The Low Down: Tarvarus McFadden

By now, many have discovered the potential NFL first rounder that Florida State cornerback Tarvarus McFadden is. Fans last season got to witness him grow up on the field in his first year as a starting cornerback.

Through the ups and the downs, McFadden got exponentially better as the year went on. He was selected to the ACC’s first team at the end of the year with eight interceptions. So what should be expected of him in 2017? We bring some thoughts and analysis to you with “The Low Down”.

Again, we do not claim to be professional scouts; these are simply observations that we feel became apparent. The previous edition focused on Josh Sweat.

Strengths

Keeping in line with man: Once McFadden locks on to you, it’s almost impossible to shake him. He goes step for step with the receiver he’s covering and gives them very little room. Some quarterbacks are good enough to test this, but most will instead look elsewhere to throw the ball. This is even more impressive when you consider the variety of receivers McFadden has been tasked with covering.

Reliable hands: It’s already been established that McFadden puts himself in a position to make interceptions. The next part is something that many cornerbacks struggle with — actually catching the passes they get in front of. McFadden clearly has no trouble with this. He tied for the most interceptions nationally with eight last season, including two in the end zone. This can be the difference between a game-changing play and simply a good play.

Tackling: When McFadden does get a chance at tackling a ball carrier, he’s better than you’d think. He packs surprising punch for a cornerback. He knows how to wrap up and sniff out a big play before it ever occurs.

Weaknesses

Gets beat on first step: For as sound a cornerback as he is, McFadden still does occasionally get beat on the first step. One would expect such a lengthy cornerback to be able to jam a receiver better than he does. He’s fast and in some ways quick, but those traits get negated at the line of scrimmage every once in a while. He’ll need to be more consistent here if he wants to take the next step, although this did improve over the final few games of 2016.

Taken out of play by blockers: Being exceptional in stopping the run is obviously not a requirement to be a good cornerback. But if one is noticeably weak against it, their side of the field will get targeted more. This seems to have happened with McFadden, who regularly had run plays go his way with him being unable to free himself from a blocker. Of the three of his weaknesses listed here, this one never seemed to improve all that much as 2016 progressed.

Shaky in red zone: This was another area of his game that got better as the season passed by. It still needs to be noted that the first half of his season was plagued with red zone issues. Some of it was misdiagnosing a play and letting the receiver get open. Though even when he was in good position to make a play, he would sometimes give up a score.

Best Performance of 2016

Nov. 5 vs. N.C. State: Cornerback is one of the more difficult positions to judge whether or not someone had a good or bad game. That’s largely because if a cornerback does his job, few passes are going his way. There’s also many elements that they have no control over (quality of quarterback, reliance on others in zone coverage) that inevitably affect them.

When the Seminoles traveled up to Raleigh, fans were understandably worried about a potential upset. McFadden did his part that night by being a lockdown corner. There was only one play where he could be assigned some blame, but it honestly looked like a great call by N.C. State that led to him being blocked by a teammate at linebacker. The rest of the game, he allowed very few passes his way. He also added a great interception early in the game that stopped a driving Wolfpack team.

Worst Performance of 2016

Sept. 5 vs. Ole Miss: It might be a bit unfair to pick on McFadden here, considering it was his first game and the rest of the defense had its own issues. But quite honestly, Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly could not stop throwing his way in the first half. He gave up multiple big plays (a couple of which were simply great offense) and a touchdown in the opening two quarters. From there on he got adjusted, and he even finished with an interception to effectively end the game. Still, it was a baptism by fire to open up the season.

What to Expect in 2017

The short answer: an All-American season. Recently McFadden has become the jewel of various draft “experts”. He is certainly a promising prospect, and figures to be one of the top cornerbacks in his class. That being said, perhaps some should wait until 2017 plays out before crowning him as the best cornerback in the nation.

He will certainly have another good year and will likely be an All-American if he continues to work on his game. There might be some rust at the beginning of the year since the defense will adjust without Marquez White on the other side.

Players with McFadden’s combination of ball-hawking and physical attributes don’t come around all that often. Even as he irons out the kinks, he will garner national recognition as the season goes on. If he plays well enough, it might even be his last year at Florida State.