Mason Foster vs Nebraska (2010)

Mason Foster (#40) highlights vs Nebraska in 2010 Holiday Bowl

Pros: Good athlete. Nice size. Serviceable speed. Absolutely phenomenal production - 162 tackles, 14 TFL in 2010.. rare statistics. Only recent highly drafted linebackers close to his production are Jerod Mayo, Chad greenway, and Pat angerer. Terrific leader.. emotional leader for the Huskies. Plays with great intensity and energy.. battles with a chip on his shoulder. Leaves it all out on the field.. accepts leadership role and embraces the challenge. Immense work ethic, spends a ton of time and extra hours watching film.. has to be kicked out of the film room. Models his game after Chad Greenway and watches a lot of tape of NFL LBs. Is noted as helping defensive coaches with game plans, is very coachable and gets much praise from his coaches. Great special teams player.. gives very good hustle and effort. Is known for chasing down Oregon's Cliff Harris from behind 50 yards away on a special teams play going for a TD. Elite overall intangibles. Plays with an excellent motor on the field.. goes all out on every play. Exceptional consistency.. had over 10 tackles in every game in 2010 but one. Extremely instinctual, arguably the most intuitive linebacker in this draft class. Reads and reacts very well with no wasted motion. Continually gains the advantage against blocks due to reading the play before the blocker gets his assignment on him. Very good diagnosis ability overall. Knows when to attack plays but also knows when to stay disciplined and maintain gap integrity... great combination of discipline and aggressiveness. Unbelievable and very rare overall ability at avoiding blocks, has literally every technique in the book at avoiding blocks.. even flashes a spin move to go around blockers. Lineman just keep whiffing on their blocks at the second level when trying to get a hand on Mason Foster. Does a fine job of not allowing blockers into his chest with good rip technique. Lineman just rarely get two hands on him. Rare technique flowing through trash - can shift, slice, shoot, and slide through gaps extremely effectively.. very similar to Jerod Mayo in that category. Great instincts while navigating through trash as well.. anticipates when and where lineman will block him and uses his instincts to react and find a way getting back into the play by spinning, carrying, or avoiding blocks. Very good at keeping his playside arm free against blockers to make the tackle in tight quarters when he has the angle advantage. Does a solid job keeping his legs churning when engaging with blockers which allows him to make tackles while blocked.. is like a bowling ball. Good, not great, balance on cut blocks while scraping to chase plays. Very good short area burst.. has good explosiveness when tackling.. forced 6 fumbles in 2009. Great wrap up tackler; gets low and drives people back at the line. Good awareness in coverage.. is always around the ball in zone defense. Can diagnose and jump routes. May not have elite workout numbers but has great football athletic traits.. good burst, explosiveness, balance, flexibility, and elusiveness. Has jumped into the 2nd round with breakout season. Could be just scratching the surface of his potential. One of those special linebackers that has a nose for the ball.. is on nearly every tackle and makes plays seemingly without any conscious reasoning but his great instincts. Should be a very disruptive linebacker at the next level.

Cons: Surprisingly shows an unwillingness to stack and shed against blockers. When play is in open space, once he realizes he cant evade and slip a lineman he will then resort to wait for the play to come to him instead of attacking his blocker (stack) and then attempt to disengage (shed).. allows extra yardage this way. Disengaging ability is relatively unknown due to him always trying to slip past blocks albeit that he is extremely effective at it. Doesn't show great explosiveness or a hand pop once he has to take on blockers... once blocker (although rare) gets into his chest he struggles to come free. Despite instincts, does not have overly good technique in coverage.. needs to display more disciplined press technique to effectively knock TEs off their routes in man coverage. Has good but not elite lateral agility.. RBs can outrun him. Not the linebacker you're looking for if you want an extremely physical, run stuffing, inside rush clogging, rangy linebacker. Got away with some things at the collegiate level he may not get away with at the next level... may struggle against quicker and more athletic blockers with a quick hand punch thus forcing him to stack and shed instead of evading. Skill set not "perfect" for all LB positions, lacks ideal stack and shed ability to play on the inside and lacks the elite speed for the outside. Best fit likely as WLB in 4-3, some potential in 3-4

NFL Teams:
(New Orleans Saints 50%, Detroit Lions 25%, New York Giants 25%)

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Mason
• Foster
• highlights
• Washington
• Huskies
• football
• 2010
• NCAAF
• Holiday
• Bowl
• nfl
• draft

[discipleg3]

Bucs need an A for a draft grade. Clayborn, Dequan Bowers, and now this guy. AMAZING DRAFT CHOICES!

[TheCanadianPoju]

Bucs got some great hair coming to the team with Foster and Clayborn

[oscarboy2323]

Great player, as was his predecessor, Donald Butler (Charger ILB starter) and his replacement (Cort Dennisson). Mason Foster is amazing.

[M3GTR]

@DrummerFromHellXX61 or hes the only good player on the team

[DrummerFromHellXX61]

@M3GTR So, if he has 162 tackles, and he "misses a lot of tackles", then he must have been in on every single play of the season by that assessment.

[shillbrawler]

yeahh mason foster thats my homies cuzin

[mkl62]

Mason, congratulations on being selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2011 NFL Draft. I live in South Carolina and we get Bucs games here occasionally. Best of luck.

[jjesse1978]

With a healthy Brian Price, DaQuan Bowers, Gerald McCoy, Adrian Clayborn, and Mason Foster, the Bucs should be much better up front. Especially against the run. We'll need to be with Ingram in New Orleans.

[TheDoubleDs69]

@discipleg3 Our D is looking tough.

[TheDoubleDs69]

Hell yeah glad the Bucs picked him up. Our D is looking good right now.