Finding a fit for Cameron Erving in the NFL

I don’t think we talk nearly enough about how much of a difference there is between watching a game as a fan and watching it focused solely on evaluating one player every play. I’m not saying that in a snobbish way either. I get fooled watching games as a fan just like anybody else. Whether you are at the game or watching on TV, we all tend to focus more on players’ positive plays over their negative plays, unless their negative plays were catastrophic.

Say a guy is on the defensive line and gets knocked off the ball, but the ball doesn’t come his way. If you are watching the game live, more than likely, you are going to miss that bad play; your focus will be on the ball. However, if that same guy gets close to the quarterback, even if he doesn’t sack him, there is a good chance that they will show a replay of his good deed, sometimes in slow motion. Same goes for watching the Jumbotron at the game.

When I do my breakdowns, I’m seeing how many average plays, or worse, that player has as well. It’s definitely changed my perspective on certain players. Sometimes, it’s a more positive opinion of the player, because he didn’t actually have many bad plays at all and his average plays can be fixed. It’s also negative sometimes, because let’s say maybe the guy had too many plays that were average or worse to the point where they offset the good plays that I had already seen.

Erving, the Florida State left tackle/center, is the third offensive lineman I chose to breakdown. For the purposes of this breakdown, I watched him play against Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Virginia and Miami (all videos posted at Draft Breakdown). Those represented the first, seventh, ninth and 10th games of Oklahoma State’s season, respectively.

Yes, another four-game breakdown. Sue me.

I had a high opinion of Erving as a guard or a center. I know he played most of his career at left tackle, but he would have been in the middle from the start if FSU had someone else it could trust at left tackle. He appeared to be perfectly suited to playing inside from what I saw as a fan, and just to be honest, I started coveting him in the draft for my beloved Buccaneers at the top of the second round. At the time, I thought he wouldn’t make it that far and the Bucs might have to trade up to get him.

I was toooootally on board with that as well.

Having focused on him for four games, I’m a lot more confident he will be available in the second round; I’m just not sure if the Bucs should take him there anymore.

Let me explain why I thought he would go in the first round before writing this breakdown. The fact that he could potentially play at least four and maybe five (left tackle) positions on the offensive line made it likely his versatility, on top of pretty good film at both left tackle and center in college, would appeal to enough teams that at least one of them would take him late in the first round out of fear he wouldn’t be available much longer. The Bucs have a need at both left tackle and right guard, and I thought there was an outside shot that Erving could play left tackle on the next level. If not, I was reasonably sure that he could slide inside and be a good right guard for them.

Win, win.

After seeing Erving play left tackle in three out of the four games that I watched, I’m definitely ruling him out as a left tackle in the NFL. For a guy who has been playing left tackle as long as he did for FSU, his technique was much too inconsistent, especially when he was pass blocking. He also wasn’t all that great of a run blocker at left tackle in those three games. He would sometimes come off and get a good initial pop, but he almost always ended up getting shed by the defender shortly thereafter. I saw only one legit pancake block from him, and that’s just not enough in three games if your pass blocking is as spotty as Erving’s.

I should point out that his pass blocking was suspect, not only from a physical stand point, but also from a mental standpoint. There were several plays in those three games where Erving looked confused when a blitz was coming and didn’t block a soul. Again, a guy with his experience shouldn’t look like he is asking, “Which way did he go?” during a play just because the opposition blitzed.

He just didn’t look above average at anything while playing left tackle. In fact, he was a disappointment to me in space from what I was expecting to see on film. For that reason, I would also question whether he would be any better at right tackle. Put a left tackle with bad feet, average power and average athletic ability at right tackle, and all you get is a bad right tackle.

So now that cuts down on the “versatility” argument for taking him in the first round.

Admittedly, I saw only one game of Erving playing center, but even focusing on him in that game was soooooo much different from when I watched that particular game on TV as a fan. Like I said, I would have been fine with taking him with the second pick in the second round even if he could only play right guard, because the Bucs have a huge need there too. Now, I’m not sure there won’t be better options for right guard, and definitely left tackle, when that Bucs’ pick rolls around.

This is where I point out how great it would have been had I been able to watch a fifth game where Erving is playing center to get a better handle on how well he played the position this year.

Dah, well.

As I mentioned before, I watched this game live, and it’s the game when I started envisioning Erving wearing a Bucs jersey. He appeared to be manhandling fools inside on every play. Every time an FSU running back broke off a good run, it seemed like Erving was somehow the catalyst.

But then I’m watching this tape and I’m just like, “not so fast.”

Then, Erving goes to reach block Miami’s nose tackle, ends up ducking his head, and the guy makes Erving whiff before tackling Florida State’s running back behind the line of scrimmage.

Oh, and then there were several instances where Erving appeared to choose the wrong Miami player to block on passing plays. I will give the caveat that it’s impossible to tell for sure how the protection was called on those plays. However, If there are three rushers on the line of scrimmage to the right of the center and the guard and tackle each take one guy, usually the center takes that third guy unless there’s a blitz. Even on a blitz, the center might have them, but the running back could too. On tape, it doesn’t look like it was the running back’s fault on any of those plays. Erving, it appears, just didn’t block *his* guy.

I will allow for the fact that I could be wrong about that.

Erving’s performance at center in that game wasn’t nearly as dominant as I thought it had been. I hesitate to even use the word dominant in association with his performance in that one at all. He was good on some plays, great on others, but mostly ... about average.

Erving measured in at 6’5, 313 pounds at the combine, with arms more than 34 inches long. He also performed well in both the 40-yard dash (5.15 seconds) and 225-pound bench reps (30). He checks all the boxes from a purely physical standpoint, and I feel like I need to say this again: He is a pretty good player.

It really isn’t his fault that I went into the breakdown with an inflated opinion about him, and I don’t want to come across like I’m dogging him out. I do think he can be a good interior offensive lineman. He can definitely get coached up on the areas that I found lacking watching just the one game against Miami. He can also get better at blocking in space; although, that skill isn’t quite as easy to improve. If he does improve in those areas, you have a mountain of a man you can put at right guard and run right behind that big joker for the next five to 10 years.

He just isn’t a sure thing.

I do lean toward believing Erving will get better as a pro and have a fine career. I’m just not sure enough about his prospects to believe he is a first-round pick. I think even as a second-round pick, I might try to see if I could get him somewhere in the middle of the round. Second-round picks are generally guys teams are going to count on to eventually become starters, if not starters from day one. I’m not saying Erving won’t go at the top of the second round, but the wild card in that scenario will be how many offensive linemen have already been selected. I could see a scenario where there’s a run on projected guards and centers in the first round, and someone panics and takes Erving at the top of the second.

I think it’s a lot more likely that several other projected interior offensive linemen slide this year, which will further push Erving down well into the second. Again, a grain of salt and all that since I got only the one game to watch him play inside, but one game is enough to see some issues he will need to correct.

It will all come down to how quickly a team thinks it can get him fixed.