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Baltimore Ravens Need to Avoid Zach Cunningham

By Jason Belschner

Nov 19, 2016; Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores inside linebacker Zach Cunningham (41) is congratulated by teammates after a fumble recovery during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at Vanderbilt Stadium. Vanderbilt won 38-17. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 19, 2016; Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt Commodores inside linebacker Zach Cunningham (41) is congratulated by teammates after a fumble recovery during the second half against the Mississippi Rebels at Vanderbilt Stadium. Vanderbilt won 38-17. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports /
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Zach Cunningham is not the answer for the Baltimore Ravens:

Most blog sites spend tons of time predicting and fantasizing over who they want their team to take. Here at Ebony Bird, plenty of articles hit the interweb the past couple of weeks highlighting the best players the Baltimore Ravens should take. I wrote one myself, but let’s look at first round talent that Baltimore needs to avoid. If the Baltimore Ravens draft Zach Cunningham, it will be a bigger disaster than Matt Elam.

Before the start of the 2016 season, Pro Football Focus posted an article by Steve Palazzolo calling Cunningham “the best LB you haven’t heard of.” In the article, Palazzolo accurately points out Cunningham’s tremendous athletic abilities. His speed and height allows him to drop in pass coverage and take away tight ends or running backs. The numbers he put up during the NFL Scouting Combine support this as he was one of the top performers in the vertical and broad jump. He also ran a 4.67 40, so the athletic gifts clearly exist.

Despite these gifts and several pundits projecting him into the first round, the Baltimore Ravens need to stay away from this guy in the first round. Furthermore, no franchise needs to take him in the first round. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah left him out of his Top 50 rankings. If a linebacker needs to excel in any area, it’s tackling. Cunningham needs to greatly improve even though he recorded 125 tackles last year.

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Vanderbilt isn’t exactly a football factory when it comes to producing NFL talent. While playing superior SEC talent, Zach Cunningham is the only Commodore who competes at the same level as his competition. Because of this, he consistently made it to the ball carrier first, and he recorded a large volume of tackles.

Unfortunately (or fortunately if you are Zach Cunningham), his stat line leaves out the large number of missed tackles. Even in the previously mentioned Pro Football Focus article, Palazzolo pointed out this out.

"“If there’s one place in which Cunningham must to improve, it’s his ability to finish plays and tackle. He’ll often attack ball carriers too high, leading to his falling off too many tackles or whiffing completely. Even when he does complete the tackle, he doesn’t finish with quite the same power that he shows when looking to take on blocks.”"

Obviously, coaches can fix some of these problems. Cunningham’s physical gifts allow many analysts to ignore or excuse these faults. Players with such glaring issues in primary skill areas should never make it into the first round. If he’s still available at pick #47 overall, the Baltimore Ravens should jump on him but forget the first round.

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