You saw my take on him before. I am pretty high on him, even in the Miami defense. There are multiple reasons, but those will all come on film. However, he has something that every NFL player must have in order to succeed. He has that work ethic and the grit. He came in and performed ok, but got cut. That was when he realized that this isn't just games and it's serious so he gave up some of his favorite foods (which is very very very hard) such as chicken nuggets and fries, and he took everything a little more serious. But his play really showed that everything payed off. So here we go. (I suggest watching the videos in full screen)
Even though there may only be a few videos for each strength or weakness, these are things I saw on a regular basis when watching film, but you can only record so much.
Film watched: Colts game, Bills game week 10, Pats game week 17
Weaknesses:
Inside release from WRs
Needham struggles a little when receivers do a quick double move when coming out of their release. As you can see in the clips above, he anticipates that the receiver will do an outside release for their route. Now, he doesn't get caught up in double moves like when the receiver pretends to run a go route, and then cuts it inside. He always anticipates the outside release, and they burn him by going on a slant.
Gets caught up when trying to defend run
If you want to go make the tackle, you have to one, be willing, and two, actually get to the ball-carrier to tackle him. Needham has the first part down, but he kind of gets caught up in the mayham of the blocking. You must avoid the blocks. Here's a little secret: the D-linemen's actual job is to make sure the O-linemen stay put, and the linebacker and secondary have to make the plays. But, it's a problem when you can't take advantage.
Must get better at tackling (honestly, I'm probably a little spoiled from watching the Bears have minimal problems, but still)
The only problem here, is that he needs better form and must get stronger. If he does that, he won't get run over or at the very lease, pancaked by a WR.
Takes a bad angle to tackle (I'll get to that in a sec.)
What I mean is that he doesn't take a path to that goes towards the ball carrier, he takes a path that he predicts where the ball carrier will be. Now, if you do it a little, it's fine, but he goes way around. That is a problem because that means the RB or WR or whoever is carrying the ball will get extra yards. That's not good
Gets a little handsy at times
This could become a bit of a problem against good recivers such as Julio Jones who is strong AND fast. I noticed that Needham was pretty handsy, but that really didn't show until the Patriots game. I noticed when he was matched up with Mohammed Sanu, who is a bigger stronger receiver than the ones he was matched up with before. Sanu (who benched 19 reps) outmuscled him, got separation, and got the catch for a 1st down. Why I didn't notice it before, was because he was matched up mostly with John Brown (who didn't even do the bench press), and Zach Pascal (who benched 14 reps). Needham's strength is speed, not strength.
Gets caught going up field too much, and allows hitch routes to be complete
This isn't the most concerning in the world because he is really really good at staying with his man, his technique is almost perfect, but he occasionally goes too far up field, while the WR makes a sharp hitch or comeback route and makes the catch. I personally think it's a little bit of a mental error, so this can be fixed relatively easy because he isn't flying upfield while the WR makes his cut back.
Strengths
NOW for the good stuff
Speed
This man has BURNERS. He ran in the 4.30s I heard at his pro day, and it is evident on tape. He is on receivers like John Brown and is still pressing up. That isn't something you want to do, unless you have great speed like Needham. Also, this allows him to be a little more aggressive with receivers like this because you know you can keep up. Now, they can't use their main asset: speed. Furthermore, he has great recovery speed. If he sometimes gets to caught up going one way, and the receiver goes another way, he can catch up most of the time.
Has good footwork in press (and he has good footwork in general, but Miami plays a lot of man and press) and has very fluid hips and lower body
I talked about how he has very good technique, but his physical traits are also amazing. He can run a 4.3, and his lower body is so smooth. That was one thing I enjoyed when he played was that he was plastered to the receiver almost no matter what they did. He used his hands too to hinder the WRs ability to run the route which was good. Also, he played the outside release very well (that shuffle was beautiful). He can play the inside release well too if the WR does a clean inside only release.
Can play in the slot is asked
He doesn't usually play the slot, but he is effective because of his twitchyness (I don't know if that's a word). He was actually pretty good at it. I don't know why, but he was asked to play in the slot quite a bit against the Patriots (I have a very strong feeling it was because Edelman was there). and he was effective (Edelman only had 26 receiving yards). He also had really nice play against Pascal on the first drive of the Colts game.
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