Darius Robinson, Dadrion Taylor-Demerson and Xavier Thomas jump out on first game tape

Elijah Jones made some good plays as well

Cardinals’ fans were extremely excited to learn that the team’s #4 pick Marvin Harrison Jr. was going to play versus the Saints in the team’s first pre-season game.

Whether this was the front office’s and coaches’ ruse to get fans more interested in a game where the Cardinals’ QB1 and starters were given the night off —- unlike MHJ’s 3 token snaps in the offense —- the fans were treated to a number of impressive defensive 10+ snap performances from other members of their 2024 rookie draft class.

Pick #27 —- DE Darius Robinson

Have a good study of Brian Baldinger’s breakdown of what he called “effective” interior line play:

Clearly, Darius Robinson wins at the point of attack with brute strength, length and quick closings toward the football. Look at the way he was able to stack his blocker, shed on a dime and fill the “flow” lane. These reps were versus the Saints’ 1st team offense and is one of the reasons why the Cardinals’ 2nd team defense held Derek Carr and the Saints’ offense in check.

Pick #104 —- S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson

Take a gander at how quickly the Rabbit storms the alley to the football and how aggressive his tackle is:

On this play, notice how quickly the Rabbit reads the play and take note of the distance he covers at top speed through traffic to get to the RB behind the line of scrimmage. For a rookie to show these kinds of instincts and downhill speed and ferocity is rare.

Pick #138 —- ED Xavier Thomas

Here Thomas wins his rep with a powerful bull rush:

This time, Thomas gets a trip sack by performing a cat-quick inside move:

What a boon this draft pick is for the Cardinals to acquire edge rusher Xavier Thomas in the 5th round, particularly now in light of losing B.J. Ojulari for the season.

Here’s a good batch of Xavier Thomas’ plays:

Learning Lesson:

Here is the long 58-yard pass from Jake Haener to A.T, Perry that the Cardinals’ rookies CB Elijah Jones and S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson will be able to study and learn from.

Off the snap, Elijah Jones (bottom of the screen) is in good position to press A.T. Perry. I have been questioning throughout the Cardinals’ training camp why Nick Rallis rolls up his CBs into press coverage position and yet almost every time, the CB allows the WR a free, clean release —- just as Elijah Jones does here.

Thinks of how bumping Perry off his route early on could have immediately disrupted the timing of this play. It also buys the pass rush an added second to get to the QB before he can make a long throw like this one.

Elijah Jones does a very good job of shadowing Perry in trail-technique but gets knocked off his trail two-thirds of the way through the route by Perry’s good one-step corner fake to the outside —- after losing the shadow, kudos to Jones for busting his butt to “recover” on the play.

Typically, when a CB is asked to employ trail-techniques in man coverage, he knows he can rely on having safety help over the top.

Moreover, the defense should want to prioritize giving the CB deep third help over the top, which is why Nick Rallis should be able to instruct the Rabbit not to bite (the dangling carrot lol) on the underneath route with Perry running a deep route to DTD’s right.

For anyone who has ever played free safety, you know how challenging this type of coverage situation is. This is precisely how teams try to pick on a FS by tempting him to close down on an intermediate route, which will leave the outside deep third uncovered.

To Elijah Jones’ credit, he played sticky man coverage the rest of the game —- yet was victimized by Perry grabbing his facemask while pass was coming their way —- only to have the refs call Jones for the PI —- yet, later in the game, on a key pass into the end zone, Jones had his man blanketed.

Perhaps with this these reps under his belt, Elijah Jones will be a top 3 defensive rookie versus the Colts.

Summary:

Given the exciting upside that DE Darius Robinson, S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, ED Xavier Thomas and CB Elijah Jones displayed Saturday night versus the Saints, one could envision all four of these rookies, plus CB Max Melton, to earn significant roles on the defense this season.