Clemson’s Vic Beasley should be on our radar

I’m not sure whether the Seahawks will be looking for another LEO in next years draft. After all, Chris Clemons, Cliff Avril and Bruce Irvin will be under contract. O’Brien Schofield looks like an able fill-in and Benson Mayowa is getting an opportunity to make it in the NFL.

If they are looking for another LEO, Clemson’s Vic Beasley could be the guy.

It’s difficult to project his stock at this stage. On the plus side, he has 10 sacks in his last nine starts. He launches out of the blocks with the kind of burst Bruce Irvin flashed at West Virginia. He’s quick, and speed matters in this offense. It wouldn’t surprise me if he ran a super-fast 40 and clocked a sweet 10-yard split.

Beasley’s also undersized. He’s listed at 6-3 and 225lbs but is undoubtedly bigger than that in my opinion. I’d say 235lbs approximately. Which is still smaller than ideal, but it’s better than 225lbs. He’s got the length Seattle looks for at 6-3 but could really do with adding weight before the combine and then proving he hasn’t lost the speed.

Here’s what I like — despite the fact he’s smaller than the average edge rusher, he has good hand use. On more than a few occasions he was able to get a push on the left tackle and drive him into the pocket. Sometimes that’s enough, it forces a quarterback to move around. Combine that with a couple (I reckon 2.5) big sacks off the edge and it was an impressive display overall against Georgia.

However, at the next level is he going to get his hands into a guys chest and get a push?

Not at 225-235lbs. And that’s the issue.

Speed kills in the pass rush, but so does a running game that can consistently target one side of the line. Beasley has liability versus the run written all over him in the NFL. That limits his stock. I can see him working as a specialist or depth pass rusher, but to be an early down guy he has to get bigger and keep the speed.

It’d be pretty easy for me to say he’s a round whatever pick right now. Sometimes you just can’t tell. But he’s a player I’ll keep monitoring this year. Clemson’s schedule is beyond vanilla the rest of the way. They host Florida State on October 19th and that’s their only real test until South Carolina on November 30th — their final game before a likely ACC Championship berth.

Check out the tape above and let me know what you think.

15 Comments

  1. DJ

    I sense another full season of DT scouting. Especially after seeing the success of Lotuleilei and Short yesterday.

    • Rob Staton

      It’s just a shame that, at the moment, I can’t see anything like the DT talent we saw in 2013. Lotulelei and Richardson were prize picks.

      • Miles

        Not like we’d have a shot at a Lotulelei/Richardson-type talent anyway barring a massive move up the board.

        • Rob Staton

          Nope — but it’s always nice to know you can move up as an option. Next year, they’ll almost certainly be looking for a diamond among the rough.

  2. Kenny Sloth

    Wow. Huuuge liability in the run game. Blown off the line by FB and TE. He doesn’t seem to have the speed that Irvin did.
    Like his inside swim move, though. Seems to kind of play at half speed sometimes. Not sure if that’s to set up speed rushes to the outside, but I didn’t really like it.
    I’m pretty iffy on him from the three pieces of tape I’ve seen thus far.

    • Rob Staton

      I think you’re a little harsh on the speed. After all, he plays a lot more snaps than Bruce did in college. He doesn’t tee off quite as much as Bruce did. Given the increase in workload, I think we’re looking at a consistently fast edge rusher. And while he did have some issues against the run, he also had some positive plays in that regard too.

      • Miles

        What I observe is that Bruce Irvin has far more agility when rushing to make that last cut around the tackle to get to the quarterback. Beasley is fast and can sometimes beat the tackle around the edge before the tackle can even think (wow). However when pressed near the quarterback it’s fairly easy for the tackle to push Beasley right on past the quarterback without a real contest. This combined with his lack of size could push him into the third or fourth round, for me. I don’t think Beasley is going to come in and have eight sacks his first year like Irvin; I think his first year will be somewhat developmental. I could be wrong, but, if the Hawks had the opportunity to get Beasley in the third or fourth, I’d certainly be pulling for them to consider it.

  3. Seahawkin‘

    He seems to hold his own on a bigger opponent alright. I’m wondering how you think he would project as at sam? Maybe just a specialist on obvious passing situations, not sure we need another one, unless they decide to get rid of clemons to save some cap space.

  4. Colin

    Great speed and great motor. Relentless rusher that was a hassle all night for Georgia. For a guy with his size, I was pretty impressed with his bullrushes.

    However, he is raw. You can see the hesistation at times ala young Bruce Irvin and trying to find a lane to rush instead of just picking a gap and going for it. Total liability in run defense with the fake punt being the prime example. He needed to attack the blockers and force the punter to go left/right and instead he was treated it like a game of patty cake.

    But he is def. intriguing. He adds some weight and maintains that speed, and there’s no way he makes it out of the 1st round. A very good pass rusher.

  5. Troy Trocano

    Off topic but Rob, with the game less than a week away I was thinking it would be awesome if you did a write up before hand to get fans even more jacked up & rawkin @ the CLink. I encourage you to check out this article I came across awhile back, kind of feel like its appropriate for this exact situation. Envision ever Hawk fan add something extra along with vocals it could be detrimental to the 9ers. Not only that but can you imagine the noise level if the majority of the seats in the house where on the same page for the entire game?! I really hope youre able to do a piece inspired by the article I provided with your own twist perhaps.

    http://www.canalstreetchronicles.com/2010/1/20/1261060/nfc-championship-keys-to-the-game.

    With so many Hawk fans that read the SDB it would be immense to use that power to synchronize so many in one place at one time. Thanks for all that you guys do on SDB, love the entire site & enjoy the body of work, effort and time poured into it.

  6. Clayton

    I think Beasley has good speed, but the one thing in my opinion that separates the average DE from the elite ones is the ability to get low while fast around the edge. He may have it, but I didn’t see it in this particular tape.

    I was wondering if you got a chance to see Cyril Richardson, OG, Baylor, play. There is bunch of tape on him, and from what little I saw, he consistently moves his man off the ball. Seems to me like a faster James Carpenter.

    • Rob Staton

      I’ve seen him play once, or at least I watched Seastrunk and kept an eye on him. At the time I thought mid rounder at best. But I’ll look at more. I don’t expect a big splurge at guard next year though.

  7. Jmpasq

    Beasley was 1 of the guys I thought could make a huge jump this year from unknown to 2nd round pick. I cut a few games of his over the summer if your looking for more

    • Rob Staton

      I’ll check them out John, thanks for the heads up.

  8. cover-2

    He looks bigger on tape than his listed weight. I like his speed and it looked like he plays with good leverage, being able to get under the pads of o-lineman to knock him off balance or push him back into the pocket. I didn’t see him show the ability to get low and turn the corner. Going off this one tape I would consider him in the 2nd round, preferably in the 3rd due to the number players we already have as project pass rushers.

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