Film room: Tommy Eichenberg, the run-defending machine

Diving into the 5th-round pick’s game

Landing steals was a common theme throughout the 2024 NFL Draft for the Las Vegas Raiders, and fifth-round pick Tommy Eichenberg, a linebacker out of Ohio State, was one of them. The former Buckeye was widely considered a fringe top-100 player so getting him with the 149th overall selection is excellent value.

A big reason for that is Eichenberg has a strong track record as a run defender. While last season was a bit of a down year with a 66.6 run defense grade from Pro Football Focus, he still ranked eighth among Big 10 linebackers with 26 defensive stops against the run. In 2022, he was even better with an elite mark of 90.1 and 49 stops as both figures led the conference.

On film, the Ohio State product shows good instincts and physical demeanor which should translate to the next level.

The Buckeyes have the Badgers on the ropes here, backed up in their own end as Wisconsin runs power out of 13 personnel to get some breathing room. However, Eichenberg doesn’t let the offense off the hook.

Lined up as the weakside linebacker, he does a great job of reading his keys by seeing the guard he’s lined up across from pull to the other side of the formation. Especially with the defensive line pinching toward the center and closing the interior backside gaps, that allows Eichenberg to fast flow (or sprint) to the playside.

His quick trigger and speed cause the right tackle climbing to the second level to miss, which puts the backer in a great position to make a tackle for loss or right at the line of scrimmage, keeping the pressure on the offense.

While Eichenberg might not be the greatest athlete or fastest player on the field, his instincts give him impressive play speed which is how he makes this tackle.

Here we’ll get another example of the former Buckeye’s instincts as Notre Dame has a lot of eye candy on this play. The Fighting Irish are running an inverted read option with a lead jet sweep action going on in the backfield while the offensive line blocks for a counter run by the quarterback.

That puts a lot of stress on the linebacker, especially Eichenberg, since the offense is essentially running two plays here; the lead jet sweep and quarterback counter. Also, the quarterback is reading Eichenberg on this rep and trying to make him wrong.

However, he stays patient, flows with the play and reads the action in the backfield. Once he sees the handoff to the jet sweep, the backer triggers downhill and has the speed to make the tackle right at the line of scrimmage when the ball carrier cuts upfield.

This is a good example of Eichenberg being a football player rather than a robot.

Technically, he’s responsible for the weakside B-gap in this weak inside-zone run. However, the inside linebacker walked up on the line of scrimmage in the strongside A-gap gets reached by the right guard, creating a massive lane for the running back.

Eichenberg sees the hole open up and takes a risk by leaving his responsibility to fill it. He does a good job of using his hands to avoid and get off the center’s block — granted, the center helps him out by losing balance — and meets the running back in the gap.

The back then tries to make Eichenberg wrong by pivoting to the B-gap, but Eichenberg makes a great tackle that likely saved what would have been a big play on the ground. Again, that’s technically not his responsibility but he adjusts on the fly and helps cover up his teammate’s mistakes.

To a certain degree, the last clip showed this as well. Something that stands out about the Ohio State product’s game is he’s good at taking on blocks with his hands and getting extension. That’s become rare as linebackers in the college game have gotten smaller in recent years as an emphasis has been placed on coverage skills.

On this rep, Penn State is running outside zone right at Eichenberg as the SAM linebacker where the right guard climbs up to him on the second level. The backer responds by coming downhill and landing his hands/punch on the guard’s chest.

Notice how his hands end up inside of the offensive lineman’s hands as he essentially bench-presses the lineman to create some separation. The extension Eichenberg gets allows him to make a nice tackle about a yard or two past the line of scrimmage.

This next rep isn’t as clean but serves as an example of how Eichenberg taking on blocks with his hands helps him make plays.

Minnesota runs a weakside counter where the linebacker has moves laterally over the top of the formation. He takes on the block from the right tackle and lands his right hand on the tackle’s chest but misses with his left. That prevents Eichenberg from getting extension on the block, but the combination of him landing with one hand and continuing to work laterally prevents the lineman from getting a clean block.

To finish, Eichenberg manages to escape just enough to get involved in the tackle while having an offensive lineman hanging onto him.

To wrap up, we’ll shift gears to a rep in coverage which isn’t our subject’s strong suit. However, he’s not completely inept in this area and can make plays with his combination of instincts, speed and open-field tackling.

Georgia runs a halfback screen while Ohio State drops in Cover 3, making Eichenberg a hook-to-curl defender with his eyes on the quarterback. Once he sees the quarterback dump the ball to the screen, he crashes downhill and has enough speed to beat the offensive lineman to the spot.

He does get knocked off balance a bit by the lineman’s block, but Eichenberg stays under control enough to wrap up the running back’s legs and force the Bulldogs into a third-and-long situation.