NFL Draft Profile: LB Zaven Collins
Could the Tulsa linebacker fill Washington’s need at the position?
Washington’s need at linebacker is obvious and wasn't really addressed in free agency. That means the team will likely look to the draft to add a new linebacker. I’ve already written draft profiles on Micah Parsons, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and Jamin Davis, but today I’m looking at Tulsa linebacker Zaven Collins.
If you want a linebacker that looks the part, Collins is the prototype. He stands at 6-foot-5, 259 pounds and is very athletic for a man of that size. The athleticism stands out when watching him too. He has very good range and can run and chase down ball-carriers from one side of the field to the other.
Here, Oklahoma State looks to run an outside zone play to the left. Collins aligns head up over the right tackle at a depth of about five yards from the line of scrimmage. Notice how he’s about a yard outside the hashmarks when the ball is snapped. As the play progresses, the runner is forced to work outside without any lanes to cut back. Collins pursues the run from the back side and shows off his range, working from outside one hashmark to outside the other as he cross the field to make the tackle.
That athleticism doesn’t only translate to range and long speed for Collins either. He has plenty of burst and acceleration too, which enables him to attack downhill when he spots an opportunity to do so.
On this play, UCF calls an outside zone run to the right. With the run coming his way. Collins should be looking to get to the outside shoulder of the left guard and fill the B gap, forcing the run back inside. However, he notices the guard working more horizontally, trying to help the right tackle secure the defensive end instead of climbing to pick him up on the second level. Collins sees this as an opportunity and goes under the block, working behind the guard in the A gap instead of getting out in front of him in the B gap. He shows off his acceleration as he bursts through the gap and into the backfield, where he makes the tackle in the end zone for a safety.
Collins isn’t just an athlete though. He makes some good reads in the run game that help him find the ball quicker than others.
This time, SMU runs a gap scheme play with the right guard pulling to the left side of the line. Collins aligns between the right guard and tackle, so has a good view of the guard pulling as the ball is snapped. He processes that information quickly and looks to work around to the other side of the line, mirroring the movement of the pulling guard. Because he’s so quick to read and process this, he’s able to work around to the other side of the line before any other lineman can work up to the second level and cut him off. That enables him to work freely to the ball and make the tackle at the line of scrimmage.
However, while Collins showed good athleticism and strong mental processing, he did struggle with his tackling in each game I saw. He often managed to put himself in great positions to make plays, only to miss the tackle.
Here’s a few examples to demonstrate his tackling struggles. On both plays we see the range and athleticism to work across the field from the back side of the play to the front side, putting himself in perfect position to make the play. Unfortunately, on both occasions, he missed the tackle.
This happened a couple of times in each game I watched. While there is a positive in the fact he’s able to get himself in positions to make the play, unless he actually makes it, it’s all for nothing. Missed tackles cannot be common occurrences in the NFL, players are too good and will take advantage of extra yards if they aren’t tackles properly.
In terms of coverage, Collins wasn't often asked to do too much in the games I watched. Rarely did I see him matchup in man coverage against a tight end or running back. Most of the time he spent working in underneath zones, which is fine for the most part. At times he displayed good zone awareness, feeling routes around him and adjusting his positioning based on those routes and the quarterback’s eyes.
On this play, UCF pairs a stick route from the slot with a slant behind it from the outside receiver. Collins is tasked with sitting underneath in zone coverage. Collins spots the slot receiver working inside towards him initially before breaking outside. Collins then gets his eyes in the backfield on the quarterback, while feeling the slant route working behind him. Collins adjusts his positioning to sink back and work more inside, trying to cut off the throwing lane to the slant route. The ball is thrown anyway and Collins can’t quite reach it despite a fully extended arm. However, he made the coverage so tight that the throw had to be adjusted for his position. The receiver got his hands to the throw, but could only tip the pass as it bobbled up in the air. Collins showed great awareness to spot the ball in the air and come away with the interception.
However, that zone awareness was inconsistent. At times he had plays like that, feeling routes work behind him and adjusting his position to close throwing windows. But there were also occasions where he failed to make those adjustments.
This is a similar play to the last one, with a stick route from the slot and a slant route behind it. Collins initially relates to the slot receiver, but unlike last time, fails to peel off the route and sink underneath the slant route. There was a window to throw the slant as the receiver cleared behind Collins, but the quarterback opted against it and went off-script.
Part of why Collins wasn’t asked to do too much in coverage is because of his pass rush ability. He showed some nice potential as a blitzer up the middle and could even line up and rush off the edge. He had a regular move that he went to when rushing off the edge, which proved to be effective.
Here, Collins works off the edge against SMU’s left tackle. His most common and effective move as a rusher was this one. He commits to working to the edge and looks to locate the outside hand of the tackle. He then reaches up with his inside arm and chops down with that hand to clear the hands of the tackle and get the edge. When the tackle attempts to replace his hands, Collins bends the edge and uses a rip move to clear the hands once more as he turns the corner. That move enables Collins to work around the tackle quickly and efficiently before closing on the quarterback for a sack.
I didn’t see a huge variety of rush moves from Collins in the games I watched, but he had plenty of success with this one. When a blocker countered it, however, he was negated pretty quickly. But he’s not an edge rusher, he’s a linebacker and this is just another string to his bow.
Overall, Collins is a solid prospect with good upside. His athleticism at his size is pretty rare and should attract plenty of interest in the draft, but my concern with him is the missed tackles and the impact he can have in coverage. I think the tackle concerns can be cleaned up with some better technique, but the coverage is still raw and needs time to develop. From Washington’s point of view, I’d think Collins at 19 is probably a little rich for me, but he’ll likely be off the board by the time they pick in the second round. He’s someone that will fit in that 25-40 pick range and could be a solid option for Washington if the team decides to trade back from 19.
Overall, how would you compare the 3, Collins, JOK, and Davis, as far as fits on the defense and, if they were to draft one of the 3 of them, which would you prefer?