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+---- Thread: *DSFL Rookie Spotlight - Eldrick Avery (/showthread.php?tid=19965)
*DSFL Rookie Spotlight - Eldrick Avery - RansackTheUniverse - 03-08-2020
With the S21 DSFL Draft now in the books, and the season being just a couple days away, I’ll be taking a closer look at the 8th round pick, Eldrick Avery, cornerback out of LSU. At 57th overall, Avery fell much further than many analysts, and I’m sure Avery himself, might have expected. An impromptu vacation for Avery led to an extended period of inactivity just before the draft, and it is possible that this played a part in where he was drafted, as many GMs were likely questioning his commitment and level of activity going forward into the season. In such a loaded draft class as this, especially with the number of talented cornerbacks in the class, activity on discord, Twitter, and the forums is a big distinguishing factor and was something that Avery lacked compared to other prospects. We will have to see what kind of shape Avery is in come game time, and whether or not the time off will lead to any signs of rust on the field.
Avery is coming off a fantastic senior season at LSU, and has the size and athleticism you would expect out of such a peospect. Avery currently has 150 TPE, and is a well rounded player, however he does seem to be focusing a lot of his training efforts on improving his speed. With a speed rating of 82, Avery will be one of the faster players in the DSFL this season. With how important speed is in the NSFL and DSFL, this should give him a great opportunity to be a standout player this season and beyond. Eldrick has a decent intelligence rating of 66. At the DSFL level, this should serve him quite well as he should be able to diagnose plays and put himself in a position to make plays. Additionally, his history as a wide receiver gives him the ball hawking instincts that a lot of defensive players simply don’t have. Avery has spent some time working on his hands since that disastrous high school season where he set the record for most drops in a season as a wide receiver, however his rating here is still just a modest 63. While this should be enough for him to snag a couple interceptions here and there, it’s still a safe bet that we’ll be seeing him drop a few picks this year as well. Avery’s agility rating of 66 is fairly average for a cornerback in the DSFL, and doesn’t do much to move the needle in either direction when evaluating Avery as a player. His final attribute of note is endurance. He has a rating of 68 which is slightly above average and should be enough for him to continue playing at a high level late in games.
Avery recently saw the field with his fellow S22 rookies in the S21 DSFL Prospect Bowl. Avery had an overall strong showing and helped lead the Houston Turtles to the semi finals, where they lost in overtime to the Tennessee Tigercats.
In game one, Avery and the Turtles were up against the Cleveland Orediggers. Avery was part of a strong secondary that only allowed 117 passing yards. On the only TD drive allowed by the Turtles, Cleveland leaned heavily on their run game, gaining 76 rushing yards on the drive. Avery was on the field for 22 coverage snaps, and was targeted 6 times, allowing 3 catches for just 22 yards. While he didn’t appear on the stat sheet very much, recoding just 1 tackle and 1 pass defensed, he covered his man well all game and didn’t allow many yards. Unfortunately this wasn’t enough for the Turtles to get the win, as they lost a low scoring game 16-14.
In Houston’s second game, Avery and the defense went up against one of the top quarterback prospects in the draft, Ben Slothlisberger. In order to advance to the semi finals, the Turtles would need to win by five points or more. Avery got off to a slow start in this one, allowing 2 receptions for 27 yards, more than he allowed in all of game one, on Slothisberger’s first two pass attempts. However after the shaky start, Avery really turned it around and had an outstanding remainder of the game. After allowing those two early receptions, Avery allowed just one more catch the rest of the game, for 13 yards on five targets. He also added 3 tackles and 1 pass defensed. Finally, late in the 4th quarter, with the Turtles up 10, the Orediggers had possession and a chance to score a touchdown that would see them through to the semis, and end Houston’s run in the Prospect Bowl. Instead, Eldrick Avery came up big with a 48 yard pick six to clinch the 24-7 win for the Turtles. Avery showed this game that in addition to locking down receivers, he can make the kind of game changing plays that GMs are looking for.
In the Turtles semi final game against the Tennessee Tigercats, Avery saw lots of action, being thrown at 11 times in 36 coverage snaps. Just by looking at the stat sheet, it would appear that Avery played a great game, allowing only 4 catches for 44 yards, while also adding 2 tackles and another interception. However, if you look a little deeper, it appears that this was likely his worst performance of the Prospect Bowl, though I still wouldn’t say he played poorly by any means. Avery lined up against receiver Mike Lee for much of the afternoon, and Lee was able to find himself open quite a few times against Avery. Unfortunately for Lee, he had several drops in the game, which was a big part of why the Tigercats QB duo was only 4/11 when targeting Eldrick. Had Lee help onto his catchable targets, it is very possible that Avery could have allowed 7 or 8 receptions on the day. On the bright side for Avery, he made another big play in the 4th quarter, intercepting an Evan Riley pass and returning it 20 yards to set up the Turtles offense with great field position. Starting just outside the red zone, the Houston offense was able to capitalize on Avery’s big play with a game tying touchdown that would eventually lead to overtime.
Overall, Avery, and the Houston Turtles defense as a whole, had a very successful Prospect Bowl. The Turtles allowed just 13 points per game, and only 3 total touchdowns. He played 88 coverage snaps across the three games. When targeted, he allowed 10 completions on 24 pass attempts for 106 yards. He tallied 4 tackles along with 2 passes defensed and 2 interceptions (one of which he returned for a touchdown) while not allowing a touchdown against. This all adds up to a QB rating of only 20.5 when targeted. Avery will hope that this trend of making big plays in the 4th quarter will continue for him this season and beyond. While this was certainly an impressive debut to the NSFL scene, he will be facing much tougher competition when he enters the DSFL, and will likely not be awarded the luxury of wide receivers dropping so many passes. Another thing to note, is that Avery was not very involved against the run game. All 6 of his tackles came on passing plays. If Eldrick Avery hopes to become a complete player in the DSFL, and eventually the NSFL, he will need to become a more well rounded player, and will need to make an impact on running downs as well.
As mentioned above, Avery was drafted 57th overall in this seasons DSFL Draft. Let’s take a look at how Avery will fit in with his new team, the London Royals. As an expansion team, the Royals needed to add players at every position in the draft. After addressing the most important position in quarterback by drafting Monty Jack with their first pick, London shifted their focus to defense. The Royals used eight of their next ten picks on defensive players, and this should allow them to field a competitive unit this season. They have a very solid front seven, led by Derred De Ville and Sandro Ryeu, but the true strength of this defense is their secondary. Led by star cornerback Cadillac Harris, this secondary will be a challenge for every offense that faces them. Joining Eldrick Avery and Cadillac Harris at corner is Ben Stackinpaper. This gives the Royals a terrific cornerback trio with all three having over 100 TPE. They will be able to field a strong nickel package, and should be able to rotate rather freely in other packages. This will ensure that Avery’s 68 endurance is more than enough. In addition to the strong corners, London drafted one of the top safeties in the class in Quinn Hughes. Hughes has 120 TPE and is joined by safety Ed Ball, who has been active since the draft and rounds out the Royals impressive secondary nicely. Having a player like Hughes at safety will allow Avery and the other corners to play aggressively knowing that if they get beat that they will still have help. Overall, Avery should fit in well with a secondary that should provide plenty of time for the front seven to get after quarterbacks this season.
As we approach the start of the DSFL season, Avery looks to be a great candidate to outperform his draft position and help lead to London Royals to a successful expansion season. It will be interesting to see Avery and the rest of this historic draft class adjust to the DSFL, and eventually try to break into the NSFL.
*DSFL Rookie Spotlight - Eldrick Avery - s4ndr0p - 03-08-2020
Such a promising cornerback unit we have here in London. And what a steal, too.
*DSFL Rookie Spotlight - Eldrick Avery - Modern_Duke - 03-08-2020
Steal of the draft right here