How did Chicago Bears guard Rashaad Coward look after his first season playing guard?
One of the biggest issues for the Chicago Bears in 2019 was consistent offensive line play. Kyle Long was put on the IR in Week 3, and after trying veteran Ted Larsen to replace him, the Bears resorted to Rashaad Coward, a UDFA to fill in.
Coward is not just a UDFA, though. He played defensive tackle in college. The Bears spent two years transitioning him to offense, but most of his preseason play came at right tackle, not right guard.
So, from Week Five through the end of the season, the first snaps Coward had ever played at right guard were going to be in the NFL.
Now that the season is over, it brought a good chance to look back at how Coward performed, and see if anything is there to buy into moving forward.
Positives
To start, there were positives. You can understand why a coaching staff would want to give him a look on the offensive line. Coward does a great job of playing with violence and power.
Power
In the play below, you can see him use his power to hold up the defensive tackle. With Cody Whitehair coming in to help finish, they ride the defender to the ground. You can see Coward get a great push when he is able to plant his feet throughout his video.
You also see violent hands throughout his video. Watch as he is able to get his hands on Mike Daniels, and extend his arms. He does a great job tying Daniels up and using his power to keep him away from the quarterback.
Again, you can see his hands helping create power for him. He is able to knock the hands of Dexter Lawrence away and eventually turn him away from the quarterback. His hand-to-hand combat and pure strength are positives.
That comes with a mentality as well. All offensive line coaches want to see a lineman look for work. Somebody who is hungry to find a block and help his team. In the play below, Dean Lowry stunts outside as he sees the quarterback move. Coward passes him off to his right tackle but is immediately searching to protect his quarterbacks’ backside.
You can see him looking for work throughout his video. Again, the Packers rush three and he is a free man. It is time to help his teammates.
Run game
As a player who wins with power and a physical mindset, he graded out much better in the run game than he did in the pass. Coward did a good job of holding blocks downhill, but some of his best run game was work was being able to get to the second level with consistency as well as pull to open up outside lanes.
Negatives
Unfortunately, he still graded out as an average run blocker at best. A lot of the attributes where he struggled against the run were magnetized in his pass rush sets.
One of the biggest issues that you will see throughout his video is speed, balance, and technique. Coward often will be slow out of his stance and stand up rather than engage with the defender. While he is getting out of stance, defenders can take advantage.
Below we see the common area of weakness for Coward. The swipe. You can see Kenny Clark get out of his stance faster than Coward. As Clark moves up-field, Coward moves up out of his stance. Clark uses one clean swipe and Coward, who is out of position, is now cleanly beat.
To be fair to Coward, I will not post any clips of him one-on-one with Aaron Donald. That is not a fair task for a player of his caliber and should not be asked of him. You can find them if you want though. Still, Donald knew how to beat Coward, and he told all of his friends, who also beat up on Coward. Coward had his worst game against LA.
Below is Morgan Fox, who is not quite Donald. However, you see once again that Coward is standing up while Fox is winning the leverage battle, and swipes through Coward.
No play can speak to the balance issues more than Fletcher Cox taking on Coward. Coward had help in James Daniels, but this was the first play that showed defensive coordinators that a quick stutter and swipe can catch Coward off-balance.
And again, the Rams and Donald saw what Cox and Philadelphia could do. They took advantage. You can see in this clip that Coward is almost standing straight up as he backpedals. It is no wonder the defender had such an easy time shoving him backward.
Overall grade
For Coward, you have to grade on a curve. He was not expected to play at guard and had absolutely no experience coming in. That is a failure on the front office, not Coward. In fact, the Bears likely do not have plans to start Coward next year, either.
However, for his personal growth, he showed a lot this year. He is still a massive project, and likely projects to be a swing tackle in the NFL who can give a start in a pinch but is not penciled in as a starter.
His power and hand usage show signs of upside, but his technique and speed showed signs of a player thrown into a situation too big for his ability.