Film Room: Eric Ebron and His Unique Role in The Colts Offense

GM Chris Ballard’s 2018 free agent class hasn’t necessarily been super impactful. WR Ryan Grant and LB Najee Goode have look solid in their roles Indianapolis Colts Womens Hoodie , but OT Austin Howard was a big failure that was cut before the season started. The biggest bright spot appears to Eric Ebron. Some believe that Ebron has been an underachiever to this point in the NFL. After the Lions drafted him 10th overall in 2014, they allowed him to test free agency. After drawing interest around the NFL, Ebron chose to sign a two-year deal with the Colts. He was likely added to the roster to fill the second TE role behind Jack Doyle, for use primarily as a receiving weapon.Through two games, Ebron has notched 77 yards on 7 catches for 2 touchdowns. The stats don’t scream productivity but when you factor in the fact that the Colts offense has been limited by an injured offensive line, and that Ebron has only played 37% of the offensive snaps (54 of 143 possible snaps), he is off to a strong start in Indianapolis. He is on pace for 56 catches for 616 yards and 16 touchdowns. The touchdown production will be hard to maintain but he is easily on pace for the best season of his career. Since there is limited tape available with Ebron’s small number of snap counts, there won’t be too many clips in this film review. My main focus here is to show the way that Ebron has been used in the offense and how the scheme could open up more opportunities for Ebron moving forward:Film Review:Lets look back on Eric Ebron’s career. He was a top 10 selection after a dominant collegiate career at North Carolina. In college, Ebron had 112 catches for 1805 yards and 8 touchdowns in 3 years as a starter. He cemented his status as a top selection in the draft with a 4.6 40 time and 120” broad jump at the combine. While he showed plenty of flashes with Detroit, he could never put together a good overall season. Inconsistency showed in his stats and even his best season with the Lions was 61 catches for 711 yards and 1 touchdown in 2016. Despite the poor numbers, Ebron flashed potential.Ebron’s hot start with the Colts should be credited to how he has been schemed into favorable match-ups. The Colts offense has focused on quick hitters and crossing route concepts to help create separation for receivers. Ebron has benefited from these concepts but HC Frank Reich and OC Nick Sirianni have also shown trust in Ebron on isolation routes with favorable match ups.Take this this play against the Bengals. They appear to be in man coverage, which Luck is able to diagnose by motioning Nyheim Hines out to the receiver spot. Ebron is matched up with rookie linebacker Jordan Evans. Luck never takes his eyes off Ebron as he is able to easily beat the linebacker for a touchdown. Excellent play design by Reich and Sirianni to get that favorable matchup.This next play again shows Reich’s scheme at work. Ebron is isolated at the bottom of the image against Redskins’ safety Montae Nicholson. Knowing that Nicholson has the height and speed advantage on Ebron, the play calls for a natural pick on a crossing concept. Ebron is able to create separation by extending his arm to ensure that Nicholson runs into the T.Y. Hilton’s pick. Excellent design again by Reich as this is a genius way to scheme open one of your better players.Lastly, this play shows growing trust from Andrew Luck. Ebron is matched up with Nicholson with on a goal line fade route. As I mentioned earlier, Nicholson has the advantage on Ebron in height and speed. Ebron is able to release after the impressive jam and work his way up field. This is a pure trust throw by Luck (perfectly placed I might add) to give your guy a chance. Ebron is able to win the 50/50 ball here. Analysis:At this point in his career Womens Customized Indianapolis Colts Jerseys , Ebron may be what he is. A solid receiving tight end who can win isolated match-ups. The main reason Ebron didn’t work out in Detroit was because he was being asked to do too much. He will never be a Rob Gronkowski who can catch balls in double or triple coverage. He’ll never be a Jordan Reed or Travis Kelce who can beat you with receiver-like route running. He can win is in isolated, favorable match-ups.This attribute makes Ebron a near perfect fit for Reich’s offense. The offense doesn’t ask players to be world beaters. It asks players to play their role and make the most of their opportunities. In this offense, Ebron will get the opportunity to be a successful NFL tight end. He may also be able to provide a big spark in the red zone.My biggest takeaway is the amount of trust the Colts have in Ebron at this early of a stage. Three of Ebron’s seven catches have come on third down. He’s also been getting targets in or around the red zone, which is arguably the most important area of the field for an offense.After scoring a touchdown in a second consecutive game, Frank Reich commented, “at the end of the day, I’d probably like to get him the ball a couple more times than we did.” If true, we could see an increase in snaps and usage going forward. In my eyes, if Eric Ebron can stay healthy, this will be his best season of his NFL career.Colts’ Rookie Linebacker Darius Leonard is a Rising Star It’s been several years since the Colts had a star on defense. Their last true star on the defensive side of the ball was Robert Mathis in the early years of the Luck era. Sunday’s game might have been the coming out party for the Colts’ new defensive star: linebacker Darius Leonard.Leonard’s 18 tackle, 1 sack and 1 forced fumble performance led the way for what was a very impressive performance from the Colts defense that didn’t allow 1 touchdown and completely shut down the Redskins running game. The Colts defense didn’t allow a touchdown for the first time since 2016 and for only the second time since 2014. To do it on the road was even more impressive. Leonard was the player of the game for the Colts today, stepping up in several spots. The 2018 second round pick has been impressive for most of training camp and preseason, displaying very good instincts and closing speed. While Leonard played at an FCS school (a level below FBS where most draft picks are chosen from), his game film was too good to ignore. He has very high-end physical traits and was very athletic for his size. Leonard delivered a huge hit in the 2nd quarter that was initially ruled a fumble but overturned. The tackle showed that he can pack a punch and knock the ball loose without having to strip it. He has very good strength that was on display throughout the game. At the end of the 3rd quarter, Leonard made a very impressive play http://www.indianapoliscoltsteamonline.com/darius-leonard-jersey , coming down hard, engaging a block, shredding it off and closing a hole that the running back was about to exploit. It’s these little things that you don’t often see from linebackers because they haven’t developed those traits this early in their careers. While this play will be completely ignored by anyone (because it was just a one yard run), I found Leonard did a great job of preventing a 1 yard run from being a 5+ yard run. It’s those plays that add up and win football games. Leonard had a very impressive play early in the 4th quarter, registering a huge 11 yard sack on Alex Smith. On the play, he shows his fantastic closing speed and delivers a hard hit to Smith. He timed the blitz well, waiting for the right tackle to completely engage with his man to let the hole open up. He reads it well and closes in hard. Smith never had a chance. This was on 2nd down and it killed the Redskins’ drive that was already 9 plays long and deep into Colts territory. It forced the Redskins to make a long field goal. Leonard’s best play came in the 4th quarter, when the Redskins were driving deep in the Colts’ territory and he forced a fumble on Jordan Reed’s catch. To get his hand in the right spot in that situation shows how skillful he is (and a bit lucky too). It ended the Redskins’ comeback attempt and it secured the Colts’ victory. He deserved a game ball for this play alone. He had 5 tackles just on this drive.The Colts haven’t had a productive off-ball linebacker since Jerrell Freeman or even Gary Brackett. Leonard provides hope that he is the new boss on the Colts’ defense and that he can lead the way to more superb defensive performances. If he plays anything like this throughout the season, he’ll get some Defensive Player of the Year award attention. Andrew Luck had 179 passing yards in Sunday’s victory, which is the lowest of his entire career in a victory. This demonstrates just how much this was an overall team win for the Colts and how important it is to pick up the slacks if one of the star players isn’t at 100%. A strong Colts defense will be needed if the Colts expect to fight for a playoff spot. Leonard needs to lead the way moving forward, and based on today’s performance, he showed that he can be the star this Colts defense needed.