Ranking Every Edge Rusher in the NFL Draft

I ran out of beer so I had to switch to wine for this episode but uh first things first there are an obnoxious amount of good Edge rushers in this class I think I went through 45 total names and ended up with 34 with draftable grades which is almost double the amount of defensive tackles that we had in the first episode so this is probably going to end up being the longest position group with the most names and the most film that we have to go through I have no idea how long this is going to be but probably really long uh so you know settle in for that it's going to be a big one but I did truly feel like we had to talk about all these guys in some capacity again it's going to be tier one through tier five just like defensive tackle tier one being the best players tier five being not bad players still definitely going to be drafted but just maybe not as complete as the tiers above them um but regardless I'm not going to waste any more of your time we gotta jump into the this thing because we have a ton of names to go over so up first of course is tier one [Music] I'm gonna get this out of the way up front it is perfectly possible contrary to popular belief that will Anderson is not the first Edge rusher taken in the draft in fact I have it on good authority that a lot of teams have fairly equivalent grades to all four players that I have here in my tier one which are Will Anderson Tyree Wilson Nolan Smith and Miles Murphy there is no clear Edge one in this class and there's no clear order for how and where they're going to come off the board we can reasonably assume that it's going to be within the first 10 to 15 picks more likely the top 10 picks but I think it would be a little short-sighted just to guarantee that will Anderson's gonna be the first one now all that being said I am going to start with Will Anderson because I like most people have a very very high grade on him and the top five hype is absolutely warranted but going into it I think that people maybe misunderstand his fit from a scheme perspective because there's a lot of teams that honestly don't fit Will Anderson that well considering his role and skill set looking at how Alabama used him last year specifically they kind of treated him like a lot of Big 12 teams treat their Edge rushers in the sense that even though he's only 250 pounds they lined him up at five technique and 4i a lot and that's not really his natural position he's not going to play that in the NFL because he would get absolutely run over he would get completely crushed and to be honest there's a lot of reps of him getting crushed at five technique or 4i in college too so I do think that Alabama did him a little bit of a disservice just from the role that he was playing but if we look at pure Edge reps I do think that he's most at home as like a wide weak side edge rusher that really focuses more on rushing the passer than anything else and that could be from a three-point stance a four-point stance two-point stance I don't really think it matters whether he's like a true linebacker or a hand on the dirt defensive end that particular part doesn't matter to me it's more about where he is in the defensive front and how wide he is his first step is really good his speed to power especially for a 250 pounder is really good and his hand placement and just general technique is awesome but he does have a little bit of stiffness in his hips so I think coming from a wider alignment where the corner is let's just say it's a little bit more forgiving I think that would be better for a rusher that that has his type of physical skill set in the sense that he's not the bendiest guy but he's got a good first step he's got good hand placement you know he can kind of shorten the corner with all the Little Euro Step kind of moves that he does at the top of his rush I just think that that's kind of where he's gonna be at his best as a pass rusher if you're making him play six technique or if you're lining him up you know a little bit more narrow to the tackle I don't necessarily think that would fit his Rush style well because you need a lot of Ben to pull off those tighter alignments and I just don't think he has that in terms of role this is going to sound super weird but just go with me on it if you remember Jason Babin way back in the day when he would basically just play a wide nine and they would say Jason go rush the passer every single play that to me is the type of role that I see for Will Anderson it doesn't mean that he can't play against the Run he obviously can he's a good run Defender but I really kind of just want him to be in Hunt mode at all times and when it comes to like Integrity of a team run defense you know that that b Gap area if we have a three technique set to him we're playing an underfront that's not gonna matter as much but even if it does like I kind of want to just make run defense the wills problem in the weak side safeties problem and the only thing that I want Will Anderson to do is go Crush quarterbacks that's it don't drop in coverage you know don't stack and shed against the run just scream off the edge in the C Gap every single play and go get sacks he can absolutely do that at a high level in the NFL he can be a double-digit sack type of guy I I 100 percent believe that and there are teams out there by the way that need that role filled like Yana kangakwe has filled that type of role his entire career there's a bunch of teams that would love to have Yannick and gakway and Will Anderson can maybe be Yannick and gokuay but maybe even better so again he's gonna go high he's gonna go top five to ten ish I don't necessarily know if he's going to be the first Edge taken because I do think it's a little bit more narrow of a skill set but I will say that his skill set that he does have is super valuable so still gonna be a top pick still a great player but I do think that the next Edge I'm talking about here Tyree Wilson could potentially go ahead of him looking at Wilson's skill set he is quite possibly the most versatile defensive lineman in this entire class you can line him up as a five technique because he's you know six five 270 plus and I think he could very easily carry 280 on that frame and be just fine so we could play five technique like you can stand him up as an outside linebacker and his first step from a two-point stance is still really good obviously he could play six technique and just dominate tight ends against the run you can make him that weak side edge rusher just like Will Anderson and say go hunt quarterbacks all day he has the the burst in the bend to eventually get there even though will Anderson's you know technical development is way further ahead of Tyree Wilson right now as a rusher I think if you teach and mold Tyree Wilson and give him the technique that will Anderson has he has a lot better tools than Will Anderson so he could potentially be better in that role over time but just in general looking at Tyree Wilson and all the different roles that he could play five techniques six technique you know put him out at wide nine stand him up whatever stance you want you could even give him a couple reps inside as like a three technique on on clear pass rushdowns I'm not saying against the run but you know very clear like third and nine pastoral situations put him inside on a guard he's way too quick for most guards to handle the fact that you can line him up almost anywhere means to me that his ceiling is way higher as a player even if the floor right now is lower than Will Anderson he just has an incredibly rare combination of burst and length and fluidity and he is already a very good run stopper by the way like he uses that length and strength really well against the run there are some reps especially against TCU he took on Steve Avila who was pulling towards him and he just flattened Steve Avila who's you know could potentially be the first True Guard taken in this class he could be a first round pick and he just steamrolled him so like it's it's a rare athletic uh ball of clay that we're talking about here he could go astronomically high and quite frankly if he got past the Seahawks at this point assuming you know something weird doesn't happen with the quarterbacks if Anthony Richardson's off the board and tiger Wilson got past the Seahawks honestly I would be a little bit stunned because I think he's perfect for what they want and need and I think that specifically in Seattle with that coaching staff he could maybe eventually be their own version of Miles Garrett that's the type of talent we're talking about here so I know again this sounds hot taking but just don't be that shocked if Tyree Wilson is the first Edge taken I'm not saying he will be because it's very possible that some other team takes Will Anderson in the top five we know there are teams out there that have astronomical grades on him but just depending on what happens with the quarterbacks you know if four quarterbacks go back to back to back to back to back in the top four and it's coming down to Tyree Wilson or will Anderson at five I truly think that Tyree Wilson fits Seattle better and he could be the first Edge so just keep that in your back pocket I'm fully prepared to get roasted for that take but I really do believe that he is that good now moving on to our next Edge rusher here in tier one we have Nolan Smith who is a way different profile than the last two guys Nolan is obviously uh on the smaller side even smaller than Will Anderson but what he lacks in size he makes up for with just ridiculous like historically good explosiveness and bend and burst and everything that makes a speed rusher dangerous Nolan Smith has that he's getting a lot of comparisons to Hassan Reddick who now that he's finally a full-time Edge rusher and not like a quasi inside linebacker that occasionally gets to rush the passer looking at you Arizona now that Reddick is actually a full-time Edge and we get to see what he can do as a full-time pass rusher Nolan Smith is getting a lot of comps to Reddick and I I kind of see it I truly do believe that he has that type of ceiling to be like a 13 to 15 sack type of player because quite frankly that kind of burst and bend is tough for any tackle to handle there's very few tackles in the league either right or left that have the kind of explosiveness in their kick set necessary to get to those landmarks and kind of close off the corner before Nolan Smith can get there it's a very rare athlete we're talking about here so even though you know he's not going to have the speed to power that will Anderson does or that Tyree Wilson does or that Miles Murphy does the fact that he can get to the corner faster than all but like eight or nine tackles in the league that makes him a legitimate threat and then you throw in the fact that he's got crazy Bend he's got Good Feet like you can drop him in coverage and he's going to be just fine out there because he runs 4-3 he's really good against the run like almost unnaturally good for his size he shouldn't be able to stack and shed like he does but I mean he's a he's a freaking dog against the Run uh which I guess makes sense because he went to Georgia and you can't play at Georgia unless you're good against the run but he's just just a true three down player in every sense of the word and off the field I mean his character is unimpeachable like he is seen as the leader of the entire Georgia program or at least he was while he was there and everything that I've heard about him in interviews every single team fell in love I'm talking immediately he is seen as one of the best leaders at any position in this entire draft class and to be honest in any draft class he's the type of rare guy who could step in and be a captain as a rookie so the fact that you take that kind of football character and you combine it with freak athleticism and his ability to be a true three down player first second and third down and play special teams he's just a very rare player and if he got out of the top 10 to 12 picks I would be quite frankly stunned by that I think the Texans at 12 are his absolute floor assuming the Texans take a quarterback at two I don't think Nolan Smith gets past Houston at 12. and to be honest he probably doesn't get past Philly at 10. he is a phenomenal player wherever he goes that fan base is going to love him immediately and he's going to play for a really really long time now rounding out tier one here we have miles Murphy from Clemson who I fully realize he's the most polarizing player in this tier and I understand why his 2022 tape was honestly just okay I didn't think that his 2022 was as good as Lucas Van Ness or Keon white or Will McDonald or a lot of the tier 2 Edge rushers we're going to get into in a little bit but I was told by a friend hey go back and watch 2021 that's really the year that a lot of teams are kind of banking on here and why a lot of teams have him as roughly equivalent grades to the other guys in this tier so I said okay I'm gonna go watch and see what the teams have seen and when I dug into 2021 which again Brent venables was still at Clemson it was kind of the same thing that has oddly happened to a lot of the Clemson products that I've watched this year or at least this draft season which is that all of them play played better in 2021 than 2022 shocker I know Brent venables is a good DC who knew but it really is kind of crazy how much better Murphy's tape was two years ago than last year he's a six five 270 pound Edge rusher that plays the run like a freaking Maniac he's really hard to dig out on the line of scrimmage and his first step in Bend are really underrated to me he's a better football player than tester you know I think his testing numbers were really underwhelming but again if you go back and you watch him on tape I think his first step is better than a 31 inch vertical suggests I think his Bend is better than a 7213 cone suggests so you're kind of trusting the tape over the numbers on this one and I know that scares a lot of people and it's probably why he's going to be the fourth out of these tier one Edge rushers selected but again if we're just looking at the tape he was an overwhelming Edge rusher for most of that 2021 season the speed to power was damn near unblockable he had really great hand fighting skills in terms of like how he would neutralize a tackles punch and kind of you know clear his chest to shorten the corner he was very good technically as a pass rusher he was great on stunts and especially kind of using that power to set up Loopers behind him like I mentioned dominant against the run pretty much the only thing he can't and won't do is drop into coverage because he's six five two seventy but other than that I mean he was a dominant dominant player that year I fully do acknowledge that this is a much riskier pick than everyone else in tier one and honestly it's riskier than a lot of the guys in tier 2 as well but if we're swinging for the fences and we're trying to get a big defensive end whose tape looks like Max Crosby at least in 2021 it did Miles Murphy's the guy that we're going for whether you personally would take Murphy you know super high in the draft it just depends on how risky or safe you want to be but again I cannot stress this enough there are teams out there right now that are ready to risk it all for Miles Murphy they see him as potentially a superstar and I totally understand why now I think it's pretty obvious that all the names in tier one are probably going to go in the top 15-ish picks if not higher than that they could all even be top 10 picks I wouldn't be surprised but what really excites me about this Edge class is really the tier two guys because there's so many of them for starters there's nine names in tier two and individually all of them have arguments to be first round picks and in most Edge classes to be honest they'd probably be top 20 ish maybe top 25 picks and half of them are going to go in the second round just because of how deep this Edge class is so in terms of getting value at Edge tier two is where it's at they all have different strengths and weaknesses they all have different scheme fits and we will get into that when we dive into the tape and I really can't wait to kind of you know parse that out with you guys just keep in mind you can put them in whatever order you want to I don't really think it matters they're all really good and they all have very different fits so we will get into their tape in just one second but before I do that I want to remind you that if you're like me and you get really busy you know maybe you're putting out draft content right now and you don't have time to eat like a normal human because I don't have time to eat like a normal human and you know maybe you throw a TV dinner in the microwave every now 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that you really want to work with he's coming out after only being a redshirt sophomore at Iowa and even then he didn't start any games in Iowa last year because for whatever reason they kind of just prioritize you know seniors play first guys that have been around the program for a long time play first and then they would work in Van Ness as a rotational player even though he was better than literally everybody else on that defensive line by a lot in my opinion but whatever I'm not going to tell Iowa how to run their program they had an elite defense regardless so it ended up not really mattering but anyway Lucas Van Ness as a prospect in a vacuum is utterly absurd just like miles Murphy and Tyree Wilson he's 6'5 270 plus pounds he has 34 inch arms a 10 split of 164 which at that size is crazy and even crazier his three cone again at six five two seventy plus with 702 typically a sub 7 3 cone is going to be the best indicator for how bendy and Edge rusher is but if you're 270 and you're right at that seven second mark on three cone that means that your hips and overall fluidity are just straight up abnormal and that shows up on tape too like it's not just you know me scouting testing numbers like if you watch him on tape he does things from a balance and fluidity standpoint that you just really don't see from guys his size like his change of Direction ability to 70 plus it's just not something you see every day and so even though I have him in tier two because there's just not as much tape from him as a lot of other guys in this class again coming out after a redshirt sophomore season and he was a rotational player even on his own defense if we're just looking at the tape that we do have in the production that we do have and you know the numbers that we do have he could potentially be an absolute force in the NFL I'm talking from day one you want him at six technique he can do that you want him at five technique in an odd front he can probably do that like put on 10 pounds his frame can take it and he'll be an elite five technique in my opinion Iowa even put him at three technique like they put him at three a lot more than Texas Tech put Tyree Wilson at three and I'm not gonna lie again if we put on like 20 pounds and we made him at 290 he'd probably be a really damn good full-time three technique as well his strength his power his explosiveness his Bend it's all just crazy crazy stuff and like I alluded to earlier if he hits his ceiling like if he hits what we think he can be he might be better than Miles Murphy he might be better than Nolan Smith or even you know Tyree Wilson or will Anderson I absolutely see a future where that is possible but again we just have to be aware there's not as much tape from him there's not as big a sample size he is really young but the talent is indisputable he's another one of these guys that I think could go as early as maybe to the Eagles at 10 Texans at 12 I mean the Patriots would love him at 14. he just screams Patriot to me and I really don't think that he would get past a team like the Steelers at 17 just because he would be such an immense value at that point you know even if he's not entirely what they normally look for in terms of their defensive lineman I think that you know you just look at the package that he has and the talent that He has and you say it we'll build a deep fence that fits Lucas Van Ness like Steelers at 17 is is the floor for me he's not getting past there so again phenomenal player crazy talent and I really can't wait to see where he goes now next up we have Keon white from Georgia Tech who at least to me is a very similar Prospect to Lucas Van Ness and I think teams that like Van Ness are probably going to like Keon white as well except he's even bigger than Van Ness and I think is even more proven as like a hybrid inside outside tweener because he's 6'5 285 so I think you can see a future where he plays even more three technique than Van Ness but at minimum I think he'd make a really phenomenal five technique and even a sixth technique for like a four down front because he is really explosive he's not as bendy as Van Ness like he doesn't turn the corner as quickly so I think Van Ness you know might go earlier because of that but in terms of like straight line vertical explosiveness Keon white has the edge on Van Ness he's got dynamite in his hand he's an elite run stopper both outside and inside in this class and that destructive explosiveness I mean it really lends itself well for like stunts and games and all that kind of stuff because if you can cave in a guard or cave in a center and just make the path that much wider for somebody to Loop or twist around you if it's a linebacker coming that's a really valuable skill set for a lot of defenses as well that kind of rely more on scheme to get pressure than just straight up rushing forward and saying go win I don't necessarily think that Keon white is the guy that you put him at three technique and you give him a two-way go and you say you know go beat the guard for a sack I don't really think that's his Forte doesn't mean that he can't do it you know Van Ness is probably better there but in terms of flexibility of position where you can play five technique three techniques six technique whatever the ability to stop the run the ability to set up stunts and games at a really really high level because he's so damn strong and the fact that his motor never quits he's a very very high motor player I just think there's a lot to like here and I personally believe that a lot of draft media has gotten too caught up in what he doesn't do well and they haven't focused enough on what he does do well and typically teams they'll grade a player and they'll draft a player for what they do do well because they know that they can create a scheme that minimizes what they don't so for me I'm prioritizing the positives of the skill set because I know that the negatives in all likelihood will be minimized that's just what good coaches do so Keon white very good player again could potentially go as early as 14 to the Patriots would not be surprised by that at all and really his range goes all the way down to even Kansas City at 31. so there's a lot of different possibilities there for him to go in the first round if not the top of the second round he's a very very good player and in my opinion a very undervalued player next up we have Will McDonald from Iowa state who's one of my personal favorites in this class and I think think he should be a lock to go in the first round because of how damn athletic he is but he unfortunately is a victim of Big 12 defense Idis which a lot of the guys in this class are and what I mean by that is he's a 265 pound Edge rusher who like played at 260 and Iowa State made him play five technique it's the same thing we heard from Will Anderson it happened to Dylan Horton you know Felix Andrew Duke ozoma from Kansas State all these defensive coordinators that you know really want to play Odd fronts and just have three-man rushes and drop eight into coverage because they think that's the only way to stop the spread it did all of these Edge prospects no favors you got 250 255 260 pound guys playing five technique that's never gonna do that in the NFL he will never be a five technique in the NFL most five techniques are like 285 to 300 pounds in the NFL McDonald ain't doing that he's gonna be a true Edge rusher because he is crazy explosive crazy bendy he's gonna actually get get true pass rush opportunities which he didn't get very many at Iowa State but when he did get actual pass rush opportunities at Iowa State he was really damn good at it his pass rush win rate was exceptional again on the actual true pass rush reps that he had where he wasn't just you know a three-man rush stunting from a five technique spot where you know you're just playing coverage you're not expecting him to actually get sacks but on his actual you know true opportunities he won a lot he was Ultra productive considering that and then he went down to the Senior Bowl and he just toasted everybody because he finally got to actually rush the passer at the combine he actually came in lighter than his playing weight he dropped down to six four two forty because he really wanted to emphasize the point that hey I'm an outside linebacker I'm a stand-up Edge and he put on a show I mean his three cone was six eight five which is just gnarly like the bend and the fluidity that you have to have to pull off a 685 at 240 pounds that's just rare stuff and his first step again was validated by the vert it was 36 inch vert 11 foot broad that shows up on tape he has just a wicked First Step again when he's actually allowed to rush and we do see a variety of pass rush moves in his Arsenal as well so I think Will McDonald is one of the more undervalued Edge players in this class simply because there wasn't a whole lot of translatable tape to the NFL but NFL teams know that they know that he's going to be a stand-up Edge for them you know very similar to Nolan Smith but if you don't get Nolan Smith in the top 12 picks you can still get Will McDonald somewhere in the back half of the first round and I truly think that he has potential to be just as good Nolan Smith is obviously the safer bet but will McDonald is not that far behind so for me I think that he's absolutely a first-round talent I think he will go somewhere in the top 31 picks and if he got past Kansas City at 31 honestly I'd be really surprised because they desperately need a rusher like him you know more on the explosive bendy side they have a whole bunch of big hulking rushers that compress the pocket they need somebody that can win with speed and Flash and that's Will McDonald so great player I definitely think he's going to be a first rounder and probably a darn good one at that next up on our list we have Byron Young from Tennessee I know there are two Byron Youngs in this class one's from Bama and one's from Tennessee and to make matters worse they were both on the same Senior Bowl roster so it was uh it was extremely confusing but we're talking about the Tennessee Byron young here and I think he's somewhat similar to Will McDonald but a much different build even though I think he'll play a similar role unlike McDonald Byron young is kind of on the smaller side he's six two still 250 pounds but with much shorter arms he's got 32 and a half inch arms so I think that he can't necessarily win the same way that McDonald does because McDonald has such exceptional length and power that you know he can he can kind of win with that fastball just going right through a tackle's chest whereas Byron young I think he's going to struggle with that a little bit but that being said I do think that Byron is even more explosive and more you know slippery I would say than Will McDonald who already is an exceptionally bendy rusher himself I think that Young's first step and you know very similar to Nolan Smith his ability to get to that Landmark at the corner and then dip and flip his hips and get around it it's very very special and I think that he has like top tier NFL burst but where I really see it show up the most is on stunts and games his ability to you know almost teleport from The Edge and then loop around inside and get to the Lane before Center or guard can react it's really really rare stuff and I think that he is one of the most deadly rushers as the finisher on stunts not necessarily the one who sets it up because again you know not having as much length and power means you're not as good at setting up the pins but in terms of knocking them down and you know using that burst in agility and fluidity you know get through the Gap and close space quickly he is one of the most rare guys in this class at doing that so I think on defenses that you know really prioritize doing all these crazy stunts on third downs and just having as much speed on the field as possible so that offensive linemen can't react they're gonna love a guy like Byron young because he's phenomenal with that not to mention that if we are just playing it straight and saying okay go line up at like a ghost nine and just use your speed and bend to win around the corner he's gonna do that as well I think run defense not as good as McDonald or Nolan Smith but if we're just going for a pure flamethrower as a weak side edge rusher Byron young is pretty hard to out do in this class and I would say similar things about BJ ojelari who's next up on this list he's from LSU and he's kind of an interesting midpoint between our last two names being Will McDonald and Byron young in the sense that his build is a little bit of a hybrid between them he's 6-2 to 250 so you know really thick build for that height he's got kind of that natural leverage that you get from a 6-2 edge rusher but he has unnatural length for that height a lot of guys that are six two have you know Byron Young's length like 32 and a half inch arms whereas BG ojelari has damn near 34.5 inch arms so he has crazy unusual length for that build which kind of puts him in Justin Houston territory of shorter guy but still kind of a thicker stronger build so he has the natural leverage plus with that arm length so you can really take advantage of that natural leverage and put a tackle on their ass he doesn't quite have the same first step and bend of McDonald or of Byron young but again I think he makes up for it with variety of pass rush moves with the fact that he can give you a long arm and convert speed to power he's got a Nifty Little Ghost move he's got a spin that he showed I think he's better against the Run than Byron young as well and I think that it should be said that he wore 18 at LSU which is a very very special number you don't get to wear 18 unless you have impeccable both football character and off the field character so I think kind of taking the leadership component into it you know the fact that he is a high motor high effort player all the time wore a special sacred number at LSU has the length has the power has enough Bend and enough burst I just think he checks a lot of different boxes and even though he doesn't have you know maybe Elite traits I do think that he has enough traits to make me think he's going to be a very productive pass rusher in the NFL and still likely a top 40 pick if not a first round pick I don't exactly know where he's gonna go because again all these guys could start going in the teens to the top of the second round and it really just depends on what flavor of edge rusher you want but if he's still there at like pick 40 I'd be very surprised now moving on from ogilori I want you to take everything that I just said about him and just copy and paste that over to Derek hall because I have virtually identical grades and virtually identical notes for both of them Hall is another one of these shorter more compact Edge rushers he's six two and a half 254 so a little bit bigger than ogilari still has 34.5 inch arms still has a ton of power still has a great first step and bend it's just basically another Justin Houston type and it's rare to get that type of profile for an edge rusher again a shorter guy but with length and power and you know ability to hold things to run and has decent hips and you know a variety of pass rush moves like that's not a common profile and we have two of them in the same draft class that's how insane this Edge class is is that I have two guys back to back both could be first round picks and I'm comparing both of them to one of the most productive pass rushers of a generation and that's Justin Houston I think that Hall has just as good of a chance of being a first round pick as ogilari because I think there's a a lot of teams that would love to have him as a stand-up Edge that isn't a liability against the run like there's some guys in this class that I think would kind of get run over a little bit and we'll get to them uh you know as we get into tier three and tier four Derek Hall is not one of them again he is low to the ground but he's still 255 pounds and has 34.5 inch arms it's like running into a Coke machine okay like you're you're not gonna go anywhere I think that hall for whatever reason just hasn't gotten as much media attention as maybe he would in most years just because this Edge class is so deep but I think he is a very very underrated player one of the best edges in this class one of the safest edges in this class and again he's another one of these guys where Kansas City's sitting on the clock at 31 I think they could use some Edge help he gives them a different flavor than they normally take and he'd be a very fine first round pick for them and probably be really productive even as a rookie speaking of undervalued edges by the way that's a pretty good segue way to talk about Dylan Horton from from TCU who's next up on our list and somebody who believe it or not has gotten even less pressed than dare call and maybe that's the product of being another one of these guys that's from the Big 12 so they're playing a bunch of three down fronts and only rushing those three guys and he's playing five technique and not getting any true pass rush opportunities in fact that's probably a big reason why you don't hear a lot about him but if you just throw in the tape and you watch his true pass rush reps he is a nightmare to block he's a bigger body at about 6'4 260 so he's got a lot more size than many of the other tier two edges in this class great first step which is backed up by his testing numbers mid 30s in the vert 10 foot Broad and even though he is not as bendy as really any of the last few guys we've talked about Will McDonald Byron young bjo jalari Derek Hall he doesn't have the hips of any of those four guys but what he does have is just overwhelming power great hand usage and a motor that never quits if I had to compare him to anyone he really does remind me a lot of jabal Sheard if you remember him from like the early to mid 2010s similar size guy you know sheared with six three 265 kind of rushed with a similar style where even though he didn't have the same Bend his speed to power was awesome his hand fighting skills were equally awesome and he just found a way to win consistently down in and down out I think Horton absolutely does not get the credit that he deserves for how good of a player he was at TCU in a scheme that did him absolutely no favors and I think there's a lot of teams you know if they're not looking for the the lighter more fluid quicker Edge rusher in the mold of say Byron young if they want something heavier with a little bit more early down versatility they can play the run you know maybe kick him inside a little bit because you know at 260 it's pushing it but you could theoretically do that and somebody who's just gonna give you high effort every single play and you know they're gonna execute their job every single play Dylan Horton's gonna be for those types of teams he doesn't quite have the same flashiness in his skill set but he still wins the same amount and to me that's really what matters I have a lot of similar notes for the next name on our list by the way to Lee tuapalotu from USC I did go to the USC Pro Day by the way recently but unfortunately uh we didn't get any testing numbers from Thule because he's still nursing a hamstring injury but to be honest just watching him on tape I kind of saw all I needed to see he's another one of these bigger Edge rushers just like Dylan Horton so he's 6'3 265. he does have some inside outside versatility because earlier in his career at USC they played him primarily at defensive tackle and then he shed a little weight played at 265 at Edge and you can kind of see that interior defensive line skill set show up when he plays the run because he plays it very violently very physically just like Horton if you're a team that wants you know more of a hard Edge Setter and not just a flamethrower to a Pelosi is going to be for you but I do think that he has potential to go even higher than Horton does because at least on tape again we don't have any numbers to back this up because again hamstring injury but at least on tape I think that he's more fluid than Horton is like I think his hips are a little bit looser I think his balance through contact is a little bit better I think he can bend the edge a little bit more he might not have quite the same speed to power as Horton does like when Horton gets a Runway he can just run through you I don't know if two of below 2 quite has that doesn't mean his power is bad but Horton's is just kind of gross but that being said I do think that Tui Polo 2 makes up for it by having more Bend more quickness more agility and just more ways to win right so I think that you know taking that into account plays the run like a defensive tackle because he used to play defensive tackle has enough Bend has enough agility I think overall the profile is very similar to like a Preston Smith and if you remember Preston Smith coming out of college he also was another one of these guys with like inside outside versatility some Scouts had him at defensive end some thought he should bulk up and play defensive tackle what ended up happening was he dropped a little bit of weight and played outside linebacker I think to a polotu could potentially do that as well you know maybe get him down to like a lean 260 and then stand him up at Edge and you're still getting that physicality and Edge setting ability you know as a run Defender but you're giving him even less weight to carry around so I think you know his fluidity and Agility would show up even more I'm not sure if he's going to go in the first round even though I think it's you know potentially possible there are teams that I think would be interested in him but again pick 40 I think is about the floor for me if he got past that I would start to wonder why you know maybe there's an injury thing I'm not aware of but like pick 40 that that seems about Fair as the floor for him very talented player very versatile player and I think there's a lot of teams out there that would have different plans for him depending on if they want him to gain weight or lose weight but he could go either way so I love toolito he's one of my favorite edges in this class simply because I think he has the most possibilities in front of him rounding off tier two here we're gonna finish this thing off with Felix anodike uzoma from Kansas State who once again tell me if you've heard this story before he's a 6-3 255 pound defensive end in the Big 12 that was asked to play five technique because of course he was and believe me I understand why Big 12 staffs do this they feel like it's their best way of stopping the spread you get a bunch of guys in coverage you know you're running stunts up front with three I get it I fully understand uh why they do it but God for evaluating for the NFL it just makes things so much harder just so so so much harder because we don't get a lot of reps to look at luckily for anadike ozoma on the few true pass rush reps we got to see he was very good and I think that he was highly efficient on those reps but it's just a sample size issue so these guys are a lot harder to evaluate you know anybody from K-State Iowa State TCU like Texas is one of the few defenses in the conference that like actually translates to the NFL but most of the Big 12 doesn't play a defense that that helps us out as evaluators again I understand why they do it it's just frustrating but anyway back to anadica ozoma very productive player again has a similar kind of sawed-off shotgun profile like say bijo jalari or Derek Hall he's 6'3 255 with 33 and a half inch arms so I think he does have that speed to power element that a lot of other smaller edges might not or at least thinner edges might not I think he can go right through a tackle's chest and kind of generate that push you know force a quarterback to step up and then you shed inside and get the sack that way so having speed to power as a fastball is a plus but I also think he has pretty good bend around the corner as well he did hit that sub 7-3 cone Threshold at 694 which is not just good that's great to me at 255 and I do think that bend shows up on tape especially when he's kind of rounding the corner and finishing on those last few steps where he's low when he's off balance and you kind of got to contort your body to get the sack I think he showed several times he can do that so I think overall looking at his tools you know he's got natural leverage because he's shorter but he still has length he's still has power Andy has Bend and I think if you just miss out on any of the first like six or seven Edge rushers that get taken in the top 20 picks and you're looking for somebody in the mid to late 20s or early second round who you're fairly confident is going to be productive Felix enodike uzoma is going to be at or near the top of the list and he's another one of these guys where first 10 to 12 picks at the second round is probably his floor I don't know if he's going to go ahead of ogilari I don't know if he's going to go ahead of hall or Horton or Tui pelotu or Byron young or even Will McDonald I have no idea what order all these guys are gonna go in but pretty much from pick 20 to 40 they're all going to go somewhere in there so just throw a dart and you'll probably be right now if you followed my work for a long time and I've been doing this for seven or eight years at this point on YouTube and even longer you know back when I used to write for SB Nation uh what a decade ago at this point it's been a while you know that I am a long time proponent of the Batman and Robin Theory when it comes to pass rushers meaning that if you're trying to build a successful pass rush you need to have a Batman and you need to have a robin you can't just have one great pass rusher you need to have that you know extra complimentary thread that maybe isn't quite as good but is still a threat in their own right to get sacks so that you don't just get double teams on Batman every single play you gotta have at least two guys tier three for me in this class is where you're going to find that Robin these are guys where you know they have individual traits that I think are really special that can you know be maximized to be productive pass rushers maybe they're never going to be a 12 plus sack guy but year in year out you can count on them for between six to nine and that's enough right that just makes them a threat in addition to you know maybe bringing some other tools as well maybe they're really good in coverage maybe they're really good in run defense you know maybe they're a special teams demon whatever it happens to be this is the tier where you find the complementary pass rusher slash role player that really fills out a modern NFL defense because you can't have stars everywhere right you just got to get solid players at some positions and everybody in tier three to me is a really solid player foreign [Music] we're going to start off this tier with a player that I am almost certainly higher on than the vast majority of draft media and I'm perfectly okay with that and that is Nick Hampton from App State if you're familiar with Hampton it's because a you either watch a lot of Sunbelt football or B you recognize his name from Bruce Feldman's annual freaks list which he very much deserved his placement on that and if you're not familiar with the freaks list that's the annual list of like the 20 or so freakiest college football players in the country and Hampton got on that list because he's 6'2 240 jumps 39 inches run sub 4 6 and hit 21 miles per hour on the GPS mind you he also incline presses 365 and Sumo deadlifts 600 pounds he may only be 240 but he packs a serious punch at that size and all that athleticism really shows up on tape too to be honest if you miss out on Nolan Smith I really don't think that Nick Hampton is that far behind especially athletic quickly and even though Nolan Smith is a lot better against the run in terms of pass rush prowess Hampton's right there for me his first step is insane he's extremely fluid and has a ton of Bend he has a wide variety of pass rush moves that he puts on display and even though obviously he's not the best power rusher he does have some power as a pass rusher just obviously at 240 pounds there's only so much you can do against a 320 pound offensive tackle his game is going to be very similar too like I mentioned earlier Nolan Smith and Hassan Reddick where it's more about speed and fluidity than anything else and because he can get to that corner faster than most other rushers not just in college football but faster than most other rushers in the league because he can get to that landmark and that depth quicker than the vast majority of humans alive he's going to be able to put that bend in fluidity to work and I think that his lack of size isn't gonna hurt him that much plus if you go back to early in his career at App State I mean he came into that program at 200 pounds he was real thin back then but he added 40 over his college career and came out at 2 40. but I still think there's room that he could add even more weight to his frame so I'm not discounting that he could get up to like a six to 250 pound frame which is honestly pretty good like that'll be fine in the NFL he still has length he still has burst he still is Bend if he just adds like 10 more pounds of healthy weight I don't think that people are going to be that concerned about his size so it's kind of the same thing with Nolan Smith they might be slender now but it doesn't mean they're going to be slender when they're like 25 or 26 years old overall I really do love Nick Hampton as a pass rusher he'll be a rotational rusher as a rookie that can kind of grow into you know a wider role as he kind of uh keeps going in his career but for now if you need a flamethrower off the edge and you miss out on some of the top guys in this class Nick Hampton's really who you want now moving on from Hampton I want to talk about Harrison from Ohio State and Isaiah foskey from Notre Dame at the same time because they are roughly the same profile to me and if you're somewhere in the third or fourth round and you're looking for a bigger thicker longer Edge is going to be really good against the run and they're going to use that length and power to compress the pocket rather than bend the edge Harrison and foskey are who you're looking for now when you take a peek around the NFL and you look at your typical 10 plus Sac type of pass rusher most of those guys are going to have sub 7 or at least very close to sub seven three cones because the three cone at the combine is going to generally have the highest correlation between bendier flexible pass rushers that can finish a rep and get around the corner and get low and flatten that angle to get a sack three cone times are really important for pass rushers and unfortunately for Harrison and foskey they really don't have good bend and I think that was reflected in their three cone time because they both ran it at around 7-3 so they're three tenths of a second off the general threshold that you're looking for which is a lot like that's that's a really big number and it's it's not a number that you're looking for and again looking at them on tape you really see that lack of Bend every time they rush they can't get low their contact balance when attack was leaning on them is really poor they don't have the ability to kind of rescue a rep that they're losing with Bend or balance and still kind of like you know just flatten themselves around the corner when they're getting pushed behind the pocket they really have to have everything light up for them to get a sack in terms of shortening the corner they can use their length and power to kind of generate Force get the tackle back and shorten that angle that they're gonna have to run and you can have success doing that in the NFL there's plenty of guys that do have success doing that in the NFL and being that kind of power rusher that makes the corner softer but it's a hard living and I think that that skill set generally is more for complementary pass rushers guys that you expect to get somewhere around six to nine sacks and not guys that you think could turn into like well Batman now I will say that their length and power does lend itself well to run defense and I think these are two very good three down players you can put them on the field on first and second down and trust that they're going to be at least competent against the run early on his rookies they have the length they have the strength they have the ability to recognize blocks and you know they can tell when they're getting down blocked they can tell when they're getting scoop blocked and they have the requisite technique to defeat different types of blocks which probably deserves its own video at some point because the world of defensive line technique is crazy deep and crazy Nuance but we'll get to that another day either way these are two very good run Defenders they're good power rushers but I just don't see the potential for them to be double-digit sack guys unless they're just really eating on like stunts and twists and stuff like that which again is possible but I don't see a consistent threat of being a double-digit sack type of player they're very good very solid they're just more Robin than Batman now I will say this I think there is one name in this tier that potentially could be a Batman meaning just a three down ass kicker that you know maybe could be a double-digit sack guy if not early you know possibly eventually in addition to being a great run Defender you know can play in any system either from a two-point stance three-point stance four point stance and that's going to be Jose Ramirez from Eastern Michigan I absolutely love everything about Jose Ramirez I actually thought about you know maybe sneaking him into tier two but I decided against it just because again level of competition you know when you beat the hell out of directional Michigan schools it's a lot different than beating the hell out of ACC or Big Ten Or SEC guys so I I get it I wanted to temper my expectations a little bit but at least on tape Jose Ramirez is freaking psychopath keep in mind he led all of college football in sacks and that was a well-earned title these were not cleanup sacks these were not just effort sacks these weren't schemed up for him you know entirely on like stunts and blitzes where he's going unblocked he was earning these sacks he won with every single move you can think of he got people with power he got people with Bend with speed you know he had inside counters he won every single way and he won from multiple stances two point stance three-point stance four point stance like he's truly scheme proof to me you can play him in any defense and he's gonna have a role and I think he's a good run Defender too you know is he as good against the run as like Dylan Horton uh or Will McDonald or Van Ness or Keon white no and that's another reason why I put him at tier three because he's not quite those guys but he's good enough he's gonna set the edge for you and you're gonna be fine and then he's gonna be a really good pass rusher on third down that you know don't really have to teach him anything if you just want to plug and play pass rusher that you can get in like the third or fourth round which is a rare thing by the way but this Edge class is so deep that you can get him in the third or fourth round but if you're just looking for a guy that you can give snaps on day one and you're not worried about it Jose Ramirez is that guy in this class for me it's not often that I project somebody as like potentially an early day three pick that I think also could be a 10 sack guy but eventually I do think Jose Ramirez can get to that point I really do believe in him that much he's one of my favorite edges in this class I just couldn't quite put him into tier two because there's a lot of really good edges in this class and I had to cut it off somewhere but love Jose he's going to go a lot higher than people think and it's a name that you absolutely should pay attention to we're gonna finish off this tier now with a pair of Louisville rushers and one went to Shrine Bowl one went to Senior Bowl and they're both really really good and that's Yasir Abdullah and Yaya diyabi who I think both will be top 150 picks easily now diabi and Abdullah are both very different players and very different styles in fact physically they're about as different as you can possibly be as well diabi is 63 265 and Abdullah is six foot 237 so they look very different but they're both Ultra explosive diabi again at 63 265 is a 37-inch vert a 10 foot Broad and a one five one 10-yard split that is disgusting like that is all time 10 yard split at that size and his athleticism absolutely shows up on tape as well and Abdullah is not that different I mean again 237 which isn't big but also isn't tiny like 237 is a pretty decent size he had 36 and a half in the vert 10-9 in the broad and a one four eight ten yard split so both of these guys had us ridiculous first steps and Louisville's pass rush and all the pressure they generated last year is probably evidence of that most tackles let alone in college but even in the NFL most tackles can't keep up with the first step like that unfortunately for diabi though he didn't get quite the same true pass rush opportunities that Abdullah did and Abdullah put up like 60 plus pressures this year had a whole lot of sacks you know he was kind of like the featured pass rusher in this system whereas diabi he was playing 4i he was playing five technique he was put in a position very similar to a lot of the Big 12 defensive ends we already talked about where you know he's not very wide he's like compressed right in on the tackle so he doesn't have any Runway to work with he doesn't have any good angles to work with as a pass rusher he's taken up double teams he's setting up stunts he's kind of doing all the dirty work in that system where Abdullah just got to go have fun and kill quarterbacks but when diabe did actually get like a couple true pass rush reps you saw the talent you saw the burst you saw the bend and I think that there is something there to work with I will say this he's not as developed from what I can tell compared to Abdullah maybe that's a product of the fact that he just didn't get good opportunities so how could he be developed and I think that diabe you know rushes more just with power and trying to win with pure athleticism right now than having you know any sort of pass rush plan you're not really seeing him throw moves he's not cross chopping people he's not giving you a ghost move there's no dip and rip there there's just not really any pass rush moves to speak of for the most part but he is still winning like he's still got 10 sacks just through pure athleticism and power and being a badass on stunts so there is something there to work with he's an incredible athlete he's probably going to go higher than a bunch of the guys that I already listed if we're being honest because the tools are insane and I think there's a lot of defensive line coaches out there that are like yeah I can fix that and I think that coaching staffs aren't stupid and they see that he's playing 4 Iron 5 technique and they know that he didn't get a lot of opportunities but yayabi is very very talented and somebody you should absolutely pay attention to because he's going to go way higher than you think but back to Abdullah for a second even though I do think that he's going to go behind the Obby because he doesn't have the prototypical dimensions I think that he might have one of the best careers out of any of the like hybrid off-ball linebacker Edge types in this class because he is so explosive he is so bendy and we've seen him do some stuff that even like true off-ball linebackers aren't really doing there was an interception that we saw him get this past year and when we were at The Shrine Bowl we actually asked him to break it down and he did if you want to go watch that full interview he broke down the coverage they were in all the reads he had you know techniques he was playing uh the way he broke it down was awesome but to summarize him real quick their match Zone rules had him picking up a wide receiver on a wheel route down the boundary which is typically not something that you want an edge rusher to be doing but the fact that he runs literally a 447 with crazy burst and crazy bend that meant that he could pick up a receiver on a wheel route down the boundary arm borrow him like he's a corner and then get the pick I don't know of any other Edge in this class that's doing that like that is a ridiculous play not just for an edge rusher but for any linebacker to make and I think that that was the first play that I saw that really made me think okay this could potentially be like a Kyle Van Noy type of player but with a jet pack on that is the type of role that I think he would succeed in and he has more than enough talent to do that now are there a bunch of defenses in the NFL that even have that type of role for him to fill not really I think that you know maybe there's like 10 or 11 system in the league where I think he could kind of be that hybrid off-ball slash Edge it's it's not that common of a roll but it does exist and I think that out of all the guys in this class that could play that role is here Abdul is probably the best one I think all of the teams that are in the general like Vic fangio tree which like I said there's a bunch of them now I think they're all going to be really interested in Abdullah as a Sam backer because that's the exact type of profile they're looking for and he will have a home somewhere between rounds four and five that's my best guess at least you know maybe he'll go earlier just because he's a freak of nature but round four to five as a Sam backer with a ton of pass rush upside sounds about right and I think that he is going to be a really really good Pro all the tier three players like I mentioned before they're all the Robins right they're the complimentary players the role players uh tier four is where we start getting into Alfred which means they're definitely an important part of the team but I don't necessarily know what they're gonna do from week to week they might be like hyper-specific role players they might be guys that I don't necessarily know how to project them right now you know maybe I think they could stand to lose some weight and switch positions maybe I think they could gain some weight and switch positions you know maybe there's somebody where they only fit like three or four teams in the league but they fit those teams like a glove these are all really tough players to grade because I don't quite know what to do with them yet I know they're good and their grade is is very solid but they're a little bit more hyper specific with the one exception maybe being like a Kennedy from rice it was just like a you know hit it down the middle of the Fairway you are a 4-3 defensive end but pretty much all these other guys in this group uh I don't really know what to do with them yet I just know they're good so without further Ado let's get to tier four [Music] we're gonna start off this tier by talking about the other other Clemson pass rusher on that vaunted defensive line KJ Henry and fun fact KJ Henry actually had the highest pass rush win rate on that defensive line he was at 16.3 percent while miles Murphy was at 14.9 percent and Brian Bursey was at 14.3 percent so I guess from a numbers standpoint KJ Henry was actually the most efficient pass rusher on the team the reason though why I have him down at tier 4 instead of being a lot higher in tier 3 or tier two is because he just doesn't have the same tools that a lot of the higher ranked pass rushers have he's not a bad athlete per se but I don't think he's a very good athlete either the way that KJ Henry wins is with technique and effort and he's one of the more technically well-rounded pass rushers in this whole group where I really noticed him first was all the way back in week one when they were playing against Georgia Tech when he was just beating the hell out of that GT right tackle I'm pretty sure he's wanted for war crimes in like 14 countries at this point because what he did was not okay to put on television it was a rough watch if you were a GT fan but that was really what put KJ Henry on my radar at least that particular game because he won in almost every way you can think of there was a particularly nasty move he put on for a quarterback hit early in that game where he gave a one-armed stab that then turned into a push pull in addition to kind of like a Euro Step around to the edge it was just nasty I'm not gonna lie but I love seeing it I love you know seeing a young pass rusher have that kind of plan as a rusher and that kind of confidence to throw a really complex string of moves together it's just not something you see from a lot of young rushers because most young rushers don't really know how to do that type of stuff in terms of linking their hands to their feet keeping their hips Square to the quarterback all stuff that like veteran pass rushers in the NFL do but you just don't see a lot of college kids do that so that was really encouraging to me and a big reason why I still have him in tier 4 despite his athletic limitations and I think the fact that he is such a refined rusher and the fact it is a very high effort player against the run I think he's gonna have a job in the NFL for a little while I don't know how long he's gonna last because again in the end athleticism wins but I think at least as a rookie and through his rookie contract the fact that you don't really have to teach him a whole lot the fact that you can get him in the room and you don't have to spend time developing him as like a fourth or fifth round pick is where he's likely going to go I think that's valuable I think you can just immediately throw him into the fire as a rotational rusher and you can count on him to be at least a little bit productive do I ever predict him getting like eight plus sacks in a season probably not but as rotational pass rusher you can do a lot worse than KJ Henry I really do like him a lot now moving on from Henry we're gonna go up to Michigan and look at the other Michigan past rusher and that's going to be Mike Morris who was their stand-up rusher on the edge they really like to put him in a two-point stance out there even though he's pretty damn big but he typically rushed from a standing position and I'll be honest I don't really know what to do with him he's kind of a weird profile in the sense that he's a bigger Edge rusher keep in mind he's 6'5 275 so you would think okay there's a pretty easy comparison to like Rashawn Gary there but no he's nowhere near the athlete that rashan Gary was he doesn't have the same power he doesn't have the same burst or bend or really anything that rashan Gary had his first step is just okay his power is just fine and he never really wins to the edge he's one of the only Edge rushers in this class that like 90 of his wins are inside counters or power rushes even Zach Harrison and Isaiah foskey like they had some wins to the edge even though their hips are made of corded steel that's how freaking still if they are yeah Mike Morris he just doesn't win to the edge it's it's just weird he's a weird profile throwing the fact that he's not that good against the Run even though he's a really big dude he just plays super high he doesn't have great balance he doesn't have great anchor I don't know I just don't know what to do with him I recognize that there is upside there and he was productive because he does have a really good inside counter when he does actually play with good leverage and he gets under a tackle he can generate some power and kind of collapse the pocket there are some reps on tape that are genuinely exciting but he's just not that athletic he only wins in one way and I don't really trust him as a run Defender even though he has the size for it so I get it there's gonna be some coaches that you know are really excited about him because they think they can fix him and I wish them luck I think right now he's he's just a rotational guy for me I wouldn't put him on the field on early Downs I don't trust him and I think in terms of third down utility I think he's best on honestly like stunts and games like that's what he does better than than pretty much everything else so yeah I don't know weird profile I thought about putting him in tier five but I recognize the upside so I felt he was worth a tier four ranking but I just I don't know what to do with them but anyway moving on I want to go from Michigan all the way down to Stephen F Austin now because there is in my opinion a potential Hidden Gem there that not a whole lot of people are talking about or not a whole lot of people are even aware of I first saw him at the shrine bowl and I had never heard of him before but I have been really really fascinated ever since and that's BJ Thompson again from Stephen F Austin if you're a Baylor fan you probably recognize the name he's a Baylor transfer from a few years ago now and he is a much older Prospect than most of the guys on this list which is why I have him down in tier four because he is I don't want to say old I mean I'm 31 he's a lot younger than me but you know relative to NFL draft prospects and and the age you expect like 21-22 he is kind of old and for reference on how old he was in the same recruiting class as Chase young who's now going into his fourth season in the NFL so yeah these he's been around he did six years in college it is what it is Cove it happened I get it it kind of messed with some timelines for a lot of guys coming out but that will play against him you know potentially being a 24 year old rookie that's just that's a reason why he may or may not drop now that being said he is a freak athlete like absolutely one of the freakiest of the freaks that I have ever seen at Edge rusher he also has been on Bruce Feldman's freaks list and keep in mind he's 6'5 240 with an 11-3 broad jump a four five six in the 40 a 40-inch vertical and a 4-2 shuttle he is just ridiculous as an athlete and watching him at Shrine Bowl I was blown away with how he moves I got some slow-mo footage of him doing some drop drills like uh when they were testing about it linebacker and he looks like a safety like I swear to God he looks like a safety he just moves so differently than so many any other Edge rushers in this class and I think if it wasn't for the fact that he's still really raw despite spending six years in college and the fact that he did spend six years in college so he's on the older side if it wasn't for that stuff he would be seen as one of the most intriguing Edge rushers in this class for coaching staff to potentially mold his athleticism is rare even in a class full of rare athletes like he's above almost all of them and I do think that he's going to get his name called earlier than people expect just because he has so many tools and the fact that even if he doesn't entirely know how to rush right now the fact that you can drop him into coverage and he looks good doing it that's going to be good for him as well plus he plays special teams too and that doesn't hurt either so just keep an eye out for BJ Thompson Stephen F Austin he's going to go somewhere on day three I have no idea where but he's gonna go somewhere on day three and he is going to be one of the most talked about players in training camp at least among his future local media that much I think is pretty fair to say just because of how freaky he is now next up I want to talk about a pair of undersized pass rushers and I'm going to talk about them together because again their profiles are virtually the same and that's Nick herbig from Wisconsin and Derek Parish from Houston both of these guys are in a similar mold to Yasir Abdullah in the sense that in the pros they're going to be a hybrid off-ball linebacker slash Edge the reason why I have Abdullah slightly higher than them is because I trust Abdullah more in coverage for obvious reasons he put some crazy reps in coverage on tape and I just feel better about him covering people on day one but that being said as pure pass rushers herbig and Parish were just as good as Abdullah both of their first steps are phenomenal they have incredible agility they're very low to the ground because they're both pretty darn short but honestly that can cause a lot of problems for offensive tackles that are 6566 because a lot of them don't really have the ability to get low enough to really get their hands on a Target that small so if you talk to offensive tackles sometimes they hate blocking short guys the most just because they present the smallest Target area for a punch and herbig and Parish at least looking at their tape they both kind of abuse the fact that they're small in order to be really good pass rushers a lot of tackles just straight up couldn't touch them and it's not like NFL tackles are any shorter like they're also going to struggle with hitting a Target that small in the league too because a lot of these six five six six guys just they can't bend enough to do it in terms of projecting their pass rush utility in the NFL I know a lot of people have concerns because again they're tiny but looking at the success that for example Dennis gardack had in Arizona he's six foot 232 and in the past he's been a really really efficient pass rusher for the Cardinals I think it can work like I think there's a lot of really small Edge rushers in the league that have shown it can work I mean hell Hassan Reddick who's not exactly a big guy himself he was one of the best pass rushers in the entire League last year so even if you are small if you know how to use that lack of size I guess to your advantage and you're really bendy and you're really fluid and you have exceptional short area quickness which of course perish and her big do I think it is possible for them to be really effective rushers at the next level again I have them in tier four for a reason under Abdullah because I think Abdullah is better in coverage but if we're just talking about a pure pass rusher role I think these are two guys that you can pick up in the fifth round and give them snaps immediately and expect them to get some pretty good pressure numbers out of it next up I want to go in virtually the opposite direction and talk about somebody who's really really big in this Edge class and that's Dante stills from West Virginia who comes in at six three and a half 286 so he's a big big dude bigger than a lot of the edges in this class at least in terms of bulk and I know a lot of people are projecting him more on the defensive tackle side and I totally understand that he played five technique for the most part or 4i or three technique at West Virginia they kind of moved them around a little bit but at least watching him rush on tape and in particular there's one rep against Iowa state that really made me think this in that rep against Iowa State where they let him come off the edge as a true Edge rusher from a two-point stance mind you he got a sack on that rep and it made me think okay if he dropped from 286 to like 275 maybe 270. if they had him drop weight and convert to say outside linebacker in a big outside linebacker mold like you see in Green Bay with rashan Gary and Preston Smith and zadarius Smith if we went that route which has been proven to work in the past I think he could be a legitimately great outside linebacker in that type of system he wouldn't have to drop in coverage that much but he would get to play from a two-point stance so he can use that size to just keep constant vision on the ball which bigger outside linebackers like the Smith Brothers you know like Aiden Hutchinson up in Detroit they have credited their improvements in run defense to playing from a two-point stance because they can see the ball as it snapped so that's a huge Advantage for a big guy to play from a standing position he's going to play the run really well and again if you take off just a little bit of weight and you give him some of that explosiveness back even at 286 he already had a 172 10-yard split that is excellent at that size like really really good at that size I just think there's something there I think you can convert him I don't think he has to play five technique even though he could like I fully admit he absolutely could be a five technique in the league but I think his highest ceiling is at Edge if we drop a little bit of weight we put him on the zadarius Smith or Preston's Smith path and we just let him play that role I think that's where he would be best I fully understand that it's unlikely that this happens but that's just my vision for him and I do wish him best of luck wherever he goes you know we talked to him a little bit at The Shrine Bowl he's a great dude really good in the locker room excellent leader one of the most productive West Virginia players ever he's a really really good guy so I wish him all the best and hopefully he goes to a good team now from there we're gonna go to another one of my favorite underrated pass rushers in this class ikenna and achukwu from Rice again also talked to him at The Shrine Bowl great dude wonderful to talk to whatever locker room he goes to is gonna absolutely fall in love with him but beyond just being a good dude he is a nightmare to block on the field I understand he hasn't gotten a lot of press and that's you know for a reason he went to Rice not everybody has access to Rice tape but I do and I watched it and let me tell you right now he is really really good you watch him against USC you know one of the best offenses in the entire country and they could not handle him he was way too physical way too strong his motor never stops I mean he was just running around like a freaking Maniac Caleb Williams was running for his life against Anna chukwu they could not handle his power they could not handle his legs that was the game that really solidified for me that he's gonna go somewhere like starting in the fourth round probably like I would not be shocked if he got taken in the fourth round maybe fifth or sixth at the latest but I'm a huge fan of McKenna and achukwu he plays the run really well which at his size you kind of expect he's 265 pounds with long arms super strong at the point of attack but the fact that he could Rush from a nine from a six from a five they even put him at three techniques sometimes he was effective at every single spot I think that whatever system you want to throw him into you can throw him into it and he's going to be totally fine as for why I have him in tier 4 even though I am just heaping tons of Praise on him right now obviously level of competition is a little bit of a concern you know we didn't get to see too many games against top schools even though he performed well against USC there wasn't a whole lot of other top tier programs that we got to see him go against so he's a quote-unquote unproven talent but he played well at Shrine Bowl he played well against the Trojans he has a lot of talent I'm a believer that there's something there and maybe to a degree he's a victim of the fact that this Edge class is so insanely deep that there's a bunch of other guys that have more proven resumes but I'll be damned I really really do want him uh to stay in Houston and go with the Texans and you know be in that demeko Ryan's defense I think they would love him there I think he would be awesome there and you know maybe my my Texans fan bias is showing but I love this kid he's great now moving from anatuk we're gonna go to our third straight Shrine Bowl player and obviously we had a very deep defensive line group in Shrine Bowl this year uh I didn't get to go to the Senior Bowl which also had an insanely deep defensive line group but all these last three guys I got to watch up close and personal in Vegas and they were all really impressive but deswan Johnson was probably the most impressive out of all of them that week at practice and if you've listened to us talk about him endlessly for the last three months I mean it's for good reason he's a really good penetrating you know hybrid inside outside player and I'll be honest I probably should have put him in the defensive tackle rankings because I think he's going to end up playing a very similar role to collage cancer and also to adamawa at a buari from Northwestern and Brian Bursey from Clemson you know kind of playing that uh base defensive end on early Downs or if you're in an odd front he'd play five technique and then when you get into passing Downs like third and seven plus kick him inside to three technique and have him rush as an interior pass rusher he'd probably end up playing the same role as those guys so maybe I should have put him with the DTs but I just kind of felt better putting him with the the edges just because of his build he looks more like an edge than like a DT to me but not that it really matters it's the same role but anyway in terms of looking at his film he was one of the most active interior slash exterior hybrid guys in this class and what I mean by that was he was in the backfield all the damn time like constantly in the backfield he's really quick laterally really fluid I think you could leave him outside like as a defensive end on passing downs and he could still win against attack tackles I don't know if I could say the same thing about Percy or at a buari I think Desmond Johnson is just a more natural pass rusher at least out on the edge inside they're all good but out on the edge I think is a more natural pass rusher there but when you get him inside and he's mashed up against like slower footed guards he's so damn quick and it's just not a fair fight he's a very very gifted interior penetrator and before you go off you know looking at his pro day numbers trust me those are not real like he is so much more athletic than the protein numbers suggest and the tape backs that up too like he is so damn quick so slippery and he's somebody who I think a lot of defensive line coaches would love to have as a club in their bag on third down simply because he has the athleticism to do things that a lot of other interior rushers can't do if you want to run a three-man game and have him as a Looper like all the way to the opposite Edge from a three technique he can do it like he can get there in time he can close on the quarterback he can bend he can flatten he can do all that stuff or if you want him to be the one that sets up the pins and have everybody else knock him down he can do that too he's got the power for that he can displace blockers and kind of create that lane he's just a very versatile player and somebody who I personally really do believe in I trust the tape on this one more than I trust the pro day numbers I don't know if it's because of weather or an injury or something like that but I had heard prior to the pro day that his numbers were going to be a lot better than that especially coming from uh you know pre uh Pro Day training so I still haven't gotten an answer about what the hell happened there but he's a better athlete than that testing suggests just trust me on that I have no idea where he's gonna go because again he's a tweener from Toledo and that type of profile typically doesn't get drafted very high but I think he's gonna have a very solid career and be another one of these complementary pass rusher that you're going to get on day three and then you know next thing you know you look up and he's been playing for seven years so very very solid player and then we're gonna round off this tier and close it out with one more name who I also don't really know what to do with him and that's Andre Carter from army just like Desmond Johnson the tape and the testing numbers just don't match up like he looks way more athletic on tape than his testing numbers suggests and just to read off those numbers to you real quick hit a vertical of 30 inches he only put up 9-1 in the broad as a six six 260 pound Edge rusher he ran 486 and really the only positive numbers that he put up were his three cone where he ran it in 686 which is excellent and 433 on the shuttle which is also excellent so at least that number kind of checked out but if you look at him on tape the vertical in the broad in particular made no sense to me like his first step was way better then a vertical of 30 would suggest so you know maybe it's the fact that he went to Army like maybe he didn't get uh as much or any time to really train for a pro day I'm not really sure what goes into training for the NFL for service Academy players but just looking at him on tape he is such a better athlete than his Ras would suggest so I'm kind of trusting my eyes on that one I'm trusting what we all saw which is a very very athletic six six 260 pound stand-up linebacker with Great Bend great agility you know great power great first step there's something to work with there just like a lot of the Shrine Bowl guys I have no idea where he's gonna get drafted you know like deswan and the Kenneth and Dante Stills like it really just depends on team fit and if they believe in the tape just like I do he could slip into day three and I would fully understand why but just going off of tape he is a much more toolsey Edge rusher than I think he gets given credit for he was somebody who was seen you know potentially he's a top 50 pick in the middle of the season and that's for a reason like he was dominating everybody it's not like we can just forget that he was a dominant Edge rusher we can't just ignore that he was killing every single offensive tackle in front of him we all saw it we all have eyes we know he's a good athlete so again I don't know where he's gonna go I have him in tier four simply because I don't I don't know what to do with this because there's such a disparity between testing numbers and tape I'm just leaning on the side of trusting the tape and trusting that he's going to go somewhere in the top 150. I don't know how high but I think he deserves it like I think the tape is good enough that he should be picked in the top 150 and you just figure it out again he's 6'6 260 with really good athleticism if your defensive line coach can't do something with that then get a new one all right we're finally here this is tier five uh and you know kind of looking at these names off of my side monitor here how I could best describe this tier is they're not bad players I just have a lot more significant questions or concerns about these players than I do about the ones in tier four you know I might not know what to do with a lot of the guys from tier four but I don't necessarily question their talent uh or or you know level of competition anything like that like I at least have some more answers on them than with tier five where I either have like significant concerns about Talent level or significant concerns about competition level and so I just couldn't really justify putting them in tier four again it's kind of a weird group and a weird way to phrase it because they're not bad players they're all going to be drafted they're all going to be on teams next year I just had to draw the line somewhere and these were the ones that ended up in tier five so you know let's talk about them and I'll kind of expand on that because I know it sounds like I'm being super negative and I want to talk about what they do do well and then you know maybe we'll we'll figure out valuation down the line but with that being said let's get to tier five [Music] foreign we're going to start off this tier by talking about somebody who I don't think has gotten any press at all in the pre-draft cycle and that's Caleb Murphy from Ferris State he is one of only three non-d1 players to get a combine invite this year and he absolutely earned that invite as a conference Player of the Year down at Ferris State he had a whole bunch of production 13 sacks 27 tackles for loss was probably the best Edge rusher in all of D2 last year and he's somebody who I think teams will definitely look at late in day three as you know just kind of an edge rusher flyer somebody who might play some special teams for him he's got kind of an interesting profile because again he's one of the the shorter stockier guys he's 6'3 255 and even though he isn't the most explosive jumper you know he had less than a 30 inch vert which is not good I think looking at his 10 split which was pretty decent at 165. I think that's more representative of what his first step is I think his first step is really underrated he's really good at converting speed to power he does have a wrestling background a little bit which I think again shows up in terms of contact balance and how he's able to use leverage against taller tackles he also played basketball he played baseball he was in track and I think that kind of diverse athletic background is really only a benefit for him I think he's got Good Feet good balance even though he didn't test outrageously well in the three cone I think his Bend is a lot better than you know maybe he gets credit for and keep in mind that with a D2 player that's likely to go late on day three you know maybe priority udfa it's possible that he just didn't have you know the combine trading infrastructure that a lot of other guys have so he didn't time as well as you know maybe a lot of other guys in this class it doesn't mean that he's not a good football player I do think that he is a good player he absolutely earned being in the discussion for a day three rotational pass rusher and at the end of the day teams are just trying to find good ball player years like they don't necessarily prioritize athleticism first for everybody because if your film is good and if you're really productive and you're really good in meeting rooms and you know you're great off the field you're going to have a job somewhere and Kayla Murphy checks all of those other boxes other than Elite athleticism so I really do like him a lot he had a great week down at The Shrine Bowl that's where I first kind of put him on my radar and then digging more and more into him I just became more intrigued by the potential that he has so definitely somebody to keep on your radar as a D2 player in this class and moving on from Murphy I want to talk about Carl Brooks from Bowling Green another quote unquote small school guy in this group and Carl Brooks might be one of the most unique edge profiles that I've ever seen because he's 300 pounds I'm not kidding he is literally a 300 pound stand-up Edge rusher which I don't think I've ever seen that before let alone a 300 pound Edge rusher who's only like six three and a half with 31 and a half inch arms so from like a physical build perspective he's a one of one and I don't necessarily mean that in like a unicorn type way I've just literally never seen a profile like him but I'll be damned just like Caleb Murphy the tape is really really good he's got way better Bend than you expect he's got better balance he Corners really well he's got good hand usage he's got good speed to power there's definitely something there with Carl Brooks like he didn't just luck his way into all the production that he had he had a lot of really good solid pass rush wins and I do think that if he's gonna stick in the league obviously he won't be at 300 pounds he'll probably slim down to like 275 280 but if you do slim him down to 275 280 kind of like Dante Stills or rather he'd be slimming down to Dante Still's size but if you take some of that weight off I do think that you would get some explosion back and all of a sudden you're looking at a bigger body Edge rusher with even more twitch than he has now with Great Bend great balance great cornering ability a wide variety of moves again I'm not advocating on drafting him super early he's probably going to be like a seventh round pick maybe a late six round pick if you really like him but I don't know there's something there the film was good enough that I'm willing to take a chance in the middle of the late of day three maybe even a priority udfa I'm just willing to take a chance on the film because the film is really good he is not a physical profile that has ever existed in the NFL and that's uh I guess a concern but hey there's a first time for everything maybe it'll work and from there moving on from a couple small school guys let's go to one of the biggest programs out there at Ole Miss and talk about tavius Robinson and again he's another interesting physical profile because he's about six six 260 which is great just under 34 inch arms again also great we love that length vertical is relatively average about 33 and a half 10 foot broad that's awesome one five eight ten yard split which that shows up on film pretty good first step but he also has some of the worst bend that I've ever seen like it's a 743 cone there's really no way around it even looking at it on on film this dude doesn't Bend he just rushes straight up and down very little contact balance it doesn't really Corner that well he's got a great first step he's got speed to power he's got length he's got all that stuff but in terms of asking him to dip and rip around the edge He's just never gonna do that so for me he's like a more extreme version of Isaiah foskey and Zach Harrison but even those guys have better Bend compared to tavius Robinson he is absolutely a one-dimensional pass rusher he's a one-trick pony I mean it's a good trick don't get me wrong it's a great trick but it is a one-trick pony to me so that's why I haven't met tier five he'll have a job in the league he'll be a rotational pass rusher somewhere but personally for me I think his developmental ceiling is a lot lower because of that lack of Bend than say a lot of the tier four guys like KJ Henry Kennedy chukwu Dante Stills BJ Thompson all those guys I just think that they have a higher potential than tavius Robinson because he just can't freaking Bend and it's a pretty similar story to our next tier 5 Edge rusher and that's Colby wooden out of Auburn who you know maybe I should have put with the defensive tackle rankings similar to Desmond Johnson because he'll end up playing a similar role to not just Desmond Johnson but also adaboire and bursee and all these other kind of like hybrid DT edges where you're playing defensive end on early Downs maybe kicking inside to rush the passer against a guard and he's going to be rushing against guards and not tackles because I just don't think think he can win against tackles he just doesn't have the bend for it it's very similar to tavius Robinson like I mentioned where he's got a good first step a 1 6 3 10 yard split absolutely shows up on tape I think he's a very linear explosive straight line athlete but if you're asking him to win late in the rep meaning you're getting pushed to the back of the pocket you got to really get low have contact balance have Bend be able to flip your hips while being pushed and kind of have that bend to flatten around the corner and finish the sack he can't do that so he's either going to win early in the rep or he's not going to win at all because he just can't win late with Bend and you can't win late without Bend it's just not going to happen so just like tavius Robinson I see him as a more extreme version of Zach Harrison and Isaiah foskey not that Harrison and foskey have Great Bend themselves but it's at least better than Colby wooden he just like Robinson is pretty much just straight up and down so I see a similar tie type of role for him where he's playing defensive end on early Downs kicking inside and you know maybe rushing the passer against a guard but even against a guard that lack of Bend is going to give him trouble too so again late sixth early seventh-ish round is kind of where I expect him to go he's a rotational player to me maybe a special teams player to me I want to emphasize that again he's going to have a job I just don't necessarily have a super high expectations for his ceiling compared to a lot of the guys in early tears doesn't make him a bad player I'm just being realistic and then we're going to round off tier five with two more edges that I think have you know late day three uh you know kind of borderline draftable grades and that's going to be Brenton Cox Jr from Florida and Robert Beale Jr from Georgia neither of these guys are special athletes at all that's kind of a theme that we see with tier V edges is now we're starting to get into guys that don't have uh athletic profile that you can really Bank on so you got to look at other stuff and I think that you know what makes them draftable to me is effort it's the ability to play with power it's the ability to play The Run it's the ability to play special teams I do think that both Cox and Beale are very high effort players they play their responsibility they play the Run they can contribute as pass rushers even though that's probably not what their strength is going to be in the NFL I think they're more rotational Edge rushers I don't have super high expectations for them as a pass rusher but I just love that they play hard they play their assignments they will play special teams from what I can gather this is more so with Cox than Beale from what I can gather Brenton Cox does not have any sort of football character concerns I know that people uh you know see when you get kicked off two teams in the SEC in like three years they're like okay well what's wrong with you from people I've talked to there's nothing really wrong he never did anything illegal he never got into trouble off the field it was just you know some personality conflicts with the coaching staff and that's gonna happen it doesn't make him a bad guy it doesn't make him uh somebody who's not worthy of being in the NFL I personally don't have any character concerns with Brenton Cox based on the research that I have access to I guess is the best way to put it so yeah he got dismissed from two programs but it wasn't for anything uh that you would expect I guess it's just a personality conflict not a crime not a bad guy just a personality thing anyway hopefully that cleared some things up but in terms of football character he tries really hard he's a high effort player no concerns about that whatsoever and Robert Beal again same thing super high football character and somebody who I would want to have in the locker room as well again these guys are going to go probably in the seventh round maybe they'll be priority udfas we're kind of running out of draftable grades here but this is the last grouping that I felt comfortable drafting at least if I needed an edge rusher on day three alright that'll do it for today if you're still here in this episode for one thank you really appreciate that the algorithm Gods also thank you you know make sure to leave a like and a comment and subscribe and hit the bell and all that stuff you know by the way every single YouTube consultant that I've ever like chatted with always says oh you should do a call to action and like ask for subscriptions and likes and stuff like that I don't even know if that works you know my general mindset is if the content you're probably less half hour ago anyway you know and if you like it you'll probably subscribe I mean we're all adults here so uh if you liked it and you're not already subscribed you know maybe consider doing that if if you don't hate me and if you didn't like it you know what are you still doing here dude you masochist are you hate watching me can you tell that I've downed half bottle of wine while recording this anyway uh next week's episode is linebackers that one should be a lot shorter because there's a lot fewer linebackers in this class that I actually enjoy watching play football some of them are there's some bad linebackers in this class guys okay Real Talk there's some really bad linebackers in this class it's not a horrible class but like the the Peaks are good and the valleys are so yeah that episode's gonna be a lot shorter a lot less good guys or good good linebackers um that'll be out next week sometime so I don't know I'll see you guys very soon for that and uh until then cheers

Channel: Brett Kollmann

Views: 114,276

Keywords: will anderson, tyree wilson, nolan smith, nfl draft, mock draft

Id: 7GY9mlEUQYI

Length: 96min 59sec (5819 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 21 2023

Reddit Comments

[u/System_Lower]

Kollman loved most of our picks. Even with the DT Young, he was was on board.

[u/TyposAreAThing]

I'm a Brett Kollman fan. His analysis is so far above and beyond anything on ESPN, NFL Network, or any other network I'm aware of, it's actually embarrassing to those networks. This year he broke down the top D linemen, and lo and behold, 3 of our picks were covered. Enjoy.