Lions Film Study: The Good and Bad of Cade Mays as a Run Blocker
There are some really good elements to Mays’ run blocking. There some bad ones too
The Detroit Lions have their new starting center after signing Cade Mays to a three-year deal.
There are a lot of things to like about Mays, but one of the things that has everyone concerned is his run-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus. They gave him a 58.3 grade. That’s not the best for sure. But the best way for us to get some ideas of how he plays against the run is to actually watch how he plays against the run. So we did this film study of both his best game in run blocking and his worst. We’ll start with the bad.
Clip 1: Struggles to maintain the block long enough
Things start really well here. Mays takes the defender and moves him to the side to open a hole for the running back, but he’s not able to hold onto the defender long enough. As soon as Rico Dowlde hits the hole, the defender disengages and gets the stop. It’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen, but you can’t maintain; the hole is going to close.
Clip 2: El Matador
This looks bad. Mays gets to the next level, and the defender matadors him. All he needed was a red sheet, and Mays would have run right through it. The running back runs right into the matador, and that’s that. Mays doesn’t look like this on every play, but he needs to be a bit better blocking downfield.
Clip 3: Like this. Block downfield like this
Mays gets to the next level and pushes number 18 five yards out of the way, and then blocks 35 long enough for Dowdle to cut inside and grab some extra yards. This is the kind of thing that the Lions love their players to do. They want to block up front and block downfield and don’t stop blocking until the whistle blows.
Clip 4: Block everyone
It’s not the best rep because he does ultimately lose his man, but this was fun. He pushes off the defender gettign blocked by the guard, and shuts down his man long enough for the running back to get through the hole. By the time his man disengages, it’s too late anyway.
Clip 5: I just like this rep
It’s not a big gain, but I like that he bull rushes his guy here and at least helps the running back gain an extra few yards. This is your classic Dan Campbell style of blocking. He wants you to punish guys no matter what, and that’s what happened here.