Recently, linebacker prospect Kevin Cushing has enjoyed a spike in draft stock as a “versatile” linebacker who can also play safety. Some of this is, as a representative of the media, our fault. Articles started coming out shortly after he declared for the draft, where we went over his potential and the weak draft class at his position. Since then, mock drafts have started raising him higher and higher. Last week, Football Insiders released a mock draft where Cushing was mentioned as a guaranteed second round pick. Based on the buzz about him and the multiple visits he’s made around the league, this is still likely accurate. However, teams expecting a star linebacker from the soon-to-be rookie will be greatly disappointed. Sim Football Focus decided to dedicate this article explaining why.
At the end of last season, each linebacker in the league was graded from 1-100 in strength, agility, tackling ability, and speed. We started by combining the 9 linebackers in the league who passed the “dedication threshold,” based on time spent in the gym, after practice, etc.* Here were the average scores in those areas:
Strength: 70.0. The highest of the nine was Stephen Harrison, who came in at 77. The lowest score was a 56 (belonging to speed rusher Brady Stropko), which was the only score below 70 on the list. Cushing, for sake of comparison, comes in at a 52.
Agility: 66.2. The highest score in this category was a 71, shared by Alexander Selich, Hariff Ernston, and Wyatt Fulton. The lowest score was a 56 from Ian Bavitz, whose combination of speed and size makes sharp cuts a bit trickier. Cushing was graded here at a 68, above average, which makes sense for a former safety. However, given that he was barely more nimble than linebackers, we wonder if being moved from safety was due to a stacked secondary, as he claims, or inability at that position as well.
Tackling: 71.3. The highest score was a 78 from Lindarius Shelton. The lowest was a 60 from Hariff Ernston. The third-lowest score was a 70. Kevin Cushing came in at 58.
Speed: 75.9. The highest was an 83 from Brady Stropko. The lowest was a 70 from Alexander Selich. Cushing only scored a 74. Remember, this is a former defensive back who supposedly makes up for his lack of strength and tackling form with the speed and shiftiness you’d expect from a former DB. We’re not seeing it.
Adding all the scores together, Cushing comes in 31.4 points shy of where next year’s likely best players were last year. They’ve undeniably gotten better since then in such a young league. In our opinion, Cushing has no chance of competing with the top half of NSFL starters.
One might argue that, as a rookie, Cushing doesn’t need to be at that level on week one, and simply needs to perform at a basic starting level. In order to determine whether he could at least do that, we then averaged the scores for the top 18 starters last year to see how he’d compare to ALL the players on the field.
Strength: 67.6
Agility: 65.7
Tackling: 69.6
Speed: 72.8
As one would expect, the league as a whole isn’t as capable, but the difference just isn’t that great. Cushing still comes in 23.7 points lower. Our assessment is that not only is Cushing not ready for NSFL greatness, he simply lacks the physical ability to compete at the pro level at all.
((*OOC Explanation: I used the 9 LBs who had bought gloves. As run blocking and pass blocking have no value, and hands appear very unimportant among S1 LBs with an average score of 32.8, this seemed a decent indicator of who was doing everything they could as opposed to just looking at TPE))
((636 words, ready for grading. Some stats were intentionally left out in order to push an agenda, so I put this in general media instead of stat analysis. If someone wants to use the rest of the stats in a meaningful article, feel free))
GRADED
At the end of last season, each linebacker in the league was graded from 1-100 in strength, agility, tackling ability, and speed. We started by combining the 9 linebackers in the league who passed the “dedication threshold,” based on time spent in the gym, after practice, etc.* Here were the average scores in those areas:
Strength: 70.0. The highest of the nine was Stephen Harrison, who came in at 77. The lowest score was a 56 (belonging to speed rusher Brady Stropko), which was the only score below 70 on the list. Cushing, for sake of comparison, comes in at a 52.
Agility: 66.2. The highest score in this category was a 71, shared by Alexander Selich, Hariff Ernston, and Wyatt Fulton. The lowest score was a 56 from Ian Bavitz, whose combination of speed and size makes sharp cuts a bit trickier. Cushing was graded here at a 68, above average, which makes sense for a former safety. However, given that he was barely more nimble than linebackers, we wonder if being moved from safety was due to a stacked secondary, as he claims, or inability at that position as well.
Tackling: 71.3. The highest score was a 78 from Lindarius Shelton. The lowest was a 60 from Hariff Ernston. The third-lowest score was a 70. Kevin Cushing came in at 58.
Speed: 75.9. The highest was an 83 from Brady Stropko. The lowest was a 70 from Alexander Selich. Cushing only scored a 74. Remember, this is a former defensive back who supposedly makes up for his lack of strength and tackling form with the speed and shiftiness you’d expect from a former DB. We’re not seeing it.
Adding all the scores together, Cushing comes in 31.4 points shy of where next year’s likely best players were last year. They’ve undeniably gotten better since then in such a young league. In our opinion, Cushing has no chance of competing with the top half of NSFL starters.
One might argue that, as a rookie, Cushing doesn’t need to be at that level on week one, and simply needs to perform at a basic starting level. In order to determine whether he could at least do that, we then averaged the scores for the top 18 starters last year to see how he’d compare to ALL the players on the field.
Strength: 67.6
Agility: 65.7
Tackling: 69.6
Speed: 72.8
As one would expect, the league as a whole isn’t as capable, but the difference just isn’t that great. Cushing still comes in 23.7 points lower. Our assessment is that not only is Cushing not ready for NSFL greatness, he simply lacks the physical ability to compete at the pro level at all.
((*OOC Explanation: I used the 9 LBs who had bought gloves. As run blocking and pass blocking have no value, and hands appear very unimportant among S1 LBs with an average score of 32.8, this seemed a decent indicator of who was doing everything they could as opposed to just looking at TPE))
((636 words, ready for grading. Some stats were intentionally left out in order to push an agenda, so I put this in general media instead of stat analysis. If someone wants to use the rest of the stats in a meaningful article, feel free))
GRADED