Matt Waldman shares key points from the film of Justin Fields, Sam Howell, James Cook, and Nico Collins to explain how these young NFL players are progressing with their development.
The RSP Film Room: Approaching A Decade of Work
I deliver fantasy analysis of these players in my Gut Check column at Footballguys. I thought I’d also share the YouTube videos here. Visit and subscribe to my RSP Film Room Channel. You will find all my film room breakdowns of college and pro players as well as a lot of podcasts.
My first videos were pre-draft analyses of Melvin Gordon and Amari Cooper nearly a decade old. I had a fun range of guests who’ve seen their careers grow since those early days. Josh Norris was still at Rotoworld. SMU’s Director of Recruiting Alex Brown was working at Optimum Scouting as a media scout. Lance Zierlein was about to join NFL Network. Will Hewlett was already well-known in QB circles, but he’s now blowing up because of his work with Brock Purdy and Anthony Richardson. Turron Davenport is an ESPN reporter. Emory Hunt is everywhere, including CBS.
Next spring, I’ll probably sort this old channel into separate channels for college, pro, and podcasts.
Here are brief thoughts about each player in the videos below.
Sam Howell
- The Commanders are creating well-defined decision trees for Howell with their scheme.
- Howell is performing confidently from the pocket.
- His timing can get a little quicker.
Justin Fields
- Rich Eisen tried to turn Fields’ statement about coaching into an immature Zach Wilson response. Eisen grossly misinterpreted Fields’ intent.
- Fields play is slow because he’s trying to do too much.
- Fields overthinking on the field is leading to missed opportunities and breakdowns with things he is good at when playing to the speed of instinct.
James Cook
- Cook and the Bills are excelling with variations of the draw play.
- Cook has a good feel for gap-style blocking.
- Cook is more effective after contact than many backs his size, but it’s not the strength of his game.
Nico Collins
- The Texans’ defense is scored on a lot and that allows opposing defenses to play zones that encourage passing in the middle of the field.
- Collins faces outside shade coverage on a lot of in-cutting routes and he’s converting frequently. It’s almost free money.
- We haven’t seen Collins and C.J. Stroud nearly as often in man-to-man coverage scenarios and that will tell us more about his statistical upside, presuming the Texans can be more competitive in games as the season unfolds.
And of course, if you want to know about the rookies from this draft class, you will find the most in-depth analysis of offensive skill players available (QB, RB, WR, and TE), with the 2023 Rookie Scouting Portfolio for $21.95.
Matt’s new RSP Dynasty Rankings and Two-Year Projections Package is available for $24.95
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If you’re a fantasy owner and interested in purchasing past publications for $9.95 each, the 2012-2022 RSPs also have a Post-Draft Add-on that’s included at no additional charge.
Best yet, proceeds from sales are set aside for a year-end donation to Darkness to Light to combat the sexual abuse of children.