{"id":86045,"date":"2020-04-19T22:05:12","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T02:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=86045"},"modified":"2021-03-17T20:30:19","modified_gmt":"2021-03-18T00:30:19","slug":"francis-bernard-2020-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/04\/19\/francis-bernard-2020-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Bernard 2020 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Francis Bernard Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Position: <\/strong>Linebacker<br \/>\n<strong>Height: <\/strong>6\u2019-0\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Weight: <\/strong>234 pounds<br \/>\n<strong>School: <\/strong>Utah<\/p>\n<p><strong>NFL Combine Performance Data<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>40 Yard Dash: <\/strong>4.81 seconds (unofficial)<br \/>\n<strong>Bench Press: <\/strong>19 reps<br \/>\n<strong>Vertical Jump:<\/strong> 32.5\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Broad Jump: <\/strong>120.0\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Francis Bernard 2020 NFL Draft Profile<\/h2>\n<p>After spending the past two seasons at Utah, linebacker <strong>Francis Bernard<\/strong> is looking to take his talents to the professional level in the 2020 NFL Draft. After playing in a support role in 2018, the 6\u2019-0\u201d, 234-pound linebacker earned a starting job for his final season of eligibility. Seeing the field for 777 snaps, Bernard recorded 67 tackles, 15 assists, and 17 missed tackles.<\/p>\n<p>Bernard originally joined the collegiate ranks as a three-star recruit back in 2013. While most schools sought him out as a linebacker, BYU offered him a scholarship as a running back. Bernard took the offer and spent the first season of his career on the offensive side of the ball. He eventually transferred to defense the following season. Despite a solid season of play, Bernard was not long for BYU. He missed the 2016 Bowl Game after violating team rules and was kicked off the team for violating BYU\u2019s honor code. A <a href=\"https:\/\/kutv.com\/news\/local\/byu-play-threatens-to-strangle-person-until-he-doesnt-breathe-in-front-of-police\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">video later surfaced<\/a> of him threatening to strangle somebody in front of cops. Bernard wasn&#8217;t done there, as he added a DUI in October 2017, just for good measure.<\/p>\n<h3>Strengths<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Fantastic instincts allow him to cover more space than you\u2019d expect;<\/li>\n<li>Great ball skills and sense for where the pass is going;<\/li>\n<li>Diagnoses plays early and can beat blockers to the ball;<\/li>\n<li>Played well at two different schools, implying that scheme didn\u2019t bolster his production;<\/li>\n<li>Coverage responsibilities at Utah similar to NFL schemes;<\/li>\n<li>Quick acceleration to hit top speed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Weaknesses<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Character concerns, including but not limited to an incident where he reportedly threatened to strangle someone in front of cops;<\/li>\n<li>Below-average athleticism across the board \u2013 will be hard to survive in NFL;<\/li>\n<li>Misses a high percentage of tackles;<\/li>\n<li>Already 25 years old with minimal room for improvement;<\/li>\n<li>Not very agile and typically get faked out by jukes;<\/li>\n<li>Tends to overpursue the ball carrier.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NFL Comparison: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=NickHa00,NickHa02&amp;search=Hardy+Nickerson&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hardy Nickerson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Teams With Need at Position: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/panthers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carolina Panthers<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/bengals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/lions\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Detroit Lions<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/packers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Green Bay Packers<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/jaguars\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/rams\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Rams<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/eagles\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Philadelphia Eagles<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/titans\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tennessee Titans<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/redskins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Washington Redskins<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Projection: <\/strong>7<sup>th<\/sup> Round\/ Priority UDFA<\/p>\n<h3>Bottom Line on Francis Bernard<\/h3>\n<p>Francis Bernard was a solid college player that doesn&#8217;t project well at the NFL level. The Utah product simply isn\u2019t an NFL athlete and is going to struggle to keep up with the advanced competition. Athleticism isn\u2019t everything at the pro level, but it definitely matters. Lesser athletes can still succeed in the NFL, but they need to be perfect at just about everything. Unfortunately, Bernard\u2019s tackling woes, struggles in the open field, and advanced age are hard to overlook when combined with his underwhelming athleticism. When adding all this to his character issues, and it\u2019s hard to imagine anyone using anything more than a seventh-round pick for his services.<\/p>\n<p>Bernard probably won\u2019t ever develop into a starter, but he has a few interesting traits that could appeal to NFL teams. The Utah product excels in short-field coverage, and his anticipation is off the charts. He\u2019s able to diagnose plays at an advanced level and can break on the ball earlier than most linebackers in this class. Ultimately, Bernard\u2019s road to the NFL probably includes special teams, but he could see some time on defense as a situational coverage linebacker.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"l_w-ORD9TSFQb2_bE_Iqvg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1209830513\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'l_w-ORD9TSFQb2_bE_Iqvg',sig:'MJyWNhZgrFZ-KCIx-3AYMQ3nmMcGOduG_eqdPkFLDXM=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1209830513',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After spending his college years at Utah and BYU, linebacker Francis Bernard is taking his talents to the professional level in the 2020 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":86049,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647],"tags":[5273],"class_list":["post-86045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2020-nfl-draft"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86049"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}