Film snapshot: Eric Kendricks, a tackling machine who could get more for Vikings
The Vikings have been able to take a decorated and undersized linebacker from UCLA and make him the center of the defense.A basketball starting five used to require an array of talents from each position. Today’s courts populated with seven footers who shoot threes changes it a bit.
Football’s starting 11 inherently remains as such through defined positions requiring vastly different skills that, when paired together properly, form a good team. So that’s why the Vikings were able to take a decorated and undersized linebacker from UCLA and make him the center of the defense.
Eric Kendricks (6-0, 232 pounds) arrived in Minnesota a fast talker with fleet feet. He wasn’t the combine warrior like a Danielle Hunter in his same class. Kendricks’ best drill finish was fifth in the vertical, and his worst (21st in bench) didn’t shed concerns about his size. But he was a long-term fit when paired behind the 329-pound Linval Joseph and next to the 6-foot-5 Anthony Barr, even if it’s not how Mike Zimmer originally intended.
Kendricks was first brought into Winter Park to eventually take the spot of one of the franchise’s all-time best, Chad Greenway. Instead, he performed well enough in 13 games as a three-down middle linebacker to change that course. The Vikings signed outside linebacker Emmanuel Lamur, then drafted outside linebacker Ben Gedeon. And 314 combined tackles later, Kendricks led the defense during each of his three NFL seasons from the middle.
A linebacker for today’s game
Until late-season games from Alvin Kamara and Jonathan Stewart, the Vikings had forced opposing quarterbacks to beat them. Running backs also had a hard time serving as their QB’s outlet. With Kendricks often in coverage, the Vikings allowed just 490 receiving yards and a touchdown on 100 targets to running backs during the regular season.
Descriptors such as instinctual and intelligent were passed around by evaluators when Kendricks entered the 2015 NFL Draft. More tangibly, his fast feet were evident in a 4.14-second 20-yard shuttle at UCLA’s pro day that would’ve ranked fourth among all linebackers at the combine.
Those traits combined make Kendricks a strong volume tackler and good matchup for the army of dual-threat RBs in the league...
Film & Remainder of Analysis Here:
http://www.startribune.com/film-snapshot-eric-kendricks-a-tackling-machine-who-could-get-more-for-vikings/474836053/
Hurry-up Vikings, we ain't getting any younger!
he is fun to watch out there, plays with his hair on fire, but is able to breakdown and react to the offensive misdirections so fluidly its like he knows its coming.
Love watching EK. He plays with a passion and yes, the instinctive-ness that makes up for lack of prototypical size.
One thing that was interesting about that breakdown was how fluid the defense is. Seeing our Mike seal the edge while Barr mans the middle on some of the run fits. Our D has so many flexible parts, they can move and change and do so many different things. Smith, Barr, EK, Robison all move and pressure the offense in different ways. And it all anchors around big 98 in the middle.
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