All-22 Analysis: Is Max Hairston the Key Piece to Evolving the Bills' Defensive Scheme? | Film Room - The Film Room - Bills Breakdowns and Analysis

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
What's Good, folks, Welcome to another edition of the Cover
one Film Room, the show that gives you the hows
and the whys behind both the good and the bad
of the Buffalo Bills. I am one of your two hosts,
Anthony Prohaska, joined us always by Eric Turner and Eric.
We are live for the first time in a long while.
We've been doing a lot of recorded episodes, dropping them
on Mondays, doing different things. A lot of players we've

(00:51):
had in the film, so the schedule has been a
little wonky. This week a little wonky as well. The
twenty twenty five NFL Draft has kicked off. The Buffalo Bills,
unlike twenty twenty four, made a selection in the first
round of the dank God Yeah right, So everybody wouldn't
be upset for him to stay, especially you who has
to get up so early, like staying up late and

(01:11):
having them not do anything. The Buffalo Bills took Cornerback
out of the University of Kentucky Maxwell Hairston at Pick
thirty last night, and Eric, you and I will be
diving into the tape to show his pros, his cons
strengths areas of opportunities, what he means for the defense,
schematic fit, all that kind of stuff, and everybody's super

(01:31):
calm and even keel about him and our thoughts on
social media, and so everything's great. So, yeah, how you doing,
how you feel and how's it going good?

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Tired, definitely tired, staying up, you know, till like twelve
thirty one o'clock and then waking up with four, But
like you said, it was well worth it having got
to see a pick, right, You got to see a
pick and not a trade back, a trade out. And
as you said, it's maybe not the corner in Max
Harrison that we thought they would, you know, select, but

(02:00):
it's a guy we obviously targeted for the bills. We
talked about it after the combine, but we did prefer
Trey Amos. But that's okay, We're gonna dive into the bills.
Pick the strengths, the weaknesses, things that we saw, you know,
over our the course of our film study over the
last few weeks. But the draft itself, man, I don't know,

(02:21):
maybe it was just me I and it was the
lack of storylines, but I wasn't like super excited about
this draft. It was like, Okay, let's go let's go next, pick,
next pick, not just because I wanted to get it
over with, but the storylines and narratives weren't really there,
especially surrounding the Bills. I think it got exciting right
around the Steelers pick of what picked twenty one picked

(02:43):
twenty in that area just because of the possibility of
them moving up, but them not moving up and staying
put at thirty. Also was the reason why I was
kind of bummed out because Will Johnson I.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Loved the corner from Michigan.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
He was my cornerback three and I thought that was
the guy that would argument would just he would have
been a very good compliment to Christian Benford. But obviously
those medicals, yeah, were real. That wasn't smoke. You know,
every team passed on him for a reason, and because
when you looked at his film, especially compared to Harrison,
when you looked at his film, to me, it was

(03:18):
night and day who was the better player.

Speaker 3 (03:20):
So those medicals were real. That was not smoke.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
I was fully convinced that they were gonna take Will
Johnson at thirty, like I to the point that it
maybe at like nine fifteen, I went and I started
watching more Will Johnson tape and compiling all these detailed notes,
like I just I thought, I felt it it just
like you said, it just made so much sense, and
especially with someone who had such a great twenty twenty

(03:43):
three and then even a good start to twenty twenty
four before he got banged up. And I know the
twenty twenty four tape necessarily wasn't as good, and the
reasons before for four and what people were thinking, all
that stuff understood, but yeah, like the medicals just knocking
him down. I felt kind of similarly overall towards this draft.
I was like, I was excited, but maybe not as
amped up as I normally am. The one thing that

(04:04):
did keep me going though, I was sitting there thinking like,
are Harmon or Baron gonna last until Stynna? Yeah, I
was just sitting there. We got a little close, and
but also part of me too, I was like, if
Baron lasts until twenty four, trade up with Minnesota. Minnesota
has four picks, Like, let's do it. And then I
was like sitting there and I thought Denver could be
a possibility at corner and I was like, maybe they'll

(04:27):
take will Johnson. I was like, yeah, but they play
a bunch of man. Also, McMillan might not be coming
back next year, like do they view Baron as a slot?

Speaker 2 (04:33):
Like?

Speaker 1 (04:34):
I didn't know what they were thinking. And then they
took him. That hurt me a little. And then even
part of me, still in the back of my mind,
was like, are they gonna take Malachi Starks? And then
Baltimore friggin took him and I was like, oh. And
I really was sitting there at thirty thinking like, it's
gonna be Will Johnson and the part of me was
like it might be Amos and then it ended up
being Harriston. But lo and behold, yeah, none of none

(04:54):
of those things happened, aside from Max Harriston, somebody who
came on a top thirty visit with the Bill, and
the Bill stayed put at thirty and let the draft
come to them and selected Harston, who they you and
I were talking about this earlier today. Who brainon Bean
came out and said they had a first round grade
on which is you know, if a team has that,

(05:15):
xtually wear your face. If a team has that, it
picked thirty. Awesome for you, especially considering.

Speaker 3 (05:20):
A lot of other teams bypassed the first round grade
then correct.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
And also mentioning how like there wasn't a ton of
first round grades the Bills handed out this year.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Basically ten to twelve was the rumor, right, So then
at pick thirty, you know, Harriston was still first grade,
the first round grade.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
So I don't.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Necessarily buy that. I mean, he's got kind of has
to say that, and being is pretty upfront, and usually
when these type of things happen, it's not just surrounding
the draft, but other transactions and moves. He always like
throws in these little nuggets of like, yeah, we were
calling so and so team to move up. You know,
if he's one of the last guys with the first

(05:59):
round grade beans making those calls, so you didn't really
care anything about that. Maybe that's because no one asked
or led him into that, But I don't necessarily buy
that he was a first round one of the first
round grades. But it doesn't matter end of the first round.
Typically those guys have second round grades. Most of the time,
those guys have second round grades. When we talked about

(06:19):
Harriston post Combine and him being a target for the Bills,
we had him on Day two, so you know, a
lot of people are asking us today on social well,
how do you feel about that?

Speaker 3 (06:30):
Do you feel like he reached?

Speaker 2 (06:31):
And not really, because again, you guys have to remember,
a grade at the end of the first round is
not necessarily doesn't necessarily mean he's a first round grade.
And the difference between pick thirty, a guy taking at
pick thirty and a guy taken at I mean fifty
fifty five sixty. Honestly, it's not that big a gap.
It's not that wide of a margin. So it like

(06:53):
for us especially, I think we kind of more times
than not, can remove the emotion out of it. I
don't think it was necessary earlier reach. It wasn't one
of those situations where they're trying to, you know, fit
this guy into their scheme. As we'll talk about tonight,
the semantics of the conversation surrounding Harrison is interesting because
everyone just thinks he's a man cover corner. But really,

(07:16):
when you dive into the context, as we will tonight
and today, you're gonna find out that it's kind of
the opposite in that more he's more of a projection
than people want to admit, because he's played more off,
he's played more zone and a lot of his skills
in those zone plays and those schemes translate the man.

(07:37):
But he honestly didn't play a lot of men the
last two years.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
And that's part of why I you know, not to
keep bringing this conversation back, but why you know, Trey
Amos was so attractive to us. We wanted a corner
who could play more pressman and worked that in more comfortably.
Not to mention how good Amos was in zone and
what he was able to do, but there was less
projection with him. Hairston is more of that zone corner

(08:02):
with how comfortable he is in off and it makes sense, right,
Like he's got that burst and that quick twitch and
that trigger, so you can let him sitting off and
if somebody completes something underneath, he's like, okay, Like Son
at the Hedgehog, here I go and I'll close down
and you allow him to function in that way. And
it worked at Kentucky, and you know he's playing a
ton of Cover three, Oh my god, And just you know,
just so much I have did in my notes so

(08:24):
many times I keep I wrote like Cover three four
different times. I was like, I don't know why I
wrote this so much because they play a ton of it.
But even like as a cloud corner and even in
some quarter stuff, he's good. And it's more to your point.
You do see some reps of him in man and
some of his reps impressed, and you're like, okay, but
it is more of a projection. But it's a projection

(08:44):
based on his traits and his skill set. And you
see the footwork and the cleanliness there, and then you
see the fluidity and you see the burst and the
speed and the twitch and the willingness and the lack
of fear with you know, matching up against guys, and
it's like, Okay, this is a guy who could do
this thing, but he is predominantly his zone corner who

(09:05):
succeeded in especially like in a lot of off coverage,
mainly Cover three at Kentucky, and that's both in twenty
twenty three and twenty twenty four. But that's part of
the excitement too, like good spatial awareness, the ability to
collect and pass off who can do some man coverage stuff,
But to your point, it is more of a projection.
And then it is like, here's this man cover corner
that that's why I even see I saw even saw
some people comping him to kyr Elam because of his traits,

(09:27):
and it was like, no, like, Harston is much more
zone combs, yeah than Kyer was coming out of Florida.
They are not. It is not apples and apples at all.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Right, And for those that didn't get to watch our
film room of Harrison back after the Combine, let's throw
a few pointers out there and like things that we
liked about him, strengths, weaknesses, real quick. So a few
summary points that I had from my film evaluation is
a lean, lighter corner obviously smaller and build and frame
is something we talked about. The post combine has that

(09:56):
press and zone versatility press man not necessarily jam but
more of that mirror man at the line of scrimmage
soft shoes type stuff. But he does have that dynamic
coverage ability zone versus man, and he's aggressive pre to
post net posture. And what I mean by that is
a lot of times you'll see him up at the
line of scrimmage squared up and then he's gonna he's

(10:16):
gonna open up and look like he's gonna bail. He's
gonna disguise, which we've talked about it a bunch this offseason.
Disguising not necessarily just zoned a man, but also what
type of zone you know, whether it's cover two to
cover three, whether it's cover one to cover three, zone
the man, those type of things. But as you said,
smooth patient fee pretty good hand usage. Again not jam
press jam type stuff.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
But he.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yes, yes, yes, he'll open up, you know, quickly and
fluidly and then.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
Just connect and obviously he can run.

Speaker 2 (10:47):
His speed and recover speed more important than that recovery speed.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
I think it's can be very important.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
As we talk about the film tonight, excels carrying routes
down the field vertically, some very good reps of trap
technique where he's watching one and two two breaks out
he can jump it. We saw that interception against Ohio
this this past year that he took for six points.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
And then some of the things that.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
We're gonna talk about that we're getting hammered right now
on social media is the tackling. Right obviously, the frame,
but the tackling, and a lot of people rode off
the tackling when it came to Harrison because that shoulder
injury and his injuries he's had. But as we're gonna
dive in tonight and some of the film we're gonna
talk about. It's actually more more so the angles and

(11:32):
leveraging the ball than actually the the injuries that he's
incurred over the last couple of years.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yeah, I think it's it's twofold, right, just with his
size and frame and how lean he is, even if
he is at I think he reported what that he's
around like one hundred ninety two pounds right now. Now, yeah, yeah,
we'll see if he plays at that, because he played
around like one eight three four. Yeah, very much lighter, Yeah,
much lighter. So and you see that on like on tape,
like he looks like a smaller frame, lean type of guy.

(12:00):
He's not frail.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
Do you hate the pick Collar's not true, not true, but.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, you you see that leaner type of frame, and
so he's not the biggest guy, and so being more
of a leaner frame sometimes that will cause his shues
for him at the tackle point, especially against bigger bodied
guys or guys coming at him with pace. You know,
he will kind of fall off from guys at times.
But like you said, a lot of it is leverage based,
technique based angles, based. He is willing, but he's more

(12:30):
of a let me fling my body at a guy,
and you're not as sounding in the angles and the approach.
And it's that in and of itself is an ideal,
but when you combine that with being of a leaner frame,
you don't have that margin for air in your technique
or your approach. You have to be on point. You
need to be able to go chest on knee and
same foot, same shoulder and get your body into that tackle.

(12:51):
And there's a couple of great reps he has as a
tack whereas you know, fitting the run or even against receivers. Yeah,
he'll make some sticks. He's very willing, you know, and
there are some times where you'd like a little bit
more urgency when it comes to his approach as a tackler.
But it is an area of opportunity. That's that you
see repeatedly on tape, whether it was before the injury

(13:11):
in twenty twenty four, whether it was throughout the twenty
twenty three tape, And you know against a variety of
It could be a receiver, it could be down the field,
it could be by the line of scrimmage, it could
be in a run fit through the b gap or
the sea. It could be on a you know, a
toss or something that gets bounced outside. So it comes
in a variety of forms and fashions, but it does
show up with with consistency, and it's an area that
he will need to clean up. Right.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
So his tackling and mistackle rate and twenty twenty four,
according to the PFF, was twenty seven point three percent.
The prior twenty twenty three eight point two percent, and
so I think I'd say twenty twenty three is probably
closer to where his average is. I think it's probably
gonna be a little higher, especially at the next level,
especially consider who you're playing against at the next level
in that frame and the angles and leverage. Thing that's

(13:55):
going to take time to coach out of him. And
again it's not even a sure thing that you can
coach it out. But unlike some other things, you know,
this is something that is correctable. It is cultable. We're
not saying that's not attainable, but it's a very difficult
thing to change when you're talking technique. When you're talking
we talked a few times where he kind of lopes

(14:17):
and doesn't Yes, he doesn't have He's willing, but he
doesn't have that consistent want to stick his nose into
that into the box to make that tackle. And so
he'll come late and then all of a sudden the
runners on him and he's having to make an angle
tackle where he's not squaring the guy up. And then
of course with his frame, with a lack of play strength,
with his size, and again the injury played a part

(14:39):
last year.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
He's missing tackles.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
So there is there's a multitude of things that have
led to the to those mistackle rates. But again it
is cultable. Again, he's a thirtieth pick, so there are
gonna be warts, There are going to be weaknesses and
areas of opportunity for him. I think tackling angles and
leveraging of the ball is gonna be very important.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
And I will say, yes, it's culture.

Speaker 2 (15:00):
And two, a guy in Trey White had this very
same issue coming out and even later in his career.
He I mean, I always flashed back to the Giants
game when Saquon bounced it down him on a duo
run and he took a terrible angle from that that
that second to third level and Saquon scored.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
I think when when Taylor busted it or bounced out
on Duo in the regular season game gets to India
multiple times, they were just like picking on Trey out there.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yes, and so offenses at the next level are going
to test him. And we know Duo is one of
the top runs right now, and so they're gonna test
him and he's gonna have to show that he's not
only willing, but that he can execute it and make
those tackles.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
And so it is. It is coachable.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
It is something that we saw with Trey, and Trey
wasn't the surest tackler he was gonna He was kind
of a roller coaster ride too. So there is that
glimpse of hope that again, yes, he's a great cover guy.
I think that's who Max Harrison is. I think he's
a very good cover guy. I think you're gonna have
an up and down tackler and that's okay. Again, just

(16:05):
if you're making plays on the ball and doing the
cover stuff, I'm okay with that. Victor says, it's like
any other first round pick. If you're willing to put
in the work time as sacrifice to learn the pro level,
you'll have some sort of a success. It's not if
not moderate. All he needs is a chance totally. We
agree with you there, So enough of the tackling. Let's
talk about the semantics, the paradigm shift that everyone is

(16:26):
trying to They're overstating now the Bills are automatically evolving
and shifting to a man coverage defense. Okay, we led
at the top that Harrison was primarily his own corner.
Here's some numbers for you. According a PFF, he was
in man coverage only sixteen point nine percent of the
time in twenty twenty four, and in twenty twenty three,

(16:47):
his best year, he was in man coverage ten point
nine percent. So let's pump the brakes on this. You
know they're automatically shifting the man. No, he's got translatable
skills to play man blame, mirror man, to match routes,
whether it's going from zone and matching and turning into man. Regardless,

(17:07):
all those traits in everything he has physically, it does
translate into man coverage. I'm not worried about that, but
I think we need to pump the brakes on the whole.
They're going to man coverage way more. I think what
it's going to do and it's going to give them
that change up. It's going to give them the opportunity
to match up and play more man coverage against certain

(17:27):
teams because the room, the cornerback room now is a
lot more diverse because of his skill set, his speed
and things that he does well.

Speaker 1 (17:36):
Yes, he presents an element from an athletic profile standpoint
that they do not have in the corner room right
now with you. And you know Benford is a true one,
but he's not you know, the most explosive or juiced
up type of corner. Trey White is not that. Dame
Jackson is not that JaMarcus Singer is not that even
in the slot like Tarren Johnson, all pro corner now

(17:56):
to do this filled with like juice of athleticism and
all that type of stuff. Really that hasn't been their
mo aside from like Kyrie Elam, they really haven't gone
for that type of guy. It's Ben Levi and Dane
and Rasul Douglass and these guys like that. So he
is a bit of a departure, but that departure allows
them to potentially operate in more of a man world

(18:17):
or a match world or give you the confidence to
do it a little more in some high leverage situations.
The example I gave last night, and this is very
niche down, but if you're playing the Eagles, oh man,
they got Devanta Smith and AJ Brown, Like, what do
we do now? You can be like, hey, Benford, you
go with AJ Brown and Harston, you go with DeVonta Smith.
You've got the foot speed, quickness, athleticism. Guy. You've got
a bigger body guy who can battle a little bit,
even though AJ Brown is also extremely fast. Yeah, Like,

(18:39):
it gives you a little bit of mixing and matching capability,
that ability try and fight fire with fire, because if
you're gonna play man coverage at the core of that,
and you know, we talked about this on the show,
like at the core of it, it's you as a
defensive coordinator or play caller going like, my guy's better
than your guy, or my guy can match with your guy. Yes,
if not, you're not playing man. You need to play zone.

(19:00):
You need to be able to protect those guys. And
so he gives you that ability to play some man
at more man, you know, traditionally or from a match perspective,
but either way, even if they took a MOS or
the best man coverage corner ever in the draft. They
are not going to become this predominantly man coverage team.
Majority of the teams in the league all play Cover three,

(19:21):
the most majority of the teams in the league play zone.
You're not going to get that. What you might get
is more man in certain games or certain high leverage situations.
And he gives you the opportunity to do that, and
even just more confidence in playing certain sides one on
one and not getting beat over the top and not
having to shade a safety to that side. He opens
up some things schematically for you from a coverage usage standpoint,

(19:44):
but also from a design capacity in terms of how
you layer things in what you do.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
Yeah, and you're talking about, you know, the playing zone
and whatnot, and so. Over the last two years of
going to true media, he had nine pass breakup six interceptions.
Three of those interceptions where return for So here's a
coverage breakdown of those pass breakups, interceptions, and touchdowns. So
Cover three lead with four pass breakups three interceptions. Over

(20:09):
the last two years for Harrison, Cover four had two
PBUs one interception, one touchdown. Cover six zero PBUs two interceptions,
two touchdowns on that which the Bills play a lot
more cover six than they have in priory or so
that's something to keep an eye on. And then cover
one man coverage, cover one post safety, one pass breakup,
zero interceptions. So again, I think what we liked in

(20:32):
Will Johnson the off coverage ability, the trust and instincts
to make plays on the ball from off coverage.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
I think Harrison has that, yes, and a quicker trigger
and better for.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
Yes, oh yes, he's got that speed and recover speed.
And I think his speed either facet speed recover speed
is important when we're talking.

Speaker 3 (20:52):
About the Bills defense. We all off season.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
One of the reasons we like Trey Amos is a
quick game, right yeah, And we want them.

Speaker 3 (20:59):
Yes, of course, we want them to play more press.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
We want them to suffocate the receiver at the line
of scrimmage, get the quarterback to look somewhere, help somewhere
else immediately, all right. So he's got the footwork in
the speed to do that again, match and mirror at
the line of scrimmage. But more importantly, the Bills could
still play off at times and he had to trigger.

Speaker 1 (21:17):
And speed closer.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
You can still deter the quick game, whether it's hey,
quarterbacks got to move on because they're in zone. He's
an off coverage and he's got that trigger to make
a play or if the quarterback throws it, he could
take it the other way. So that is one thing
that I think is so interesting about Harrison is that
he is going to help to deter the quick game,

(21:39):
whether it's impress or off. There are many corners that
can play off and have the instincts and trust in
the in confidence in their abilities on top of the
speed and trigger to go make a play on the
ball from off coverage in the quick game. I think
he's going to help in that regard. And of course,
while there are moments where he is big bodied down
down the field where some fifty to fifty balls, some

(21:59):
backs throws, especially Georgia just turn on the Georgia tape
from twenty twenty three, Like, there are moments where he
does get bodied in those situations, more times than not
he is able to run with those guys down the
field and make plays down the field. So I like
his ability to deter the quick game, like we talked
about all of season, but also care things deep if

(22:20):
they're in cover one or a cover three that obviously
once you get.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
Down the field, if guy's going vertical, that turns the man.

Speaker 1 (22:25):
Anyways, Yeah, one hundred percent, Like it'd said, at some point,
what's the old adge? Like at some point, like all
zone becomes man like, but especially from a match perspective.
And I love that point from you in terms of
you know, kind of restricting airspace and squeezing windows and
all everything we've talked to because a lot of what
we've talked about is from more of a you know,
press man perspective. But with Hairston, and you see it
on the tape, he can just sit in off because

(22:49):
he's comfortable, like, Okay, if guys get into me and
get on me, I can turn and run with him.
And if they complete underneath, I'm shot out of a cannon.

Speaker 3 (22:56):
And I can if they double move me, I still
have the recover speed get back.

Speaker 1 (23:00):
To make a play on that as well. And you'll
see that from time to time, like it's a bit
of a you know, Yo yin and yang, Like he'll
get fooled in the stem and then he just okay,
I'll just speed turn and get back and phase and
I'm okay and You're like.

Speaker 2 (23:11):
We've had that issue with Trey White, right, that was
early on with Trey White, that is.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
But you just have to roll with that.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
You have to roll with those punches, right aunt, because
you want him making plays on the ball in the
short area, but you also want him him obviously trusting
his eyes and not taking that away from him.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yes, it's part of what we missed in twenty twenty
four from Rasul Douglas. Break it jump into jumping brakes
and jumping routes and making those plays on the ball
and having the high variance plays. That's what Harriston offers
you with that skill set. But he still can operate
in that realm of you know, Okay, you can squeeze
and shrink and restrict the underneath, but he doesn't necessarily

(23:47):
have to be in the receiver's kitchen to do it.
He can do it from an off perspective. And you
see it on the tape, and you see it from
the measurables. Eighty eight percentile broad jump, eighty seven percentile vertical,
ninety nine percentile for the forty and then the eighty
six percent out for the ten are split. The jumping
metrics aren't necessarily just like, oh, because he can jump. Well,
they're all measures of explosion. And you see that his
movements are twitch, there's burst, there is a trigger. It

(24:10):
allows him to drive and close on things quickly. But
then he's also got good spatial awareness and the ability
to collect and pass off and zone and match. One
of those you know examples here we're gonna give with
this interception here against Missouri that shows a bit of
his spatial awareness and ball skills.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Yeah, and you know this again, this is a play
we talked about a few weeks ago after the combine
and whatnot. It's a play that you know again it translates.
I talked about how often you know, he the Bills,
you know, play cover three, but also Kentucky and how
they played it and how he was able to make
a lot of plays on the ball. And it's important
when you're talking about the NFL because that is the

(24:46):
number one you said it like, that's the number one
coverage that teams like to play at the next level.
So let's see if I can get this remote to
work and we can get going here.

Speaker 3 (24:56):
All right, So real quick, we.

Speaker 1 (24:57):
Have a super chat. We got to stop Richie. They
thank you for being here, Thank you for the super chats.
Get back into the room because we haven't been live
in so long. She says, he wants to know about tonight.
He says, wide receiver tonight, question Mark, and then he says,
no chance, we go all defense, and they asks us thoughts, So, Eric,
do you think the Bills take one of their second
round picks and use it on a wide receiver? Or
maybe do you think there's a chance they try to

(25:18):
creep into round three and take a wide receiver there?
Do you think some semblance of offense or particularly wide
receiver is on the table tonight.

Speaker 2 (25:25):
Yeah, I think I think wide receiver is definitely on
the table. And again, I feel like we're being set
up to have speed on the defensive side and then
speed on the offense side. I think when they do
go wide receiver, I think, is that guy's gonna have
a speed element?

Speaker 3 (25:40):
And so, yeah, I think it is possible.

Speaker 2 (25:42):
I think it's a non zero chance, but I think
it's higher than that, and I do think it'll be
more of a speed guy when they get them. It
depends on how the board falls, but I do think
it is possible they take a wide receiver tonight.

Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, I think it's possible. I wouldn't hate it. My
votes are for defensive tackle and edge or I don't
know if if Xavier Wats is there at sixty two
or something on my defensive tackle first and foremost and
then edge at sixty two. But yeah, if Xavier Wats
or fun safety is there, that could change things up
a little bit.

Speaker 3 (26:08):
There.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Good question, yeah, good question there. All right, let's get
to some film here. So this is a again, this
is from this was two years ago, so twenty twenty three,
Cover three, bottom of the screen. I love his ability
to overlap. We talked about this with Amos as well.
So you got a post right here and then you
got another vertical and cover three you're taught to split

(26:29):
the difference.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
And you see him.

Speaker 2 (26:30):
Watch how Harriston as he gets vertical down the field,
he gets eyes across here and he sees that this
guy's dropping.

Speaker 3 (26:37):
So what does he do?

Speaker 2 (26:38):
And he peels off and goes and makes an interception
And it just so quick and easy. Most of the time, Aunt,
when this corner is open to the field like this,
you're gonna see him do one of.

Speaker 1 (26:48):
These speed turn.

Speaker 2 (26:49):
So this this turn how he does it to the
inside shows off some of that athleticism and fluidity.

Speaker 1 (26:55):
Yeah, that's a great point. Usually you'll get that over
the shoulder speed turn and try and get back and phase,
get eyes on your guy. But he slow turns here,
opens up with his right hip inside, eyes are on
the ball, takes almost like a forty five degree angle,
cuts right across, meets the ball at the high point.
The receiver even gets a piece of it a little
and so he kind of hair's the double clutch, but

(27:16):
he comes away with the interception. This one's really nice,
you know, highlighting some of that spatial awareness that we
talked about in that ability and zone. And you see
this consistently through his tape the past two years because
they run so much Cover three, I mean, Georgia through
this concept at him a ton or just trying to
run him off with a vertical and bring it a
post behind it. And so he's got that understanding and

(27:37):
that ability to understand like, Okay, this guy's going inside
or maybe someone's running a scene. You get a scene
from number two, but number one is still outside the numbers.
You have to space those accordingly based on having a
post safety in the second level underneath you. He's got
that awareness, he's got the eyes and then more importantly,
the ability to make a play on the ball once
he sees it.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
So I didn't mention it in that coverage breakdown pass
breakups interception two of his PBUs came in the red zone.
Separate coverage because things break down a little bit differently
in the red zone. But here's a pass breakup from
twenty twenty four against Louisville, tight formation ball on the
right hash. Watch how he gets again. This is just
cover three, but it's red zone cover three, So you

(28:17):
see him right here get over number one and number
one runs that corner. It's like almost like a smash
concept to the bomb of screen. And there's some separation
here on the break, but you see the quarterback again
throwing from the right hash. Here's that recovery speed and
athleticism by Harrison to get back in play, to get
back and face and then as that quarter that wide
receiver turns and looks to push off with the ball

(28:39):
company dropping in. Look at Harrison get his head around
and get a piece of that pass.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah, this one's really nice, and it's you know, you
hit everything and from the coverage standpoint in his work
in the stem, it's the reaction time for me, like,
look at the time from when he gets his eyes.
It's the reaction time plus the hand eye coordination. He
looks back, finds the ball, so he sees the receiver,
look reads the he sees him slow down, start to

(29:05):
change his body language. Okay, the ball's coming. He turns
and as soon as he gets bang, eyes are on
the ball and then hand is up and it's right
in the palmt he inflects that. Yeah, that's a really
nice job from a reaction time standpoint, a processing standpoint,
and then hand eye coordination again another example of the
ball skills you see with him. And granted he's got

(29:26):
that recovery speed and the ability to stay in phase
and be close enough to make a play on the ball,
but the reaction time here is just he gets eyes
on the bone. As soon as he does that hand
goes up and you get the swat Like that's really
really nice timing and hand eye coordination.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
One thing we're going to talk about a bunch in
this breakdown, and it's something that.

Speaker 3 (29:44):
Bruce Bruce exclusive always talks about.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
Traits give you options, the trait speed, recovery speed for
Harrison give the Bills options obviously from personnel standpoint and
matchup standpoint, but also allows him to overcome issues like
this where the some separation.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
You see it.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
He's out of phase right now. But because of everything
in totality, especially those traits that recovery speed, he's able
to make a play on the ball, doesn't panic, and
he's able to bat that down and the end zone
against Louisville. Again, traits give you options. Remember we talked
about quick game. Remember we talked about playing and being
you know, being able to make a play on the
ball from quick game. Top of the screen here off coverage.

(30:23):
Look at this speed out and how he's able to
break on it and go knock the ball down Again, speed, recovery,
speed gives you options. He's got a ton of it,
and that's why he had such good ball production over
the last two years.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
This is one of my favorite plays just because it's
in line with us wanting to take away the underneath
and take away quick game, as we talked about so
much this offseason in the film room. Like you just
mentioned a minute ago, if you're gonna throw that quick
out or even if it's a quick hitch something like that.
You need to be on time with your throw and
you need to have the arm strength. If you're slightly

(30:58):
late or you don't have enough zip on the ball,
there's a chance he's gonna pick it. Yep, yeah, house it.
Worst case scenario. He's getting there on time and then
he's sticking the guy right where it is. So a
quick out or a quick hitch, it gets caught at
three to five yards. It's a three to five yard
gain if they catch it, because he's usually right there. Now,
if he's a little late, you hope he makes the tackle.

Speaker 3 (31:18):
But and sometimes he doesn't. You're right. Sometimes he'll stick
the guy.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
But sometimes he'll just throw his body at him then
not wrap up, and then you're having Golden get up
the sideline like he did against it.

Speaker 1 (31:28):
That's exactly what was in my head. I was like
the Mathew Golden play. There's a couple of them in there.
When he just gets a little shoe string. The other
one he misses. But yeah, you see that closing ability,
that quick twitch, the ability to drive and look at
the acceleration once he sees the declaration of the throw
from the quarterback. So he's reading it there and like, okay,
the acceleration there, it's just man, Yes, for a guy

(31:50):
who isn't that big. It's not like, oh like watch
him stride it out. No, it's just twitch, it's closing speed,
it's drive. That's a great play on the ball, and
you see that into the boundary into the field side.
He has that ability to squeeze and shrink the underneath
because of that burst and that trigger.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
Here's a go to game from last year against Texas
and so you see him top of the screen. He's
pointing out the wide receiver and that tight, nasty alignment.
Normally that means one of two things, either getting a
crosser from this tighty alignment or they want a little
more space to run a similar play like you just saw.
And so one of his issues again he does bite
on double or double moves at times. So watch him

(32:28):
top of the screen. He does kind of bite pretty
hard on this. But again the recovery speed and ability
to get back in phase get back into the catch
point right there. See they're selling that kind of like
that outspeed out right there.

Speaker 3 (32:40):
He opens up.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
The guy kind of gets into his blind spot, loses
him for a second, but then look at the speed
to get back right into the guy's hip, right on
that hip, and to get there at the catch point.
Now you could argue there could have been a flag
on this one. But either way, you're seeing how teams
tried setting him up and how yeah, they may have
gotten an edge the speed his traits gave him options

(33:03):
to get back into play at the catch point.

Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yeah, just just to piggyback on the negatives, like could
have thrown a flag potentially, and if he locates the ball,
it could have been an interception interception. But the only
reason that he's able to maybe draw or commit a
penalty and or be in position to intercept the ball
is because of that recovery speed. He seems he just
catches it a little too late.

Speaker 3 (33:26):
And now this helps him a little too.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
He is trying to track the ball here and maybe
that's why the reft in it throw. But yeah, like
I said, I think you could have easily won got
an interception yourself, or you know, done a better job
of not contacting the guys field.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
I think he makes that contact and to your point,
like because he looks back like that gives you usually
it increases your odds of not getting a flag thrown.
But this sideline angle for those watching in Eric letter
roll in real time. Watch his acceleration at about the
thirty yard line.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, bang, like he just swelled.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
Yeah, he just hits the NOAs and excel rates and
it's real and it allows him to just get back
and phase. There's multiple reps in this game. He gets
fooled by I buy Isaiah Bond on one and just
pubberts like it's nothing. And you you see him here
like it's third and long. He's fooled, like he thinks
that receiver broke outside, so he peeks over his outside shoulder,

(34:19):
think like okay, like I need to speed turn and
go with this. And then he's like, oh he's not there,
but he's calm, and he's just I'll catch him. I'll
run him down. And you again, I clean that up
a little bit. Run him down, look for the ball
or located earlier. Not barrel into the guy. And you
know maybe if it's a better throw from Quinn you
or so, it doesn't it's not under thrown. He doesn't
barrel into him. But that recovery speed is just so real.

(34:40):
Oh this is a good one too. I like this one.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
Yeah, so this is from this year as well, Louisville
Bobmas Green. You're gonna see the wide receiver on the
outside run a dag around a deep dig and watch
that recovery speed. That speed, especially when teams want to
attack the bills in that intermediate area over the middle.
You need to have speed to shut these plays down,
especially with again, if you're in cover three, which this

(35:03):
is what it looks like. It's a late rotation in
a cover three and you have this guy vacating out
because it's more of that like Seattle Cover three. This
is an open area right here, especially with this guy
jumping the underneath. So the speed to get back into
this play and make a play on the ball is
very very special.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
Yeah, he's playing with outside leverage here, so you're susceptible
to that completion on the inbreaker and we see it
all the time in cover three, like especially if from
a zone perspective, you're expecting that help. You know, you're
expecting a buzz defender or hooked to curl a defender
inside of you, and like you said, that defender inside
of him, that apex defender gets pulled vertically, so he's like, oh, oh,

(35:44):
let me get on my horse and run this guy down.
And he runs him down, makes a good play on
the ball, and I like that he doesn't turn him
too much. It's just arm across, make contact, don't draw
the flag. And then the way he takes him to
the ground. This is something I noticed and it's like tiny,
but he takes guys to the ground forcefully and almost
tries to use the ground to help ensure like a

(36:05):
PBu or an incompletion, he he has one against.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
Job Yes, like he's feel it.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Isn't that what John, Butlerville the secondary coach that make
them feel it even if they even that they catch it.
Make sure you're dropping your weight on them so that
they feel it exactly.

Speaker 1 (36:19):
And you get that a lot from him, Like as
guys are going to get up, he kind of pushes
him back down or pushes off their body to get up.
There's a little bit of nastiness in him, but you
see yes, and you see it in the twenty twenty
three tape, the twenty twenty four tape. He's got one
against Bama in twenty twenty three where he like spikes
Isaiah Bond into the ground and then another one even
against the Bama as well in that game where just

(36:40):
use the ground it could create a PBu on like
a little corner route. It's it's a nice physical play
and you can see from the emotion on the PBu
like he wanted it, he felt it. But just to
have that speed to recover, especially in real time like
you're expecting one thing, something else happens, you would just
he's got the physical ability to be fluid and adaptable
in the moment, no pun intended and get a PDU

(37:01):
on the ball.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
It's funny because you reference that Alabama game from twenty
twenty three.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
That Bond was on that team. Yeah, he was on
at the crazy.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
And and that's that's great because you saw him against
that speed, which is again this is part of the
reason why being probably went and got went for Hairston
over Amos, because you know, when you go back over
the evaluations and stuff with Amos and you're comparing to Harrison,
that was there were question marks about the long speed
about you know, with Trey Amos and so obviously Harrison

(37:33):
that's not an issue. So maybe that is the trait
or the skill that being wanted and so seeing him
against Bond two years in a row, two different offenses,
that's a pretty good bromber to have, especially because the
Bills have shown a lot of interest in Bond as well,
so having especially with the speed the Bills having the afcast,
it makes sense. And here's one Bond bottom of the
screen gets Hairston turned around here, but again that recovery

(37:55):
speed man and the bathroom by yours you really allow
Harston to get back into the play. But again not
panicking and being able to get back in phase is
incredibly important.

Speaker 3 (38:06):
Again whether you're in man or zone coverage.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
Yeah, this one, this was the one that really got
me excited, like in the pre draft process, and it
might be my favorite play of his overall, just and
I think it's also a good microcosm of like who
he is, Like Okay, get fooled a little bit and
just speed turn, recover crazy, get back in phase and
then like the ball tracking, he watches it. He's got

(38:33):
it the whole way, and then what do you do,
go up high point the football, make a play on it,
like you see some of that testing show up right
there not and only in the recovery speed but there's
that vertical and a bit of the broad because he's
also jumping a little bit diagonally like he's tracking it,
gets his hands on Bond, so he's got a feel form. Okay,
where is he let me play through a little bit,
and then goes up and he gets it. That is

(38:54):
a nice explosive and athletic play on the ball in
addition to it being an explosive and athletic play in
running Bond down. And I love how Bond looks for
like the flag. It's like, no, my man, Like that's
clean as hell. You got to go up and fight
for that if you're the wide receiver. And that's what
the athletic is.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
Something he doesn't do right, You know that I could
call out well done.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Yeah, so that tracks, but look in it's such I
know we always hear the term easy speed for wide receivers,
but it doesn't even look like Harrison's straining here when
we're talking getting the full speed to track and get
back in the phase, it doesn't look like he's really
straining or trying hard. From a defensive corner perspective, this
is that easy speed. After that speed turning getting back

(39:37):
into a play and again taking a good angle to
go again make a play on the ball. I I
love this play from him again. Do I want him
to stay and phase the.

Speaker 3 (39:46):
Entire post route.

Speaker 2 (39:47):
Absolutely, But he has the ability to get back in
plays because of his speed. And at the NFL level,
there are gonna be times where your safeties are gonna
jump jump another route, or there you're double on the
backside of a solo three by one and you need
to be able to get over the top of the
post to make a play on the ball. And he's

(40:08):
got the speed to do that, and that closing speed
you see it here versus a very fast, talented wide
receiver in Isaiah Bout.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
Yeah, like, and you know, here's some practical application for it.
And this isn't I'm known by means suggesting this would
have been a guarantee. Just before anybody buites my head off.
But I think about the miscommunication between Cole Bishop and
Rasul Douglas on then Ego Collins touchdown against the Texans, Right,
Douglas thinks he has help inside from Bishop. He doesn't
because Bishop blows coverage and gone. Maybe if it's someone

(40:39):
like Harriston that recovery speed, that juice. Maybe he runs
it down after the catch, Maybe he attempts to make
a play on the ball.

Speaker 3 (40:45):
Again.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
I'm not saying that's a guarantee, but a good like,
real example of what's happened to the Bills. If there
is a miscommunication or a bus or the offense has
a good play call and pulls your help, can you
adjust on the fly? Can you recover? Do you have
the physical tools? After you read it, he does have
that the fluidity and the hips how smooth He's just
able to turn and then bang. He can just accelerate

(41:07):
with ease, like you said it, just it looks very effortless,
like he's just pressing the R one button on a
PS controller.

Speaker 2 (41:13):
Here's a rep from the Bama game. So they're bringing
motion across the formation. You're gonna see a quick switch
here and your Harris is gonna connect, immediately connect right
here in that contact window. And then once again there's
a little separation here vertically. But then as that guy
runs to the corner, looking him get back into that
hip pocket and go make a play down the field

(41:34):
again in man coverage, his eyes are on the wide
receiver the entire way again, not looking back for the ball,
makes a play at the catch point and breaks it up.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
Yeah, this is this is one of those ones I mentioned.
I really like, just gets into trail a little bit here.
But it's calm, cool, collected nose. He can run with
his man nose. He can stay with his man. Milroe
puts this ball up there, ghost Hairston, they're hand fighting
a little bit, looks back right at the last moment
and then bang his right arm punches through the hands

(42:04):
of the wide receiver. So he tries to rip through
and dislodge the ball. But watch him take him to
the ground. He just oh, like you said, puts his
weight on him, slams him to the ground. And then
look at the little the little mini clothes line on
the ground. If you notice when the receiver tries to
get up after the incompletion, he sits up a little bit,
and then Harstein kind of like close lines it back down,

(42:26):
get back down and puts you down. Yeah, that's exactly.
It's just those little those little pieces of tenacity, the
aggression and then he gets up to single the incompletion.
It again, everything with him is just juice and explosion
and the athleticism and the recovery ability to uh oh
you know. And this is also something too right, Like
a quarterback might see him initially in the stem or

(42:46):
even on the release and be like, oh, my guy's
got a step, let me put it up there, and
Hairston can erase that because he can recover and close
that space down vertically or underneath or in the intermediate
on crossers, drags in breakers, that speed, that twitch, that burst,
along with the play recognition and luidity to his game,
it matters a lot schematically in terms of what he

(43:08):
can take away right.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
And again, he didn't play a lot of man coverage,
but a lot of even a lot of these zone
cuts that were just watching you see it essentially turns
into man.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
Well, here's a good man mirror rep just to give
you an idea.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
Again, it didn't happen a lot, but there are these
reps where bottom of the screen you see how easy
he's able to get into the hip pocket of this
guy and just eliminate him. And again, it's kind of
like the last few plays where he's not even running
one hundred percent. I'd be surprised if he's running eighty
percent on a play like this. He's just attached on
the hip of that wide receiver, eliminating him in this

(43:44):
man rep and making it look very very easy.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
Yeah, you'll get these reps from him where he's able to,
like you mentioned this earlier, like he can get his
hands on a guy and attach, and once he does,
he's got the feet and the fluidity and the speed.
Just stay that's right there with them and it's over.
Like he gets his hands on you. He's calm, cool, confident,
like collected. This is this is one of those reps
where you see and you're like, okay, like, how does

(44:08):
this project if we do this more? Is he comfortable
in it? Can he do it? How this plays out,
you know, in more of a man coverage fashion and
a one on one type of snare, especially you got
a three by one he's on the backside. We know
what the Bills like to do with even if you
know they're not in single high. If it's a quarters look,
they'll they'll lock that backside and let you essentially play

(44:28):
meg coverage. You know man everywhere he goes and have
that essentially be a one on one and he's shown
a capacity for it in off coverage, but even in
this press press alignment as well, which is nice to
see it again at all. Like you said, ties back
to those traits.

Speaker 2 (44:42):
One hundred percent. Here's a Georgia game. Top of the
screen again. I Georgia gave him some issues, especially twenty
twenty three up over one hundred and twenty yards. He
gave up again a lot of was these boundary type
throws where you know you're running that leverage read okay,
if the corner's not over the top, then you know
the wide receiver is just taking it all the way
a nine. But then there are routes like this where
they just snap them off on stop routes and just

(45:03):
look how easy it is for him to the top
of the screen.

Speaker 3 (45:06):
Again, ball doesn't necessarily go there. I think it's trying
to go up the seam.

Speaker 2 (45:09):
But again, having the ability to man up on the
outside and not have to worry about that corner getting
beat deep or getting beat on. These stop routes some
of the easiest routes that you can complete at the
next level. Those stop routes are usually money, especially against
the Bills when they're playing as much off coverage as
they usually do. This type of stuff is going to
be nice to have again when the Bills want to

(45:31):
deter the quick game, but also you know, just have
this guy lock on and then they can commit the
front seven to stop in the run or whatever they
want to do. From that perspective, you can separate the
secondary from the front seven a little more when you
have guys that can man, mirror, and match, whether it's
from man coverage or zone coverage that turns a man

(45:51):
or matching coverages. Having a guy like that can really
give the defensive coordinator some options when it comes to
concepts and coverages.

Speaker 1 (45:59):
Yeah, really good call for you know, and for for
as much as we talked about like the recovery speed
and the acceleration, his his feet and his hips also
allow him to decelerate and throttle down well and like
you see it. And also maybe part of its two
to your point that you mentioned multiple times here, like
maybe he's not even really running full speed most of
the time because he doesn't need to, so it's easier

(46:21):
to slow down if you're not, you know, going one
hundred miles an hour. But you see it here, and
this is something that he flashes a good deal, Jess.
He doesn't take six or seven steps to have to
throttle down and stop. He's able to just kind of
chop chop those feet and even here like on the snap,
you know, yep, chops those feet. Okay, yep, foot fire.
Let me turn, Let me run with my man. Look

(46:42):
where his eyes are. His eyes around the hips. That's
something I really like too, when he turns and runs
with guys. He's king on those hips. I think that's
part of what allows him to stay in phase with guys.
He's not looking at shoulders, he's not looking at eyes
or the upper body. He's got eyes on hips. So
he turns here after the foot fire, eyes on hips,
just staying with his man. My man's going down. Let
me throttle down. I'll get my arm on him just

(47:04):
to maintain some contact and you know, establish some contact
and collision there, but not enough to pull him or
grab the jersey or turn him away. Stay in phase.
Make that be a difficult throw. And that was nice
to see too, especially because he you mentioned earlier, like
he gets beat on some back shoulder throws, especially against
bigger guys, whether it's the time you're getting run by.
But that's a clean up thing from a technique perspective,

(47:27):
you know, he's got the tools and traits to to
operate in that world. Just got to be more consistent
with it. But it's nice when you see him, you know,
be able function in that way.

Speaker 3 (47:35):
So let's talk about obviously, the tackling.

Speaker 2 (47:37):
We talked about some of the issues, whether it's the
angles and the leveraging of the ball. We went back
and looked at pretty much all of the tackles misstackles
from him and just to kind of point out, you know,
what the context is and why it's happening, because it's
not just because he was injured in twenty twenty four.
So top of the screen, this is obviously the I

(47:58):
think it was the last game of the last game
of the year for them.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
Here he is top of the screen. You're gonna see
him on third down.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Here, come up the field and again the runners up
the field already and he's still outside leverage here and
just is not able to make the tackle in the
hole and that runner gets a touchdown here. These are
the type of things that happen a bunch, whether the
running back is getting up inside and then bouncing the
ladder where he goes like this and then bounces outside,
or as you'll see in a minute bouncing outside, getting

(48:24):
the perimeter and he's not able to make the tackle.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
But right here, this is what he does.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
He doesn't properly fit up the runner, he doesn't properly
leverage the runner, and then it's arm tackles, which again
with a guy his size and lack of strength, it's
gonna be difficult to make arm tackles at the next level.

Speaker 1 (48:40):
Yeah, he gets caught lunging, and it's like you said,
you can't afford that because you have a small you
have small margin for error. And this is a very
applicable scenario to what he's going to see in the NFL,
Like teams are going to try in you know, it's
more of a true gap scheme run here with the
polar pt. I could see teams wanting to run duo
against the Bills and leaving him as that unblocked defender.

(49:02):
And whether it cuts up inside or it bounces like
James Cook likes to do on duo, there's teams that
are going to try him and be like, Okay, who's
the weakest in theory, you know, tackler on this team.
It's that outside corner. Let's leave him as the block
guy and see if he can go one on one,
and you see it. You saw multiple times against Texas,
you saw it there against Louisville. You have another example
here against Georgia. When he is that like outside force

(49:25):
and fit player, he gets caught kind of in between
of forcing it back inside or being in position to
make the tackle. The leverage and angles to the ball
are what do him in more so than his size
and frame, even though it is connected to the size
and frame, because he has a small margin for air.

Speaker 2 (49:41):
Yeah, whether he's coming down and taking a bad angle initially,
or he's coming down lay and he probably lost the
runner here a little bit. Yeah, But at the same time,
you have the recovery speed, you have the ability to
stay square and get square even as this guy is
bouncing outside. He doesn't and now he's trying to make
an angle tackle instead of a square tackle. And that
guy kind of gets a little stiff arm, and now
he's able to get up the field for more yardage.

Speaker 3 (50:03):
Again, it's the angles. It's the leverage or lack thereof
that lead to a lot of his tackles. It's not
the shoulder.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
Here's one from twenty twenty four that we're gonna give
him credit for, like they're a play. You can't just
look at the context of bad plays and say, oh,
he's a bad tackler. He had that what twenty seven
point three percent mistackle rate because of a bad shoulder,
especially if five of those misstackles came in the last
two games after the shoulder injury.

Speaker 3 (50:27):
Okay, may that may be true. It was a factor,
there's no doubt.

Speaker 2 (50:30):
But I also give him credit for sticking his nose
in there and making that tackle against Texas. We see
it here on the boundary to the right side of
the screen, right, Anthony, We give them, give them credit
for making these tackles here along the boundary saving a touchdown. Well,
then why am I not gonna criticize him and critique
him when he's got an open field tackle here against

(50:51):
Golden and he's getting juked.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
Right there out of his draws for a big play.

Speaker 2 (50:56):
So context, you gotta show it, You gotta paint it
to pant that picture when the when the good players happened,
but also the bad plays. You can't just erase the
mistackles and and and brush it off because of a
shoulder injury or whatever. Injury, Like you have to still say, hey,
you know what, yeah he had a shoulder injury, but
look he was making some good tackles, you know, some

(51:17):
good plays along with the bad plays.

Speaker 1 (51:19):
I think the Texas the Texas game is a good
one because there is it's posts that injury and there's
some you know, regrettable tackle attempts, but there's also some
really good ones against Golden, against Jayden Blue out in space,
and again I think that just speaks to the inconsistency.
And it also a lot of these all highlight too. Oh,
this is the one against Blue and beautiful. It highlights

(51:42):
his willingness. He is not an unwilling tackler. He's not.
Again we talked about there are sometimes where he loafs.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Or he could use some more urg his shoulder there.

Speaker 1 (51:50):
Yeah, right, Like that's that's the one I think of,
Like he's always fine here to just absorb this contact
and bring down Blue, install him there. It's it's not
for a lack of willingness. Yeah, it is very it
is very nice, and he is willing, which is what
I think is exciting about the coachability aspect, because it's
not like he's disinterested as a tackler. So if you
sit there and think like, okay, can we coach this

(52:12):
guy up, well, we have a coaching staff that preaches
tackling in the secondary, coaches those guys up well. And
we have a guy who shows some flashes, but just
as inconsistent in his angles, in his approach and needs
to be fine in those areas because of his frame
and everything that comes with that. And again here's another
one too, Like little route out here in the flat.
He'll do this against running backs. He will see this,

(52:33):
he will trigger and look where he is here again
formed up, shoulder into his chest, he brings his whole body.
His body is coming into contact. He's able to square
it up and drive. But you see we talk about
that quick trigger and closing down space against the pass earlier.
It shows up there. Here's another example, but just a
route from the backfield, almost essentially like an extended run play. There.

(52:55):
He's got the willingness, he just has to clean some
pieces up.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
Yeah, and again we're just trying to flesh out the
context of the mistackles and just show you guys that
he is willing he can do it. Yes, the injury
played a factor, but again you have to be able
to flesh out. Okay, what's the reason for the miss tackles?
Is it because he's late to the play bad angles?
There are different reasons why he's not fitting up these
runners properly. Here's another one where he just whiffs right

(53:20):
there in the open field and that guy's able to
pick up the first down. So it's funny because you know,
we're breaking these down on social media and we're taking
a lot of heat for this. The guys are like, oh,
you're going back all the way to twenty twenty three
to look at some of his negative players. I'm like, well, yeah,
we're trying to figure out what's the actual issue here.
You see him right here again just missing that tackle
and just whiffing, dropping his head and not fitting up

(53:43):
the runner properly. These things happen again.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
It's funny though, you get we get those comments, but
nobody's given us flak for showing his interception against Missouri
from twenty twenty three. But we're going back and showing
a mistackle from twenty twenty three, and now we're doing
too much work to showing negatively.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
Right right right right, No, it's interesting. I again, he's
not the guy we would have liked to be chosen.
But again we're just we're obviously not in the building,
but we are going off of what we think they
want to do defensively, schematically, long term, and we can easily,

(54:18):
as we've shown you, we can rationalize why they like him.
We can also show you why we didn't like him
as much as we like Trey Amos. And so it's
okay and we can show as long as we show
our work, and we always do here in the film room,
and that's why we appreciate everyone joining us today. It's
all part of the profile, no doubt, yes, the good
and the bad. And so we showed you why you know,

(54:42):
we do like him, why we do think he's a
good fit, and why we do think he will help
and could help the Bills evolve their defensive scheme a
little bit as far as pretty quickly, honestly, with his
skill set, if he can beat out Trey White and
others there at the cornerback two position.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Yeah, I am interested for the athletic profile. It's something
that we've been clamoring for, you know, having more athleticism,
having juice, and the Bills tried it a bit more
with Kyrie Elam, But like we talked about, the sliders
were just pushed too far towards the traits. There wasn't.
It wasn't oh, the traits plus the coverage familiarity, there
was not that and hairstein.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
And I'm sorry let me interrupt you real quick too,
because it's we said, hey, this mistackling some of the
double move stuff, you know, the bad angles and leverage
and all that stuff. You know, it is coachable. You
can rectify that, you can coach that out of him.
But a lot of those same things were said about
Kyrie Elim and him him learning zone coverage and him

(55:43):
learning zone coverage techniques. Yes, and I will say, having
spoken with players and coaches on the team, the technique
stuff was that was the hurdle that really didn't allow
Kyer Elam to flourish in the Bills defense. And so, yes,
it is coachable the stuff we talked about for Hairston

(56:05):
and the areas of opportunity.

Speaker 3 (56:07):
But again it's not guaranteed.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
That's the huge part of it. And that's with every prospect, right,
like nothing, no prospect is a surefire thing. It's not
an exact science that's why guys get things wrong all
the time and why every single draft pick isn't a hit.
But that's it in a nutshell. Is oh, that can
be coached up or this can be worked out? That
is one thousand percent true. Will it be coached up?
Will it be ingrained in that player? Will they take

(56:30):
it and learn it and put it into practical application?
Those are two different things. Like there are a lot
of projections and a lot of you know, hopeful things
that can be said. It's something else entirely to be that,
which is why you kind of balance things out. Like
you take someone with a higher athletic profile and you say, well,
imagine what this player could be, and do you take
that guy or do you take the other guy at

(56:51):
the position who isn't as sexy but has more of
a known quantity and you know what you're going to get,
And you know, like, hey, this player can do A,
B and C. He can't do D through J, but
you know what he does these three or four things
really good. Or he could take the guy who does
A really good and could do maybe B through Z
and then wow, imagine if you could do all those things.

(57:12):
But it's more of a projection, there's less known quantity,
and that's evaluation in a nutshell. That's why Shamar Stewart
from Texas A and M was such a polarizing guy.
Everybody's like, Wow, look how this guy moves. Look at
the length, the speed, the explosion. Look at the lack
of production, the lack of you know, understanding and diagnosis
and king and iding on tape, like which do you value?

(57:32):
And if you can tap into what he can be,
you have an amazing pick. But if you can't, then
you're sitting kind of dead in the water because you
burn a first round pick on a guy who might
not be able to play football. And that's, like you said,
evaluation in a nutshell. And what we want to do
here on the show is talk about that and put
the whole picture together. If we showed you just the good,
that's dishonest. If we showed you just the bad, that's

(57:53):
also dishonest. So we show you the complete picture, the pros,
the cons, the how is, the whys, the good and
the bad. We say it in the intro every week. Yeah,
I guess I just wasn't expecting so much anger from everyone.
Yeah enough for a guy who we didn't like hear
a lot about from filans, like I could have understood
if like the Billster Kenneth Grant, and we were like,
we don't love him, and everybody yelled at us. But

(58:14):
like I feel like a Harrison wasn't a guy that
was championed by the fan base, and then they took
him and we were like, well, he's got some things
to work on, and everybody was like, how dare you.

Speaker 2 (58:23):
Yeah, it's been interesting the blowback, but I feel like
that comes with the territory when we're talking about some
of the critiques, the negatives, the areas of opportunity because
as fans, regardless of who they take, more times than not,
you're you're hopeful, you believe that they can do this,

(58:43):
they can do that, and good coaching will minimize, you
know X things that he has going on that are negative.
So and I agree, I do think that the upside
here is he he does have a pretty high ceiling,
but he also everyone has to admit that his negatives
are a lot of things that this regime consistently tells

(59:06):
us you have.

Speaker 1 (59:07):
To be able to do, which is very interesting. That's
a huge interesting point.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
Yes, I mean, when you ask McDermott or being about
the Bill's defense specifically corners and what traits they want
to have and what skills they need to have.

Speaker 3 (59:22):
Tackling is number one. So that's why I think.

Speaker 2 (59:26):
When we're grading and evaluating for the Bill's defense, I
think that's why we probably had other guys higher than Harrison,
because that is a premium trait that they have conveyed
to us over the years that matter to them. But again,
maybe some of that shifts, not just necessarily going to
more man coverage, but again using it in specific situations,

(59:49):
high leverage moments, certain games, certain matchups. Sure that may
be the case, but if they're playing a lot more
Cover three and they're playing a lot more Cover one,
so single high safety looks, the traits that Harrison has
are could be very beneficial to the Bill's defense. Again,
and that's the paradigm shift. It's not just from zone

(01:00:10):
to man. It's more of hey, less two high, more
one high, and you have guys on the outside you
can trust to deter the quick game, but also carry
routes down the field.

Speaker 1 (01:00:21):
And that's a huge piece with talking about the run game,
where we talked about how they've been displaced on the
interior times and you like so many folks are Okay,
let's get that big bodied one tech. Let's get the
guy who can come up the works. We know they
like more like three down players and guys who can
rush the quarterback. But those guys tend to get displaced
a little bit more against the run. So what can
you do to balance that? You can just have more

(01:00:42):
numbers in the box like they did last year, whether
it's pre or post snap. The Bill's best way to
defend the run was gapping out and having numbers to
be able to win the run. And you can do
that more confidently if you've got two corners on the
outside that whether it's zone or whether it's man or again,
like we talked about, even if it's cover three times,
those one on one outsides are just going to present
like a man anyway, even if it's a quote unquote

(01:01:04):
zone coverage. If you've got guys on the outside that
can live in that world and you're confident of kind
of putting them on a quote unquote island, you can
load the box with numbers and then you don't have
to worry about getting displaced as much. And maybe gear
yourself more towards the pass rush, and you can win
on early downs with numbers and then get into third
and long and take advantage of them all because you
have this player who has the skill set to allow

(01:01:27):
you to operate in that schematic world. It's all these
positive domino effects and pieces and tying the trades with
the skill set, which is I think part of the excitement,
part of the high ceiling with Hairstin. But it is interesting,
not in a negative way or even in a positive way.
We've heard McDermott especially, but even being too you got
to tackle the cornerspot to spot even too. It's funny.

(01:01:49):
It's so not the vacant personal but even it's so funny,
Like I like a Santa Samuel Junior. He's got similar
tackling issues where he's very willing but angles to the
ball and his smaller frame having struggles. He was one
of my free agent targets with the Bills, and I
had so many people who are like, can't take him,
can't tack they can't ask, But the same people love Parson.

(01:02:09):
It's not an issue. I'm like, ohn understand. It's if
it's one and and everybody knows how important that trade
is to them or that skill set piece, which I
think makes this really interesting. And then banking on someone
else and accepting it a little more because maybe yes.

Speaker 2 (01:02:24):
Crushing it off because he was injured. That's what we're
trying to paint tonight. And again, hey, we're fans too,
but we also have to put on our analyst cap
and and be honest about the player.

Speaker 3 (01:02:34):
And I hope that we did that for you guys today.

Speaker 1 (01:02:37):
Yes, we hope you folks enjoyed this episode. This daytime
recorded episode of the Cover one film Room that was live.
We haven't been live in a while. We haven't done
an afternoon episode. It's been a bit of a wonky time.
We will be doing another episode tomorrow that will be
dropping of the day. Two picks that happened tonight might

(01:02:58):
just be picked. Fifty six and six too might be
an added third that they get. So whoever the bills take,
however many players the bills take tonight Friday night, Eric
and I will be breaking them down in the film room.
That will drop tomorrow, Saturday, April twenty sixth. And yeah,
we hope you folks enjoyed this episode. Please stop yelling
at us everywhere. Hairston's fine. There's just things he has

(01:03:21):
to clean up, just like there's things that are really
fun that make him a fun pick and an interesting pick,
and a positive one potentially for the future, both in
the short and long term. So we hope you folks
enjoyed this episode. If you did, please, if you're here
on YouTube, whether watching live now or watching later, please
please please think you drop alike on this video. It's
hugely important to the algorithm. It helps us track and
trend in front of more eyes and ears. So if

(01:03:42):
you like this episode, you like the content, please drop
alike on this video here on YouTube. Turn on notifications
for the Film Room playlist here on YouTube. Check out
the Cover one channel and all the varieties of content
we have for you folks pretty much every single day
of the week in various forms and fashions. If you're
listening on one of the audio platform that's cool too,
Please rate, review, and subscribe to the Cover One film Room,

(01:04:05):
and word of mouth is also tremendously helpful. Tell your family, friends,
loved ones about the show, about the brand, about the channel,
if they love the bills, if they just love football, whatever,
you know, they're poison is when it comes to football.
We like to think that we have them or we
have that for him here on this show and with
the brand Eric, any parting words or thought.

Speaker 3 (01:04:23):
Yes for real question to stand by one second copy that.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
Eric, Oh, I would say, somebody notices, somebody noticed this earlier.
Somebody shouted this out earlier in the chat, which was
super cool.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
Hey, this is all because of you guys, Like, honestly,
we appreciate this so much. You know, hitting one hundred
thousand was crazy. Did not expect this awesome. Obviously everyone
at the network had a hand in this, and we
think all of you guys, whether you're subscribers, whether you're
just tuning in today. As Anthony said, you know, we're

(01:04:55):
a small independent company and we're niche down we're niche
with Bill's content, all right, and to hit this number
is mind blowing to me when I started this company
and you know, back in twenty seventeen. So I'd just
like to say thank you guys for that type of support.
It's very humbling and we appreciate it, and not just

(01:05:16):
thanks to you know, everyone that's pitched in, you know,
as far as subscribing and sharing and commenting and helping
us with the algorithm, but also guys like Anthony, guys
that are grinding at cover one to get us to
that number. That's pretty remarkable and so thank you to
everyone for helping us reach that milestone.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
Yeah, just a crazy, crazy accomplishment. Yeah, see the journey
of the brand and even just the growth in the
last year or so overall, especially here on YouTube. Yeah,
it's been unreal. And the support from all you folks whatever. Again,
it might seem like the tiniest thing, but even if
you just tell someone like, oh, yeah, I was listening
to this podcast where I was watching this, or you know,

(01:05:54):
you know what's a cool thing you should check out,
it could be you could say the Twitter one of
the Twitter handles. You could say a show and episodes something.
Every little bit matters so much to us as we
as I cough up everything you're holding Eric.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
No, like Anthony said, like, we couldn't do a lot
of this stuff without you, you know, our insiders, especially
that sign up to become you know, premium subscribers, to
help us with the technology, with the telestrator, all the film,
all the memberships, like the in depth content that we
provide for you.

Speaker 3 (01:06:26):
We could.

Speaker 2 (01:06:26):
We couldn't do it without our insiders paying for our
premium content in our Discord channel and server, you know,
giving us ideas for shows and topics for shows, things
to cover things that you guys as fans want a
lot of our ideas and are you know, motivated and
driven by you guys. And again, you know, to hit
that accomplishment on YouTube. Everything kind of funnels through YouTube.

Speaker 3 (01:06:48):
So again, the.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
Smallest, smallest little donation of hey, telling your friend about
this show or telling about our network, it goes a
long way. It's all connected and uh, you know, just
totally totally appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:02):
I'm behalf of Cover one. We thank you yes so much.

Speaker 1 (01:07:05):
Absolutely. I was gonna make this joke and tight and
made it for me. He was like Amazon choked up.
I was like, somebody's gonna edit this to make it
seem like this got all emotional.

Speaker 2 (01:07:13):
And I just like, oh, when I see this, I
always think of like the mask where he like does.

Speaker 3 (01:07:17):
That little moment he's like you love me really?

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
Yeah? Then you're getting choked up there. I was like,
this kind of like a perfect moment.

Speaker 1 (01:07:23):
But you know, I was waiting for I in my head.
I was like, he's gonna edit this together like he
did of all my smiles with the Michael Wade. I
was like, that's exactly what's gonna happen. But yeah, absolute
and huge and tremendous. Thanks for from us to all
of you, whatever roll or part you play, It's massive
and more than you think, so thank you very much
for all of that. We hope you folks enjoyed this

(01:07:45):
episode of the Film Room. Tune in again tomorrow for
our next breakdowns of everybody the Bill's take on Night two,
which is rounds two and three of the NFL Draft.
We have live coverage on the brand the Air Rate
Hours going live again tonight, have coverage of that with
some other friends and folks who will be joining in
and making appearances. So check that out and yeah, that'll

(01:08:07):
do it for us here in this episode of the
Film Room. For myself, Anthony Prohaska, for Eric Turner, the
godfather and founder of Cover one. We hope you enjoy
the rest of your Friday. We hope you enjoyed this
episode and enjoy your night, enjoy the draft, and we
hope you and your family and friends and loved ones
are all doing well. And staying safe. Be kind to
one another, take care of one another. We will see

(01:08:29):
you when we see you, which is hopefully and probably tomorrow.
Until then, godspeed, and as always go Bills,

All Episodes

All-22 Analysis: Is Max Hairston the Key Piece to Evolving the Bills' Defensive Scheme? | Film Room

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}All-22 Analysis: Is Max Hairston the Key Piece to Evolving the Bills' Defensive Scheme? | Film Room