Could TE Cole Turner be a breakout candidate for the Commanders?
Turner has impressed in OTAs so far this offseason, but is he ready to take a step forward?
It’s fair to say tight end Cole Turner had a disappointing rookie season. He entered the year with high expectations after impressing during training camp, but suffered an injury that set him back. He ended his rookie season with just two catches for 23 yards and played a very limited role down the stretch after returning from injury. However he’s started to catch the eye again in OTAs this spring, so I went back and watched his play from last year. Despite just two catches, there were actually lots of signs of potential from Turner last year before he got injured against the Packers.
Turner was drafted for his size and catch radius, which he didn’t get the chance to show off too much last year, but we did see a glimpse of it on one of his two catches last year.
This play shows a lot of what the Commanders liked about Turner when they drafted him last year. Turner aligns as a traditional inline Y tight end and runs straight up the seam off of a play-action fake. The fake gets the linebackers to bite up, leaving Turner open in the seam. Quarterback Carson Wentz quickly pulls the trigger, but places the throw on him rather than out in front to try and protect him from the free safety. That forces Turner to make a tough adjustment to the pass, but he shows good body control, turning and reaching up for the ball while at full speed and securing the catch despite the incoming hit from the safety.
Now while Turner may have only had two catches, that doesn’t mean he was completely ineffective otherwise. He still had positive plays where he was missed for one reason or another.
Here against the Titans, the Commanders face a third and four situation. Turner is isolated to the left of the formation with the other three receivers all bunched up to the right side. This type of look helps the quarterback diagnose the defense pre-snap as safety Kevin Byard lines up in press coverage, indicating man coverage. With that look, the quarterback has the freedom to work that one-on-one if he likes the matchup, but clearly Wentz didn’t think Turner would beat Byard as he looked elsewhere off the snap. Had he checked Turner though, he would have seen how Turner juked Byard at the snap and released freely on a fade down the sideline. Turner was wide open for what should have been a huge play, but Wentz never saw him.
There were a few plays like that in his three-game stint against the Titans, Bears and Packers before he got injured again where he was open and the quarterback was unable to find him either because he was looking elsewhere or because he sailed the throw over his head. But even on plays where Turner wasn’t the target, he showed an ability to have an impact on the game.
One of the subtle things that Turner does that might go unnoticed is using his route to create space for other receivers. Obviously there are situations where the scheme is designed for one route to open up another, but Turner finds ways to make his route impactful even when it’s not necessarily schemed up that way.
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