Film session: The many uses of Irv Smith
Vikings' second-year TE showed he can handle anything Gary Kubiak asks of him
*Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Vikings
When the Minnesota Vikings drafted Irv Smith Jr., they had a vision for him.
They saw the former Alabama tight end as a player who could move all over the field, pick up yardage after catch, run deep routes and be an effective blocker despite being undersized for the position.
Earlier this offseason, Gary Kubiak raved about what he saw from Smith Jr.
“Irv was a young player coming out, very young, and the biggest thing for me is I just see so much upside,” Kubiak said. “Watching Irv come into camp, we asked him to do a lot. I made him learn the F position, (inaudible) position, as well as his tight end position. You watch throughout the course of the season, we called on Irv more and more. I think there’s a big, big upside here.”
As a rookie he was all of those things and graded higher than any other rookie tight end by Pro Football Focus. Let’s have a look at the film…
Run blocking
If you can’t make a difference in run blocking as a tight end, you’re just a big, slow wide receiver. That was not the case for Smith Jr., whose height and weight rank in the lowest 10 percent of NFL players at his position. But blocking isn’t always about how big you are, it’s often determined by how much you care about being good at it.
Out of 68 tight ends that played at least 20% of total snaps, Smith Jr. was graded as the 17th best run blocker by PFF on a total of 269 run blocking plays. Only Buffalo’s Dawson Knox graded higher.
In the clip below, Smith Jr. provides a key block for Dalvin Cook to escape outside for an explosive run against the Lions. The rookie takes on linebacker Christian Jones, who is listed at 6-foot-3, 250 pounds. Jones immediately picks up on the run coming his way and slams into Smith, who is knocked back a little but lowers his hips and moves his feet side to side in order to mitigate the blow and gets far enough to Jones’s outside shoulder to turn him slightly and open up a huge gap.
There is already a natural advantage of having two tight ends in the game because opponents will often counter with run-stuffing linebackers but the fact that Smith Jr. can handle those larger linebackers only adds to the edge he gives the Vikings offense.
When he’s not facing players bigger than him, Smith Jr. has no issue eliminating defensive backs. On the play below, he chips the outside linebacker to help Kyle Rudolph and works up to the next level, where he quickly accelerates and contorts his body to angle the cornerback completely out of the play.
The optimistic view on a player of Smith Jr.’s size was that he could be an adequate blocker. As the young (turns 22 on August 9) tight end grows into his NFL body, he could become well above average.
Inline options
Per PFF, Smith Jr. as an inline tight end on 425 of his 684 total offensive plays. He was deployed as a playmaker, an underneath possession option and a downfield receiving option out of alignments in which he was in a traditional tight end spot.
At the 2019 Combine, Smith Jr. ran a 4.63 40-yard dash, which ranked in the 83rd percentile of tight ends. Translation: He’s fast. So Kevin Stefanski/Gary Kubiak devised some misdirection plays to get Smith the football in space. The play below is an example of a play-action that looks like an outside zone run from the offensive line, two other tight ends and Cook. Smith Jr. comes underneath the formation into wide open space.
The play only gains a few years, partly because the Detroit DB sniffed it out rather than following the receiver down the sideline and because Cousins was a little late on the release and slightly behind with the throw.
Smith Jr. has the route running chops to succeed on intermediate throws against zone coverage.
In the play below, he runs far enough outside the linebacker to draw him away from the middle of the field. At the breakdown point of the route, he chops his feet, which freezes the safety just enough to slow the defender from breaking on the throw and getting a pass breakup. To add on, he makes a nice catch while knowing that the safety is coming in for a hit.
Our next play is an example of Smith Jr. having a natural feel for defenders’ leverage. On another play-action, he gets caught up off the line of scrimmage bumping into the linebacker. As Smith Jr. heads upfield, he realizes the linebacker has turned his hips completely up field so he cuts the route underneath the linebacker, giving Cousins space to turn and fire a bullet. Again Smith takes a hit but hangs on.
It’s worth keeping in mind that the Detroit game was one of Smith Jr.’s best and that Adam Thielen got hurt on the second drive so he was asked to jump into the spotlight and had his third highest graded game of the year.
The slot and outside
Smith Jr. scored his first career touchdown against the Denver Broncos on a play in which he was lined up as an outside receiver and Cook motioned into the slot. Notice blow when Cook motions, the defense has a slight shift but nobody directly follows him. Combined with the fact that Denver’s defensive backs were on the same side as a tight end and running back and it couldn’t have been more obvious that the Broncos were playing zone coverage. Smith Jr. stemmed his route outside enough push back Denver’s DB and allow himself to break inside for the open catch in the end zone.
It’s another sign that Smith can be a detailed route runner. It’s small and you have to look close to see it but the slight angling to the outside does the trick. Otherwise the defender would run the route before Smith Jr. did and undercut the throw.
Our next play should look familiar.
Yes, that’s the same concept from the Detroit game with Smith running under the formation. This time, however, he lines up as an outside receiver and comes in motion. Again, the entire offense gets a look at the defense and has an idea of how the Cowboys are going to play it. The defensive back on the weak side crashes toward the running back and Smith goes right by him.
Smith Jr. picked up his biggest play of the season on a dig route against Kansas City. He shows the ability to beat a defensive back one-on-one, driving KC’s safety back by running at his outside hip full speed and then quickly giving a slight shoulder and head nod before breaking in.
The FOX broadcast gave the perfect angle to see the whole route.
The bottom line on Smith Jr. is that he showed all the tools in the box to be able to build on his secondary role in 2019 to becoming an every-down player in 2020.
Certainly there are still areas for him to grow but Smith Jr.’s skillset is one that every team is looking for (but very few of them find). There is a chance that by the end of 2020 he’ll be seen as the best TE from the 2019 class that included TJ Hockenson and Noah Fant.
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Another awesome read, love the film work to illustrate what you're writing. I'm optimistic about Irv and frankly was amazed that he could block as well as he does at his age and weight considering who he persistently faces. I wonder what weight he'll settle at. Irv has great hands as well.
I like this format