Silver And Black Pride
Diving into the 5th-round pick’s game
Landing steals was a common theme throughout the 2024 NFL Draft for the Las Vegas Raiders, and fifth-round pick Tommy Eichenberg, a linebacker out of Ohio State, was one of them. The former Buckeye was widely considered a fringe top-100 player so getting him with the 149th overall selection is excellent value.
A big reason for that is Eichenberg has a strong track record as a run defender. While last season was a bit of a down year with a 66.6 run defense grade from Pro Football Focus, he still ranked eighth among Big 10 linebackers with 26 defensive stops against the run. In 2022, he was even better with an elite mark of 90.1 and 49 stops as both figures led the conference.
On film, the Ohio State product shows good instincts and physical demeanor which should translate to the next level.
The Buckeyes have the Badgers on the ropes here, backed up in their own end as Wisconsin runs power out of 13 personnel to get some breathing room. However, Eichenberg doesn’t let the offense off the hook.
Lined up as the weakside linebacker, he does a great job of reading his keys by seeing the guard he’s lined up across from pull to the other side of the formation. Especially with the defensive line pinching toward the center and closing the interior backside gaps, that allows Eichenberg to fast flow (or sprint) to the playside.
His quick trigger and speed cause the right tackle climbing to the second level to miss, which puts the backer in a great position to make a tackle for loss or right at the line of scrimmage, keeping the pressure on the offense.
While Eichenberg might not be the greatest athlete or fastest player on the field, his instincts give him impressive play speed which is how he makes this tackle.
Here we’ll get another example of the former Buckeye’s instincts as Notre Dame has a lot of eye candy on this play. The Fighting Irish are running an inverted read option with a lead jet sweep action going on in the backfield while the offensive line blocks for a counter run by the quarterback.
That puts a lot of stress on the linebacker, especially Eichenberg, since the offense is essentially running two plays here; the lead jet sweep and quarterback counter. Also, the quarterback is reading Eichenberg on this rep and trying to make him wrong.
However, he stays patient, flows with the play and reads the action in the backfield. Once he sees the handoff to the jet sweep, the backer triggers downhill and has the speed to make the tackle right at the line of scrimmage when the ball carrier cuts upfield.
This is a good example of Eichenberg being a football player rather than a robot.
Technically, he’s responsible for the weakside B-gap in this weak inside-zone run. However, the inside linebacker walked up on the line of scrimmage in the strongside...
