Film Room: What Penn State Safety Jaquan Brisker Can Bring to Steelers
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A former JUCO product turned three-year starter for the Nittany Lions defense, Jaquan Brisker has turned himself into one of the best safeties prospects in the 2022 NFL Draft. During his career at Penn State, Brisker racked up over 150 total tackles and five interceptions while breaking up 14 passes. The Pittsburgh Steelers have a glaring hole at safety next to Minkah Fitzpatrick. This film room takes a look at Brisker's skill set and what he could potentially bring to the steel city.
Before diving into his film, it's worth taking a look at Brisker's impressive athletic profile. Below are his measurements from mockdraftable.com, and as you can see, he stands out in several different areas in comparison to other safeties.
Brisker is an explosive athlete with good straight line speed. He threw up 22 reps on the bench at the NFL Combine just one day after telling media members that he lifted with the lineman in college due to him being stronger than the other defensive backs.
Brisker's strength doesn't just show up in the weight room, it's very evident on his tape as well. Blockers have to come correct when trying to get a hat on Brisker, he's not your normal safety as he has the play strength to bully through potential road blocks.
On this play below against Auburn, you can see Brisker recognize this wide receiver screen and quickly trigger downhill to get in the mix. Auburn sends a tight end in motion to block him but Brisker is quicker to the spot and maintains outside leverage. He then rips under the tight ends shoulder upon contact, makes a perfect form tackle on the receiver for a loss on the play.
Brisker has plenty of zone coverage experience from his playing days on the Penn State defense. He has a solid feel for route concepts in zone, whether it be seeing receivers through to the quarterback or things developing behind him.
On this rep below, Brisker is playing from the top down in zone coverage. The quarterbacks helmet turns to the receiver on Brisker's side immediately after the ball is snapped. The receiver is running a dig route but Brisker jumps in front of the route forcing the quarterback to pull the ball down and scramble. By reading the quarterbacks eyes, he's able to get his defense off the field on third and long.
The fifth-year Senior has plenty of experience playing as the additional defender in the box. PFF charted him with 433 snaps in the box last season and it paid dividends for ex-defensive coordinator Brent Pry's unit.
Brisker's physicality is on display when working near the line of scrimmage. On this rep below against Auburn, it's third and short and Brisker lays the wood on this Auburn tailback. It appeared that he ended up getting the first down but it's always nice to see safeties not afraid to lay bigger hits on a running back in that situation. If the back is going to convert in that situation, at least make him earn it and that's exactly what happened on this play.
Brisker's body type and play strength not only help him as in the run game, they also positively affect his ability as a cover guy. Brisker is so strong in his base that he's rarely moved off the spot at the break point and when receivers try to win with physicality, they often end up empty handed and disappointed.
With Penn State up 28-20, Auburn drew up a slot fade to a receiver with Brisker in man coverage. He does an excellent job staying square and not falling for the receiver's initial step towards the inside. He then makes contact with the receiver, gets chest to chest with his eyes looking for the football. Because Brisker is stronger in this matchup, the receiver ends up flopping upon contact and dragging him down in the process. There's no call on the play and he forces an incompletion.
One of the things that Brisker must clean up at the next level is his tackling, however. PFF charted him with ten missed tackles during the 2021 campaign and that's something that will drive defensive coordinators insane. Safeties are generally the last lines of defense and missed tackles often times lead to big plays.
On this rep below, Penn State is trying to disguise a blitz with Brisker creeping down late to become the eighth defender in the box. They now have a numbers advantage up front and Brisker ends up running free to the running back. Unfortunately upon arrival, he's a little bit off balance and lunges towards the running back and misses the tackle. Despite a perfect defensive play call that should have netted a loss of yards, this turned into a gain of a couple.
While he's an extremely reliable safety in coverage, Brisker doesn't always take consistent angles to the football and it costed him a couple chances for interceptions in college. Brisker is rarely completely lost and out of position but his work with the football in the air could be better to say the least.
On the final play of the game, Auburn finds themselves in a hail mary type of situation here attempting to get the ball near the goal line. Brisker comes from the end zone and makes a really good break on the football but comes up empty handed as he drops the interception. Ultimately, it doesn't affect the outcome of the game as Penn State won but ideally, you want your safeties to come up with those turnovers when the opportunities present themselves. Plus, it looks good on the stat sheet and doesn't hurt come contract negotiation time either.
With the Steelers still searching for a starting safety to compliment Minkah Fitzpatrick, Jaquan Brisker makes a lot of sense should he still be available in the second round.
Brisker has experience playing in the deep middle of the field as the post defender, experience playing as a split safety and plenty of reps in the box as the extra run defender. All of this makes him one of the more versatile safeties in the entire class, one that is capable both from a mental and physical perspective of legitimately contributing from day one in the league.
Brisker is a fluid player in coverage thanks to his loose hips and smooth backpedal. He has some matchup negating potential as he's strong enough to hold up against tight ends in man coverage and he has the speed to slip and run with most slot receivers vertically.
A potential pairing of Fitzpatrick and Brisker has to be pretty appealing for new defensive coordinator Teryl Austin. With the Steelers sending new defensive backs coach Grady Brown to the Penn State pro day, there's a good chance that they have significant interest in Brisker. In less than two weeks, Pittsburgh will likely have a new starting safety and chances are, it could be Jaquan Brisker.
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