Biomechanical Review

(to read the intro to this series, click here)

After studying tape of QBs drafted from 2014-2020, the one universal trend that emerged (albeit from a necessarily small sample size) is that QBs showing more than one area of full thoracic efficiency became star QBs. The full list of such QBs (in rough order of thoracic efficiency) is Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, and Deshaun Watson. Josh Allen took a few years to overcome accuracy issues (noted when he was drafted as posterior cervical thoracic overlap, generally correlated with issues targeting specific depths of field), but in the end every QB who showed more than one area of full thoracic efficiency when drafted eventually became an NFL star (or shows such promise, in the case of Justin Herbert).

So if there’s one QB prediction that I feel most confident making for the upcoming draft, it’s that

Continue reading Biomechanical Draft Guide 2021 Part 1: Quarterbacks

This year’s draft guide will be focusing primarily on QBs, since this is a lauded draft class at QB, and my methodology for analyzing QBs has been heavily revamped over the past couple months (there will also be a second part to this guide, discussing standout options at other positions). The primary basis by which these QBs will be judged will be by measuring areas of full efficiency. After revisiting college film of QBs drafted 2014-2020, clear trends emerged– almost every QB who showed at least one area of full efficiency in their thoracic areas was able to eventually find success as a starting QB. QBs who showed more than one area of full thoracic efficiency universally became stars.

Continue reading Intro to Draft Guide 2021

Hi guys, on Tuesday, SteveS asked an excellent question, one to which I’ve given a lot of thought over the years. So I wanted to give his answer the time and space it deserves. SteveS asked, “To what degree do you think [biomechanical] physical characteristics versus mental processing speed figure into overall success as an NFL QB in today’s NFL?”

Continue reading Biomechanical Q & A

Ronald Darby (lateral oriented anterior dominant) is an interesting player to discuss– from a biomechanical perspective, of the players I’ve studied closely, he reminds me most of John Brown (WR). Both players are very efficient in a wide variety of biomechanical areas, but with full development/ efficiency in none. While Brown is more thoracic oriented and Darby is more lumbar oriented, in both cases these players are capable of playing at very high levels while fully healthy. However, their fascial systems– as efficient as they are when fully healthy– can best be described as “butter scraped over too much toast”. Meaning that in order to keep so many areas efficient at once (rather than favoring certain ones at the expense of others, like most players), their entire fascial system is very tight. And much like a finely-tuned performance car, little things (and occasionally big things) can and do go wrong, often resulting in performance that is far from peak.

Continue reading Biomechanical Review: Early FA 2021

Below is a collection of unedited draft review comments, originally posted spring/ summer of 2020 (as well as links to the original comments/ discussions). Jeudy and Hamler were written up separately in the 2020 draft preview, while Muti, Cleveland, Agim, and Tuszka were never studied enough to build profiles (from a combination of lack of film, time, and in Muti’s case due to the need for post-surgical footage). The comments are posted in reverse chronological order

Continue reading Biomechanical Re-Review: Denver Draft 2020

In order to understand why Pat Shurmur’s offense has not, to date, been a good fit for Drew Lock, it is helpful to first conceptualize the entire fascial system as a sort of bendable sheet overlying the musculoskeletal system. This sheet (which feeds blood and removes waste) has major junctions of its own which, when aligned with the corresponding underlying skeletal/ muscular junctions (such as at the transitions between spinal areas), allow instant action and quick bloodflow (assuming full development of the underlying areas). However, when major fascial junctions are not aligned with their underlying musculoskeletal junctions, bloodflow slows and muscles contract/ release much more slowly.

Continue reading Biomechanical Review: Drew Lock in Pat Shurmur’s Offense

WRs continued

(to read part 1, click here)

Tee Higgins (lateral oriented posterior dominant) shows very high levels of lateral posterior efficiency (both thoracic and lumbar), which combined with his 6’4” frame and leaping ability gives him arguably the greatest ‘above the rim’ ability of anyone in this class of WRs. A long strider with surprising strength as a runner with the ball in his hands, Higgins shows the ability to grow into an excellent route runner, although at present his anterior lumbar areas (particularly medial) appear a bit under-developed. In a career-long sense, Higgins may belong at the top of tier 1 as one of the best candidates to become a very productive long-term WR (particularly paired with a strong-armed QB like Lock). But he may be forced to settle for red zone production and deep shots as a rookie, until his route-running sudden-ness (anterior efficiency) catches up with his impressive lateral posterior frame.

Continue reading Biomechanical Draft Preview 2020 (Part 2)

As was argued in the three part biomechanical borrowing series, projecting NFL success for college WRs is very difficult, due to the inherent demands of the position making early success a poor long-term predictor. This then, is my attempt to find the WRs that show the best long-term projection, using criteria as outlined in part 3 of the biomechanical borrowing series. The WRs are broken down into 3 categories

Continue reading Biomechanical Draft Preview 2020 (Part 1)

Among football positions, wide receiver benefits uniquely from biomechanical borrowing. The same kind of exaggerated dramatic movements that make an actor communicative on stage, help wide receivers free themselves from defenders– both at the line of scrimmage and when breaking into routes. Dramatic sudden movement helps wide receivers to quickly/ cleanly get off the line of scrimmage, sudden exaggerated movement helps wide receivers break free of coverage on a route, and borrowed movement helps again (in a slightly different manner) when trying to secure the ball. As such, young wide receivers are subject to many of the same pitfalls of youth borrowing as actors and prodigies. And evaluating young wide receivers for their potential as adult professionals is made difficult by the inherent tradeoffs of becoming successful at a position that benefits so strongly from this borrowing.

Continue reading Prodigies, Child Actors, and Wide Receivers: Biomechanical Borrowing During Development (Part 3)

The Art of Exaggeration

If you’ve ever been backstage after a play– and before the actors take off their makeup– you’re familiar with the concept of ‘stage makeup’. Actors onstage use enormous quantities of makeup (so much so that it looks grotesque up close), so that when seen at a distance in a large theatre, they appear expressive and natural.

Continue reading Prodigies, Child Actors, and Wide Receivers: Biomechanical Borrowing During Development (Part 2)