Who is the best EDGE in the draft? | PFF

now it's time for Edge rushers another one of those positions that is always at the top of the draft uh let's start with the the big picture view um how good a class is it and how good are the stars like where are we in relation to the likes of you know the Aiden Hutchinson's the Will Anderson of the world I mean I I I do think that this is a pretty dang good class man I think that it's pretty deep I've got either 10 or 11 of these guys in my top 200 which um just put the top 200 on the PFF big board over on pff.com so you guys can check that out right now but um there's a there's a lot of good Edge rushers especially at the top you talk about that star power there's a handful of players and I think that there's five guys that really have a good shot of being first round picks the first one is latu latu from UCLA another will probably dig into him a little bit but I think he's one of the most prolific and um precise pass rushers in the country with all his different moves Dallas Turner he was the edge rusher opposite Will Anderson last year at Alabama I think he's playing even better this year so he's somebody who's in first round consideration Jared verse used to be at ALB the NF nfcs guy who transferred over to Florida State and has looked a part of a first round pick uh certainly did a lot last year a little less this year but I still think he's fantastic brillan T from Washington and chop Robinson just these two athletes that it truly looks like it hurts offensive tackles to try to stand in front of them and bought them that's kind of their rushing style but I think all five of those guys could be first round picks and and good first round picks too you know I think going back to a theme of what we have talked about here with this 2024 draft class is there's a lot of really good talent at the premium positions so every year we will always see teams draft quarterback offensive tackle Edge rusher wide receiver shutdown Corner we will'll see them pick them in the the first round even when maybe they aren't sure fire first round picks because they want to take the chance on those players because they got to hit on those positions because they're so important this year I feel like those positions have enough players that will be worthy of those selections and I think Edge rusher is one of them you're going to see a lot of teams want Edge rushers and there's going to be a handful of guys to choose from here who is your number one guy on this list latu is my number one guy on this list the the pass rusher from UCLA I I I always love going through these with you because you viewing them for the first time like midseason and I'm I kind of have this it almost goes back to what we were talking about a little bit further with with Quint Johnson like I've looked at these guys for for so long since June of when we did Summer scouting and I've seen so much of these guys so every time I kind of hear your point on them it's kind of a fresh perspective so I'm curious as to what you thought of latu as well yeah so I I don't think any of these guys are at the they're certainly not at the the Bosa Chase young you know Elite of the elite probably not even Aiden Hutchinson level of prospect um I don't even think they're at the Will Anderson level of prospect uh I think they're all a tier below that but I I agree that latu was the best of the guys that I watched so I watched those I watched four of the five names that you gave me I didn't get to the last one I watched latu I watched chop Robinson from Penn State Jared verse from Florida State and Dallas Turner from Alabama I didn't get to your your Washington kid um latu I think is definitely the best of that group uh he's got really really good hand usage his go-to is that cross chop move like and it almost always seems to work he's just able to free himself up from contact all the time he's got like good but not freakish bend around the edge like he's able to keep running that Arc even turning the corner with an offensive tackle leaning on him and you know trying to drive him wash him beyond the the pocket really good closing burst I think he can Rush him inside as well like he lines up all over the place reminds me a little bit of Jaylen Phillips actually from Miami um and he he's I I think there's probably more to come from him as well like he think I think he's athletic enough to do a few more things than he currently does as an edge rusher and there's some like I think it's probably easier to take a guy who's go-to is attack Center Mass cross chop get around the edge of him and S of just say hey every once in a while just run for the space like just try and attack for Speed and see how it works than it is to take a guy who's really good at doing that and like teach him you the more intricate cross chops and like various different pass rushing moves I so yeah I I think he's good and can get better yeah I I think that what you mentioned at the top his ability to always seem like he is not letting offensive tackles or offensive lineman in general get hands on him is so so impressive and I mean it's a it's not just him either whoever the defensive line coach is a UCLA I mean Grayson Murphy Gabriel Murphy as well in that defensive line they're all the same way like they are taught very well I will add how to not let offensive linemen just like get hands on them at all whether it's whether they're trying to long arm them whether they're going for for a two-handed punch whatever it is they are ready for it and are ready to disengage they're just the hands are always active they're always there whether they're swiping whether it's a swim move whether they're going to long arm first and catch him off guard like they just always seem to have a plan and lat's reaction speed for how he uses his hands just constantly keeps him free and allows him to attack either shoulder very very well so I think that he is an absolute technician uh he 65 2 265 like he's got great size I think like you mentioned I think he's a really good athlete I think he's got some really good bend for a player that's his size it's not that rare stuff you're right it's not like this generational kind of feel to him but super productive over the last two years above 20% pass rush win percentage and that is why because he's he's always clean he is always getting to one of those shoulders very very quickly so the pressure is there the winds are there um and I I think that you see that back field of production from him as well so to me he is somebody who you draft in the in the top 15 top 10 you know okay maybe he's not a top three overall like you're thinking about him over Drake May or anything like that but man I think this guy's gonna be a really productive Pro no I agree I like he I think he's the best of them I think he's the cleanest guy and I think there's just a gap between him and those like truly Elite Edge rushing prospects we seen so do you know anything about his background at all not a thing okay so it is it's funny that you say that and you saying the word clean for his ECT evaluation brings it makes me want to bring this up he started his career at Washington played his freshman year at Washington going into his sophomore year during practice I believe suffered a neck injury that forced him to miss that entire sophomore season at Washington and the doctors at Washington basically medically retired him like said you're not you can't play football again this is too dangerous it was too severe of an injury on your spine whatever so he sits out that entire season he gets kind of rechecked I think by other doctors or he's just like you know he's feeling better he's getting re and Washington still just did not clear him to play he transfers to UCLA UCLA medically clears him and then last year was his first year playing since that freshman season at Washington and he was an absolute animal and then this year again he's he's an absolute technician so the neck injury is going to be something that gets brought up throughout the draft season because it's going to get medically rechecked of the combine and people are going to talk about that but if you did I I I was kind of hoping that you didn't know the background because not knowing the background you probably got No Reservations about taking him as a top 10 pass rusher but knowing that there's the injury there it might affect his draft stock a little bit so that context is important when you guys are thinking about a lot to yeah that'll be interesting to see if if there's a difference of opinion like if the NFL is split on whether that's a thing like some guys just take them off the board because their medical guys won't clear him and say no that's not or if it was a case of like Washington's medical people basically just didn't want to reverse what they thought a year ago you know and didn't want to contradict themselves a year later down the line you know and it was it was sort of more of a stubborn sticking to a diagnosis deal with him rather than actually this is a thing where half the NFL teams are going to say no we're out on this and we're not grabbing that guy um what was interesting from him from an on the field perspective is contrasting him in particular with chop Robinson because Robinson is like way more Twitchy way more explosive but has like none of the hand usage he's like almost the opposite player um he reminded me a lot of uh Byron young last year from Tennessee where it's like this dude is one of the most like explosive Twitchy athletic fluid gifted pass rushes in the draft who has almost no clue what he's doing right and if you can teach him what he's doing now you've got something pretty pretty special and he's a guy who's crushing it so far you know next to Aaron Donald with the Rams I Robinson I think is not quite like he's not that clueless when it comes to actually what he's doing what he's you know his his technique but it reminded me a lot of that where it's like wow from an athletic standpoint this guy's got it all from a technique standpoint less so yeah and you know you saw last year the passers win percentage for Chop was over 20% he had a pass rush grade 92.4 one of the highest in the country he had 53 pressures That season and so like this guy was extremely productive last year and I I think it really just stems from he was more athletic than offensive tackles were ready for him to be I mean his first step explosion the bend you mentioned just that quick twitch the violent nature of him he just basically used bull rush moves and speed to power stuff and he was pretty much unblockable against a lot of offensive tackles last year this year it's different because I think this year Big 10 teams know what he is and it's like hey if we can kind of game plan a little bit for what he's going to do which is just that bull rush speed to power type of game we can neutralize it a little more and during the first portion of this season like he was not really effective like he was getting shut down by a lot of these offensive tackles and he had one of the more surprisingly lower grades and efficiency numbers from a lot of those top tier pass rushers but you mentioned this is going to be the most athletic pass rusher that we have in this class and I do agree with you I think he's he's F further along than Byron young was but that's the type of player that we're talking about here is you want Robinson to go to a team with a really good defensive line coach who can get more out of him when it comes to hand usage and and pass rush moves and things like that because if you combine that with that first step explosiveness and how he can threaten that outside shoulder at all times now you are talking about a potential difference making takeover type of edge rer so because of athleticism alone I think that he is also a guy that you would pick in the top 15 yeah and I think like there's there's also differences with Byron young like he's he's only 20 now right like he's much much younger much less sort of uh much he's not just relying on being an older more experienced guy like there's there are other differences which is why he's going to end up going a lot higher than Byron young did even independent of the fact that he's further along from a technique standpoint um it's interesting there was a play against Iowa I think where like they're prepared for him they know what he can do and yet there's a play where he literally just runs right around the left tackle left tackle barely touches him he just buries the quarterback in the ribs like that the Daniel Jones meme you know where just drops back like and then just drilled in the side at the drop at like nine yards deep he just run right around the left tackle on the arc left tackle barely touches him and you're like they knew that was coming and still couldn't even come close to stopping it and that's shop Robinson the best part about him is that he has this like old school aesthetic to him where one he wears the number 44 as an edge rusher so like already kind of ugly but if you're good you sometimes pull it off he has he goes no gloves so he just goes like bare hands like long and long sleeves just like regular ass long sleeves no like shooter sleeve no armbands no nothing it is long sleeves it is typical height shoulder pads the number 44 and no gloves and you know what I respect it I forget which which game it was there was one game where he didn't even have the sleeves he was out there bare sleeves no wrist anything's a walk no tape no gloves just out there raw dogging it nothing right trying to like go oneon-one with offensive tackles and you're like what is this this is madness um like he's a walk on and like for Penn State they don't have their names on the back of the Jersey so it really does look like he's just ah we need a body in here get 44 throw 44 in there um I think his biggest problem certainly relative to latu is like he gets stuck on blocks you know he doesn't have that hand usage he doesn't have that he justed out of the and he's occasionally he'll be able to just muscle through it and be and like impact the quarterback but he's basically done on the play whereas latu disengages right you're not keeping hold of him for any period of time that's what Robinson really needs to add to his game and then you've got something [Music] special [Music]

Channel: Pro Football Focus

Views: 14,164

Keywords: New Orleans Saints, Houston Texans, Football, NFL

Id: uV3LTW4aaYo

Length: 14min 44sec (884 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 17 2023