Amani Oruwariye got a lot of love as one of the biggest steals of the 2019 NFL Draft. Often projected as a second-round talent coming out of Penn State, the tall cornerback fell all the way to the Detroit Lions in the fifth round, No. 146 overall.
Through his first preseason, it’s easy to see both sides to that coin. He’s flashed high-end potential, but Oruwariye has also had reps where it’s easy to recognize why the NFL wasn’t as high on him as the draft analysts were.
I went through every snap Oruwariye played in the Lions’ first three preseason games, all 117 of them. In those snaps, No. 46 was in pass coverage 64 times and faced 53 running plays.
Here’s what I saw…
Tackling
He’s already good at striking with balance and force. That is obvious from watching Oruwariye going back to his college days at Penn State.
Even though he leads the Lions in tackles in the preseason (13 in three games), the volume of tackles is more about opportunities than prowess. The good thing is, Oruwariye has shown he’s reliable at terminating plays. The one thing he needs to work on is his wrap technique.
An example comes on a great play. In Will Harris’ scoop-and-score vs. the Texans, it’s Oruwariye who is the first man in on the attack. He closes nicely from his zone coverage and gets two hands on the target. But he needs help finishing the play:
The optimist here would like to believe Oruwariye is merely holding up the receiver so his teammates can strip the ball. Let’s hope that is the case.
Oruwariye made two very nice open-field tackles in the Bills game, so it’s something that should be considered a strength and a feather in his cap for playing time in Matt Patricia’s defense.
Bucket stepping
The first two pass plays Oruwariye played against the Patriots in the preseason opener revealed a real flaw in his technique. He has a problem with stepping in the bucket when he changes direction.
These are shots from the second of those plays, but it rolls exactly as the prior one (a pass intended that way which DT Darius Kilgo swatted down at the line).
He’s perfectly in phase here in man coverage on speedy Phillip Dorsett on the left outside of the formation. His hips are fine, his feet even and ready to break in either direction as Dorsett sets to make his move. Oruwariye could reach out and touch him if he wanted.
Dorsett makes a nice inside break off an outside jab step, the exact same move he made on the prior play. Oruwariye reacts by making a huge step back and outside to match his mark. It leaves him from being in good shape to being a full two steps behind Dorsett.
The throw here went to the other side, but he was cleanly beaten off the move by a veteran receiver.
That’s going to happen to a young CB. But the endemic bucket-stepping when Oruwariye has to quickly change directions is a real problem that continues to persist right through the loss to the Bills. This was not something which showed on his Penn State game film regularly and certainly was not a problem in agility drills at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Awareness in coverage
This is something Oruwariye possesses a lot of already. He’s proven very adept at reading the receiver’s cues and finding the ball in the air. Against the Texans, I really like how well he transitioned between receivers and responsibilities within his zone.
The biggest issue is physically tracking the receivers and staying in phase in pursuit. The bucket-stepping transition is part of the problem here, but it often seems like Oruwariye isn’t running at his top speed in pursuit unless the ball is already there or on the way.
It cost him a pass interference penalty in the Texans game. He has the speed to turn and run with receivers up the field, he’s proven that. But it just doesn’t happen on every play. If he’s using his length as a bit of a crutch, something draft analysts did knock him for at Penn State, that habit needs to stop.
