Scout Report – Josh Allen

• Position: 3-4 Outside Linebacker/Edge Defender
• College: Kentucky Wildcats
• Status: 2019 NFL Draft prospect

Age: 21, Height: 6’5, Weight: 230 lbs, Experience: 4 years (College)

• Average Opposing Offense Rank: N/A
• Average Opposing Pass Offense Rank: N/A
• Average opposing Rush Offense Rank: N/A
• Scouted Block Shedding record: 23-19-4 (50% shed rate), 6 Double Teams (0-6)
  • Power shed: 18-22-4 (41% shed rate)
  • Finesse shed: 5-3-0 (63% shed rate)
• Jump Snap record: 22-7-17 (48% jump snap rate)
• Tackling record: 14-3-0, 3 assists (82% Quality tackle rate)

RESUME:

• Ranked 133rd in total tackles (84)
• Recorded 39 career tackles for loss
• Recorded 4th most sacks for the 2018 season (14)
• Ranked #1 is Forced Fumbles for the 2018 season (5)
• Best game: @ Missouri (W 15-14)
  • 11 total tackles, 2 TFL, 2 sacks, 2 Forced Fumbles
• Played 4 ranked opponents (2-1, 1 game to play)
  • @ #25 Florida (W 27-16)
    • 5 total tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 sack, 1 pass deflection, 1 FF
  • vs. #14 Miss State (W 28-7)
    • 6 total tackles, 2 TFL, 1 sack, 1 pass deflection
  • @ #6 Georgia (L 17-34)
    • 3 total tackles, 2 fumble recoveries
  • vs. #12 Penn State (game is 1/1/19)
• Chuck Bednarik Award (2018)
• Lott Trophy (2018)
• Bronko Nagurski Trophy (2018)
• SEC Defensive Player of the Year (2018)
• Unanimous First Team All-SEC (2018)
  
• Second Team All-SEC (2017)

Strengths:

• Good read and react skill, has head on a swivel and seems to get the concept of plays very easily
• Excellent fundamentals of tackling, rarely misses tackles or gets shaken off
• Good hustle, plays between the whistles well
• Disruptive force on the edge can produce mismatches on the outside
• High football IQ, understands game context, play recognition, and tendencies
• Shows good angles when pursuing ballcarriers
• Shows the potential for quick hands to get by the blockers
• Tremendous strength allows for constant bullrush and pressure on any down
• Excellent vision, seems to always know where the ball is, and has good anticipation in guessing where the ball is going

Weaknesses:

• Slow when dropping back into coverage
• Lacks variety on pass rushing moves, only really bullrushes
• Poor zone coverage abilities, lacks peripherals to see incoming receivers, and loses his man easily
• mammoth feet, slow in change of direction, and more builds up speed rather than having that speed burst
• Does not have good chasedown speed, if a runner is far away from him, he will not catch up
• Not accustomed to the double team, becomes easily blocked, and allows the assister to climb or move to another potential rusher
• Gets lost in the shuffle of the interior, can get swallowed up by centers and guards

Wild Predictions:

• Draft Placement: Early-Mid 1st round
• Plays like: Brian Orakpo
• Ceiling: NFL All-Pro/ Terrell Suggs
• Floor: NFL sub-package player

Overview:

Watching Josh Allen play is a great example of studying a player who has a specialization in a specific craft. The man can blitz out of his mind, and his strength is always a struggle for any blocker to deal with. At his core, Josh Allen is what I would consider an “on-ball” defender, to take a phrase from basketball. His ability to blitz the QB, find and attack the intended hole of a runningback, and latch on with constricting tackles that rarely fail to bring the runner down, show that Josh Allen’s entire body of work and experience playing defense is to find, hunt down, and eliminate any person with the ball. This may sound like high praise, and for the most part it is, but this also brings to light Allen’s lack of ability in any other aspect of the game. Where tackling, pass rushing, and recognizing plays are his strengths, his weaknesses include cover range, vision defending the pass, and finding any anticipated receivers. It is humorous in a way; a man who can bring any runningback down in a congested hell that is the line of scrimmage for whatever reason has difficulty trying to chase down and cover weaker Wide Receivers. This isn’t just a physical matchup problem either. Allen was asked very rarely (in fact only once that I saw) to cover man-to-man. He did well in this task, as he was able to keep pace with the TE, but this is a one off occurrence. When Allen is asked to drop into pass coverage, it was almost exclusively to cover the curl or flat on his side. Yet despite him being here, QB’s (specifically Central Michigan) had no issue throwing the ball into his zone, as he simply lost track of the receivers. In one specific instance, a pass was to a receiver directly in front of Allen, yet he did not make a break for the ball; He didn’t even manage to step forward and contest the receiver. He was a small raft floating in a vast ocean. In this regard, Allen is both blessed and cursed with this level of specialization. On one hand, his pass coverage skill is lacking, and is something he must constantly build upon if he wishes to play at the next level to a high degree, but on the other hand his ability to constantly be a threat to the QB and running game all but guarantee a team will have a spot for him on their roster as he continues to be more and more of a threat. This is why I have Allen documented as the floor being a substitution package player, even as he is now, I believe teams that utilize heavy blitz packages can use his ferocity to their advantage even for the sole purpose of resting their starters without losing that edge threat. When looking at his entire game, what gives me hope that Allen will be a tremendous talent in the future is that fact that he has the mind of fierce, intelligent defender. His ability to find the ball, his motor, his stellar tackling fundamentals, and his potential to learn how to effectively use his hands is a far large upside than his inability to cover the pass.