When the Detroit Lions and first-year general manager Bob Quinn selected Washington State offensive lineman Joe Dahl in the fifth-round of the 2016 NFL Draft, I was both intrigued and happy with the pick. After watching Dahl live at the Senior Bowl practices, I was very impressed with Dahl’s fire and competitiveness as a player. Another item that stood out to me was his versatility as he took reps in practice as a guard and as a tackle.
First, let’s take a look at a little history on Dahl the player. He went to the University of Montana in 2011 but transferred after one season. He sat out one season and began his career at Washington State in 2013 playing left guard. He moved to the left tackle position in 2014 and played there for two seasons.
During his senior season, he injured his foot in early November which required surgery, causing him to miss his final four regular-season games for the Cougars. He did return to play in the Sun Bowl in late December versus Miami, and he didn’t look limited at all in Mobile at the Senior Bowl. Clearly this is a tough man and football player, as foot injuries are very difficult to overcome in such a short period of time.
Dahl had a fine senior season as he earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors and USA Today named him a second-team All-American as a left tackle in 2015.
You’ve just read all the easy stuff when it comes to the evaluation of Dahl.
As an evaluator, there are two critical components that need to be addressed. Obviously, you are working with the skill-set of a current player in the here and now. Very basically, there are things you need and want to see. What does he do well? Where does he win? Where does he lose? What does he not do well?
Now to what is most important; we need to project how his physical and mental traits will translate to the NFL. This is ultimately where scouts win and lose.
An evaluation of Dahl is more story than evaluation. The Cougars run the “Air-Raid” offense and because of the things they do, and how quickly they do them, and how big the gaps are between the offensive linemen, getting a true feel for a Cougars offensive lineman player is laborious. There needs to be a level of comfort when it comes to actually selecting a player and in Dahl’s case, I’d guess there was a lot of discussion about him as a player.
The Cougars offense throws the ball so much and that’s generally a great thing because we get to see plenty of repetitions of the player pass protection. However, not all repetitions are equal, and with the Washington State offense, the ball tends to come out ultra-quick so we have to project a touch to truly determine where the player is both technically and physically. For example, Dahl has surrendered four total sacks in his two seasons as a starting left tackle, but this stat is driven by the scheme and those numbers aren’t fully reliable.
The technical aspect at play here is that Dahl really doesn’t display a “true” kick-slide as he looks to back pedal (and sometimes he’ll actually cross his feet over to cover ground laterally) and it causes him to “catch” as a blocker and hang on while getting pushed into the pocket, but it works in the Cougars offense because the ball comes out quickly.
Also, Dahl always lines up out of a two-point stance (this means he is standing up and doesn’t have a hand on the ground) and is constantly taking choppy steps with his feet while pedaling backward. When contact is initiated, he is still moving backward and he consistently gets jolted back when contact is made, and there is a thought that he doesn’t play with much strength. However, he plays with enough power to drop his hips and anchor to hold up and get the job done. It just happens a little deeper in the pocket than most would like, but the anchor is there.
Dahl’s consistent movement into the lap of the quarterback makes him look significantly more susceptible to power than he truly is, mostly because his power is hidden in the lack of a true kick-slide and the scheme allowing the offensive linemen to get pushed into the backfield. The combination of the scheme and his footwork doesn’t require him to simply stop a defender in his tracks.
While he is a strong, tough player, too often he latches on and momentum moves him backward. However, we can’t hold the things his coaches ask him to do (at a high level) against him and we can’t make the assumption that he can’t do the things we want him to do, and that’s where things like watching the film and a little projection are required.
Back-pedaling is simply not going to work when operating at the NFL level and his kick-slide and footwork will certainly be one of, if not the first of Dahl’s technical issues that the Lions will clean up. Cleaning up Dahl’s footwork in pass protection will unlock his ability to better handle power and open the door to the rest of his game.
The last issue with the Washington State offense is that they don’t run the ball very often and getting a true feel for him as a run blocker is a difficult task. If effort is any indicator, Dahl will be okay as he does have traits that he can take to the NFL. He has good flexibility, explodes out of his stance to generate movement and he shows enough foot quickness to get to the second level as a run-blocker.
Again, he is a fiery competitor and if there are limitations to his game he’ll work to get past them.
Now to how he fits with the Lions and what his future might offer as a player. There are multiple thought processes on where Dahl fits going forwards.
If he is truly underpowered, his future is as a tackle and because of the way defenses line up their personnel, it might make him a left tackle only. We’d be looking at Packers tackle David Bakhtiari as an example of what Dahl could be on the edge of the line. While Dahl isn’t a perfect fit as a left tackle from a physical and measurable perspective, he does flash the footwork and athleticism to play on the edge of the offensive line.
There is another thought that he doesn’t have the athletic tools to play on the edge, and that means he’ll have to go inside to play guard. For this to happen, he’ll need to work on the technical aspects (kick-slide etc.) to unlock his power, but if that happens then he can certainly play right tackle. Obviously, there is a bit of a circular logic in this type if thinking.
The reality is that Dahl brings multiple things and his effect on this Lions roster will change from his rookie season to his second year. In year one he will add competition to the offensive line during training camp and he’ll work at both tackle spots and as a guard. I’d expect him to have very little game-day impact for the Lions as a rookie, but don’t mistake that to mean he isn’t impacting this team.
When the Lions added free agent offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz, they did so thinking he has the ability to play right guard and even right tackle and his value is tremendous because he’s versatile enough to play multiple positions.
Dahl is very similar with his potential to play multiple spots; it’s just a matter of how much the Lions offensive line coaches can extract out of Dahl. When Dahl gets his technical issues resolved, there is no reason to think that he can’t play right tackle or inside at guard, perhaps even more.
Where he ultimately ends up from a position perspective will depend on many factors, but the point is that the pick offers interesting versatility and could bring great value. This is what makes Dahl such an intriguing pick, and let’s remember, we’re talking about the fifth-round here.