New Bengals LB Logan Wilson shows off impressive change of direction

New Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson showed off his impressive change of direction in a clip posted on his Instagram.

The Cincinnati Bengals were in desperate need of adding talent to their linebacker room, a unit that has struggled endlessly in recent history. Thankfully for the defensive coaching staff, Logan Wilson fell into their laps in the third round of this year’s draft, something head coach Zac Taylor admitted they were hoping would happen as the second round came and went.

The forming Wyoming star will be asked to contribute right away, as only Germaine Pratt and Josh Bynes look to be ahead of him on the depth chart. One area the Bengals will need his services the most is on third downs, defending the opposing offense’s air attack.

Defending the pass is a strength of Wilson. According to Pro Football Focus, he earned an outstanding coverage grade of 91.1 throughout his collegiate days. Flip on his tape, and you’ll often find him combining his athleticism with his football IQ to put himself in the best position possible.

Logan Wilson looks like a corner, not a linebacker

Wilson stands at 6’2 and weighs in at nearly 250 pounds, giving him old-school linebacker size. Nowadays, ‘backers tend to be much lighter than that in order to maintain the speed required to fulfill all the roles necessary for a modern player at the position. What makes Wilson such an exciting prospect is that he’s able to keep his impressive size while moving like a player much lighter than he is.

In fact, Wilson earned a relative athletic score (designed by Kent Lee Platte) of 8.84 out of 10. To earn such an impressive score, he graded out as “good” in the size, explosion, and agility categories, and “great” in the speed section.

Those attributes are clearly on display in this clip posted by Wilson via his Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBrqzylgBpr/

At first glance, his change of direction looks like that of a defensive back, not a linebacker. The Bengals haven’t had this kind of ability within their linebacker core in quite some time.

Cincinnati will face their fair share of elusive players and dynamic passing attacks in 2020. If the defense is going to get back on track to provide the league with some serious competition, it’ll start with Wilson and his impressive movement skills.