Draft Pick Profile: Troy Apke

June 5, 2018

by Steve Thomas

Bold Prediction: Troy Apke ends up being the steal of the draft and becoming the Redskins’ next great Pro Bowl safety.

Well, perhaps not, but what the Redskins do have on their hands is a player who has natural gifts and could in time become a solid contributor on a rebuilt defense.  Apke is an interesting prospect in that many expected the Redskins to draft a safety, just perhaps not him.  At first glance, Apke was a bit of an unusual choice, but nevertheless, there’s a path for him to carve out a role on this team.  Let’s see what we can learn about him.

Background

Apke, who stands 6’1” and weighs 200 pounds, is a Pennsylvania native who has athletics, and football in particular, in his blood.  Both of his parents were intercollegiate athletes at the University of Pittsburgh, and his father was a linebacker who eventually played for the Pittsburgh Steelers as a replacement player during the 1987 strike.

In high school, Apke was an elite track and field athlete, particularly in the 100 meter dash, and was a 3 year two-way starter in football, excelling at both wide receiver and safety.  A three or four star recruit by the major rating services, he was originally recruited to Penn St. as a wide receiver.  He never played receiver for the Nittany Lions, though, quickly converting to safety.  Apke became a full-time starting safety as a senior.  His year-to-year stats at Penn St. are follows:

2014: 4 gms, 2 solo tackles

2015: 12 gms, 14 solo tackles, 12 assisted tackles

2016: 10 gms, 11 solo tackles, 17 assisted tackles, 1 interception

2017: 13 gms, 37 solo tackles, 17 assisted tackles, 1 interception

Totals: 39 gms, 64 solo tackles, 46 assisted tackles, 2 interceptions

He also played extensively on special teams during his collegiate years.  What’s noticeable about his stats is that he has remarkably few interceptions for a safety.  He has very small hands by NFL standards (8 3/8th inches as measured at the combine), but I don’t believe that had a noticeable effect on his interception numbers.  Also, his tackle numbers as a senior are good but not great.

You’ve probably heard by now that Apke is athletic, but you may not understand just how elite he really is in that regard.  At the 2018 NFL Combine, he ran the 40 yard dash in 4.34 seconds, did 16 bench press reps at 225 pounds, jumped 41 inches in the vertical leap and 10’11” in the standing broad jump, and ran the 3 cone drill in 6.56 seconds and the 20 yard short shuttle in 4.03 seconds.

His 40 time was tied for 4th best among all participants, his vertical leap was tied for 5th, his 3 cone drill time was tied for 4th best, his 20 yard short shuttle was tied for 5th, and his standing broad jump was tied for 7th.  Even his bench press was 11th among safeties, which isn’t terrible.  For the sake of comparison, Penn St. running back Saquon Barkley ran the 40 yard dash in 4.4 seconds, the 20 yard short shuttle in 4.24 seconds, and jumped 41 inches in the vertical leap.  I understand that Barkley is over 230 pounds, much stronger (29 bench press reps), and was probably the #1 overall prospect in the draft, but the point is that, objectively, Apke is faster and has more burst than his teammate Barkley, who posted one of the all-time great workouts.  In other words, Apke absolutely demolished the objective measurables portion of the Combine.  He clearly has the raw talent to be productive at an NFL level.

What does his film show?

As I’ve said before in other player reviews, I don’t intend this to be an exhaustive film study; this is merely an overview of my non-professional observations.  I don’t have access to Penn St.’s all-22 film, so this is based on the 2017 Penn St. – Ohio St. game, the 2017 Penn St. – Michigan game, and Apke’s highlight videos.  The first thing that jumps out of the screen about Apke is his incredible burst.  He can out-accelerate and out-sprint almost anyone on the field and more than lives up to his Combine workout in that regard.  This is not a player who has track speed but not game speed.  Apke uses his speed to his advantage and has the ability to make up space in coverage in order to fix mistakes.  He is a high-energy player and is extremely aggressive in his tackling technique.  He plays bigger than his size in terms of his willingness to attack.  Apke has decent one on one coverage skills despite not being quite as agile and flexible in his hips as he is fast.  He is not afraid of contact in the box, which is critical for a potential strong safety.

Apke also has some significant negatives to his game.  First, he has a tendency to lead with his head, including sometimes the crown of his helmet, when hitting and tackling.  He may have gotten away with this in front of Big 10 officials in college, but this will result in 15 yard penalties in the NFL and is something that the Redskins coaching staff must correct.  Also, Apke is sometimes slow to recognize and react to his assignment in coverage.  Penn St. played more cover 2 or quarters coverage than anything else, particularly in obvious passing situations, but there were still times when Apke didn’t rotate quickly enough as the play develops.  It appeared as though the cause was slow post-snap recognition as a play was developing.  Fortunately, he can often use his incredible speed to correct the problem, but that doesn’t solve the root recognition issue.  He also has a tendency to take an incorrect angle when trying to rotate over to make a stop.  In run defense, Apke is aggressive in the box, but can overplay his angles and also get caught up in traffic, thereby allowing runs to go for more yardage than they should.  He missed tackles on infrequent occasion.  These negatives are nothing that professional coaching can’t fix, but I suspect that it may take time to bring him up to speed.

Where does he fit with the Redskins?

The Redskins will keep a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 5 safeties on the active roster.  D.J. Swearinger, Montae Nicholson, and Deshazor Everett are locks for the roster, with Swearinger starting at strong safety and most likely Nicholson starting at free in Washington’s base cover 3 defense.

Behind those three are Apke, 2017 undrafted free agent rookie Fish Smithson, 2018 undrafted free agent Quin Blanding, and 2014 Vanderbilt product Kenny Ladler all competing for what is likely one spot.  Being a 4th round draft pick, Apke may have a leg up over the rest of these players, although Smithson has showed some promise, including in coverage, and Blanding was a highly productive 4 year starter at Virginia and a priority free agent.  However, it’s most likely that Apke’s athleticism will win him the spot over the rest, particularly if he can live up to expectations on special teams.  Neither Smithson nor Blanding have high-end athletic ability by NFL standards, and Washington needs team speed in the secondary.  Nicholson, with a 4.42 40 time, is fast, but none of the others in this position group have top end speed, including starter D.J. Swearinger.  Apke’s speed can’t be taught and is a valuable commodity if he can eventually work his way onto the field.

Both Gruden and Apke talked in their post-draft comments about Apke’s potential on special teams.  Apke is not a returner; at least, he did not return kicks or punts in college despite his speed.  His experience at Penn St. was on both the coverage and return units.  With the loss of Niles Paul to free agency, and both Nicholson and Everett expected to play bigger roles on defense, the Redskins need a new key cog on special teams, and it’s likely that they are eyeing Apke for this role.  His blazing speed and natural aggressiveness should serve him well on coverage duties.  Excelling in that area will provide him a leg up on the undrafted free agents in particular.  Also, I don’t expect a 4th round draft pick to last long on a practice squad once injuries on other teams start to build up, and the team probably won’t want to risk losing him for nothing.

This season, absent injury, it’s unlikely that Apke will start absent another injury disaster even in a best case scenario.  His best case for 2018 is most likely for him to become critical to special teams and to improve to the point at which the team feels comfortable in exploiting his speed and range as backup free safety.  As stated, I believe that it will take this player a year or two in order to become competent enough at the position to become an asset to the team without having to resort to his speed to correct his mistakes.

All NFL teams need speed, Washington moreso than others, and can figure out how to make use of a player who can run in the 4.3 range, in particular one who has enough burst to score as high as he did in the 20 yard short shuttle and the jumping tests.  That alone is enough to probably provide him a future with the franchise to one extent or the other.

Do you have thoughts on Apke?  Let me know in the comment section.