.
The Game has reached a point in its Tactical History that is begging for such a Player.
It awaits only for the NFL to realize the Opportunity.
***
WingBacks could be deployed at FullBack, at WingBack, at SlotBack, at Slot End, or at HalfBack ~ the Ultimate Wild Card.
And they could quite conceivably render genuine Threats in all 3 Phases: Blocking, Catching, or Running.
Therefore, I'll break their Skill Sets down precisely along those lines:
Lineman Attributes
Power: Above all: Core Power. Torso Power is important, but Core Power, from the Knees to the Ribs, is absolutely crucial. All the upper body Strength in the world will still fail if you simply can't dig in your heels. But Core Power enables an Offensive Lineman to project Power in the Running Game and to reject Power in the Passing Game.
Agility: Launch Velocity, Acceleration, and above all: Fluidity or Core Agility. Core Agility is even more essential to sustained good Health ~ and to sustained good FootBall ~ than Core Power. The ability to react with Serpentine smoothness is a tremendous asset in all Aspects of the Game, and certainly in the Hand to Hand Combat that characterizes Trench Warfare. All the Power in the World goes only so far if you're stiff and lumbering out there.
Combat Skills: Paw Power, Mechanics ~ Hand Speed & Positioning ~ and of course: Frame.
Intangibles: Processing Speed and Motor. Processing Speed or Diagnostic Velocity is about how quickly and effectively one Reads & Reacts to how the Rapidly Roiling Tactical LandScape effects Blocking Schemes, and Motor is about Endurance and Drive: How much Work has been put into Conditioning, and how it manifests itself.
Broken down into SubCategories, it'd go something like this:
Power
* Core Power ~ lower body Power. Core Power trumps Torso Power. Tyrannosaurus Rex had exceptional Core Power.
* Torso Power ~ upper Body Power. Important, but not crucial. T Rex had lousy Torso Power...yet was King.
* Anchoring Strength in the Passing Game. The capacity to Stand one's Ground.
* Drive Power in the Running Game. The capacity to drive your man back.
Agility
* Fluidity, above all things: Core Agility & Flexibility makes everything possible.
* Launch Velocity ~ Speed into Contact off the Snap.
* Acceleration ~ Short Speed or Quickness.
Combat Skills
* Paw Power ~ The Power & Speed of the initial Punch.
* Paw Velocity ~ How active the Hands are.
* Paw Positioning ~ It's all about Angles & Leverage.
* Frame ~ Above all: WingSpan.
Intangibles
* Processing Speed ~ Field Vision. Reading Defensive Schemes quickly and effectively, and finding 2nd Level Targets.
* Motor ~ Intensity and Duration.
WideOut Attributes
Separation: Getting Open. This encompasses Combat Skills & Fluidity to beat Press, Acceleration out'f the Blocks, Fluidity and Ricochet in navigating Traffic, Route Running Precision, the capacity to deceive Defenders, and Field Vision for Timing Seems and Open Zones. All other Aspects of a WideOut's Job Description are dwarfed by this one.
Catch Point Capacity: In Transit or Contested: Hands, WingSpan, Vertical Agility, Combat Skills, and Timing.
Navigation: How well he Navigates the Field after the Catch: Power, Agility, Acceleration, Long Speed, and Field Vision.
Broken down into SubCategories, it'd go something like this:
Separation
* Combat Skills
* Fluidity
* Acceleration
* Ricochet
* Routing
* Deception
* Field Vision
Catch Point Capacity
* Timing
* Combat Skills
* Vertical Agility
* Hands
* WingSpan
Navigation
* Power
* Fluidity
* Ricochet
* Acceleration
* Long Speed
* Field Vision
HalfBack Attributes
Power: Above all: Core Power. Upper body Power is important, but lower body Power, from the Knees to the Ribs, is absolutely crucial. An HalfBack's Capacity to break Tackles is more about Core Power than anything else.
Agility: Launch Velocity, Fluidity, Acceleration, and Ricochet. Long Speed is all well and good, but at the end of the day, it is Gravy. What wins Championships is Moving The Chains. And Moving The Chains is accomplished far more consistently by the guys who exhibit the Agility ~ and the Focus ~ to consistently pick up 5 and sometimes 10 Yards at a time.
Processing Speed: Diagnostic Velocity. Field Vision. That ethereal Capacity to Rapidly Read & React to the Rapidly Roiling & Boiling Tactical LandScape...and to foresee and envision Lanes developing before they actually do.
Broken down into SubCategories, it'd go something like this:
Power
* Core Power is most of it. Tyrannosaurus Rex would've made an Hell of an HalfBack.
* Torso Power doesn't hurt, though.
Agility
* Launch Velocity
* Fluidity
* Acceleration
* Ricochet
* Long Speed
Processing Speed
* That ethereal Capacity to foresee and envision Lanes developing before they actually do.
Devon Johnson Scouting Report
Blocking: Impressive and potentially excellent. This Scouting Report is pure Conjecture, because Johnson played HalfBack at Marshall, but I believe that he profiles as a WingBack. So that which follows will involve even more speculation than usual. Johnson's Power, Combat Skills, and Field Vision are all impressive, even for such a Projection, where he'd ostensibly be blocking far more than he did in College. And with a couple Years of Time & Training, Johnson, who's transitioned from Tight End to HalfBack previously, playing two Campaigns at each Role, and who's never had an Opportunity to settle into one Role and master it, has exhibited the Intelligence and Drive to become far better.
Receiving: Mediocre but potentially effective, Johnson exhibits mediocre Hands and mediocre Fluidity, but excellent Acceleration, exceptional Ricochet out'f'is Breaks, and remarkable Field Vision.
Running: Competitive and potentially dynamic. Keeping in mind that I'm grading'm not as an HalfBack but as a WingBack, mind you, the same Principles apply, I believe: Mediocre Fluidity and mediocre Long Speed, but impressive Power, excellent Acceleration, exceptional Ricochet, and remarkable Field Vision: A potentially devastating Change Up.
Receiving: Mediocre but potentially effective, Johnson exhibits mediocre Hands and mediocre Fluidity, but excellent Acceleration, exceptional Ricochet out'f'is Breaks, and remarkable Field Vision.
Running: Competitive and potentially dynamic. Keeping in mind that I'm grading'm not as an HalfBack but as a WingBack, mind you, the same Principles apply, I believe: Mediocre Fluidity and mediocre Long Speed, but impressive Power, excellent Acceleration, exceptional Ricochet, and remarkable Field Vision: A potentially devastating Change Up.
Devon Johnson Prospectus
In no Aspect of FootBall as it is and as it could be is my Perspective more divergent than that of most Earthlings than when it comes to WingBacks, a Role not even listed in any other WebSite that I have any knowledge of.
I believe that there is not only a place for beefy but reasonably agile Players who can Block, Run, and Catch reasonably well, but a desperate Strategic and Tactical need for them, which translates into enormous Opportunity.
Of course, FullBacks used to fulfill that Role, but have inexplicably been reduced to virtually pure Blockers over the last few Decades, their once dynamic Hybrid Skill Sets have withered away, and the Species is nearly extinct.
So I'm bringing back the WingBack, which hasn't been featured as a Position in about an hundred Years!!
The WingBack on a given Play lines up next to and a step behind the Tight End, and thus that seems like the perfect Term to describe such an Hybrid Role, as he is literally at the Junction between the Line, the Runners, and the Receivers!!
I'm bringing back the WingBack, baby!! Even if it is only in these pages...and in my fevered Imagination!!
Johnson might have a Puncher's Chance as an HalfBack, but I believe that his Power, though effective in Space, would be far less so in the Trenches, where his higher Center of Gravity would be a Liability against Trench Warriors. And while his Acceleration and Ricochet are effective by HalfBack Standards, I believe that his Fluidity is marginal by those same Standards, and that his overall Game, consequently, would be scraping by at an Auxiliary Level.
As a WingBack, however, I believe that Devon Johnson brings a very intriguing Fusion of Power, Acceleration, Ricochet, and Intangibles: Loads of both Intelligence and of Drive, exhibited both by his ferocious Warrior Attitude both as a Runner and as a Blocker, and by his already successfully transforming from Tight End to HalfBack and kicking Ass!!
It'd take Time & Training to develop his Power, his Combat Skills, and his Receiving Game sufficiently to develop into the Impact Player that I believe he can become in all 3 Aspects of the Game...But I have all the Confidence in the World, because of what I've seen and what I've read, that he'd both Do The Work and master what he learned.
Will that happen? Almost certainly not. For some reason, nobody in the NFL seems to see the Value in the immense Tactical Advantage that developing a genuine 3 Way Running/Receiving/Blocking Threat would give them.
On every single Snap.
But that's up to them!! My Duty is to Call It As I See It.
And as I see it, Devon Johnson's Potential ~ deployed as he most certainly will not be ~ is considerable.
Grateful Thanks, as always, for the crucial Work done by the folks at Draft BreakDown!!
I believe that there is not only a place for beefy but reasonably agile Players who can Block, Run, and Catch reasonably well, but a desperate Strategic and Tactical need for them, which translates into enormous Opportunity.
Of course, FullBacks used to fulfill that Role, but have inexplicably been reduced to virtually pure Blockers over the last few Decades, their once dynamic Hybrid Skill Sets have withered away, and the Species is nearly extinct.
So I'm bringing back the WingBack, which hasn't been featured as a Position in about an hundred Years!!
The WingBack on a given Play lines up next to and a step behind the Tight End, and thus that seems like the perfect Term to describe such an Hybrid Role, as he is literally at the Junction between the Line, the Runners, and the Receivers!!
I'm bringing back the WingBack, baby!! Even if it is only in these pages...and in my fevered Imagination!!
Johnson might have a Puncher's Chance as an HalfBack, but I believe that his Power, though effective in Space, would be far less so in the Trenches, where his higher Center of Gravity would be a Liability against Trench Warriors. And while his Acceleration and Ricochet are effective by HalfBack Standards, I believe that his Fluidity is marginal by those same Standards, and that his overall Game, consequently, would be scraping by at an Auxiliary Level.
As a WingBack, however, I believe that Devon Johnson brings a very intriguing Fusion of Power, Acceleration, Ricochet, and Intangibles: Loads of both Intelligence and of Drive, exhibited both by his ferocious Warrior Attitude both as a Runner and as a Blocker, and by his already successfully transforming from Tight End to HalfBack and kicking Ass!!
It'd take Time & Training to develop his Power, his Combat Skills, and his Receiving Game sufficiently to develop into the Impact Player that I believe he can become in all 3 Aspects of the Game...But I have all the Confidence in the World, because of what I've seen and what I've read, that he'd both Do The Work and master what he learned.
Will that happen? Almost certainly not. For some reason, nobody in the NFL seems to see the Value in the immense Tactical Advantage that developing a genuine 3 Way Running/Receiving/Blocking Threat would give them.
On every single Snap.
But that's up to them!! My Duty is to Call It As I See It.
And as I see it, Devon Johnson's Potential ~ deployed as he most certainly will not be ~ is considerable.
Grateful Thanks, as always, for the crucial Work done by the folks at Draft BreakDown!!
Yank Rank: Soldier ~ Deeper Sleeper!!
| Market Value UFA!! | Yankee Grade 3rd Round!! |
Please do Note: This and all Evaluations issued by this Site are produced by a ludicrously unqualified Amateur, privy to not even the tiniest fraction of Coach's Tape, Scouting Expertise, Face to Face Interviewing, Experience, or Inside Information enjoyed by the Professionals. As such, anything put forth is certainly misinformed, euphonious, derivative Tripe, and should be rejected out'f hand and indeed shunned by all men and women of Good Will!! I'm trying to discern Power, Agility, Combat Skills, and far more abstract, esoteric Concepts such as Processing Speed and Motor, and I'm trying to do so based almost entirely on a fascinating fusion of Tape, Combine Numbers, and Pro Days, while trying to attenuate my findings based on Allowances for Competition Level, Scheme, Concept, Context, and, above all: Trajectory!!
This is not is even remotely a Complaint, mind you, but rather a Warning: Caveat Emptor!!
This is not is even remotely a Complaint, mind you, but rather a Warning: Caveat Emptor!!
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