A lot's been made of Leodis McKelvin's inability to catch the ball on pass breakups. You would generally think that a guy who handles so many punts and kickoffs - and handles them so well - wouldn't have issues catching interceptions. Some people try to reason that it's because the ball is coming from a different angle. But, honestly, that shouldn't be an issue because as a DB, he gets plenty of work in practice seeing the ball coming at him from that angle.
After looking at some of the film of him playing in college, as well as his combine and senior bowl videos, here are my observations concerning this issue:
1. Most of his "drops" appear to be when he allows the ball to get too close to his body and does not catch it with his hands. In reality, when he actually gets his two hands on it, he doesn't seem to have any difficulty catching it. In the combine vids, where there was nobody for him to cover and just ball drills, he pretty much caught everything thrown at him once he got his arms extended and put his hands on it. The one ball I saw him drop there was an over-the-shoulder throw that he let come to him instead of making a play on it (which would have been tough anyway).
I will say all this is odd, though, considering he fields punts the same way (letting it come into his body) and doesn't have an issue there.
2. He gets at least one hand on a lot of balls that most corners would never get to. Those corners would just have to make the tackle as soon as it gets to the WR. So, by doing this, Leodis is actually breaking up a lot of passes with either one hand or by having his hands in odd positions not conducive to making catches. So, even though it may seem sometimes like he didn't catch a pass he should have, in reality, he often did all he could just to get one mitt on it (and in some cases two), whereas almost any other CB wouldn't have even been able to make that play.
So, the bottom line is, sure, there are some balls he should probably have come up with that he didn't, but I'm not too worried about this issue right now. First of all, the #1 job of any CB is to break up passes. This kid does that better than anyone else who was in the draft. THAT'S what's important. Interceptions are a bi-product of breaking up passes and are great of you can get them, but I'd rather have a guy who breaks up a ton of passes w/out many INTs than a guy who doesn't break up as many passes but has more INTs, because that second guy is the one who's gong to cost us games by getting beat for touchdowns.
Secondly, the "too close to the body" issue is coachable and correctible. I'm sure that this will be something he will be working on a lot. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if in 2-3 years we totally forget this was even a concern for Leodis when we drafted him.
After looking at some of the film of him playing in college, as well as his combine and senior bowl videos, here are my observations concerning this issue:
1. Most of his "drops" appear to be when he allows the ball to get too close to his body and does not catch it with his hands. In reality, when he actually gets his two hands on it, he doesn't seem to have any difficulty catching it. In the combine vids, where there was nobody for him to cover and just ball drills, he pretty much caught everything thrown at him once he got his arms extended and put his hands on it. The one ball I saw him drop there was an over-the-shoulder throw that he let come to him instead of making a play on it (which would have been tough anyway).
I will say all this is odd, though, considering he fields punts the same way (letting it come into his body) and doesn't have an issue there.
2. He gets at least one hand on a lot of balls that most corners would never get to. Those corners would just have to make the tackle as soon as it gets to the WR. So, by doing this, Leodis is actually breaking up a lot of passes with either one hand or by having his hands in odd positions not conducive to making catches. So, even though it may seem sometimes like he didn't catch a pass he should have, in reality, he often did all he could just to get one mitt on it (and in some cases two), whereas almost any other CB wouldn't have even been able to make that play.
So, the bottom line is, sure, there are some balls he should probably have come up with that he didn't, but I'm not too worried about this issue right now. First of all, the #1 job of any CB is to break up passes. This kid does that better than anyone else who was in the draft. THAT'S what's important. Interceptions are a bi-product of breaking up passes and are great of you can get them, but I'd rather have a guy who breaks up a ton of passes w/out many INTs than a guy who doesn't break up as many passes but has more INTs, because that second guy is the one who's gong to cost us games by getting beat for touchdowns.
Secondly, the "too close to the body" issue is coachable and correctible. I'm sure that this will be something he will be working on a lot. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if in 2-3 years we totally forget this was even a concern for Leodis when we drafted him.
Comment