At 6’2″ and 250 pounds, Barrett does not have elite size, but he is not undersized. He lies somewhere in the middle of the scale, but unfortunately does not seem to have much room to fill out his frame anymore. His size is similar to current NFL pass rushers with success, such as Robert Mathis, and has more length than Elvis Dumervil. Nothing about his size is restricting him from terrorizing quarterbacks.
Where Barrett may be limited is quickness. His initial burst off of the snap is nearly nonexistent. As the ball is snapped, Barrett is slow to react and begin his pursuit to the quarterback. Not only that, but he lacks “quick twitch” explosion to compensate for his mediocre reaction time.
To make up for his lack in quickness, Barrett wins with technique and active hand usage. As seen below, Barrett attacks the frame of Alabama Left Tackle Cyrus Kouandjio’s. Kouandjio is able to recover and Barrett fails to drive to finish his sack, but nonetheless, Barrett collapsed the pocket on AJ McCarron and put pressure in his face.
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Again, Barrett uses his hands, but this time, he wins and gets around the edge. Had the quarterback not gotten the ball off so quickly, this is a sack.
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Once more, Barrett shows active hands as he forces Anthony Steen into AJ McCarron’s face.
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Although, Barrett relies too heavily on his speed and quickness, which he does not have much of. He rarely attacks the frame of the opposing lineman, although he did in the first image. Tenacity and physicality to that degree is seldom seen out of Barrett. Too often he appears hesitant get physical with lineman when pass rushing.
Even when Barrett does get physical, he fails to convert speed to power. In the first example where he knocked Kouandjio off of his set, Barrett should have been able to keep driving and finish the sack, but he did not. It cost him a sack and allowed McCarron to make the throw. Wasted sack opportunities will cost one their job in the NFL.
This lack of physicality also allows for lineman to violate him and get within his frame when he chooses not to attack the lineman. When this happens, he can be pushed off of his spot and has little chance of recovering to make a play. Below, Cyrus Koandjio gets within Barrett’s frame due to Barrett’s hesitancy at the point of attack.
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In fairness, Barrett’s lack of physicality forces him to do something he does rather well: bend the edge. Barrett utilizes his shoulder dip to get positioning, then drives his legs to beat offensive tackles around the edge. More times than not, when Barrett gets to the edge and dips, he wins.
Here is an example of such bend. He gets to the perimeter, dips his shoulder, and blows past Kouandjio.
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As a pass rusher, Barrett flashes talent, but has noticeable flaws that would need time and growth to be fixed, but as a run defender, he is much closer to where he needs to be in order to succeed at the next level.
Barrett shows both fluidity and use of leverage against the run. When not engaged at the line of scrimmage, Barrett flows from sideline to sideline with respectable speed and awareness. When he is forced to engage at the line of scrimmage, Barrett often utilizes his leverage to get inside and under the offensive tackle and disrupt a play. Most impressively, he disengages quickly in space and pounces at ball carries.
Here, Barrett dips inside the man intended to block him. While the play was stuffed anyway, Barrett showed quick penetration and backside pursuit to the ball carrier.
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In space, Barrett has quickly thrown off a blocker in order to attack an opposing ball carrier. The two examples below are a small sample of such talent.
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In regards to Barrett as a whole product, there are glimmers of hope and legitimate talent, but he is far from a finished product. Barrett is a developmental pass rusher that should not be taken too high. His lack of elite athleticism negates from him being as coveted as a prospect considering how fundamentally incomplete he is. At this stage in his career, Barrett being a senior, it is concerning that he is still as raw as he is. NFL general managers should not put Shaquil Barrett’s name on a card until about the fifth round. Any higher than that and picking Barrett should be considered a reach. His ceiling would make him nothing more than a low-end starter or a decent rotational rusher. But, as stated, that is his ceiling, which he is quite far from reaching.
Shaquil Barrett can have success on the pro level, but it will take time for him to grow and he may never become starter quality. Nonetheless, he can contribute and is worth a day three pick in the NFL draft in May.
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