Eagles All-22 Film Review: Nicholas Morrow is a fun player

After shedding beginning linebackers TJ Edwards and Kyzir White, I used to be anxious to see who the Eagles introduced in. Nicholas Morrow has had an attention-grabbing profession path up up to now and I loved watching him for this piece. He’s fairly a enjoyable participant! He’s quantity 53 in all clips under.

The primary quantity that stood out to me is the snaps performed final yr. Availability is a expertise in itself and at a place like linebacker, it is very important have somebody sturdy who can keep on the sphere always to assist lead the protection. The remainder of the numbers usually are not nice total, which in all probability tells the story as to why the Bears moved on from Morrow.

+ Performed each MIKE and WILL final yr. Performed 99% of the snaps which reveals he was trusted on all downs and was all the time out there.

+ You’ll be able to instantly see he’s quick. His former security background is clear in his acceleration and motion abilities. He can cowl floor shortly and might get to brief/display passes shortly.

+ He was significantly better at taking up blocks than I anticipated him to be contemplating his measurement. He’s capable of get off blocks and make performs within the backfield.

+ I do know the information says the alternative, however I believed he was a fairly certain tackler within the video games I watched. I’ve some ideas on this later.

+ He seems to be like a fairly robust dude. He’s undersized however you will notice offensive gamers (together with Jalen Hurts!) bounce again off him and never achieve any additional yards by falling ahead.

+ He has the quickness and alter of path abilities to keep away from offensive linemen and nonetheless get to the operating again.

+ He was trusted to hold receivers/tight ends down the seam (typically in Tampa 2) and he seems to be athletic sufficient to do that comfortably.

+ He was incredible towards the Eagles final yr, who have been an elite offense with an elite operating sport. He was a key cause the Eagles averaged beneath 4 yards a carry.

– Chicago selected to prioritize different free brokers (together with TJ Edwards) over Morrow at linebacker which highlights that they’ve issues and assume he wanted changing.

– I didn’t see the plain challenge with missed tackles that the PFF information reveals. However he does have a difficulty with taking dangerous angles and never getting good contact on gamers, which clearly nonetheless counts as a missed sort out.

– He will be fairly aggressive in zone protection which suggests he will be moved by a quarterback’s eyes. I observed this a number of instances on movie and groups appeared to run lots of Hello-Lo ideas to focus on him.

– Confirmed a lack of know-how when in zone protection to receivers behind or round him at instances.

– His measurement reveals at instances, particularly within the open subject. He has performs the place he will get moved like a defensive again, not like a linebacker, and finally ends up on the bottom.

I’ll in all probability find yourself being horribly unsuitable when he will get minimize in coaching camp however I fairly appreciated Morrow’s movie. TJ Edwards is a greater participant and Morrow is unlikely to be something particular, however I believe he’s a fairly good linebacker who has some first rate traits.

I do have a number of issues concerning the Nakobe Dean and Morrow partnership in the event that they find yourself beginning collectively. In principle, having two actually quick and undersized linebackers is ideal for the trendy NFL and can assist the Eagles’ protection towards the move. However, they’re additionally going to need to depend on the line of defense (particularly Jordan Davis) to plug some gaps and preserve them as clear towards the run as potential or the Eagles will come throughout as fairly light-weight within the field. I think about groups who wish to ‘set up the run’ with a power-heavy run sport will look to check out Morrow and Dean so much subsequent yr. Having an excellent run protection is much more sophisticated than having good linebackers however that after all does make an enormous distinction.

Regardless of this, if Nakobe Dean develops as we hope and turns into an excellent beginning linebacker, I believe the Dean and Morrow partnership could possibly be a fairly first rate one. We all know the Eagles don’t worth the linebacker place as a premium place and so they weren’t going to convey again TJ Edwards on account of his worth, however I believe Morrow can exchange Kyzir White’s function within the protection and the Eagles could have saved themselves some cash with out shedding an excessive amount of manufacturing.

We simply have to just accept that Howie goes to depend on lots of stopgaps at linebacker, and I believe (and hope) Morrow will be capable of be a mean starter and never find yourself like Eric Wilson, Zach Brown, or ‘insert failed Eagles linebacker right here’. I’m cautiously optimistic about Morrow, regardless of the very low cap quantity. I believe if he’s requested to begin he’ll do a adequate job for the Eagles subsequent season. However the Eagles are going to need to depend on Nakobe Dean to take an enormous step ahead, or the linebacker room will take a reasonably large step again.