Evaluating rookie guard Chris Paul against the Cowboys
Breaking down how Commanders rookie guard Chris Paul performed against the Cowboys
While quarterback Sam Howell took all the headlines, he wasn’t the only rookie making his debut for the Washington Commanders last Sunday. Chris Paul was a seventh-round pick for Washington. He played tackle in college but has shifted to playing guard in his rookie year. Despite being inactive all year, Ron Rivera has praised him multiple times publicly as someone to keep an eye on. He got his opportunity to show his development on Sunday against the Cowboys, so lets take a closer look at his performance.
Run blocking
What immediately stood out with Paul was his athletic ability. The Commanders switched to a zone scheme as their base run scheme against the Cowboys as it suits the athletic lineman they used like Sam Cosmi, Wes Schweitzer and Paul. The zone scheme requires guards to have the ability to climb up to the second level and reach linebackers and safeties, which Paul showed he was capable of.
Here are two examples of Paul climbing to the second level on the back side of a zone scheme run. On both occasions, Paul has a defensive tackle over his inside shoulder, which typically would mean he’s covered and has to block that defender, but on both occasions that defender stunts outside. Paul correctly identifies the stunt and leaves the defensive tackle to Charles Leno at left tackle before then climbing up to the second level. In the first clip he manages to get to linebacker Anthony Barr and cut him off well. In the second clip I think he makes a slight mistake with his target after reaching the second level, working back to the safety rather than going forward to the linebacker, but the point here is to show that the athletic ability is there.
Another example of that athletic ability came on an RPO (run-pass option) play.
This time, instead of climbing up to the second level, Paul has to reach across the face of the defensive tackle and cut him off. This is one of the tougher things for offensive lineman to do, but Paul manages to reach the defender and seal him off. This creates a huge hole in the defense for the running back to cut into and pick up a big gain.
Paul’s athletic ability is certainly promising, but he also managed to display some nuance and understanding of the zone run scheme.
On this play, the Commanders run a zone play to their left, but use a jet sweep fake going the other way. Paul is uncovered on his outside shoulder, which means he’s job is to climb and block on the second level. However, with the jet sweep fake, you can see how the second level defenders all fall back a gap, meaning there is no immediate threat to Paul’s outside shoulder. That enables him to be a little more deliberate in assisting Wes Schweitzer on the defensive tackle. Instead of just a quick punch before climbing, Paul fully engages with the defensive tackle to ensure the block is secured for Schweitzer to take over. He then passes that block off to Schweitzer and climbs to pick up his block as the second level defenders finally catch on to what’s happening.
There were also one or two plays where Paul showed some good adjustments on the fly.
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