Channing Stribling was really bad at run defense

[Thunder]

Quick glance at the cornerback class:https://t.co/k2TBYSXaXB pic.twitter.com/rI5MhrrCDj
— Steve Palazzolo (@PFF_Steve) February 27, 2017

Pro Football Focus is not a fan of Stribling’s run defense. That bar in the Run D column is supposed to be all green, not all white.

[Lanknows]

Great info!

Yikes that is very bad. Interesting that PFF does not seem to factor the Run D very heavily in the overall grade.

As president of the Stribling fan club I can say it’s an honor for him to be included (and compared against) this elite company of CB prospects. Few thought this was possible in Fall 2015, when everyone was freaking about CB #2 (well, mostly everyone). Turned out we had both Clark and Stribling and both were pretty good.

Going to more recent concerns —

Remember when we were debating if Stribling was a playmaker or not?

[SinCityBlue]

Yeah he doesn’t like to hit. I’ve seen him turn stuff down in games which was disappointing. I still think he’ll make the league though because his cover skills look more than adequate IMO. He just won’t play for the Seahawks. I hope he has a long career and wish him the best of luck in the draft.

[Lanknows]

Stribling got an elite overall grade – better than Jourdan Lewis.
Stribling got an elite coverage grade – better than Lewis.
Stribling got an elite playmaking grade – this was a point of criticism heading into the season.

PFFs grades are indicative of what we saw the last 2 seasons – teams were as comfortable targeting Lewis as Stribling, to the point that Michigan lost a couple games (MSU 2015 & FSU 2016) by beating Lewis, not Stribling.

So…given the above…

Why is the comment here negative?

We all knew Stribling’s strength was coverage and weakness was tackling. What we didn’t know is how good Stribling was considered to be playing overall and how much of a playmaker he is (at least by PFFs estimate).

[Thunder]

The main reason it’s negative compared to PFF is that I don’t agree with them. They apparently don’t take run defense into account (thus the elite overall grade when the run defense grade is terrible). You and I disagree in regard to Stribling.

[Lanknows]

You posted PFF’s analysis without saying anything critical about it. Now you say you don’t agree with their opinion. This is… selective.

[Lanknows]

In the past you’ve argued that a running back’s main job is to run.

A cornerback’s main job is to cover.

[Lanknows]

I couldn’t help but notice more Stribling-related negativity from Thunder on Mgoblog today:

“he’s not known for his agility, either. Stribling a) has decent height/length, b) is pretty grabby, and c) is an intelligent pass defender. He was also the beneficiary of having great coaching and a great pass rush up front. That’s what got him to where he is today. He has never been an elite athlete, and that goes all the way back to high school.”

Praise for teammates and coaches for his production, while Stribling only gets individual credit for his ‘intelligence’. If this was a white guy I’d know what to blame. In this case I’m baffled.

The NFL combine gives us some objective data on the subject and Stribling’s results are not anywhere near where these kind of negative assessments would lead you to believe. In fact, the area where Stribling struggled wasn’t athleticism at all – it was strength (Stribling was the worst overall performer in bench press and it wasn’t even close). His 40 time was unexceptional but OK (he posted a very strong 4.48 initially but his slower second 4.6 40 was listed as official) but he certainly wasn’t the slowest CB around.

While it’s true Stribling isn’t an elite athlete in comparison to other NFL-bound players – neither is Jourdan Lewis. By finishing at respectable levels amongst these prospects it is clear that Stribling is at home in their company. He certainly IS an elite athlete in comparison to other college players – the vast majority of which are not invited to the NFL combine at all.

Now Thunder’s certainly not the only one to say negative things about Stribling’s speed, and it’s certainly true that Stribling not an athletic ‘freak’ amongst this group. But Thunder’s been as vocal of a critic and skeptic of Stribling as I’ve seen anywhere over the last couple seasons. Typically when you have a such a good player at Michigan you focus so heavily on limitations. Speed, ball skills, playmaking, tackling – we’ve heard it all.

I would say the results tell a clear story and it is that athleticism was not something that hindered Stribling in his career at Michigan.

A mea culpa is warranted. Stribling (along with Lewis) is arguably the best CB Michigan has had in a decade but continues to get little to no respect. The reason is mysterious but I suspect it goes back to locking into an assesment from the PSU game his freshman year.

[Thunder]

I don’t lock into assessments. Yes, there’s a baseline of expectations to begin, but I give credit where I think credit is due, and I hold myself accountable for mistakes. You yourself have thanked me for going back, commenting on, and posting about my pre-season predictions, my TTB Ratings, etc.

As for Stribling himself, I gave him a solid grade coming out of high school. Why would I undermine myself for no good reason? I call it like I see it, and that’s it. If you don’t like my assessment, that’s fine.

[Lanknows]

You made this argument before. My rebuttal is the same: you’ve posted several dozens of times about Stribling since that post over 4 years ago. The majority of those have been negative and/or skeptical.

I’m not going to dig through all of them but I would hypothesize that there was a turning point after the 2013 PSU game.

Here are my comments from the 2014 countdown post:

http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2014/07/2014-season-countdown-46-channing.html

I get this ranking to some extent, but your narrative assessment is too negative. I think Stribling is a future-star…Long-term, I see Peppers as a safety and Stribling and Lewis as lock-down all-conference corners. Irrational optimism? Perhaps, but when freshman CBs look as good as Stribling and Lewis looked, and when they push quality veterans for playing time – that portends very well for the future.

Next year’s countdown was even more negative. It focused on Stribling lack of playmaking ability and predicted his role would decrease:

http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2015/07/2015-season-countdown-35-channing.html

You wrote:

I still think Stribling will be the fourth corner or lower, depending on how you view the position. The starters are likely to be Jourdan Lewis and Wayne Lyons, Peppers is slotted in as the nickel corner, and even redshirt freshman Brandon Watson might have worked his way past Stribling.

[Thunder]

Also, I haven’t seen any 4.48s listed for Stribling at all. He initially ran a 4.68.

[Lanknows]

I saw it on SB nation. Maybe it was a typo. That would explain why his official time was higher than one of his 2 runs.

[Lanknows]

Big picture point is the same one I’ve been bringing up for years. Striblings play has been positive but his write-ups and evaluations here have been negative. We’re talking about an all conference player whose TTB rank has never been even in the top 25 (Stribling’s ranked 26, 35, and 46 in the last 3 years – as a point of comparison, 4th string RB Ty Isaac has been 19, 33, and 34). His athleticism and playmaking have been criticized – yet he’s invited to the NFL combine. His performance by PFF is rated as high as almost anyone in the country – yet this post is insistent on focusing on the negative, even now.

Seems like playing favorites.

[Author]

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