The Scouting Academy breaks down Ezra Cleveland

We brought you a video from the folks at The Scouting Academy last week, taking a look at just how good current Minnesota Vikings linebacker Eric Kendricks is. We’ve got another one from Dan Hatman for you to look at today, but this one focuses more on one of the newest members of the Vikings.

As part of The Scouting Academy’s “Best Fits” series, Hatman takes a look at new Vikings’ offensive lineman Ezra Cleveland. The video is about 18 minutes long and takes a look at Cleveland from a couple of different perspectives.

The first part of the video shows what Cleveland did in college in several games, including one against the University of Washington at the end of the Boise State season and one from the start of last season against Florida State.

The video then moves on to how Cleveland will fit into the Vikings’ offense, particularly looking at the role that Brian O’Neill plays in the offense now. Cleveland’s athletic profile has been compared to O’Neill’s quite a bit, and they appear to be similar types of players.

While most of the video focuses on pass protection, it does get into run blocking in the last few minutes, looking at Cleveland’s ability in the sort of “wide zone” scheme that he’ll be a part of in Minnesota.

The Scouting Academy does a great job with these videos, and while it looks like Cleveland might require a “redshirt” year. . .much like the Vikings originally wanted to do with O’Neill before injuries forced him into action. . .it appears that there’s a lot to be excited about with this selection.

What do you think, folks?