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This past season the Green Bay Packers commissioned a study to see how many snaps that UDFA’s played during the Ted Thompson era. The total that they came up with was 77,079 snaps; almost 23,000 more than any other team in the NFL. Over the course of the next few weeks I’ll be breaking down five undrafted free agents that have the best shot of making the Packers this season: LaDarius Gunter, John Crockett, Jermauria Rasco, Matt Rotheram and James Vaughters.
Part 1: LaDarius Gunter
Part 2: John Crockett
Part 3: Jermauria Rasco
Part 4: James Vaughters (Today)
Part 5: Matt Rotheram (Coming Soon)
Today we take a look at James Vaughters, OLB, Stanford:
Physical Traits
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 248
40 yard: 4.87
Bench: 35 reps
Broad: 112”
3-Cone: 7.09
20ss: 4.47
Strengths
Weaknesses
James Vaughters: Special Teams Demon! If the former Stanford edge rusher wants anything to do with playing on Sundays in the NFL, that’s exactly what he’s going to have to become. Vaughters lacks the ideal physical traits that coaches and scouts look for in the NFL and he will be overwhelmed against bigger, more physical NFL linemen. He was able to make plays in college based off of his hustle and never-quit attitude, but that ability will only get you so far as a professional. If he’s going to stick with the Packers it will be due to his special teams play and he will have to show that he can play in a pinch if needed due to injury.
Let’s start off by looking at some of Vaughters’ strengths:
Special Teams
If Vaughters is going to need to be an ace on Special Teams in order to make the team, it’s a huge plus that he’s already very good at it. In the three clips below you can see that Vaughters is a talented gunner and was a key member of the kick and punt coverage units at Stanford:
Effort/Hustle
Hustle is the name of the game for Vaughters and his all-out attitude should be contagious on the practice field. The below plays show just how far he’s willing to go on a given play to make an impact.
Here we see Vaughters run the entire width of the football field to get the sack by a shoelace:
Next we see some Packer on Packer crime as Vaughters works relentlessly to tackle Brett Hundley right before he can scramble for big yards:
While Vaughters is all about hustle, when he pairs his work ethic with good technique, the results are impressive:
Technique + Effort = INT
Another example of Vaughters running completely around the field to make a play:
Vaughters just doesn’t give up, here he looks like a human pinball between linemen but still comes away with a sack:
Even though he doesn’t have the speed or agility of Marcus Mariota, he’s still able to make a big play and almost force a turnover:
Hard Hitter
He ended up getting flagged for this hit, but this is a great example of the type of hitter that he can be:
And now we take a look at some of the weaknesses:
Block Shedding
This was the biggest area of Vaughters’ struggles. He simply couldn’t get off of blocks consistently enough, or hold up at the point of attack. Here he gets completely pancaked by the RT:
And here he can’t even get off of a block from a slot receiver:
Balance
There were also way too many times in which Vaughters ended up on the ground. We saw one pancake above, and here is another example. It’s tough to make plays when you’re consistently on the seat of your pants:
Coverage
Last but not least you can get a little snippet of some of the struggles that he has in coverage:
As things are today, I can’t see James Vaughters leapfrogging a host of OLB’s that the Packers could employ. He will likely start off at the bottom of the pecking order at OLB and will need to take advantage of every rep he gets to move up the depth chart. As I mentioned earlier, Vuaghters’ best bet to make the team would be via Special Teams and he certainly has shown a propensity to be a solid special teams player. If he can become one of the best, he’ll have a shot at making the team.
Thank you for reading. Andy Herman is a staff writer for Titletown Sound Off. You can follow him on Twitter @SconnieSports. For even more Packers content, follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
Continue reading...
Part 1: LaDarius Gunter
Part 2: John Crockett
Part 3: Jermauria Rasco
Part 4: James Vaughters (Today)
Part 5: Matt Rotheram (Coming Soon)
Today we take a look at James Vaughters, OLB, Stanford:
Physical Traits
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 248
40 yard: 4.87
Bench: 35 reps
Broad: 112”
3-Cone: 7.09
20ss: 4.47
Strengths
- Special Teams
- Effort/Hustle
- Hard Hitter
Weaknesses
- Block Shedding
- Balance
- Coverage
James Vaughters: Special Teams Demon! If the former Stanford edge rusher wants anything to do with playing on Sundays in the NFL, that’s exactly what he’s going to have to become. Vaughters lacks the ideal physical traits that coaches and scouts look for in the NFL and he will be overwhelmed against bigger, more physical NFL linemen. He was able to make plays in college based off of his hustle and never-quit attitude, but that ability will only get you so far as a professional. If he’s going to stick with the Packers it will be due to his special teams play and he will have to show that he can play in a pinch if needed due to injury.
Let’s start off by looking at some of Vaughters’ strengths:
Special Teams
If Vaughters is going to need to be an ace on Special Teams in order to make the team, it’s a huge plus that he’s already very good at it. In the three clips below you can see that Vaughters is a talented gunner and was a key member of the kick and punt coverage units at Stanford:
Effort/Hustle
Hustle is the name of the game for Vaughters and his all-out attitude should be contagious on the practice field. The below plays show just how far he’s willing to go on a given play to make an impact.
Here we see Vaughters run the entire width of the football field to get the sack by a shoelace:
Next we see some Packer on Packer crime as Vaughters works relentlessly to tackle Brett Hundley right before he can scramble for big yards:
While Vaughters is all about hustle, when he pairs his work ethic with good technique, the results are impressive:
Technique + Effort = INT
Another example of Vaughters running completely around the field to make a play:
Vaughters just doesn’t give up, here he looks like a human pinball between linemen but still comes away with a sack:
Even though he doesn’t have the speed or agility of Marcus Mariota, he’s still able to make a big play and almost force a turnover:
Hard Hitter
He ended up getting flagged for this hit, but this is a great example of the type of hitter that he can be:
And now we take a look at some of the weaknesses:
Block Shedding
This was the biggest area of Vaughters’ struggles. He simply couldn’t get off of blocks consistently enough, or hold up at the point of attack. Here he gets completely pancaked by the RT:
And here he can’t even get off of a block from a slot receiver:
Balance
There were also way too many times in which Vaughters ended up on the ground. We saw one pancake above, and here is another example. It’s tough to make plays when you’re consistently on the seat of your pants:
Coverage
Last but not least you can get a little snippet of some of the struggles that he has in coverage:
As things are today, I can’t see James Vaughters leapfrogging a host of OLB’s that the Packers could employ. He will likely start off at the bottom of the pecking order at OLB and will need to take advantage of every rep he gets to move up the depth chart. As I mentioned earlier, Vuaghters’ best bet to make the team would be via Special Teams and he certainly has shown a propensity to be a solid special teams player. If he can become one of the best, he’ll have a shot at making the team.
Thank you for reading. Andy Herman is a staff writer for Titletown Sound Off. You can follow him on Twitter @SconnieSports. For even more Packers content, follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
Continue reading...