Buffalo Bills: Vosean Joseph looks to carve out role after lost season
By Daniel Bruce
Weaknesses
One of the biggest weaknesses from Joseph’s game is his lack of awareness on the field, he tends to get tricked easily by opposing offenses.
On the smaller side, Joseph possesses small arms at 31 3/8 inches and occasionally has trouble wrapping up on tackles and he also can get bullied at the line of scrimmage.
Joe Marino from The Draft Network describes Joseph as a player who doesn’t shy away from contact, but due to his lack of strength he can struggle to shed blocks.
"Not shy of contact but limited play strength and balance makes it necessary for him to work around blocks. Won’t consistently play through contact and sift through traffic. Has some aggressive, physical finishes as a tackler on tape but snap-to-snap study reveals considerable variance."
The young linebacker has to become more aware, regularly on film he is behind the play and can’t recover in time to beat a blocker to the spot. Rarely for such a fast player does Joseph bust a gap and get there before a block is set, he is usually too late to read the play.
"Does not have the contact balance or hitting power to regularly stack and shed blocks. Doesn’t diagnose play concepts and react quickly enough to consistently get ahead of blocks. Slow reads lead him into junk."
The linebacker from Florida would have been smart to be heavy in the film room during his season on the sidelines, learning from Lorenzo Alexander and the young Tremaine Edmunds to help with this part of his game.
Marino again points out his slow processing, routinely getting fooled by misdirection and usually has tunnel vision only on the football, which hurts his spatial awareness.
"Needs to develop in this area. Is a slow processor and often diagnoses incorrectly. Is guilty of running himself out of plays or into blocks. Spatial awareness is lacking and he often sees plays through a straw. Easily manipulated by fakes/misdirection and open the door for cutback lanes."
Young players usually struggle through these aspects of the game, and with a year to develop his football awareness, Joseph should show improvement in this aspect.