2021 Unsung Heroes: Tommy Tremble

[Icege]

Introduction

"Darnold-to-Arnold!" seems like it was so long ago already.

While there's been plenty of chatter about the former of that duo, not much has been said about the latter. Dan Arnold was brought in as a cost-effective free agent signing to get more out of the TE position following the departure of Chris Manhertz. Manhertz was always regarded as a blocking tight end, so when the Panthers opted to bring in a pass-catching tight end to compete with Ian Thomas many believed that team was signaling that the position was going to be featured more in the offense. In reality, Arnold was targeted less than 5 times a game before being a part of the CJ Henderson trade. Since then Arnold has doubled his average targets (~3.6 -> ~ 7.2) while in Jacksonville, leaving his share from his time here is split between Thomas and a rookie tight end that made the coaches comfortable with trading Arnold away in the first place.

When the Panthers selected Tommy Tremble with the 83rd pick this year, Matt Rhule was visibly excited by what he thought the Notre Dame TE could bring to the team. So excited was Rhule that he went as far as to make a comparison to a productive fan favorite from the previous draft:

Quote

“Tommy Tremble for me, when you talk about the draft, he was like this year’s Jeremy Chinn,” Rhule said about the 2021 third-round pick. “A guy who we thought could do a lot of different things. I’ll tell ya, after the draft, we got more phone calls from other teams, tight end coaches, special team coordinators, to our guys about Tommy.”

While he hasn't had the impact that Chinn had during his 2020 All-Rookie season, Tremble has shown consistent improvement in a season where a large majority of his teammates and coaches have regressed. The Panthers like his versatility, but currently they look most concerned with running the rookie out of a couple of formations as a lead blocker on screens or catching a couple of passes over the middle. #82 hasn't disappointed either, as we'll see looking at a few clips from the recent loss to Atlanta. There was plenty to not like about that game, but the performance of Tommy Tremble (and Brady Christensen to an extent, but that's for another thread) show that the team still has some guys on the roster trending up.

"Watching the Tape"

Q1 11:40 - 1st & 10 (CAR 45) - Erickson and Anderson out left, Tremble and Moore out right. The play is an RPO with screens on both sides of the field and with the nickel out left and the SS rolling down into the box, Cam makes the pre-snap read and fires it out right. Tremble explodes off of the line once the ball is snapped and meets the CB at the 46 to lock him while DJ catches the ball and scoots into Atlanta territory for 11yds. The Panthers would run this same play from the same look twice more during the game on 1st & 10. In the 2nd quarter, the Falcons showed incredible in-game adjustments and stuffed the play as Cam tried to keep it. Unfortunately, Dennis Daley was also ineligible downfield so instead of just an incompletion the play resulted in a loss of yards. In the fourth quarter, Atlanta would stop the handoff to Chuba for a gain of 2yds.

Q1 9:46 - 1st & 10 (ATL 34) - Another RPO look where Tremble is lined up on the outside to block on a screen. Cam slings it out to Zylstra who gets the first down before a defender can even touch him. Robby and Tommy completely neutralizing their guys resulted in a 15yd gain. This is the type of play calling and execution that we like to see from our offense. Unfortunately, when they ran the same thing in the 2nd quarter, Cameron Erving completely missed the DT who along with the DE blew up Cam Newton in the backfield. Fortunately, QB1 saw the calamity unfolding and handed the ball of to Abdullah who was able to bounce it back inside for a gain of 4yds.

Q3 14:02 - 3rd & 3 (CAR 47) - Lined up in a bunch again, Tremble comes out of the formation and settles into the soft spot between the two LBs (passed the first down as well) while Cam fits it right behind the LB's name plate as he's dropping back. Tommy turns it up field and rumbles for another 5+ yards, dragging the Falcons defense with him as he secures the first down plus another 11 yards. That third down conversion would also be the last one that the team needed on the drive, scoring just five plays later on a Chuba run (but before we get to that play, we've got another from the same drive!).

Q3 13:20 - 1st & 10 (ATL 39) - Not exactly a huge play, but this snap in particular shows that Tremble's motor is always going. He starts the play off by holding off the LB who seems to be tasked with first containing Newton and then dropping back. Once the defender disengages from him, Tremble starts looking for someone to hit. The ball gets dumped off to Ameer Abdullah, and Tremble responds by giving the LB he had just stonewalled a little extra to remember him by. This is a common theme in Tremble's game: he does not stop giving 110% until the play is over. This relentless approach often pays off in games as well as we'll later see.

Q3 11:26 - 1st & 10 (ATL 17) - RPO concept vs. the strong side edge that includes a screen to the opposite side of the field. The LB flies upfield directly to Newton who leaves the ball in Chuba's arms with a very simple objective: run to daylight. Tremble does an excellent job getting to the second level to block the LB while DJ Moore escorts the CB out of the path of Chuba's touchdown parade. These two lined up on the same side of the field is really, really good for the run game.

These last two plays occurred during the 4th quarter and show Tremble successfully doing something the coaches don't often ask him to do when he's on the field: get open deep/intermediate.

In this play, we see that Tremble beats his man and is behind him with what could've been a huge play for a possible touchdown but the entire interior offensive line fails in tandem.

In the this one, he comes across over the middle and even slows down the route for his but the ball is heading to the comeback on the outside in order to stop the clock.

Summary

Currently, Ian Thomas has 13 catches on 25 targets for 146yds. Tommy Tremble has 15 catches on 24 targets for 143yds and 1 TD along with 2 rushing attempts for 7 yards and 1 TD. With Thomas' contract set to expire after this season, it is very likely Tommy Tremble will be the team's TE1 going forward. Have the Panthers' finally found their next great TE? They might have! What he has to show to get more opportunities only the current staff knows (if they know), but this young man is making the most out of his opportunities in a season where there hasn't been many to shine on this offense.

[Basbear]

 NO POSITIVE NEWS ALLOWED ON THE HUDDLE, REPORTED TO MODS!!1!!1!!! 

[BlitzMonster]

Really nice layout and analysis here.  Great work ! 

 

I am hopeful that Tremble becomes a key player in next year's offense.  

Edited December 15, 2021 by BlitzMonster

[Icege]

7 minutes ago, BlitzMonster said:

Really nice layout and analysis here.  Great work ! 

 

I am hopeful that Tremble becomes a key player in next year's offense.  

Thank you!! I stole the layout from this thread.

[TheSpecialJuan]

[JawnyBlaze]

He hasn’t had many catches but when he does get the ball thrown his way he doesn’t seem to have butterfingers like every other pass catcher except Zylstra. 

[JawnyBlaze]

And his blocking is getting better. He seemed to struggle a bit early but I’ve seen some nice work in the blocking game the past few games. 

[Icege]

13 hours ago, JawnyBlaze said:

And his blocking is getting better. He seemed to struggle a bit early but I’ve seen some nice work in the blocking game the past few games. 

He lost one rep vs. ATL as a blocker, and to be honest it was less of a lost rep and more of a lunging to clear a path that nobody was in. Dude has been as advertised as a better-than-rookie run blocker which isn't something we see often.

Super excited to see what he can do with more pass catching opportunities like you mentioned!

Edited December 16, 2021 by Icege