Daniel Faalele

Pass Protection

Outrageous size and length and surprisingly nimble on his feet. He’s efficient with his footwork as well as having quick feet, has good initial set quickness and gets to his set point and maintains the half-man relationship. He positions well on jump sets and his vertical set is good, aided by his initial explosion and lateral mobility. He has good processing and adjusts quickly to counters, stunts and twists, he has good hip mobility to open in either direction but can be susceptible to giving up his inside shoulder in 45 sets as he over-kicks. He bends well for his sheer size and has good balance and flexibility but he is simply too tall and therefore too high to be consistent with his hand placement when he tries to latch and steer – he has good power in and timing with his hands but he isn’t able to recognize the strike zone when working a two handed strike or with independent hands.

Of particular concern is his inside hand which doesn’t allow him to take full advantage of his length. He doesn’t leverage his hands and torque his elbows to get the leverage that he needs to match his good footwork and close the door on rushers who have good play strength because of the leverage they play with. When he gets slightly better placement with his inside hand and he goes to swat/trap the DL hands, he has much more success, but the initial placement still needs to be improved. He has a good snatch and trap but he needs to be more physical with it. He has good strength but he can’t bring it into play when anchoring against speed to power because he cannot sink his hips and re-leverage against rushers with better play strength.

Run Blocking

Very good run blocker. As a zone blocker his good foot speed and explosion allows him to be quick out of his stance and excellent at the positioning phase of the block. He can reach block a 3 technique and locates especially well at the second level on more athletic defenders. His slide step and drive step are particularly good due to his foot speed and hip mobility. His fit and finish on all run blocks, zone and gap is excellent, he is able to get his hands lower on run blocks and his natural bend helps him more as a run blocker – it’s only a slight difference from when he’s pass blocking but it makes a big difference in play strength as he is very strong on contact and he is a very good finisher, making the run functional against athletic defenders and those with good play strength.

As a gap blocker his attack step and drive step are excellent and he never stops moving his feet on contact. On down or angle blocks he can obliterate one side of the Defensive Line. He’s also good on double teams, working well in tandem and times his release to the second level well when he is the drive man. He’s competitive and tough but not especially nasty – he competes hard every down.

SUMMARY
Behemoth OL who moves very well for his size, in pass pro does not use technique to overcome natural lack of leverage but good footwork. Very good run blocker with elite fit and finish.

PRODUCTION
N/A OL
3 Year Starter at RT
INJURY: Missed 2 G with right knee injury (SO)

RAVENS FIT
Toughness 4
Intelligence 4
Versatility 2
Grit 3
Scheme 5