Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Scouting the 2013 NFL Draft: Bears Pick Cornelius Washington

Continuing my series to review each of the Bears 2013 draft picks, I will look at sixth round pick, Cornelius Washington, a defensive end out of Georgia. I will admit that I know nothing about Washington as every time I watched Georgia, I was focusing on Jarvis Jones and Alec Ogletree. Luckily, the magic of the internet has video highlighting him, so it's time to check out what the Bears got by reviewing his game against traditional SEC power, Missouri.

The first play of the game will go on Washington's highlight reel. It will not go on Missouri's right tackle's highlight reel.

Yeah, Washington just gives a little shake, the offensive tackle never punches him, so Washington just clubs him out of the way with his outside arm and has a free run to the wide receiver playing quarterback. A lot of this was poor technique, but it was still a real nice play from Washington. Let's look at a still shot.
Oh yeah. That's an offensive lineman's worst night nightmare, and a defensive lineman's wet dream.

He is definitely a good athlete with nice explosion off the ball. He can cause issues with his burst if the lineman is slow out of his stance without having to do much with his hands.

Since Missouri does a lot of read option, Washington has to stay and maintain the edge position to keep things inside the tackles. It doesn't look too impressive, but it is useful in the overall defensive scheme.

His explosiveness definitely caused Missouri problems in this game. This isn't a huge play, but he really causes havoc by not letting the tackle keep him on the outside and tackling the quarterback for a short loss.

Offensive linemen with poor technique are going to get destroyed by Washington, because he can make them pay. I expect him to destroy the Bears fifth round pick, Jordan Mills, is likely going to get destroyed in drills during summer camp.

One thing he consistently shows is that he knows how to use power with his hands. He makes violent contact if the offensive lineman does not get a good initial shove on him, and he can really cause problems. Missouri's offensive line didn't look very good, but Washington looks like a very real prospect. I keep trying to find the glaring weakness in his game, but I'm just not seeing it. I don't think he's an All-Pro, but at worst, he can come in early and rush the passer on third downs and develop into more as time goes on.

I didn't know anything about him going in, but going out, I think this is my favorite pick from the Bears draft class in 2013.

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