Welcome to Baltimore: Brandon Stephens

[JoeyFlex5]

Can't flip hips?? Nah bro I can't let you say that.

Well what the hell is going on with his man coverage on fades? Something is keeping him from being able to run with receivers down the sideline, it doesn’t appear to be in speed because he can stay in stride with the receiver, but by the time he’s turned to run the receiver is already separated.

keep in mind this is based off the north Texas tape that we’ve all seen, and that’s it. I still haven’t found much else on him.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Nah, that’s Shaun Wade

Wade has strong press, solid looking football iq, and a few traits that are pretty freaky and rare for corners.

And that’s not to say Stephens doesn’t have some special traits, I just don’t know what they are because I haven’t seen them, other than ball skills.

 

[ndub]

Wade has strong press, solid looking football iq, and a few traits that are pretty freaky and rare for corners.

And that’s not to say Stephens doesn’t have some special traits, I just don’t know what they are because I haven’t seen them, other than ball skills.

Yes, but you mentioned hip stiffness/problems with movement.... that fits Wade to the T

 

[Jacquouille]

Well what the hell is going on with his man coverage on fades? Something is keeping him from being able to run with receivers down the sideline, it doesn’t appear to be in speed because he can stay in stride with the receiver, but by the time he’s turned to run the receiver is already separated.

keep in mind this is based off the north Texas tape that we’ve all seen, and that’s it. I still haven’t found much else on him.

I have not watched the UNT game. I watched Memphis and Tulane. To answer your question, his technique is a mess, but the physical ability is absolutely there. He really can move and change direction, but the technical part will take some time.

 

[JoeyFlex5]

Yes, but you mentioned hip stiffness/problems with movement.... that fits Wade to the T

one was a third round pick with great prospects on the board, the other was a 5th round potential steal who has already put together an entire season of 2nd/3rd round caliber tape.

that’s the big difference for me lol

 

[JoeyFlex5]

I have not watched the UNT game. I watched Memphis and Tulane. To answer your question, his technique is a mess, but the physical ability is absolutely there. He really can move and change direction, but the technical part will take some time.

I just saw a number of snaps where he tries to turn and run and it’s like holy shit what was that, in the blink of an eye the receiver was wide open over the top and he was trying to catch up.

I feel like this dude needs more development than you could reasonably expect a player to make in their rookie contract.

I hope to be wrong about it lol

 

[rossihunter2]

You see great movement skills, I see a db who can’t backpedal or flip hips lol

i see lots of hip flip on his tape - sometimes has to flip a full 180 because it looks like they're coached at SMU to use a ton of half-turn technique instead of backpedal - i see great recovery speed and great explosion to click and close - i think his press technique is poor and i think he's got lots of technical stuff to work on - but i absolutely see great movement skills

 

[rossihunter2]

So, what's the deal on taking this dude at 104? Rationale if he was going to be there till the 5th anyway? I don't know. Somehow, I think the front office knows and sees something in this dude that has star written somewhere. Otherwise why take him when they did?

supposedly other teams were interested in him around that range - we think it's a reach (and media nationally too) because we'd never heard of him before...

 

[rossihunter2]

I just saw a number of snaps where he tries to turn and run and it’s like holy shit what was that, in the blink of an eye the receiver was wide open over the top and he was trying to catch up.

I feel like this dude needs more development than you could reasonably expect a player to make in their rookie contract.

I hope to be wrong about it lol

you got any timecodes for specific vids i can have a look at - like @Jacquouille i've only been able to find tulane and memphis and haven't seen much of what you're describing

i see not great back-pedal technique but i see basically no snaps where that actually put him in trouble

 

[The Last Great Raven]

you got any timecodes for specific vids i can have a look at - like @Jacquouille i've only been able to find tulane and memphis and haven't seen much of what you're describing

i see not great back-pedal technique but i see basically no snaps where that actually put him in trouble

Agree, he'll be playing there soon.

But the post was about Jayson Owens...........uh...no excuse me...rather Odafe no Play! What a failure!

 

[rossihunter2]

Agree, he'll be playing there soon.

But the post was about Jayson Owens...........uh...no excuse me...rather Odafe no Play! What a failure!

you're ridiculous

 

[JoeyFlex5]

you got any timecodes for specific vids i can have a look at - like @Jacquouille i've only been able to find tulane and memphis and haven't seen much of what you're describing

i see not great back-pedal technique but i see basically no snaps where that actually put him in trouble

The north Texas tape he was beaten on fades and beaten pretty badly, and it happened almost immediately. Maybe it was bad press attempts, don’t remember, but I know it wasn’t pretty him trying to get upfield and run in phase with the receiver

 

[rossihunter2]

The north Texas tape he was beaten on fades and beaten pretty badly, and it happened almost immediately. Maybe it was bad press attempts, don’t remember, but I know it wasn’t pretty him trying to get upfield and run in phase with the receiver

so just found the highlights to the north texas game - saw the fade i think you're talking about but im pretty sure it's a cover 2 look where that's not actually completely his guy - safety should be coming across - you'd want him to jam the guy or force him to release inside so that he's sending him into the help but the ball was put into the 2-hole and the safety was in no-man's land - only play i saw him beat that fits your description

smu seemed to give him (and the other outside corners) a lot of zone coverage boundary reads that get their eyes on the QB early in the down

biggest issue i see with him so far is his press technique which is completely hit and miss

 

[Ellicottraven]

So, in 5-7 yrs time, who among the 2021 draftees will be a superstar? Bateman, Oweh, Wallace, Wade or somebody else?

 

[RaineV1]

So, in 5-7 yrs time, who among the 2021 draftees will be a superstar? Bateman, Oweh, Wallace, Wade or somebody else?

Probably Bateman or Cleveland (well, big of a star as a guard can be anyway). They're the safe bets of being great starters.

Oweh is the dark house. He'll be a good starter if he even reaches half his potential. But he could be the best edge in the draft in he reaches his full potential.

 

[Ellicottraven]

Probably Bateman or Cleveland (well, big of a star as a guard can be anyway). They're the safe bets of being great starters.

Oweh is the dark house. He'll be a good starter if he even reaches half his potential. But he could be the best edge in the draft in he reaches his full potential.

Also, I think the best measure of a draft's success is in determining how many of these guys become viable starters for the team down the road no?

 

[RavensMania]

Not sure this has been posted....

 

[ndub]

Not sure this has been posted....

I’m wondering if the criticism stems from the extremely limited film/videos on him. He might’ve had a couple bad games which happens to every player out there (to varying degrees obviously). So maybe the issues aren’t as bad as let on; maybe it’s just a bit of inconsistency

 

[UPennChem]

Not sure this has been posted....

Going to not try and overreact to this, but if true would be kind of impressive would it not? The DBs are always at a big disadvantage in these are they not?

The thing I find more interesting is EDC immediately projected him as a safety and they've felt no rush YET to try him out there. They might as the offseason goes on but who knows. Maybe they like Washington? Maybe Stephens looks good at corner?

 

[rossihunter2]

Going to not try and overreact to this, but if true would be kind of impressive would it not? The DBs are always at a big disadvantage in these are they not?

The thing I find more interesting is EDC immediately projected him as a safety and they've felt no rush YET to try him out there. They might as the offseason goes on but who knows. Maybe they like Washington? Maybe Stephens looks good at corner?

It was clarified after EDC said that that the coaching staff want him as a corner and EDC does too but thinks he would project well to free safety also