He ran a 4.69 at his pro day, but that looks like straight line speed. His zone drop back pedal looks pretty fluid. However, his lateral agility, balance and fluidity look poor to me. For a smaller ILB at 6'1" / 229 lbs. / 18 lifts, you'd want to see better field athleticism.
Here's a game tape:
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The thing that jumps out at me in this tape is the way he uses his arms like outriggers to keep balance in change of direction, sometimes flailing, while chopping steps. I'd say he's compensating for a narrow base which causes balance issues, but it's hard to isolate one thing in a guy's overall body mechanics. This does not look like a technique issue so much as one element in a whole.
He shows quick hands to compensate somewhat in getting off blocks, but he's throwing his punch from the outside when not going strictly north/south, so he often doesn't get much oomph behind it. Other times he's late with his hands with that long travel and just gets taken out. He looks like a smart player; he seems to have good play anticipation.
Given his good straight line speed for a 230 lb. guy, I could see him on kick coverage.
Unless they plan on moving McCray inside, the #4 ILB spot is wide open.
The only other ILB added so far is UDFA Manoa Pikula...6'1", 234 lbs., 4.57, 24 lifts, 7.06 3-cone (unimpressive but similar to Beniquez). You see a couple of missed ankle tackles in the following tape, but I like the way he worked off a couple of blocks with a quick spin, and the 40 time looks be there on the field. He's not reluctant to stick his nose in it, but on balance he doesn't show a lot of physicality . He looks like a more natural football player athletically than Beniquez. This may be some better raw material to work with. I await the preseason games.
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