Film Study: How well did Olu Fashanu play for the New York Jets in the preseason?

all right let's talk about Aloo fashanu of the New York Jets so if you uh you know didn't hear if you don't pay attention to the draft Alo fashanu was considered one of the better offensive line prospects of this draft class the Jets who went out and added two new tackles wanted to really make sure they had that position locked up so they decided to say let's let's draft fashanu as well uh with the 11th overall selection they actually had him play both left tackle and right tackle in the preseason kind of I think trying to see uh you know what he can do and where he is best at or really just give him reps at both positions because he might you know if if Morgan Moses goes down then he'll play right tackle if uh Tyron Smith goes down then he'll play left tackle so let's get him reps at both which I think was a smart idea but how did it go well we'll get into it first starting off with the play you see on your screen it's he's a left tackle here it's a one-on-one Block in a passing concept you're going to see this Commander's Edge rushers is going for an outside move something we would see guys and do against fashanu a decent amount but one of the things I really like about fashanu is he has really good hands it's one of those things where he got compared to Joe alt coming out of college because those were the top two tackles and I think Joe alt has some of the better hands like we've seen in quite some time so I almost in a weird way got like used as like a negative towards fashanu but his hands are really good too and you know he's got his left hand over just enough to where watch I was able to use his strength to get that edge rusher away and also let's go before getting the holding penalty once his quarterback started moving outside the pocket that's really smart Awareness on top of it and that's something I think he's one of the smarter offensive lineman I've seen come out in quite some time he's really good at that stuff you know he picks up blitzes well all that good stuff and also knows how to let go of a you know play that could result in a hold like he did there I know it might not seem like a highlight re level play and it's not it's not a highlight real level play but it's a good play and it just also shows that he is able to make these consistently good plays like this one's another one where it's again be a one-on-one block again in this game where he is a left tackle uh third down and seven here situation and Watch What Happens so as you see uh The Edge rusher is going to go for more of an outside move but really I mean isn't kind of getting anything right here fashanu has exactly what he wants has the hand placement he wants has the feet where he wants like this is not looking too dangerous here uh for the Jets because of this watch how he really holds on to this block for forever even when the quarterback tries to scramble in that direction and kind of runs Direct into someone else uh fanu did a great job on that one so definitely good stuff there this one's another one we're now going over to the Panthers uh game so this is what he's playing as a right tackle in this one where what's going to happen is again it's going to be a one-on-one Block in this situation when it begins you see fashanu you know gets that right hand all the way over to the right shoulder pad area of this Panther's player Panther still player is still going to push uh back trying to get towards the quarterback trying to use his strength to get towards WS the quarterback but watch what fashanu does watch fanu get his hand on the edge rusher chest and just push him behind the quarterback again it's the hand placement and that strength that he has it's just it's a really deadly combination I know my podcast co-host Kyle actually had fashanu as his number one tackle in this draft class and it was largely due to the things I'm talking about largely because he did a really good job at being able to uh you know uh pass block incredibly well in the hands and the strength combined uh you know make him a great pass blocker I was not quite as high on him as my podcast co-host Kyle I think a big part of it was I wasn't crazy about his run blocking not say it was bad it's just like listen I think he's a really good Prospect I think he was it was a smart pick to take him out 11 just that was kind of why I wasn't like saying he's better than joal like Kyle was and so watching The Run blocking in the preseason tape I got to be honest I was a bit underwhelmed and I'm someone who wasn't crazy about that coming into this I thought it was I did think it was a bit of something he's going to have to work on where you see what's happening here when this play begins I mean really this Commander's player is kind of overpowering for shanu and it's the same issue that I talked about in college where it seems like fanu lets guys come at him in the running uh game which is weird cuz like every offensive lineman loves run blocking because they get to be the one who attacks it seems like for whatever reason like fanu likes he's like the one offensive lineman in history that likes to be pass block more than run block because of that I mean this run just doesn't go for a ton I and it was uh you know the guy that fan was trying to block that made the play good defensive play you always have to give credit to the guy who makes the play of course but like this was a bit of a trend like this one's another one it's again going to be a one-on-one block right here this is in the uh the Panthers game so now he's uh the right tackle on this one when it begins you're going to see how you see what he's trying to do right he's trying to get more towards the uh bottom of the screen of this Ed of this interior defense of lineman so we can push him further up towards the top of the screen get him away from that area that's what he's trying to do on this play and to be honest it just it's not going to work that Panthers player is able to kind of overpower him and anytime you see Fano getting overpowered it's not because he doesn't have the strength it's again I think he was just a bit timid in getting over there he really needs to work on getting that speed up a little bit more that first step up a little bit more in the Run uh run blocking game I don't know exactly what it is but it is a a weird thing that it seems like does kind of plague him a little bit to be honest he kind of came in and like was what I feel like I kind of expected him to be which is like okay I think he's going to figure the running game stuff out I I don't think that that's going to be an issue too much right like eventually I think part of the concern though if you're a Jets fan is like they kind of want him to be good right away cuz the thing is okay yes he's a backup but I think the Assumption going in is at some point they're going to have an offensive line injury when you have two veteran tackles who have you know uh Moses has been pretty healthy but Tyron Smith has had some real injury history uh like I think the expectation is like we definitely want to make sure we have insurance here um I think the Hope was that he could come in and play well right away I think pass blocking he could do that which is the main goal right they want to keep Aaron roders uh healthy and while there it's not just tackles that keep Aaron Rogers healthy keep the quarterback healthy right re uh receivers getting open helped protect the quarterback um the quarterback themselves helps protect themselves and obviously you're going to have some hits regardless but an offensive lineman still helps protect the quarterback so having uh fashanu there uh you know could will help out with that will do the goal that they're trying to uh create there um I I do Wonder though like listen the Jets like to run the ball that is a part of their game and so if someone like fashanu uh isn't a super great run blocker it then creates issues right I mean let's say for example like Moses gets injured you can still then run to the left but then you're kind of tipping your hand a little bit it becomes a whole thing so at the same time though I feel like I'm almost talking about him as though he's like an incapable run blocker he wasn't terrible in the Run blocking game he just wasn't like you know he's not as that's not what not where he excels at right it just isn't but yeah I mean those are kind of my thoughts on his preseason performance I think it was it was mostly it honestly it's mostly fine like I think it was probably pretty good if anything the fact that he can pass block as well as he can I'm sure Jets fans are fine with what I'm everything I'm saying but like you got to talk about the negatives too not just the positives but yeah those are my thoughts what are yours let me know in the comments below always love hearing from yall and of course as always thanks for watching [Music] [Music] a [Music]