160th Pick Review: The curious case of Shaun Wade
Marlon Humphrey is worth every cent of the mammoth contract we gave him last year. Playing the nickel for almost an entire season in 2020, having barely played the position outside of some playing time in 2019, at such a ridiculously high level, was nothing short of remarkable. Humphrey is easily amongst the best defensive backs in the league and it’s no wonder that we continually see Wide Receivers name him as their toughest opponent in the league.
Inside out is a term that’s thrown around about Cornerbacks a lot – “Oh, he can play inside out” – it frustrates me nearly as much as when people say that you can simply “kick inside” a deficient Offensive Tackle to Guard, and solve all his problems. The two positions are different, with entirely different demands physically, mentally and in technique. What Marlon did, moving to play inside, was the true epitome of playing inside out. The number of guys that can do it, to a high level in the pros, is very small. Certainly more than many draft analysts would have you believe. This little rant becomes relevant later.
For now, if you have the pleasure to watch some of Humphrey’s game film, you see a defender perfectly formed for this franchise, in the modern day NFL. It’s hard to find a defensive back with his unique blend of toughness, football intelligence and movement skills – normally, you have to sacrifice something. Not with Humphrey.
It was this ideal combination of traits that allowed the Ravens to deploy Humphrey in the slot so successfully in 2020. There was no drop-off from Tavon Young’s level, when fully healthy, in part because of Marlon’s elite movement skills. He deployed his physicality in coverage more often, but that was all part of the adjustment that he made to play a foreign position for a season.
Having the ability to play that spot in a pinch, or even for longer, can only be a helpful thing for the Ravens. But if you get lost in Humphrey’s elite play over the course of the season, take a moment to go back and look at the Cleveland Browns week one pummeling. You’ll be reminded of what an outstanding outside corner Humphrey is.
The Ravens had to find a way this off-season to guarantee that Humphrey would stay outside. I like Jimmy Smith, and he’s still so smooth despite his gathering years, but having him as your third outside corner and even the ascending Anthony Averett as your fourth, is an embarrassment of riches at a position that proves, season in, season out, to need multiple options.
Of course, plan A is getting Tavon Young back healthy and firing. But we’ve seen that there is no guarantee of this. The Ravens had to get insurance this off-season, to keep Humphrey out of the position full-time. They waited through the off-season but with the 160th pick, the Ravens secured that insurance policy in Shaun Wade.
This piece is entitled “The Curious Case of Shaun Wade” because, I could not work this guy out as a prospect prior to the 2020 season. It was one of those evaluations where I should have blocked out the noise and trusted my eyes on a prospect I really liked, but heard so much first round hype for, that I couldn’t help but heighten my expectations.
I found myself wondering whether I was low on him. I try to form my own picture of a player, before then checking with those I trust to see if I’m missing anything. Then, I go back and check the tape for myself. With Wade, I watched a lot of his film, to make sure I was certain of my evaluation.
To summarize what I saw back then, prior to the 2020 season, Wade was a tough and competitive nickel with speed and explosion, fluid enough hips, but everything looked better for him in short areas. The few times you saw him in more space, it just didn’t work. I was keen to see him play outside more frequently, as was anticipated prior to the season, but at that time, was satisfied with my evaluation that this was a potentially very good nickel CB, who would not be able to hold up outside.
This was one where I really hoped I was wrong, because of how much I liked the player.
Where this did give me an advantage though, was in my realistic expectations for Wade in the season just passed. I was not expecting to see an elite outside corner that I would project into the first round. I almost didn’t care if he couldn’t do it, because I felt so good about him as a nickel. As many became more incredulous about his dreadful season, I just hardened my belief that this was a really good defensive back playing out of his natural position, though I must admit I did drop his valuation somewhat before pulling it back up again when I checked myself.
I already gave him a lot of credit for trying to play outside, before we even found out, post-draft about the troubles he faced throughout the 2020 season – a lingering turf toe to go with multiple deaths in his family, I honestly wouldn’t completely write him off as an outside corner because of this.
I also give him huge credit for trying. Too often in life we see people cut and run to preserve their reputation. Wade stayed and he fought through it. Yes, everyone goes through tough times. And yes, you’d like to see resilience but I’d argue that’s exactly what Wade showed. I’m not inclined to hold someone to a higher standard than I’d hold myself. Three deaths in my family might alter my work performance for three months.
And that’s what we’re talking about here, three months and Shaun Wade cost himself a lot of money, all the more intriguing given it was so easy to opt-out of the season. There wouldn’t have been any questions, even after he played a game or two, most of those opt-out players got a pass and their likely draft position from after the 2019 season held steady. It’s why I give Wade the credit, he could have taken the easy road and not played, but he competed and he fought through something difficult.
Many plummeted him down their draft boards, and that’s a fair view-point, maybe we shouldn’t have seen such a drop-off, but if you thought he was a first round, potential shutdown outside corner, you were asking for a fall. For me, he stayed resolutely positioned (albeit with a slight wobble) with a third round value – second in terms of inside cornerbacks in this class to Elijah Molden. And with Wade you got the advantage of his superior size that you often don’t see from nickels.
The Ravens have almost certainly taken him to play nickel in this defense, he has some versatility to him and as I’ve said, I still don’t believe you can write the guy off from playing outside but I imagine he’ll quickly get back to his best playing in his optimum position as a physical and explosive nickel who fits right in with the identity of Wink’s defense. The fifth round was an outstanding value for him.
Wade was a five star recruit out of Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville where he helped the school to four consecutive state titles. He redshirted when he first arrived in Columbus before becoming a three year starter. In the 2019 playoff semi-final against Clemson he was ejected for targeting Trevor Lawrence. This was one of the main reasons he wanted to return to the program, which he did as a captain, to try to lead them to a national title, which they of course fell one Devonta-Smith-show short of. But he also did so on the back of off-season abdominal surgery and consequently very few pre-season reps at outside corner, which should already temper any opinion on his 2020 performance. But going back to 2019 is where you get the good stuff.
Starting with Wade as a specimen – he looks the part of an NFL defensive back with the size and measurable athleticism that you look for. Of particular note is his length which is significant at 33.5 inches. In addition to his long speed, often questioned because of the aforementioned Devonta Smith torching, but with his turf toe fully recovered at his pro day, he ran the 40 yard dash in an impressive 4.46 seconds.
One of the things that the Ravens will surely love about Wade is his toughness. He’s extremely willing in run support and he has plenty of size for it to go with well above average play strength. He’ll stack and shed wide receiver blocks but he’ll also take on blocks where he has to – see right hand side of the clip below.
He’s a good tackler, there are some whiffs in the open-field when he’s isolated and unable to anticipate a cut from the ball carrier, but his reactive athleticism usually helps him to make sure tackles, not to mention his length which he’ll deploy to ensure runners don’t get away from him when they’re in his grasp. The clip below, with him playing the nickel at the top of the screen, shows his prowess as a force player, the perimeter is well guarded with him but he will come inside and do this from the slot frequently too when his assignment isn’t the edge. And as you can see below, he wants to make the tackle himself as long as he can protect the boundary.
The other element of his toughness that Wink will love to deploy is his ability on the blitz – in 2019 he brought the hammer and managed a couple of sacks on five pressures.
He plays a lot of catch-man in the slot in 2019, ironically this was how Marlon was successful as a bigger corner who could take advantage of his physicality while avoiding getting beaten soundly off the line by speed moves, if he pressed too hard. Wade is good in catch man and it suits him, and there are plenty of examples of an NFL type catch man coverage, where you have to release outside the chuck zone, but it’s still an adjustment into the pros where the margin for error is smaller with the catch and release necessary on this technique.
His instincts and football intelligence plays much better in the slot where he has traffic to take advantage of, he can gamble knowing where he has help and seems just less perturbed by his own personal battle with the receiver than he did outside in 2020. This might be just when he’s playing in zone but it does feel like he’s playing as a more effective part of a unit as a nickel. This working with others and being part of a coverage team is best evidenced when he plays against a stack of receivers, executing his role in banjo coverage effortlessly – something the Ravens will value highly given the amount it needs to be deployed in the NFL.
One of the things that showed up in 2019 whenever a slot receiver ran a wheel route, or an out-and-up or something similar, you saw him stay in phase well but struggle to locate the football. He made some plays on the ball but he was turning his head to find the ball far too late and breaking up the pass almost by accident when he could have done even more damage if he started to locate the ball more effectively. Here’s a good example of this, the ball being thrown to Wade who is covering the slot to the field side, closest to the camera. I was encouraged that the first video I saw of him executing drills at rookie minicamp was a ball location drill.
The mirroring that allowed him to be in phase on these more rounded routes though was in contrast to his ability to stay in the hip-pocket on more sudden breaks. He is an explosive athlete but he’s a little high-hipped with some troubles in transition, so this explosion is better utilized in short areas. He’s a smart player but his route recognition and reading of breaks was inconsistent, even if I did see examples of him reading the receiver’s break on occasion and I thought he was consistent in his reading of route concepts. If he does lose initially at the break-point, with the receiver crossing his face, he can use his reactive athleticism to get back on the route. A great example below where it looks like he doesn’t read the break and gets a little grabby, but the condensed space of an out-route from the slot means his explosion and athletic ability allow him to recover. He’s playing the nickel on the field side, closest to the camera again.
I do think much of his play in 2020 must be tempered in terms of the weighting given to it as part of the evaluation but as I’ve mentioned before I wasn’t entirely surprised by his play outside.
One of the big deficiencies showed up just a little in 2019 in the slot too. I mentioned that he played a lot of catch man, which appeared to suit his explosion and recovery speed to pair with his physicality. Unfortunately when in a battle at the line of scrimmage in press man there were different results. He could be beaten soundly by speed moves and it resulted in him chasing a little, which he also did at the break point. This left him off-balance and in a less convenient position to use his athleticism to recover. In catch man or when he played zone, he could sit and wait patiently, get physical but stay balanced ready to deploy his explosion in response to any break. The press man concerns I saw in 2019 showed up much more in 2020.
But something that summed up Wade well can be found on the broadcast film from the semi-final game in 2019 when he got ejected. He showed himself as a leader on the side-line, dishing out instructions and helping teammates – you could see he was respected and this was confirmed when he was made captain in 2020. Like the Ravens I choose to believe in the player I saw in 2019, not give him a pass for 2020, but understand what the young man was going through and how that might have affected him. When you put those things together, this was a gamble worth taking in the fifth round and one that could just pay off and make several positions in the secondary better in case of more injuries to our defensive backs in 2021.