Film Room: Ramik Wilson vs. the Seahawks

Before last week’s preseason matchup against the Seattle Seahawks, I laid out five things that Kansas City Chiefs fans should keep an eye on. In that list, I mentioned how the stars were aligned for Ramik Wilson to stake a claim for the starting ILB position beside Derrick Johnson. Coming off a strong game against the Arizona Cardinals, I had pretty high hopes that we would see him build off of that performance in Week 2.

More from Kansas City Chiefs News

• Multiple Chiefs execs mentioned as strong GM candidates in 2024
• Former Chiefs cornerback in legal trouble in Las Vegas
• Chiefs news: Travis Kelce wants to host fan ‘chug-off’ in Germany
• KC Chiefs send Dave Merritt to NFL coaching accelerator
• Creed Humphrey lands on PFF’s Top 25 Under 25 list

So, how was Wilson’s performance last week? Well if you look at the box score, you’d think he didn’t do half-bad as he finished tied for the most tackles on the Chiefs (four – which I think is one too many since the play-by-play seemed to credit him with a tackle in the fourth quarter that was clearly James-Michael Johnson). However, we know better than to judge a player’s performance by the box score, especially a preseason box score at that, which is why I went back and watched all 26 of Wilson’s defensive snaps. My feeling after  breaking down his performance? Honestly, kind of underwhelmed.

There were two things I saw when watching Wilson: a pretty good athlete who moves well sideline-to-sideline, and a linebacker who doesn’t seem to play with any power. Let’s look at a handful of plays that illustrate what I’m talking about:

On this play, the Chiefs were in their base 3-4 defense with Wilson lined up as the inside linebacker on the left side. When Russell Wilson drops back, DJ and Wilson look to be dropping into zone coverage, splitting the field in half.

Dee Ford ends up forcing Wilson to escape the pocket to the defenses right. While the broadcast doesn’t allow you to see exactly how much ground was made up, you see Ramik Wilson coming in from the other side of the field, and forcing Wilson out of bounds for only a 2-yard gain.

I found this play to be a good example of Wilson’s ability to move across the field and close the distance between himself and the ball-carrier quickly. He also demonstrated his closing-speed on a pass play earlier in the quarter.

When the ball is snapped, the running back immediately releases into the flat with Wilson having man responsibility on the coverage. When the quarterback sees no options to his left and feels the pocket collapsing, he comes back to his right to find an outlet:.

With Wilson smothering the halfback flat, and everyone else doing a swell job in coverage as well, Russell Wilson has no choice but to toss this one out of bounds. Now, was this a pretty basic play? No doubt. Nonetheless, it’s encouraging to see the former Bulldog able to read and react with that kind of speed in pass coverage.

Unfortunately, that’s where I feel the positives stop. Things got pretty discouraging when it came time for him to play in close-quarters. There are two running plays in particular that really stuck out to me for all the wrong reasons. The first was was this 3rd & 2 run in the third quarter:

As the play develops, Wilson has put himself in a position to make a play on the ball as the guard doesn’t look like he has the position nor leverage on the Chiefs rookie. You probably figured it out already since the this play was preceded by a not so cheerful segue, but Wilson did not make the tackle. In fact the guard, who looked to be in a pretty awful position, managed to push Wilson past the ball carrier, and onto the turf. Result of the play: Seahawks first down.

This is what I mean when I say he plays with a lack of power – guards seemed to be able to erase him from plays when they engaged him. While that last play may not have unequivocally sold you, this one should:

On this run in the fourth quarter, when teams aren’t exactly sending out their A-team on offense to say the least, Wilson gets absolutely erased. Above, you see him engage with the Seattle guard around the Chiefs’ 47-yard line. Here’s the first problem I have – Wilson isn’t attacking downhill on this run, whether that’s by design or him hesitating, I’m not sure, but I don’t like it. The second, and more troubling problem, is how Wilson gets manhandled by said guard:

For Wilson’s sake, I hope this guard has Hulk levels of gamma radiation in his system! I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that the closest Wilson came to the ball on this down was just before it was snapped. C’mon Wilson, don’t tell me those 23 reps on bench press at the combine were all just for show! That run resulted in a gain of 12-yards; not a huge surprise when looking at that image above.

After reviewing this game, I saw a linebacker who may not be the ‘thumper’ that the Chiefs are searching for, but one who showed he has the athleticism of an NFL linebacker. Now to be fair, this is the second professional football game of the guy’s life, so I’ll listen to my own advice and pump the brakes a bit. But if Wilson has plans on playing a lot of snaps this season, he needs to start showing the coaching staff he isn’t afraid to get physical in the trenches. Here’s hoping that starts tonight against Tennessee!