NFL1000 Week 6 Scouting Notebook: Where Has Khalil Mack Gone?

Welcome to Bleacher Report’s NFL1000 Scouting Notebook, our weekly series where we use the power of the 17-man NFL1000 scouting department to bring you fresh insights into the game and explain some of the more interesting (and potentially controversial) grades we give players every week.

This week, we’ll start with an unheralded role player in the Dallas Cowboys’ resurgent offense.

      

The All-22: Cole Beasley’s Breakout Year

by Doug Farrar, NFL1000 Lead Scout

Without looking, can you name the receiver who leads the NFL in Football Outsiders’ opponent-adjusted DVOA and DYAR metrics, as well as Pro Football Focus’ Wide Receiver Rating, which indicates a quarterback’s passer rating when that receiver is targeted? If you guessed Julio Jones, Odell Beckham Jr. or A.J. Green, you would be mistaken.

No, the most efficient receiver in the NFL this season by several sabermetric standards is Cole Beasley, the Cowboys’ fifth-year undrafted receiver from SMU. At 5’8″ and 180 pounds, Beasley has done most of his work in the slot throughout his NFL career, and he’s been reasonably productive before 2016, but not at a superhuman level.

In 2015, he caught 52 passes on 74 targets for 536 yards and five touchdowns, his best season to date. In six games this season, he’s already brought in 33 catches on 39 targets for 390 yards and three touchdowns. Last year, he was good for 31 first downs—through six games in 2016, he’s already amassed 22. And he’s been Dak Prescott’s primary security blanket, leading the team in all relevant receiving categories as Dez Bryant struggles with injuries.

What’s been the difference this season? Availability certainly helps—with Bryant on the field for fewer than 200 snaps so far, per Pro Football Focus, the pecking order has shifted in Beasley’s favor. But more than that, he’s an ideal receiver for a young quarterback because of his ability to define openings. This shows up over and over on Dallas’ 2016 tape. Moreover, Beasley is versatile and intelligent enough to line up all over the formation in the offense designed by head coach Jason Garrett and offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. That’s been evident all season, but never more so than in the Cowboys’ 30-16 Week 6 win over the Packers.

Let’s start with this 22-yard reception with 8:44 left in the first half. Beasley is lined up in the left slot in a Twins look with tight end Jason Witten in front of him. Safety Morgan Burnett takes Witten up the seam, leaving slot cornerback Micah Hyde to deal with Beasley. Watch the way Beasley takes a jab step to the numbers and then runs a perfect quick angle to stop Hyde in his tracks. Witten has cleared the middle of the field with his upfield route, and Beasley has a wide-open space on a slant. Beasley’s awareness of field openings is a hallmark of any great slot receiver.

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Let’s move to Beasley’s four-yard touchdown reception with 10:26 left in the game. He’s the outside man on the right side; watch how he okey-dokes cornerback LaDarius Gunter into thinking that it’s a stalled route. Then Beasley makes a decisive cut to the boundary, Gunter trips all over himself to catch up and that’s all she wrote. This kind of subtle deception is something I’ve seen from Doug Baldwin over the years.

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Most of Beasley’s receptions are short stuff—he has just three receptions over 20 yards this season and one reception in which the ball was thrown more than 20 yards in the air. However, when he uses his knack for finding open space on deeper passes, he’s successful.

Here’s a good example in Dallas’ 28-14 win over the Bengals in Week 5. With 1:56 left in the first half, Beasley is the middle guy in a trips right concept, and at the snap he stops cornerback Darqueze Dennard in his tracks on an up-and-out route for 18 yards.

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There’s no doubt that Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott are the fixtures of Dallas’ impressive 5-1 start, along with the best offensive line in the business. But Beasley is more than a beneficiary this season—he’s become a vital cog and a big reason why Prescott looks like the Cowboys’ quarterback of the future.

    

The All-22: Raiders EDGE Khalil Mack

by Joe Goodberry, NFL1000 AFC Defensive Ends Scout

Oakland Raiders edge defender Khalil Mack has become a household name. He’s one of the young superstars in the NFL. The talent he possesses is easy to see, but why hasn’t Mack compiled the numbers many expected in 2016?

The Chiefs game was a perfect example of what I’ve seen for most of the year. Mack ended up with five tackles and a sack on the day, but why didn’t he take the game over?

Let’s start with the sack because it was on the first drive of the game. Mack is lined up on the right side against Kansas City’s Eric Fisher. Mack rips off the line, drives through Fisher with one arm, displays immense power and discards the Chiefs offensive tackle. Mack then makes an impressive tackle as quarterback Alex Smith tries to escape.

This play shows Mack’s upside, but it was also his only clear win as a pass-rusher on the day.

Mack just doesn’t get the opportunities to affect the game. The Chiefs threw the ball only 25 times and used play action to kill the rush on seven of those attempts. That leaves 18 passes, and Oakland asked Mack to drop into coverage six times. Most of these snaps didn’t lead to much, but he was in coverage during one long reception instead of rushing the passer.

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When you take out the passes where Alex Smith got rid of the ball quickly, Mack ended up with just a handful of opportunities to rush …

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