Last season was Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick's first as a full time starter. It went relatively well. What stood out to me watching his film is how fast he is on the field. Everybody is fast in the NFL, don't get me wrong, but every once in awhile Kirkpatrick would really turn it on, and you could see his kind of speed is not just the run of the mill variety. I saw him take off to chase down a running back on the opposite side of the field who looked to be headed for a touchdown. I had to keep rewinding the play just to make sure I was seeing it right.
Dre Kirkpatrick’s speed is going to lead to a big year with the Bengals
The Bengals had to patiently wait for Dre Kirkpatrick to come into his own, but now he’s there.
I know that he ran a 4.5 or whatever at the combine, but on that field that dude can fly.
So why am I talking about his speed?
Kirkpatrick’s speed is both why I rarely saw a wide receiver beat him deep and also why I think he can play even better this season. I understand how he might have been a little tentative in his first season as a starter last year. After that experience, I would expect him to let it all hang out this year.
Because Kirkpatrick knows there aren't many wide receivers who can run by him on a go route, that allowed him to sit on more short routes instead of bailing out on the snap of the football. It's not like the Bengals had him up in bump-and-run all game anyway, but when he did line up in press, Kirkpatrick could easily mirror the receivers' routes and just stay over the top of them. On the off chance a guy beat him on a double move, Kirkpatrick was still usually fast enough to catch up as he did against Steelers super-fast wide receiver Martavis Bryant on one of his "wow" plays I saw on film.
It’s important to remember that Kirkpatrick hadn’t exactly been what you would call consistent before last season. In fact some folks were throwing around the word “bust” talking about him after his first couple of years in the league.
At times last season, it appeared that even though he was playing better, Kirkpatrick was a little hesitant to go ahead and go after the ball for fear of giving up a big play. Heading into his fifth season, I expect that you will see him more comfortable as a starter and taking more risks than he did last year when he didn’t have any interceptions at all.
To me that was really the only thing missing from Kirkpatrick’s season in 2015.
He showed he would come up and be physical against the run. His technique was good and he competed down the field. He had some penalties, but in this day and age of the NFL, if your cornerback isn’t getting called for illegal contact and or holding, he probably isn’t playing worth a damn. The only thing I didn’t see was him taking chances going for interceptions rather than just going for pass breakups or the sure tackle.
Scared money don’t make no money. I expect that now, with a full season as a starter under his belt and the “bust” talk in the rearview mirror, we’ll see Dre Kirkpatrick gambling a little more to make big plays. That should pay big dividends for that Bengals defense this season.
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