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Instincts

What makes Peters special is his instincts. He doesn’t even need a split second to realize where the ball is going. He can read the QB’s eyes or the WR route combinations, react and blow the play up. On this play, Peters recognizes the outside WR settling to block while the inside WR bubbles out of a bubble screen. After taking only a half of step backwards, Peters breaks up on the ball full speed and makes contact with the WR. Where Peters gets himself in trouble, on this play and others, is when he lowers his shoulder into the WR’s chest. Peters must learn technique to finish this play off. He needs to come downhill under control and gets his hands on the WR’s chest. He then needs to lock his arms out so he can see where the ball carrier is going and react to make a play. On this play, although Peters reacts nicely, he comes downhill a little out of control and blows the WR up. But his lack of hand use allows the WR to get his hands on him and hold him and allows the WR to gain some yards.

On this play, Washington is in zone coverage (Cover 3). Eastern Washington runs a “Go” route on the outside with a hitch on the inside. Peters recognizes the route combination and breaks on the route coming a step away from an interception and a possible return. The thing Peters has to worry about on this play is the possible “wheel” route from the inside WR. If Peters jumps this route and leaves his zone (deep 1/3) then that would leave the route wide open. For this play though, Peters makes a great play.

Initially during the play, Peters does a fantastic job of blowing up the WR and taking away an option for the QB, causing the play to break down. The QB does a nice job of keeping the play alive and the RB out of the backfield does a very nice job of breaking off his route to give the QB a target. The RB breaks up-field leaving the LB in the dust. Peters has followed his man, who he has now driven behind the line of scrimmage. Once Peters realizes the QB has broken the pocket, he follows his eyes and breaks on the RB coming from behind and breaking up the pass. A great play.

Tackling

Peters’ tackling really suffered against Oregon’s speed and talent. His lack of technique resulted in big plays over and over for the Ducks. This must improve for him to succeed in the NFL.

The Huskies are in a Cover 3 on this play, with Peters aligned on the outside left. The Ducks run a “curl” on the outside while the TE runs a “seam” from the slot. As a Cover 3 CB, Peters is responsible for any routes outside of the hash. He does a very nice job of recognizing the curl and continuing to gain ground in his zone. Peters realizes the seam route and begins to close down the route, like he should. The QB makes a beautiful throw and Peters doesn’t get there, but that is ok still. Peters then fails to chop his feet and settle his hips to bring down the receiver and make the tackle. Peters fails to do so, reaching and trying to grab the receiver, this will not work. Peters does make a nice hustle play by continuing to run and making the tackle before the player can score.

This is the first that we see Peters involved in the run game. Oregon’s WR opts to go block the middle field safety and leave Peters to make the tackle. Peters does a good job of recognizing the run and of closing down while keeping himself under control. Where he fails on this play is by stopping his feet right before he makes the tackle because he lacks confidence in his tackling ability. If he kept his feet chopping he would have been able to react to the ball carriers spin move and at least be able to wrap him up.

On this play, Peters should be a force player in the run game. Ideally he should be able to close down the running lane and make the RB cut inside to where his help is. But Peters is blown up by the WR, once again not using his hands to his advantage and allowing the RB to have two ways to pick from and a big gain.

This is a play where we see a positive tackling effort from Peters. Peters is blitzing off of the edge to the boundary. Oregon is running a read-option concept, and with Peters being the outside defender he is responsible for the QB keeping the ball as well. Peters does a good job of clearing the QB first and making sure he didn’t keep the ball and then continues to squeeze down where he is able to wrap the RB up and drop him for a loss.

Conclusion

Marcus Peters is a good sized CB, with all the physical tools to be successful in the NFL. His ability to recognize the play and jump the route is eye-opening. Peters has great plant and drive ability when he sees a route breaking down in front of him, which will lead to pass break-ups in the future. Peters strength is in press coverage, when he is able to beat the WR by jamming him and throwing him off of his route and taking him out of the play. Peters also has good hips which leads to his success when he plays trail technique, allowing him to mirror WR’s routes step for step. Where Peters struggles is when he is forced to make tackles in space and one on one. He lacks the proper technique needed to limit the big play. Peters also struggles with zone coverage, but only struggles mildly. At times he is lazy which causes him to miss plays that he could possibly make. Ultimately Peters has the ability to be great in the NFL one day with size, speed and athleticism combination that he possess.

NFL Comparison: Aqib Talib