Cameron Fleming: A Closer Look at the Stanford OT
By Justin Partlow
A relative unknown this year compared to his teammates Andrus Peat and David Yankey, Cameron Fleming emerged as a legitimate NFL prospect over the season. After his surprising decision to leave for the NFL Draft at the end of the year, many began to watch the film on Fleming, and what they saw was a naturally powerful player who has issues against speed rushers. Fleming has shown the ability to play at a high level and be successful, but will need refinement in both run blocking and pass blocking.
Technique:
Fleming is an interesting player to watch with his technique. By no means is Fleming someone who will blow you away with his technique, but he just gets the job done and does it very effectively. Fleming isn’t the fastest player on film, and will never show himself as one, but he is very effective in his movements and makes sure to never waste any possible movement. Fleming has a very good punch, and makes sure to put all of his power behind his punches against his opponent. Fleming needs to work on playing with a better base and being able to bend more naturally than at the waist, which he has shown at times on film.
Run Blocking:
Fleming is absolutely a nasty run blocker, and has quite honestly made his name on his ability to run block, and finish his opponent. This has led to some of the talk of Fleming making the move to the interior OL when he enters the NFL. Fleming needs to do a better job of playing in control at times on run downs, as he sometimes gets out of control. Fleming also needs to work on his cut block technique, as he shows poor form now. Fleming currently just dives right at the feet of his opponent and has many times just flat out missed his opponent, because he telegraphs the cut block too easily. Fleming uses his natural punch ability to jolt his defender back, and uses that initial punch to get his advantage of his defender.
Pass Blocking:
On film, Fleming shows as someone who struggles against speed rushers, but also shows the ability to hold his own and be successful. Against Anthony Barr, Fleming showed ability to slow down Barr and be successful, even with how elite Barr is with his speed. Fleming’s big issue stems from his base, he doesn’t play with a very consistent base and it allows for him to get off balance. Also on film, Fleming will get off balance with his base, and then overcorrect by actually playing with poor technique to fix his errors. One major part is that Fleming will cross over his feet and get himself off balance that way. While he was able to get away with his many times in the Pac 12, Fleming will get eaten alive by edge rushers in the NFL as they will exploit that error that he shows. Fleming is someone who will need serious development to correct the flaws he shows in pass protection, but the natural talent is there to be a successful NFL player
Overall:
So where does Fleming fit in the NFL Draft and into the NFL? I currently hold a 4th round grade on Fleming as I see him as someone you start at RT, and if he fails there then you move him inside to Guard. Look for Fleming to be brought along a little slowly, but if the refinement is made that an OL coach can do, then Fleming has the ability to be quite successful in the NFL.
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