Is Drango an Ideal Fit for a Power Scheme?

[Flugel]

If the Cam Erving plans fail, we could be looking at Greco kicking in to play Center with opportunity knocking at OG for Drango. Lindy's draft guide listed Spencers Drangos as an OG prospect and rated him the 4th best (2nd-3rd round projection). Here's the write up on him on page 43 that changes my football wood factor from balsa to sequoia:

 

In Our View: Drango was a four-year starter at left tackle for the Bears, but scouts see him as a guard in the NFL. He is coming off a first team All Big 12 senior season in which he earned Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year for a second consecutive season, joining Cyril Richardson (2012, 2013) as the only two players in program history to earn the honor and the only two players in Big 12 to win the honor twice in a career.

 

The Outland Trophy finalist was a unanimous first-team All Big 12 choice for the 3rd straight year and led all Baylor blockers with a 90.3 percent coaches grade and 48 knockdowns as a starter - in all 12 games in an offense that led the country in points (48.1) and yards (616.2) per game.

 

Drango plays with the snap quickness, body angles and awareness to handle speed. Plays with a wide base with easy natural quickness in his kick-slide, positioning himself to stonewall rushers with brick hands. Relies on timing and awareness and is rarely caught off balance with a quick-thinking approach that limits his mistakes.

 

He's listed at 6'6" 320 lbs which means he can offer us some flexibility to play OT, if needed, especially considering he started the last 4 years at Offensive Tackle. "Did anyone order pancakes?" Yeah, the Sashi party of 1 appetite of 20 ordered them in round 5.

[One Post]

Coming from that smash mouth division this is a good question so my answer is yes. Very good points and Drango is an ideal fit where he can show versitality on the line. If anything he adds depth and that's a good thang.

[LogicIsForSquares]

Here is some film of him. Drango didn't wow me too much but he might turn into something with some better coaching/strength training.

 

[tiamat63]

Coming from that smash mouth division

Couldn't tell if this was a joke....?

[LogicIsForSquares]

I know Baylor was short a QB in this game and ran the ball all day. So this might show more of how Drango would do in a run first system.

 

[LogicIsForSquares]

Couldn't tell if this was a joke....?

I think he mixed it up with the Big Ten.

[LogicIsForSquares]

I hope...

[gumby73]

football wood factor from balsa to sequoia:

 

In Our View: Drango was a four-year starter at left tackle for the Bears,

Hold up on that sequoia there Flug. Don't see us running the Art Briles veer, but with Drango lined up as LT remember he had a G that would sometimes shift to Drango's left as TE. LaQuan McGowan, he was 6'7 410lbs. of Sequoia. We got some wood on OL but nothing like this. Drango has had back issues(wonder why) & pad level is part of it..he needs coached up & a desire to be a pro with work..

[One Post]

Couldn't tell if this was a joke....?

It's not a joke. It's a very physical division.

[BrownsnMopar]

Come on man!!!!! We drafted Shon Coleman and Spencer Drango both having 2nd round grades! We fortunately drafted them much later in the draft! I do realize its cautiosly optimistic season,but damn!!! Lighten up Frances......or every player the Browns draft will suck and suck bad! Lets lighten up on the doomsday talk! Lets put some positive vibes out there!!! The Cavs WILL WIN THE TITLE....The Indians are playing great,,,,and the Browns are definitely on the upswing!!!! Lets kick it up a notch and be thinking positive!!! GO BROWNS....um next up on the soapbox! ???

[One Post]

Oh crap my bad I thot he came from the Chicago Bears. Brain fart carry on.

[Tour2ma]

Hold up on that sequoia there Flug. Don't see us running the Art Briles veer, but with Drango lined up as LT remember he had a G that would sometimes shift to Drango's left as TE. LaQuan McGowan, he was 6'7 410lbs. of Sequoia. We got some wood on OL but nothing like this. Drango has had back issues(wonder why) & pad level is part of it..he needs coached up & a desire to be a pro with work..

 

Agree... I came away unimpressed by Drango's LT work... and don't remember a hint of the kick-step praised in the OP.

 

http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=40341&view=findpost&p=603049

[gumby73]

Come on man!!!!! We drafted Shon Coleman and Spencer Drango both having 2nd round grades! We fortunately drafted them much later in the draft! I do realize its cautiosly optimistic season,but damn!!! Lighten up Frances......or every player the Browns draft will suck and suck bad! Lets lighten up on the doomsday talk! Lets put some positive vibes out there!!! The Cavs WILL WIN THE TITLE....The Indians are playing great,,,,and the Browns are definitely on the upswing!!!! Lets kick it up a notch and be thinking positive!!! GO BROWNS....um next up on the soapbox!

My names Bennett & I ain't in it. Lighten up Frances. Let's be real also. This draft class may not produce but 1 round of starters & 2-3 rounds of depth. With our Talented roster I like our odds of keeping 10. Am I over or under? And bring some passion will yea

[tiamat63]

It's not a joke. It's a very physical division.

 

Riiiiiiiight.

[TexasAg1969]

With our Talented roster I like our odds of keeping 10. Am I over or under? And bring some passion will yea

 

If you include PS then maybe. But definitely under on the 53.

[gumby73]

 

If you include PS then maybe. But definitely under on the 53.

got a hundy on the under with a guy from DBN including PS. I like our UDFA taking a few spots. IR will always save a couple guys. maybe a close shave

[Flugel]

Here's some things Athlon Sports NFL Draft had to say about him on page 70. He's their 12th rated tackle. Height: 6'6" Weight: 320

 

STRONG POINTS: Natural knee bender with a strong initial punch and heavy hands. Controls his body and shows good balance. Controls his man with inside hand position and active feet. Can redirect his weight distribution with ease. Very good reaction blocker who is ready to adjust at any point. Anchors himself into the ground against power defenders. Functional strength is apparent. Very good run blocker on the move. Can lead block into space with adjustments to quick second-level defenders. Overwhelming power when moving laterally.

 

WEAK POINTS: Lacks ideal arm length, especially for a player with his kind of height. Lacks experience in a 3 point stance. Limited athletic ability against speed rushers.

 

SUMMARY: Two-time All American with 48 career starts for the Bears. May be best suited for Guard in the NFL considering how he moves and his lack of ideal length. He is a power blocker who shows consistent technique. His versatility will only help his outlook.

 

FINAL GRADE: 4th/5th round.

[Flugel]

Here is some film of him. Drango didn't wow me too much but he might turn into something with some better coaching/strength training.

 

Thanks for the video of his matchup with a good edge rusher like Shilique Calhoun where Drango got away with an early tackle on him and later gave up a sack in the 3rd quarter. I'm guessing the video was a couple years ago because Bryce Petty was Baylor's QB.

 

The Athlon Sports NFL Draft write-up said Drango never got in a 3 point stance but it sure looked like he was in one a lot in that game so I appreciate the honest feedback you and others offer up here.

 

I'm still excited about Drango's NFL starting point. He'll have to answer the same question Erving will have to answer especially in the land between the tackles where the opponents have a lot of girth packed into shorter, more powerful frames than OTs tend to enjoy when they outweigh many taller and skinnier builds. It's a completely different world in a game of leverage for college OTs to transitioning to NFL OGs just ask Pinkston, Lauvao and Gilkey. Aside from that, if we count Greco's first 2-3 years in St Louis plus his first year in Cleveland without a start, he wasn't exactly immediate on the emergence. As for the ability to bend at bigger heights, many of us are old enough to remember Dan Fike playing solid Guard and Tackle roles here at 6'7" or former 12 round pick - Paul Farren who played 4 different positions on our line at 6'6".

 

In early April, Joel Bitonio had an interesting interview linked up below. The part that jumped out to me was 1:10 into the video when he said we went more to a pass offense in 2015. My interpretation of his politically correct message is change in philosophy of the OC meant his first offense in 2014 seemed better geared for run blocking than his second offense in 2015 that seemed more in a pass pro retreat mode. It makes sense when you consider what position Flip was only responsible for in Oakland (the passer) so his volume of experience had somewhat of a learning curve in how it all interacts with a well balanced blocking scheme. Some of the recent articles Tour and others shared also touched on the difference in styles. It was a drastic difference in how well/consistently our line could run block. The reason I bring all this up, is Drango's offense looked very pass first in the MSU matchup so I don't think people have seen his ideal run blocking situation any more than people saw our's in 2015. I've been wrong before though. Last, but not least, listen to what Bitonio had to say about Joe Thomas in particular about halfway through the interview.

 

http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/media-center/videos/Joel-Bitonio-Full-Press-Conference---46/5e609d1a-84f9-4f9b-9d2b-9a7423f69b3d

[Tour2ma]

With our Talented roster I like our odds of keeping 10. Am I over or under? And bring some passion will yea

 

Happy to bring what I gots...

 

I take the "Over". Specifically I put the number at a dozen... and that's for the 53. Should Gordon return, he might force a drafted WR out the door, but that's still 11. Why so many?

• We are talent starved. Witness the running series on the 2016 Top 100. We have one... Barney... at #94. Pretty sure we see one more (a "fatass" deluxe). I doubt there's a third... at least not a third still on the roster.
• I only see 2 of our picks having a possibility of making it to the PS... Caldwell and Scooby. So it's 53 or bye-bye for the rest.
• The one thing our analytics' model needs is a "feedback loop". More on this point below...

Yes, feedback comes from every "evaluated" player who ends up playing snaps in the NFL, but there are many, many more that are relegated to STs if they see the field at all. These players do not provide feedback.

 

There's no feedback like that provided by those you can put eyes on daily... see their progress. Analytics is not about finding performances no one else sees. It's about finding potential no one else sees. Only by being able judge the degree to which that potential is realized can you get true feedback.

 

And finally feedback cannot be anecdotal... you need a proper sample size. Anyone who has taken Intro Statistics knows that the minimum sample size is generally held to be about 15.

 

STRONG POINTS: ... strong initial punch and heavy hands. Controls his man with inside hand position and active feet.

 

WEAK POINTS: Limited athletic ability against speed rushers.

 

SUMMARY: May be best suited for Guard in the NFL...

 

Three points I made in my write up and one exact opposite.

 

I saw hands outside grabbing pads a lot... and that means flags. Inside you can hold all day long so long as you do not rip/pull defender down. We have a LT that is great at it.

[calfoxwc]

I was impressed when I saw Durango (great name for a cowboy movie)... pull to the right and

block up the middle of the line. That's a big guy who pulled. Seems to have a build

similar to Bitonio....

 

just a great pick, imho. Will he start at LG? we'll find out. They drafted a bunch of smart, well spoken,

solid character kids who have significant skillsets for their positions, and who love the game...are

FOOTBALL PLAYERS... so I think they will hit the practices and grow quickly into solid players.

 

cbssports:

 

The Outland Trophy finalist was a unanimous first-team All-Big 12 choice for the third straight year and led all Baylor blockers with a 90.3 percent coaches grade and 48 knockdowns as a starter in all 12 games in an offense that led the country in points (48.1) and yards (616.2) per game.

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES STRENGTHS: Drango plays with the snap quickness, body angles and awareness to handle speed. Plays with a wide base with easy natural quickness in his kick-slide, positioning himself to stonewall rushers with brick hands. Relies on timing and awareness and is rarely caught on off-balance with a quick-thinking approach that limits his mistakes.

 

WEAKNESSES: Transition from Baylor's spread offense to pro-style will be a sizeable challenge. His body type is better suited for guard and he needs technical refinement that can't be masked at the next level like it was in the Big 12. Nov. 2013 back surgery is a bright red flag and definitely something to monitor.

 

COMPARES TO: Zach Martin, Cowboys.

 

IN OUR VIEW: Drango has an impressive NFL skillset as the game appears to come very easily to him, but he projects best inside at the next level.

 

--Dane Brugler (1/25/16)

[calfoxwc]

He may not be a RT, but he seems like a kid who will kick ass to become all he can be, which at least

may be a better guard than Greco, eventually. Maybe. Fifth round? I'd say he will make it.

 

But what if he DID show he can play RT? that would make him a brilliant pick where they got him.

*********************************************

 

Pro Football Focus notes that Baylor T Spencer Drango allowed zero sacks and only six pressures in 2015.

That's obviously a tremendous showing for a player tasked with protecting the blind sides of a rotating cast of quarterbacks in a wide-open, aggressive passing attack. Drango tied for No. 1 in PFF's pass blocking efficiency grades at 98.9. "Besides his production on the field, Drango has all the physical dimensions needed to play left tackle in the NFL," PFF noted. "The question is whether or not he’ll be able to transition from the spread offense he’s played in his whole college career. Drango will need to show he has the athleticism to play a tackle position at next level to avoid being tagged as an NFL offensive guard." The four-year starter has long arms (36 1/4) and a huge wing span (85 7/8).

• Pat McManamonESPN Staff Writer

Tackle Spencer Drango, taken by the Cleveland Browns with the 31st pick in the fifth round (168th overall), is a sound run blocker who needs some work on pass protection. However, Drango had quite a career at Baylor, where he was a four-year starter and consensus All-American his final two seasons. Drango is one of two tackles the Browns took in the draft.

My take: Why not? Drango is another productive player who contributed to Baylor for four years. He's a tackle who can move, and he's a gnarly competitor. Those are good attributes for an offensive lineman. He also graduated from Baylor in December of 2014 with a degree in finance. There is some talk Drango may be best suited to play guard in the NFL.

[tiamat63]

When applying analytics to football it's important to maintain context.

 

(Something PFF has failed to do at times) Baylor, after their QB injury went to a run first team with quick, high percentage passes to supplement the running game.

 

Take that In comparison to a tackle like Conklin that plays in a more pro style offense with a more downfield passing game and we find that numbers don't always quantify performance.

[Flugel]

Three points I made in my write up and one exact opposite.

 

I saw hands outside grabbing pads a lot... and that means flags. Inside you can hold all day long so long as you do not rip/pull defender down. We have a LT that is great at it.

 

Yep and the 2 sources I used projected Drango as an OG so that's where I'm picturing his niche here moving forward.

 

If he ever has to play Tackle my guess is it would be RT where Schwartz wasn't always comfortable in pass pro out there especially early on. Kevin Shaffer wasn't ever really an ideal pass protector who ended up having a good season for us at RT in 2007. Then there was Ryan Tucker before that who struggled in pass pro at RT and was later kicked inside to play RG.

[Tour2ma]

 

Yep and the 2 sources I used projected Drango as an OG so that's where I'm picturing his niche here moving forward.

 

Just to be sure I was clear... I was talking about inside vs. outside hand position, not OL slot.

 

Joe T holds as much as any LT in the game, but he does it inside... kind of a reverse horse collar. He can because of how well he moves his feet.

 

Drango on the other hand grabs the outside of the pads of his opposite. He needed to in college to compensate for his lack of movement.

[Flugel]

 

Agree... I came away unimpressed by Drango's LT work... and don't remember a hint of the kick-step praised in the OP.

 

http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=40341&view=findpost&p=603049

 

In your link you clarified you didn't watch any of his 2015 starts as a senior and only saw film of him vrs OU & MSU. Drango started 48 games and I'm sure he's not the only pro prospect with a kick slide or 2 he'd like to forget about against Shilique Calhoun. I quoted the opinion of someone paid to summarize more than 5% of his work for a draft magazine.

 

If I only watched Peyton Manning play twice against the Florida Gators - it's not enough information for me to correct the people paid to summarize a much bigger percentage of his body of work.

[Flugel]

 

Just to be sure I was clear... I was talking about inside vs. outside hand position, not OL slot.

 

Joe T holds as much as any LT in the game, but he does it inside... kind of a reverse horse collar. He can because of how well he moves his feet.

 

Drango on the other hand grabs the outside of the pads of his opposite. He needed to in college to compensate for his lack of movement.

 

Read that and agreed with it.

 

However, even before you pointed that out - I also typed one of his weaknesses listed from Athlon Sports NFL Draft is "lacks the ideal arm length" which also differentiates him from Joe Thomas. In fact, I also typed the Summary from the same magazine which began with: "Two-time All-American with 48 career starts for the Bears. May be best suited for guard in the NFL considering how he moves and his lack of ideal length." This is where the OL slot became applicable/re-applicable. I had him at OG in the very first sentence of this thread.

 

I was giving you a lot more credit than feeling like I needed to explain at guard, a lot of the space and speed concerns that left tackles have to deal with gets eliminated.

 

All that said, the guy was a 2 time All American at Left Tackle in a pass happy offense and twice named the Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year (as well as a unanimous All Big 12 selection 3 years in a row) so I'm guessing he learned some tricks of the trade along the way. Depending on what type of veterans are available to him early on - he'll learn even more tricks. Wing spans are very important especially on the edge because the smaller spans are more vulnerable to the swim/olay moves as well as the rip moves.

 

I remember the very first pre-season game Joe Thomas played in. It was the only time I ever remembered seeing him flagged twice for holding in 1 game. I also remember the value of having a calming veteran influence of a savvy Eric Steinbach next to him to help expedite the learning curve very early on. Same held true for Alex Mack shortly thereafter.

[wargograw]

When applying analytics to football it's important to maintain context.

 

(Something PFF has failed to do at times) Baylor, after their QB injury went to a run first team with quick, high percentage passes to supplement the running game.

 

Take that In comparison to a tackle like Conklin that plays in a more pro style offense with a more downfield passing game and we find that numbers don't always quantify performance.

Russell went down in game 7 and IIRC the offense was no more run happy with Stidham. Also, I looked at PFF's rankings every week and Drango was near the top throughout the year.

[Flugel]

Hold up on that sequoia there Flug. Don't see us running the Art Briles veer, but with Drango lined up as LT remember he had a G that would sometimes shift to Drango's left as TE. LaQuan McGowan, he was 6'7 410lbs. of Sequoia. We got some wood on OL but nothing like this. Drango has had back issues(wonder why) & pad level is part of it..he needs coached up & a desire to be a pro with work..

 

And the Ratbirds occasionally ran an unbalanced line putting another Offensive Tackle outside of Ogden at TE. I never took that to mean they thought Ogden sucked.

 

I understand your concern about the back Gumby because Drango had back surgery in November 2013. You mentioned desire and work - how did he respond to the back surgery? 2 consecutive Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year awards followed and he also made 2 All American teams.

 

I think the injury plus the reality he'll play Guard put him on our door step in round 5. I think it's good pick for us. Heading into this draft, I wasn't really cozy with our Center position which has me thinking Greco will be a solution there at some point opening opportunity for a guy like this.

 

If we look around at college football today - how many teams are running a traditional NFL pass offense from a stationary pocket with cup protection? This isn't exclusive to Art Briles by any means so a lot of offensive lineman are being drafted with NFL learning curves ahead. We drafted another lineman from Auburn who's an intriguing prospect but his Head Coach Gus Malzon was a high school football coach before he coached at Arkansas State for a cup of coffee who still uses much of his high school playbook at Auburn. Learning curve ahead for Coleman? You bet. It shouldn't change how intriguing Coleman is to our future though. Same applies to Drango.

 

This draft, we added picks but maintained a willingness to roll the dice on guys that have been ill/injured, overcame injury, and/or played through injury. Scooby Wright, Shon Coleman, Spencer Drango, Seth DeValve, and Derrick Kindred that made 3rd team all conference playing though a broken collar bone. Our FO also signed RG3 at the NFL version of garage sale prices. It's a "nobody's betting on you but us" way of lighting fannies while we're potentially stealing better values than we have to pay out on.

 

The movie Moneyball was a lot like this. Oakland took guys with imperfections many others teams wouldn't look at or snagged guys post injury that had to learn a new position like first base. For example, there was a pitcher with an awkward side arm delivery with a release about 2 feet off the ground many teams thought was more of a candidate for Tommy John Surgery. Oakland rolled the dice and came up big. There was also David "Give Me Liberty Or" Just-ass who was kind of their version of RG3 in the sense the Yankees were still playing half his salary which was 3.5 million $ with Oakland only matching that like they bought him at a garage sale. The rest of the league looked at Justice much like the NFL looked at RG3 prior to Cleveland signing him, the best days are in the rear view mirror. Oakland was the only team that thought yeah but now we can pay him non-risk wages and it's up to us whether or not we want to tap what he has or not. They did. I think Hue knows he's not going to use the Daniel Snyder approach of "why don't we just Dr Frankenstein his wiring and presto up a pocket passer?" I'm thinking Hue will use more of the type of stuff Joe Gibbs once used for his 6'0" former Heisman Trophy winner - Joe Theisman. He'll tap the deep ball with 5-7 step drops; but he'll also bootleg him outside of the pocket for waggle passes that doesn't use traditional cup protections. Kyle Shannahan actually used a lot of bootleg passes for Hoyer outside of pocket just 1 year after major knee construction en route to our 7-4 start.

 

Moneyball/Analytics looks at what is key to winning and develops a formula for how you can get it done guiding the front office directly to what it needs to add. For example, it's a passing era so what's important? Scoring TDs and moving the chains at the WR position as well as hurrying passers/sacking them. What did our front office prioritize? WRs and edge rushers. Our first WR drafted scored 33 TDs in the last 2 years, Higgins scored 25 TDs (but had 17 TDs, 18.2 ypc, 1,750 yds in 2014 when McElwain was the HC and had an experienced QB that got drafted in 2015). Our first 2 edge rushers were #1 and #2 in sacks in 2015. Does anyone remember how many close games or second half leads/knotted scores we lost in 2014? Outside of Josh Gordon, the effort was there - the play makers were not. It was easy for me to make sense of what our FO did this draft.

[Tour2ma]

Points taken... Certainly may have developed as a Sr... he certainly needed to.

[tiamat63]

Russell went down in game 7 and IIRC the offense was no more run happy with Stidham. Also, I looked at PFF's rankings every week and Drango was near the top throughout the year.

That still doesn't negate my point on how Baylors passing game helps take a great deal of pressure off of their oline.