Film Study: Drake Proving Ajayi Move The Right One

Minus his early fumble issues, Drake is showing true game-breaking talent

Drake is proving to be a better fit in Gase’s system than Ajayi

The shock of Jay Ajayi being shipped to Philly for a 4th round pick quickly turned into animus for Adam Gase.

Fans wanted more for Ajayi than a mid-round pick. Questions rose of whether Gase could handle talented, but difficult players. Most expected the jettisoning of the most talented player on the offense would mean Miami’s “O” production would sink to new lows.

All were fair questions, but the play of Damien Williams, and more so Kenyan Drake, have begun to soften the criticism.

Now we don’t know it we could bartered for more than a 4th. It no clearer if Gase can or can’t handle talented players who can be a pain in arse?

But we do know the offense hasn’t sunk to new lows? Nope, not even close. Actually, it’s been quite the opposite.

Given Drake’s performance last week, and Williams’ production prior, fans should expect the best days of this offense going forward.

And with Drake’s showing last week, the talent level lost in Ajayi’ departure might not be all that great, and ultimately, it might have gone up.

Drake looks like a complete back with game breaking rushing skills

Now this isn’t to say Ajayi isn’t an elite runner. There isn’t a per head sportsbook that questions that. But, a few issues with his game puts limits on his all world running ability: weak recognition in pass protect, reluctance to go inside, poor routes, a bum knee forcing him to have limited practice, and tendency to look for the home run too much.

And that’s not even factoring in his personality issues.

Some  are quick to say that the Denver Broncos aren’t a very good team. But to quote ESPN: “Don’t blame the rushing defense for the disappointing record. The Broncos have allowed the fewest yards per rush (3.2), fewest yards before contact per rush (1.69) and the lowest third-down conversion percentage on rushes (21 percent) in the league.”

So what Drake did this past week shouldn’t be taken lightly.

In the clip below you can see the obvious… Drake has elite speed and acceleration.

Drake is a lot more than a speed back

Now speed and acceleration is great for a back to have, but more important skill sets are vision, close space agility, and willingness to turn it up inside. This was the second biggest surprise to me. As the game progressed, I kept thinking we had LeSean McCoy running for us. I never would have guess he would have the aforementioned qualities in spades… but I damn damn happy he does.

Also, you can see Drake is strong, rarely goes down on the first contact, and arms tackles fail far more than they succeed. This was the biggest surprise… this kid is powerful.

Drake was expected to be a substantial upgrade in the passing game to Ajayi, and he is. He’s a far more fluid pass catcher and route runner than Ajayi. The first play in the clip below was shades of Terry Kirby and exactly what Miami Phins needs. Drakes presence in the back field will put a lot of pressure on the defense to guard the middle… and that is a very good thing.

While his pass protection was better than Ajayi’s, it still wasn’t perfect. In the second play he needs to engage the free rusher, even if it’s just a chip. This sack could have been turned into incomplete pass with even a little interference of the rusher by Drake. He’ll need to improve in this area to be an elite 3rd down back. Williams is better in this duty at this point.

But the third play shows the kid has potential. Man, I sure did love that hit.

Now will all this said, I still have concerns over his durability and protection of the football. The injury concern can and will be mitigated with a second back to share the load. This is why they should resign Williams. Williams and Drake combined were expected to be an upgrade over Ajayi, at least as far as versatility and in the passing game. But they weren’t expected to even be close in ground game production… Drake may very well prove the latter totally wrong. Now wouldn’t that be sweet! Go Fins!!!