IDP Rookie SWOT: Alex Anzalone

Tom Kislingbury Posted On July 29, 2017

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Name: Alex Anzalone

Born: 22nd September 1994 (Bill Clinton had been in office for a year and a half)

Position: Linebacker

Pro Team: New Orleans Saints

College Team: Florida

Draft Status: Selected 76th overall in the third round

Combine Review

Height:6’3”
Weight:241 lbs
Hand Size: 9 1/8”
40 Time: 4.63
Vertical Jump: 30 ½”
Broad Jump: 116”
Short Shuttle: 4.25 sec
3 Cone Drill: 6.88 sec

Strengths

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Anzalone seems to be an excellent athlete at the position in the vein of many young linebackers as the position continues to evolve.
His 3 cone drill was exceptional and he showed good agility on the field.
His 40 time was good but not exceptional, but I think he played faster than that
He was an excellent blitzer for Florida. He was a speed rusher from inside and outside and productive for an inside linebacker.

Weaknesses

He had injury nightmares all through his college career. He only played 577 defensive snaps in 18 games across four seasons.
Anzalone did not use much pass rushing craft. He mainly relied on his speed.
Partially as a result of his injury woes, he did not show off enough coverage ability for us to feel confident about his abilities. Of the 24 passes into his coverage in college, 18 were completed.

Opportunities

The Saints have been looking for a dominant inside linebacker for a long time. There is a clear opportunity here to stake a claim for a three-down role.
Linebacker in the NFL is becoming less about stopping the run and more about versatility and the ability to cover ground. Anzalone has the frame and athleticism to become a mobile athlete who is also big enough to front up in the running game when required.

Threats

Although opportunity exists, it’s because the position is wide open. There are several alternative starters for the Saints so any individual could easily be IDP irrelevant.
The team signed AJ Klein to a starter-level deal in free agency but he has not shown that he can be a dominant player in the NFL.
Craig Robertson and Dannell Ellerbe are not the answer.
Stephone Anthony is still around, but that ship seems to have sailed.

Short-term Expectations

I expect him to be in the mix for snaps in 2017 behind Klein. All the other players have strengths but none of them seem good enough to dominate the job – especially with the general lack of talent on the whole defense.

I expect Anzalone to record roughly 250 defensive snaps with around 15-20 solo tackles and 10-15 assists. That would put him down the pecking order behind all of AJ Klein, Craig Robertson and Dannell Ellerbe.

Long-term Expectations

Ellerbe, Anthony and Robertson are all on contracts which make them eminently cuttable after 2017. I’d expect at least two of them to be released unless they step up significantly in 2018. None of them are a level that will stop the team searching for a better option in free agency and/or the draft. If Anzalone performs well in a limited role as a rookie he’ll be firmly in the mix for a starting spot next season.

NFL Player Comparison

I think he’ll be similar to Zach Brown or Darron Lee. Anzalone isn’t as slight as Jatavis Brown or Deone Bucannon and he certainly doesn’t have the bulk traditionally associated with the position. He’s quick and versatile though and could be a solid player if given the chance.

MockDraftable compares him at 85.8% to Vince Biegel which is very interesting given Biegel is an outside pass rusher. I don’t think Anzalone could play outside full-time but he can certainly be effective as a sometime blitzer in the NFL.

PFF compared him to Jonathan Casillas in their draft guide, and think he’ll have to be a special teamer whilst he waits for his opportunity.

Rookie Draft Advice

Anzalone is currently being taken as the #12 linebacker. Although this seems to be good value I’d still likely avoid him in most cases for now due to the lack of a clear path to relevance in the short term. Linebacker is an eminently replaceable position due to the depth of available options. If you’re in a very deep league or have a large taxi squad he’s a very nice player to stash, but on the whole I think there are likely better value options elsewhere.

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Tom Kislingbury

Contributor at Dynasty League Football

Being from England Tom only discovered American Football in the late 90s. From there he's gone from casual defender to devoted obsessive and likes to delve into deep data primarily about defensive players. He spends his days trying to pretend the spreadsheets and graphs he makes about football are actually work for his day job. No-one is fooled.

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