Kenny Stills NFL – Matt Waldman & The Rookie Scouting Portfolio (RSP)

Stills' provides a great demonstration of 50-50 ball technique. — Stills’ provides a great demonstration of 50-50 ball technique.

An essential part of studying college stars is projecting them to the NFL game. You can’t do that well unless you’re well-versed in the NFL game. Therefore I watch a ton of pro football.

One of the terms I dislike that describes an aspect of playing the wide receiver position is “50/50 balls.” The term connotes that the offense is flipping a coin on the fate of a target. There’s also a perception that a target of this type requires a receiver with great physical skill to win the match up.

Height, vertical prowess, and strength are helpful, but there is technique involved with winning a “50/50 ball.” His touchdown reception late in the fourth quarter against two Patriots defensive backs is a great example. Here is a frame-by-frame demonstration.

Stills begins the play working against Alfonso Dennard in man coverage, getting behind the corner back with a quick fake outside. As he works down field, Brees throws the ball with a lot of arc and Stills is forced to wait on the target.

‘

The Patriots corner is in great position: The outside shoulder is in the middle of Stills’ chest and he’s dictating position to win the ball or at least play the pass and present a difficult obstacle for the ball to reach the receiver. However, note the position of Stills’ hands as he and Dennard track the football. Stills has his hands away from his body, above his chest, and above the arm of the defensive back.

This position gives Stills a chance to win the ball without fighting through Dennard’s reach to obtain the pass. The fact that his position is above Dennard’s arm also means he can be first to attack the pass despite Dennard having a better position to the pass.

As the ball arrive, Dennard turns and raises his arms to the sky. Stills maintains his position with his hands on the defender’s shoulder and turns his body to face the ball. Stills is now in position to address two contingencies. First, if Dennard gets his hands on the ball, Stills has his hands in position to chop the defender’s arms away from the pass and prevent an interception. Considering the position of the defender, it’s good that Stills recognizes and prepares for his possibility. Second, Stills is facing the target and gaining position to attack the football if it gets past Dennard’s reach.

As the ball arrives, Dennard is not attacking the ball as a receiver. He’s not square to the target and he only has one arm raised towards the ball. This nullifies much of Dennard’s position advantage and reduces his chances of intercepting the pass. One arm reaching for the ball instead of two also diminishes the chances of the corner even getting a hand on the football.

This poor approach to the ball also increases Stills’ chances to make a play, and the rookie has planned well. He is facing the target, both hands are up, and he’s in position to rip the ball loose of Dennard’s grip or attack the ball as a receiver.

The ball arrives just inside Dennard’s reach and Stills makes a successful attack on the target, catching it with good hands technique: arms extended, palms facing the ball, and fingers up. As soon as Stills makes the grab, he does the best possible thing, use his body to shield the safety.

The rookie turns outside the defenders and gives a cold shoulder to the safety, preventing a successful rip and enhancing his chances of securing the ball as he falls to the ground. This is the type of play Stills has demonstrated much of the preseason and it’s why he’s seeing red zone targets in Week 6 of the regular season.

This is in direct contrast of a play I profiled of Stills last year where you can see him struggling with the appropriate hands technique in the red zone. This is a different type of play, but the emphasis on body and hand position remain important. This play is a great demonstration of a young player demonstrating veteran savvy and technique.

For more analysis of skill players like this post, download the 2013 Rookie Scouting Portfolio available April 1. Prepayment is available now. Better yet, if you’re a fantasy owner the 56-page Post-Draft Add-on comes with the 2013 RSP at no additional charge. Best, yet, 10 percent of every sale is donated to Darkness to Light to combat sexual abuse. You can purchase past editions of the Rookie Scouting Portfolio for just $9.95 apiece.

Here's the example of Raghib Ismail attacking the football with good hand position. Photo by Joint Base Lewis McCord. — Here’s the example of Raghib Ismail attacking the football with good hand position. Photo by Joint Base Lewis McCord.

Sometimes the difference between a touchdown and a drop of a wide-open pass comes down to the difference between an active and passive approach, the space between the fingertips and the palm, and understanding why even good technique isn’t good in the wrong situation.

Kenny Stills is a big-play wide receiver. Watch enough of his games and you’ll see a player capable of getting behind cornerbacks or winning 50/50 balls on any variety of fades in tight coverage that you can imagine. There will be plenty of positives to list about Stills’ game in the coming months.

I believe the Oklahoma star has the potential to become a long-term starter within a few years. I also believe that like any good prospect, Stills has areas to address in his game. Sometimes an issue can be such a fine point of detail that it can go unnoticed as a lack of concentration.

This 1st-and-goal pass from the eight with 2:20 in the half against Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl is a good example the differences between decent and optimal pass catching:

Passive and active catching.
Catching the ball with the palms instead of the tips of the fingers.
Good and better hand position.

The play begins from 20 personnel with receivers 2×1 and the backfield configured in an offset pistol.

Stills was the outside receiver on the twin side with a corner playing three yards from the line of scrimmage and shading Stills to the inside. The route was a fade to the left sideline. Stills does a fantastic job working open on this route.

Fade routes tend to be simple patterns where the emphasis is on the pure athleticism of speed, quickness, hand-eye coordination, and leaping ability. What I love about Stills here is that the junior receiver turns this simple route into an elegant pattern. Stills begins his fade to the outside, angling his outside shoulder and drifting to the boundary while looking over his inside shoulder. The A&M cornerback reacting to this route understandably sees this as the break to the football when in fact it’s Stills’ opening move. If you read this blog regularly, then you know I have a deep appreciation for receivers who can tell a story that puts them a step ahead of the defender.

With the ball in the air, Stills continues to bait the corner by continuing to drift outside while turning his head over his inside shoulder.

Stills takes one more step towards the outside, plants his outside foot, and pivots to his right, turning inside out.

This outside turn helps Stills keep his eye on the ball and at the same time turning his back to the defender and shield the pass. This is nice route technique and it places Stills in position to make a play on the ball with plenty of room inside the boundary in position where the defender cannot play the ball. The problem begins as the ball arrives within a few feet of Stills.

This looks like good technique. Stills’ hands are away from his body, palms up, fingers extended, and he’s looking the ball into his hands. Nine out of 10 times, this is a technique that no one would question – perhaps 9.9 out of 10 times. However, Stills could have extended his arms for the ball with his elbows and backs of his forearms pointed towards the ball – a more active technique for acting the football in this situation.

Whenever there is a chance to take an active approach to attack to football rather than a passive one, you take it. If Stills extended as recommended, his fingers are in a better position to make first contact with the ball. Instead, Stills’ hands are in a position where the ball could just as likely strike the receiver’s palms – a part of the hand where the receiver doesn’t have the same ability to stop the spin of the ball as easily as the fingers.

The tip of the ball arrives directly to the palm of Stills’ right hand. If Stills has both hands positioned so both sets of fingers touch the front of the ball at either side, there’s little chance that the ball rebounds off his hand because the fingers stop the spin. Instead, the ball rebounds off Still’s right palm as the left hands is a good six inches away from the ball.

When the ball bounces off Stills’ right palm, the receiver raises his left hand towards the ball. At this point his hands are simply reacting to the ball and not in a good position to control the pass. This passive hand position leads to more passive reactions.

The ball rebounds off the palm of Stills’ left hand and begins its trajectory towards the receiver’s face mask. Meanwhile, the A&M cornerback now has a free pass to make contact with Stills and disrupt the receiver’s chance to control the football. The ball then rebounds off the face mask and his hands are too close to his chest to re-extend as the ball flies off Stills’ helmet.

The rebounding ball flies beyond Stills’ reach, just grazing his fingertips of his left hand.

The pass falls incomplete, and what should have been an easy touchdown as a product of a great route is a dropped ball. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, Stills demonstrates good hands and excellent skills adjusting to the football. However, even good prospects have areas to improve. I believe the best receivers tend to attack the ball with aggressive hand position. This is something Stills can do with greater consistency.

Matt Waldman & The Rookie Scouting Portfolio (RSP)

Posts tagged Kenny Stills NFL

NFL Closeup: Kenny Stills and 50/50 Ball Technique

Flashes: OU WR Kenny Stills