I must admit, when I first saw the news that the Lions had flooded Halapoulivaati Vaitai’s bank account with more dollar bills than there are letters in his first name, I was a little irritated. I have a few friends who cover the Eagles for a living – if you could call that a living – and I’d heard offhand stories about what a horror show their swing tackle was. From the sounds of it, the guy couldn’t even open a pickle jar while walking backward and live to tell the tale.
A $50M emergency tackle with the motor skills of an industrial Shop-Vac would surely have been the nail in my coffin, but I was pleasantly surprised with his film. That might not be saying much given the expectations that had been set, but I was certainly happy to come away with my corneas intact.
2019 games watched: 11/17 vs. NE, 11/24 vs. SEA, 12/15 at WAS, 12/22 vs. DAL, 12/29 at NYG
Pros
- Above average athlete with good quickness and sufficient agility/change of direction/balance
- Sufficient lateral agility in his initial kickslide
- Good stopping power in his punches and adequate ability to time his strikes in pass pro
- Has enough change of direction ability to redirect to handle inside counters and pick up twists
- Sufficient anchor
- Good power to anchor his run lane on base blocks and create movement on doubles
- Has the necessary quickness to cut off B gap defenders on the backside of zone runs
- Good hand placement as a run blocker
- Flashes fluidity as a pulling guard
- Sufficient ability to sustain in the run game
Cons
- Tends to stop bring his feet late in the rep as both a pass protector and run blocker
- Struggles with speed, especially from wide alignments
- Inconsistent ability to stay square negatively impacts ability to withstand speed-to-power
- Mediocre awareness to identify stunts and his responsibility against overload blitzes
- Marginal screen blocker due to struggles tracking and taking effective angles to assignments in space
- Will become top-heavy while driving or anchoring and fall off run blocks late
- Plays with mediocre timing off doubles and takes suboptimal angles to second level defenders
The bottom line is that Vaitai is a lower-end starter at RT who has the ability to make spot starts at RG. Although a move to the interior would make him a plus athlete and assuage concerns about his ability to play on an island against speed, he may not see the game quickly enough to make a full-time move to guard.
By all accounts, 2019 was a step in the right direction for him, but he will need to continue to improve his pass pro footwork if he wants to shed his reputation as a marked man. He also has the potential to develop into a very good run blocker if he plays with more body control to sustain his blocks, but this deal will ultimately be judged on whether or not he can consistently hold his own as a pass protector against top competition. He flashed the ability to do so against Demarcus Lawrence in Week 16, but he needs to show more consistency in this regard to earn fan confidence.
Fortunately, his deal is pretty team-friendly and the Lions can get out from under it after just two years if need be. As for now, this appears to have been a slight overpay for a player who should be a team’s fourth- or fifth-best offensive lineman, but nothing catastrophic. And if Vaitai’s performance is nothing catastrophic, then this signing will be just fine.