The first thing that catches the eye when watching Fuller is his quickness. He’s not necessarily the fastest guy over long distance, but he has quick feet that give him excellent short-area quickness and mirror ability.

Here, Fuller lines up across from Ohio State wide receiver Michael Thomas, who was drafted in the second round by the New Orleans Saints. Thomas is isolated to the left of the formation against Fuller. Off the snap, you can see Fuller’s foot speed, working outside as Thomas takes his route to the numbers, and then opening his hips quickly as Thomas works back inside. Thomas makes another move back outside towards the numbers, but Fuller has no trouble adjusting his hips and feet to mirror Thomas. Thomas then breaks down the field on a deep route, but Fuller runs step for step with him. The ball ends up being overthrown and intercepted by Kyshoen Jarrett, Washington’s sixth-round pick last year.

That quickness is particularly evident when Fuller is lined up in off or zone coverage. When he has his eyes on the quarterback, he can react and break on throws incredibly quickly:

AD

AD

Fuller lines up about five yards off the line of scrimmage on this play. On third and two, Pittsburgh has two receivers running to the middle of the field in an effort to distract and create traffic. They try to sneak the running back out into the flat behind those two receivers, but Fuller sniffs out the play. Playing off the line of scrimmage allows him to keep his eyes on the quarterback the whole time, as soon as the quarterback’s front shoulder aims towards the running back, Fuller breaks on it. Fuller arrives and trips up the back for a loss of three yards, preventing the first down in the process.

Another one of Fuller’s strengths is ball skills. When he plays with vision on the ball, he does a good job attacking it in the air and breaking up passes. Against North Carolina in 2014, he had a couple of pass breakups and an interception.

Here, Fuller lines up against the outside receiver, a few yards off the line of scrimmage. The receiver works towards the sideline and then bursts down the field on a go route. Fuller uses his quickness and fluid movement skills to mirror the movements of the receiver and stay on his outside hip. By staying on the outside hip, Fuller has vision on the quarterback and can locate the ball in the air. Once the throw is released, he tracks the ball and attacks it, undercutting the receiver and tipping the ball away at the last second.

AD

AD

Here’s another example:

Like before, Fuller lines up outside and in off-man coverage. The receiver runs a dig route, cutting into the middle of the field. In off coverage, Fuller has vision on the ball and is also in a position to undercut any in-breaking route. As the receiver cuts inside, Fuller spots the throw and breaks on it. He undercuts the receiver and gets his hands on the ball to force it incomplete.

Fuller also had an interception that he returned for a touchdown in that game.

This time, Fuller is in zone coverage, which suits him well. Fuller has his eyes in the backfield the entire play, reading the quarterback. As soon as the quarterback looks to his side, Fuller begins to break on the ball. He broke on the play so quickly that he nearly overshot it. Fuller had to adjust his body to catch the ball behind him. But he managed to make the adjustment and then take it all the way back for a touchdown.

For me, these few examples show the key to Fuller’s game. To get the best out of him, I think Fuller is an outside corner that should play zone or off-man coverage. When he plays with vision, he’s a far better corner. Unfortunately, there were times in college where Fuller got beaten, and more often than not it was a result of not seeing the ball. Some of that was down to his stance.

AD

AD

Here, Fuller lines up in off-man coverage, but has his stance opened towards the sideline. This stance is presumably taken to keep the receiver from working inside and gives Fuller a chance to flip his hips more quickly on go routes while being in position to break on comeback routes. However, as we see on this play, he doesn’t stop the receiver from breaking inside. As the receiver cuts inside, he has a step on Fuller, who has to flip his hips from their original position facing the sideline. Fuller is bailed out by the linebackers, who read the quarterback and stop him from throwing the ball immediately as the receiver breaks. That gives Fuller a chance to recover, which he does well, breaking up the pass.

But that stance appears a fair amount when watching Fuller and it leads to him getting beaten too often. It could have just been the way he was coached at Virginia Tech; maybe it’s a personal preference. But I think it’s something that Washington defensive backs coach Perry Fewell will need to change.

This play came in the 2015 Ohio State-Virginia Tech game. Fuller lines up isolated against Thomas, as we saw in the first play in this piece. Fuller initially appears to be in press coverage, but bails to off coverage. He takes a similar stance as we saw in the previous play, opening his hips to the sideline. That takes away his vision of the quarterback and makes him vulnerable to double moves, which is what Ohio State throws at him here. Thomas sells a good fake, forcing Fuller to stop his feet and shift his weight. That gives Thomas a step advantage as he bursts past him down the field. From that point, Fuller is playing catch up. He actually manages to recover, in part because of the ball being underthrown. But instead of turning his head to find the ball, Fuller plays the man and essentially tackles Thomas before the ball arrives, drawing a pass-interference penalty.

AD

AD

Having had success with that play, Ohio State went back to it later in the game.

Like before, Fuller plays off against Thomas, with his hips opened to the sideline before the snap. Thomas again fakes the double move, but this fake is even better than the last one. He gets Fuller to bite completely. Fuller begins to break on a comeback route, but Thomas skips past him down the field. This time, Fuller can’t recover and gives up the touchdown.

That was a fantastic route by Thomas and it would have beaten a lot of cornerbacks. But I feel that Fuller could have avoided biting on the fake as much had he taken a better position before the snap. As we’ve seen, Fuller does an excellent job when he has vision on the ball. But on these plays, playing with that stance, he closes off his vision to the quarterback. With vision on the ball, he might have been able to diagnose the route and cover it better.

Jay Gruden said that he felt Fuller could be an option as their slot corner in nickel and dime sub packages. While he has the quick feet to mirror slot receivers, I personally feel Fuller is better suited to playing on the outside and in off coverage with vision on the quarterback. If Fuller is able to bounce back from his injury and win a spot as the team’s third corner, I think Washington would be better off sliding Bashaud Breeland inside, where he can play more press coverage, and having Fuller come in and take the outside. But that is a long way down the line. Fuller first has to prove he is healthy and get back on the field before he can earn playing time.

AD

AD

Mark Bullock is The Insider’s Outsider, sharing his Redskins impressions without the benefit of access to the team. For more, click here.