Is Isaiah McDuffie the Answer at Linebacker for the Packers?!

Intro [Music] what's going on everybody happy Saturday welcome in to an all new episode of the pack aay podcast I'm your host Andy Herman you can follow me on Twitter at Andy Herman NFL you can follow the podcast paday podcast of course make sure you are checking out those pack aay podcast YouTube memberships tons of great content out there for you we've got a weekly members only Q&A we're going to have some drafton content coming out uh on day three of the draft there's going to be a ton of different stuff you get a new episode commercial free every week you get every episode released early there's a ton of stuff so make sure to go check those out but today we are going to jump right in Roster Needs because this is draft season and we know that Green Bay has a variety of different positional targets that they're going to be going through in this draft we know they're going to do their best player available thing as they should the draft is not fulfilling needs it's for finding the best players but we know that safety offall linebacker offensive line running back like they have some potential needs on this team that need to be addressed but as we go into draft season as fans of the team I think it's really important that we understand the roster as it is to understand just how much of a need something actually is if we go and look at uh let's say Anthony Johnson Jr and we look back at his tape from last year and we realized oh actually he was surprisingly really good all right maybe that's less of a need you know we've looked at some of the very under the radar players like Christian young at linebacker who could maybe fill a special teams role we've done a variety of different things but it's still really important that we look at all the different sort of options that Green Bay has to get that better understanding of who they might need to Target come draft time so today with that in mind we are specifically going to be looking at offb linebacker and even more specifically be looking at one Isaiah McDuffy who as of right now finds himself in a very prominent role within this Packers defense if they were playing a game this weekend they are not playing a game this weekend they have some time they could trade for a veteran they could draft a bunch of players they could find a Hidden Gem in un your uh undrafted free agency excuse me they could do a variety of different things they could still try to scour the free agent market after the draft we'll see either way I would expect some pretty significant numbers to be added to that linebacker room at some point probably three different players at least at least and again that could be a first round pick and two undrafted free agents that could be a veteran a second round pick and a seventh round pick we don't know but there are going to be bodies that are added to that room but as of right now Isaiah McDuffy finds himself as linebacker two within this defense if you look at the Packers depth chart as we speak Quay Walker is your linebacker one isaah McDuffy is two Eric Wilson is likely your three Christian Welch is your four and then Christian young is your five that's all they have at offb linebacker so like I said three players probably at minimum going to get added to that room that just the question becomes are they added towards the back of the roster are they added after Quay and McDuffy or are they bringing in some real legitimate competition to maybe be number two number three and maybe even kick McDuffy down to that linebacker number four that's what we don't know but what we need to understand is who Isaiah McDuffy is as a player what he's done over the course of his three seasons in the NFL what he can be moving forward and what happens if Isaiah McDuffy is linebacker number two so today let's take a look at that now what I want to start with is Isaiah mcduffy's profile coming out of college we're going to do a full breakdown of McDuffy today we'll look at what he was in college what the expectation was for him coming out of college going into the draft and becoming an NFL player then we'll take a deeper dive into what he's been as an NFL player so far I went back and I watched a ton of isamic Duffy tape from these past two seasons in the defensive snaps that he had so I will break down all of that for you but let's start with his college profile coming out of Boston College noteworthy because he of course played for Jeff Halley at Boston College in that defense for one season had a really nice year and then you know of course has gone on to play for Green Bay and now he gets to reunite with Jeff Halley in this defense and has basically more experience in it than just about anyone else on the roster so coming out of Boston College 61 227b offb linebacker had a 732 relative Athletic score was 50th percentile at height for linebacker 20th percentile in weight so he was a little a little bit undersized from a weight standpoint had an 86 percentile bench press 49th percentile vertical jump 84th percentile broad jump 86th percentile 40 yard dash 47th percentile short shuttle and 45th percentile three cone so a solid but unspectacular athlete is how I would put it and certainly there's some spectacular aspects of this the bench press the broad jump the 40 yard dash all very very good especially that 40 yard dash time he's very fast for the position but undersized with a lower weight in the 20th percentile you would expect there to be a little bit more speed there and again right around average from a height standpoint but overall relative Athletic score of 7.32 which puts him in the 73rd percentile of athleticism for linebackers all right Grading from a grading standpoint let's look at Pro Football Focus and how they graded him in college in 2017 he played 53 snaps of Defense with a 55.4 grade in 2018 he played 470 snap of Defense taking a significant step with a 65.6 grade in 2019 he only played 186 snaps with a 56.0 grade and then his final year in college he played 727 snaps with an abysmal 39.9 grade that was his final year in college so PFF did not like him very much coming out especially in that final season at Boston College from a special team standpoint as a freshman he played 95 special team snaps with a 55.4 grade 112 snaps is sophomore season for a 58.7 only nine special teams that third season for a 61.6 grade and his final season in college 104 special team snaps with a 61.2 grade here was Lance zerin scouting report for Isaiah McDuffy coming out of college McDuffy plays with a palpable energy and rarely gears down until the whistle blows he's undersized but is at his best playe inside that's where his recognition talent and SS take over and allow him to race to run Lanes ahead of the block he pursues with leverage but has the burst to accelerate and attack when it's time to finish his Full Tilt plane style will lead to occasional issues with Pursuit angles and being out of balance as a tackler he's feisty but takes time to free himself from blockers and was ineffective when asked to drop into coverage he has the ability to become a quality backup with core special teams value land Z line tip of the cap you pretty much nailed especially that final line ability to become a quality back up with core special teams value that's basically what McDuffy has been so far his strengths these were again from Lancer line in his Scouting Report coming out of college coaches son with outstanding work ethic on and off the field toughness and intensity are trademarks Relentless Chase and Tackle energy recognizes formations and tendencies from formations beats running back to the Run Lane in some cases rapid downhill trigger to attack the ball carrier or pass catcher pursues with leverage but has burst to find his prey agility and GPS s to work around interior traffic upper body power to fling guards off of him little wasted motion to plant and drive down to the throw so those were his positives here were his weaknesses per Lancer line coming out of college smallish as an interior linebacker takes chances that get him stuck in traffic must learn to slip blocks and stay clean too small to separate quickly once the block gets to him needs discipline to play his role and not search for every single tackle momentum gets away from him as an open field tackler off balance tackle tries uh excuse me off balance tackle tries turn into broken arm tackles overestimates speed on extended Pursuit angles an ineffective plane pass from Zone those are the strengths and the weakness and the overall breakdown from Lance zerline coming out of college and I would argue he pretty much nailed that one I think you hit the strengths and some of the speed and his ability to recognize and play the defense and some of those weaknesses where specifically and we'll talk about this more in just a little bit on an NFL level little bit smaller gets stuck in traffic it's caught on blocks from time to time we'll go through all of that more in just a moment then of course he gets to the NFL here are his grades both per myself and per PFF we'll start with PFF in 2021 they charted them as one defensive snap with a 60.0 grade I'm 99.9% sure that was a special Team snap that turned into a fake usually they grade those as a defensive snap if it's an obvious fake and they like get into a formation so I grade though or I consider those special team snaps so don't grade those so I didn't grade that one that but they had one graded play for him on defense with a 60.0 grade he played 211 snaps of special teams with a 43.0 grade in 2022 played 175 snaps of Defense with a 58.6 grade 261 snaps of special teams with a 88.5 grade so that is his best thing he's done on anything from a PFF standpoint was his special teams in 2022 within 88.5 grade and then in 2023 played by far as most snaps in the NFL 551 had a 57.1 grade uh 222 snaps of special teams with a 67.7 grade so again go back to L zerline Scouting Report backup caliber player with special teams ability that's what we've seen basically from Isaiah McDuffy so far here were my grades on him again in 2021 I did not have any grades because that one play was I believe a special Team snap that turned into a quote unquote defensive snap for PFF in 2022 on those 175 snaps I had a negative 0.85 grade which which is almost exactly what a 58.6 would be for PFF their average is 60 mine is zero that starting point so a little bit down for them is a 58.6 a little bit down for me is a negative .85 in 2023 on those 551 snaps I had a negative 1.25 grade which for PFF of 57.1 is almost identical with that amount of snaps so PFF and I were pretty much in lock step that this was a slightly below average NFL linebacker replacement level is with some again legitimate special teams ability although again I did not grade the special team snaps Prof ball Focus did but we've seen Isaiah McDuffy show up on special teams on a variety of different occasions over the course of the past couple Seasons from a statistical standpoint in 2023 he played in 16 games had eight starts one pass defended 86 tackles one half sack five tackles for loss three quarterback hits that was the statline for McDuffy no interceptions no Force fumbles no fumble recoveries no anything like that so lacking in those impact style plays this past season here was the better breakdown from PFF in 2023 had a 57.1 defensive grade overall a 59.6 run defense grade a 77.1 tackling grade so that tackling grade was really good 64.4 pass rush grade and 55.5 coverage grade that's how they graded him overall they had him at four pressures and a 6.5% m Le percentage which is really really good for basically anyone but especially for an inside linebacker in coverage he was targeted 33 times per PFF gave up 26 receptions 78.8% completion percentage 238 yards no touchdowns no interceptions one pass breakup a 96.7 rating and had two pen excuse me had two penalties in coverage during that time so that's all of the statistical analysis let's go into some of the film from 2022 and 2023 as I went back and broke down a ton of the film watched a lot of stuff from McDuffy over these past two seasons and here's what I came up with the first thing I'll say and if Big Plays you want to look at it I posted a video on Twitter of about I want to say 10 plays where there is some really really big time stuff on tape you will see him knife into the back field and make tackles for losses there's a specific play on a little down to I I think it was it was one of the Lions Speedy running backs where he goes to the outside and McDuffy just uses that incredible speed to completely stay with him to get sideline to sideline and make the play along the sidelines spectacular play there's a Crossing route from the Minnesota Vikings where there's a I think it might have been hackinson but I have to go back and look I was more focused on McDuffy but there's a tight end coming across the middle McDuffy goes right along with them and bats away the play and that's his his pass defense that he had there there are other plays High Level Plays where uh saquin Barkley play where he reads it perfectly shoots the Gap goes into the back field and tackles Barkley for I want to say three four yard loss on the play there are some really really impressive plays there's a play that goes all the way to the outside where he sees it analyzes it and then screams to the sideline with a perfect angle to cut it off and make a perfect tackle along the sidelines there's another one where they do I think a little pop pass I think this was against the Raiders and McDuffy screams like recognizes the play screams to the opposite sideline and makes that play like just some really really impressive stuff when you want to go and look at his high level play the issue is that you didn't see a ton of that over his what was it you know six or 726 snaps over the past two seasons those were basically the 10 best plays that I saw over those 726 snaps now it's Keeping Clean not like a horrible thing that he's got some really good plays on tape that's that's a great thing and he shows that he has some great capabilities to make those style of plays what you will notice on a lot of those plays is he was kept clean on a lot of those plays meaning he has a free shot meaning he's he's taking a gap and shooting it and going into the back field or he's not blocked by a pulling guard and is able to get sideline to sideline and go make a play it becomes a lot more complicated for him at his size both height and waight when he starts getting out against pulling guards even tight ends gave him problems in the running game and when he gets engaged he struggles now what you will see from him from time to time is when he gets engaged there are times where he disengages and even throws that player to the side but unfortunately it happens too slow and what will happen is he'll engage with that player and then the running back gets past him and then he disengages and throws that player away but it's too late and that running back has already gone past him or somebody else has already made the play and those are the sort of things that you see and sometimes you get with an undersized uh you know inside linebacker off ball linebacker so these were my overall notes as I went back and again watched a ton of McDuffy from these past two seasons struggles to hold up at the point of attack against bigger offensive linemen and again it's not just bigger offensive linemen I should probably just alleviate that part of it overall it's offensive lineman and even sometimes tight ends if he's matched up like if Poor Angles you you will see some of the bigger more physical linebackers in this league where a fullback or a tight end or an offensive lineman May especially like a smaller offensive lineman pull out and they will get to that lineman or tight end or fullback and they will Jack them and it is a violent collision and that linebacker has the ability to disengage and go make a play you don't see that level of violence from an isaah McDuff you don't see from McQuay Walker either very often but they don't have that type of of really that type of player right now and it's not something that's necessarily in isai mcduffy's repertoire he takes some poort angles and he will be slow to react to plays I mentioned that play where it's a pop pass and he makes a great read and gets to the sidelines and makes that play there are a handful of other plays where it's a misdirection play a pop pass a reverse a screen something and McDuffy is going in the complete opposite direction of the play now to be fair some of those might have been assignment driven it might have been his job to go with a certain player and you know just going through and watching the tape and seeing what MC Duffy is capable of that's not something I'm necessarily concerning myself with those plays but there are other plays where you can very much tell he's not in the right spot at the right time especially on and really almost directly on misdirection plays those give him some issues and you will see him start going in the exact opposite direction of where he is supposed to be on the play next his speed legitimately shows up on Speed tape I don't think many people when you say Isaiah McDuffy you think unadulterated speed or like somebody that has this real ridiculous quickness but he does he is fast he tested fast coming out of the draft and that speed shows up on tape go watch that highlight film I posted on Twitter and you will see some real legitimate speed from Isa McDuffy that shows up on special teams that shows up on defense and it's something that's going to continue to serve him well I I even will say I didn't quite recognize just how fast he was but going back and watching him play after play you pick it up pretty quick and are able to see just how quick he is at that linebacker position as I mentioned before uh blocked far too easily by tight ends and that's something he's going to have to get better at especially if he gets a legitimate starting role in the NFL I Sacks also thought he had some really big missed sack opportunities now the two I'm about to tell you are pretty good at football and pretty good at avoiding those type of sacks but he had two plays specifically in 2022 against Jaylen Herz and against Josh Allen where he had the ability to make a big play and get a big sack and he couldn't get them to the ground like I said Josh Allen and Jaylen Herz sort of make a habit of that against a variety of really good players so it's going to happen from time to time but he did have some of those misses on tape it wasn't just those two uh the Josh Allen one in particular he's got Josh Allen dead to rights Josh Allen escapes it ends up being a huge play uh and he's able to find a big Play Down field where those are those where on that scenario in that situation I'm not defending Joe Barry here but Joe Barry had a perfect play call mcduffy's got Josh Allen it's going to be a sack and instead it ends up a huge play for the Buffalo Bills those are things that he needs to do a better job of converting on uh from a lateral agility standpoint Lateral Agility especially on the second level as a linebacker he will get his feet caught and he has a you know trouble going like making those really quick change of Direction adjustments more often than not if a running back gets him one-on-one in the open field or if like somebody catches a check down and makes a little Juke McDuffy is not going to be able to stick with it and that shows up on tape a lot and that's something that you have to have some concern over this is a passing League where you're trying to avoid all of the big deep throws down the field well that's going to lead to a lot of checkdowns and you have to make sure that you are getting there fast that you are not allowing somebody to get by you not allowing somebody to Juke you out and getting them to the ground sooner rather than later so they don't turn that into an explosive play and that's been an issue for McDuffy in right there too he's gets his feet stuck in mud on the on the second level and again you just he's waiting rather than attacking and sometimes it's like a double double edged sword cuz you can attack and be too aggressive you can wait and be too passive I don't know that it's something that he always has a great feel for but he's got to do a little bit better job of making sure that he's breaking down and making that play and making it so that those players as dynamic as they are aren't getting big explosive plays out of it he's on the ground too much and that's where we On the Ground Too Much talk about going up against bigger offensive lineman when he gets matched up he just ends up on the ground of you know far too often and as we always say you're not going to make very many plays when you're on the ground he's extremely aign andure this is one that Lance zline pointed out in his scouting report that in college he struggled with I think he's done a great job of this in the NFL he knows his role he FS his gaps he's assignment sure and he's almost always where he's supposed to be save for like I said on some of those misdirection plays that can give him some some issues and some confusion but in a straightup play that doesn't have quite as much misdirection he's almost always where he's supposed to be so that showed up um well he didn't have a ton of Miss tackles overall and that tackle percentage is good it did show up in some in opportune times and as I mentioned earlier due to some of that lack of mobility and Agility there are times where he doesn't have a Miss tackle because he just doesn't even get his hands on the player so there are some of that as well where that tackling percentage by PFF might be high but I think there's some missed opportunities on tape from him just not even getting to the spot that he needs to get to as mentioned he gets fooled by misdirection a bit too easily and they basically don't play him on obvious passing Downs so they're using him more as like a Bas linebacker somebody that is going to be more you know run defense with some maybe pass options mixed in but once it gets to a more obvious passing down they pretty much take him off the field my biggest issue with Isaiah McDuffy and there's there's a lot of stuff to like there really really is he's by no means a bad player this is not somebody that Is Isaiah McDuffie Good you get on the field and is Royce Newman ask where you're just like this this is going to be a nightmare and you're frustrated the entirety of the game because this player is just not able to do their job at all that is not isaah McDuffy to me this is also not a legitimate real true starting caliber player and we'll kind of get to that but where my issue lies with McDuffy is that I don't personally believe that he's a true plus at any one thing I think he's too small and not physical enough to be a plus run Defender he's fine but he's not great at it he's not instinctual enough and he's not fluid enough and he's just not skilled enough in coverage to consistently play in coverage he's not a great Blitzer as I mentioned he missed some of those opportunities against a Josh Allen and a Jaylen Herz uh in some games and miss some other opportunities as well and more importantly I don't necessarily feel like he's a perfect fit next to Quay Walker either so you have this player that does some things well shows up some flashes on tape has great speed and can is not somebody that again you're going to be pulling your hair out when he's on the field but I don't necessarily think Is Isaiah McDuffie Bad he's good to Gra great at any one thing I don't think he's terrible at any of it necessarily either but it's probably like a slight negative at pretty much everything that he tries to do which leaves you always wanting for a little bit more now on the plus side as I mentioned he has played in Jeff Halley's defense so that is going to be a huge Plus for Isaiah McDuffy he's in a contract year so we are probably hopefully fingers crossed about to get the very best version of isai McDuffy he is if not changes about to get a real legitimate opportunity even if they add one more linebacker you got to figure there's going to be some injuries you got to figure they're going to do some three linebacker stuff and he should be set for at at minimum at least a role kind of like he had a season to go and he's still very much a very good core special teamer for this team as well there's this is not the question of like is Isaiah McDuffy good enough to make the 53 that's not the conversation we're having here the question is can he be a legitimate good number two linebacker and how I would Define it Isaiah Isaiah McDuffie Ideal Role mcduffy's ideal role on this Green Bay Packers team in my opinion is that number four linebacker spot that's ideal not saying it's a um you know necessarily realistic but that's ideal if he could be your number four linebacker meaning you've got Quay Walker and two other starting caliber linebackers in front of him and he can be your number four being a core special teamer and key backup piece to the linebacker group that's exactly where you want him to be and he has a ton of value for my in my opinion at that spot is somebody who can fill in at a variety of those linebacker positions come in and you're not going to feel like oh my goodness he's in the game now what are we going to do he can fill in again for any of those players and he can be a core special teamer in the meantime there's a lot of value there for isaah McDuffy I feel like an acceptable role for Isaiah McDuffy is the number three linebacker spot 15% of the time they might be in a three linebacker or plus defense I feel like that's a good amount of snaps for him to be on the field on defense a lot of those are going to be more base defense situations meaning it's going to be more rundowns or at least some run pass option stuff and not obvious passing Downs that's a acceptable SL good role for Isaiah McDuffy a little bit more of a risky role is a number two linebacker for isaah McDuffy if he has to be all season long your number two linebacker I think you're playing with fire a little bit I don't think that's an ideal fit and like I said I think you're constantly looking for an upgrade even if it's not a nightmare it's not something that you're constantly cursing out because Isaiah McDuffy can't play it he'll be fine for the most part but you're always wanting a little bit more and there's always a little bit of a risk there and then number if he's your number one linebacker to me that's a little bit more of a nightmare scenario where you have to play him every single snap obvious passing downs and you're probably just wanting for a ton more and you're probably putting him and your team in a bad position by doing that so number four is ideal number three is good to acceptable number two is risky we'll sort of wait and see number one if he has to be your number one linebacker probably a nightmare that's where I put it with Isaiah McDuffy love having him on the team think he's a solid player think he's sort of as advertised a good and exactly we go back to L zerline scouting report a really good backup linebacker core special teamer that if you get him on the field he has some pluses he has some minuses it's not going to be something where you're super frustrated by it but he's that number four linebacker that's exactly where you want him so hopefully Green Bay is able to find a couple more players that they can get McDuffy to that number four or at least that number three role but that's where the draft is going to come in extremely important and how they add to that linebacker room moving forward is going to dictate where Isaiah McDuffy ends up on that depth chart and the hope is that it's number three or number four and not number two and hopefully not number one that is going to do it for me today hope you enjoyed this episode I'll be back tomorrow with an all new one of course 365 days a year make sure to check out those pack aay podcast YouTube memberships shout out to our YouTube members Mo in Minnesota and PJ wi John wild Shay BR dad Brandon Peta Jennifer Wright boom handle Donald Lee Lor Lord baby QB David mclusky Donald Decker Breman David Prendergast and Dan Miller see you guys soon but until next time and as always go Paco