2018 Draft Prospects: Defensive Interior

Most people still use the traditional defensive position designations of defensive tackle, defensive end, inside linebacker, and outside linebacker. That’s the way the league has worked for most of its history, and those terms have stuck around even though they no longer describe the way players are grouped.

I prefer to go with a more modern grouping. Last week I looked at “off ball linebackers” which encompass players who primarily line up in the box back away from the line. Next week I’ll get around to the “edge” defenders, the pass rushers that are either called defensive ends or outside linebackers based almost entirely on whether they rush from a 2 or a 3 point stance.

Today I’m focusing on “defensive interior”. Some of these players will be called defensive tackles, some defensive ends. Whatever they’re called, they will spend the majority of their snaps playing between the tackles on the line of scrimmage, trying to either stack up the middle or penetrate into the backfield.

Vita Vea, Washington

The discussion surrounding Vea isn’t as much about him as it is about the value of the position he plays. There is no doubt that he is a spectacular and rare talent. Standing 6-4 and weighing an absurd 347 pounds, he moves in a way that someone that size really shouldn’t. He’s light on his feet, and he is insanely strong, able to swallow offensive linemen whole and walk them five or six yards deep in the backfield. He is the ultimate run stuffing nose tackle, a player who can absorb double teams and can play two gaps against single blockers, with the strength to stop a running back with a single arm if he comes within reach.

The problem is that the league is trending away from these big, space eating tackles. Gone are the days when you could just shrug your shoulders at a player on the defensive interior who doesn’t get after the quarterback. Pass rush is crucial at every position along the defensive line, and it’s hard to justify selecting a tackle in the first round who can’t wreak havoc in the passing game.

There are mixed opinions on how much Vea brings as a pass rusher, largely because he was so inconsistent in that role in college. He does a good job leading with his hands to strike into the opposing lineman’s chest, and once he’s engaged he can toss a blocker aside with a single hand or walk him deep into the backfield. He struggles to finish plays once he’s back there, but he gets enough push to disrupt the quarterback and give the other rushers opportunity to grab a sack.

Vea is never going to be a ten sack a year guy, but I think he has more pass rush potential than he showed in college. Washington ran a lot of complex blitzes, and more often than not his job was to just eat up blockers while their linebackers looped in. When he was given opportunities in clear passing situations, he was able to fire into a gap and use his strength to push through the arms of the blocker in front of him. Any small gap became a wide open rushing lane, and if he’s freed to do more of that in the NFL, he can be a productive pass rushing threat. That’s the only real question with him, and while there is still some risk that it doesn’t develop as I think it will, I still think he’s worth a pick in the upper half of the first round.

Harrison Phillips, Stanford

 

Lower body strength is crucial to playing the defensive tackle position, but Phillips shows the value of upper body strength as well. Most people roll their eyes at the bench press test at the Combine, but an astonishing 42 reps from Phillips confirms what is often seen on the field. He is incredibly strong in his upper body, and that strength allows him to consistently win the handfighting that occurs in the trenches. When single blocked he almost always ends up controlling the opposing lineman’s chest, allowing him to hold his ground and to make plays in the gaps on either side as the ball comes near him.

Phillips needs to do more to win after he has established position over the opposing player. He doesn’t often shed to truly free himself up, and his lateral range is limited. He leaves himself vulnerable to being cleaned up from the side, and occasionally he has trouble keeping himself square to prevent being sealed off from a specific gap. At times he can be slow out of his stance, and he usually engages on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage, often coming straight up rather than forward and playing with his pad level too high.

I have concerns about Phillips’s versatility and upside, though his athletic profile is intriguing. He is very quick in tight spaces, and he can win by leaping across a lineman’s face and swimming over top of him. But despite a very good performance in the three cone drill, flexibility looks like a concern on the field. He struggles to bend through contact to make a play, and he can be washed out of his rushing lane too easily. The foundation of a good player is there, but it will take some work to reach what he’s capable of, and I’m concerned enough about his weaknesses on the field that I wouldn’t take him until the end of the first round.

Maurice Hurst, Michigan

Hurst wins off the snap, or he doesn’t win at all. He has one of the quickest getoffs I’ve seen, firing out low and fast and knifing into the gaps between the opposing offensive linemen. He almost always makes contact on the offensive side of the line of scrimmage, and the momentum of his initial burst can power him trough the arms of the opposing linemen into the backfield to make a splash tackle for a loss.

That’s what happens when everything goes right. Far more frequently, his speed off the line isn’t enough to prevent the opposing lineman from stepping into his path. And when that happens, the play is essentially over for Hurst. He has no counter moves, and he really doesn’t use his hands at all. His almost always makes contact leading with his shoulder or, strangely, his back. At times he’ll flip completely around and end up buried in an ineffective pile as the ball races in the opposite direction.

But man, that getoff is hard to ignore. Counter moves and hand usage are tools that can be developed in the NFL, and Hurst could potentially be effective with them if he’s given time and patience to grow. Size will always be a concern—he tested in the 20^th percentile or lower for every size measurement before having to leave the Combine due to a (since cleared) medical red flag—and he is a liability more often than an asset in the running game. But he has the ability to generate big plays and sacks like few others in this class, and I would consider grabbing him late in the first round.

Taven Bryan, Florida

Bryan is the other side of the coin from Vea. Weighing only 291 pounds, he would have been considered too small to play regularly on the inside in the past, but the changes to the game recently have made smaller, quicker defensive tackles increasingly valuable. Bryan specializes in shooting through a gap into the backfield. He is almost always the first player moving off the snap, and he wrecks the angles linemen take to try to block him.

Size does occasionally present an issue for Bryan. He’s tall, but his arms aren’t very long, and he struggles to get consistent separation from the lineman blocking him. He can get a good push off his initial burst, but once his momentum peters out he doesn’t have the strength to walk a blocker backwards. He can get pushed around some himself, and he has issues bending through contact to make plays once he’s in the backfield.

As quick as he is off the ball, I don’t see enough else in Bryan’s game to make him worth more than a late first round pick. He doesn’t play with great awareness, often overrunning ball carriers in the backfield. He covers a lot of ground side to side and can make plays outside the tackle box, but he is vulnerable when the ball comes straight at him. I don’t see enough consistency to make me think the splashes are worth the downsides, and even with his tremendous athleticism I don’t think his ceiling is all that high.

Da’Ron Payne, Alabama

Payne has moments of brilliance where he looks unstoppable, and on a highlight reel it would be hard not to argue that he is a high first round talent. At times he seems unblockable, with a wide variety of moves that let him break free of contact and win leverage into the backfield. His best move is a swim across the face of the opposing lineman, but he also has the strength to grab and yank the blocker out of his path and the quickness to shoot through a gap off the snap.

Payne’s flashes are remarkable, but there are plenty of reasons to worry about if they can ever be more than just flashes. As good as his moves are, they are most effective as counter moves, and against NFL quality talent and scouting he’s going to need something more. If he tries a swim move when the opposing blocker is expecting it, he will be doing nothing more than surrendering his chest to get blown backwards from the line (something that happened regularly in college as well). He isn’t strong enough or quick enough to win play after play, and when he gets beaten in the handfighting game things usually get pretty ugly.

There are other issues with Payne’s game, mostly around his struggles to finish plays once he’s in the backfield. He plays high and doesn’t have much bend, and even when he gets past a blocker he can find himself shoved from behind out of the play. He tested as a below average athlete, and though I thought he looked better than that on the field, he never looked like someone playing at a different speed than everyone else. I think he can be a solid starter in the NFL, but you will need players and a scheme around him to compensate for his weaknesses, and he isn’t the sort of foundational player you would spend a first round selection to take.

Derrick Nnadi, Florida State

Nnadi is fairly good in the first second after the snap. He comes off the ball quickly and engages with his hands on the other side of the line, usually winning into the chest of the opposing lineman. He isn’t quick enough to penetrate into gaps, but he can drive linemen a couple yards deep into the backfield off his initial lunge.

Nnadi’s hands are good off the snap of the ball, and then they just stop. He doesn’t bother to disengage, and though he’s good at finishing through contact, he doesn’t make any tackles outside of arm’s reach. And at times after his initial burst he will end up standing straight up, surrendering his chest and allowing the offensive lineman to regain the advantage. He can get pushed backwards at the point of attack, and he can occasionally leave gaps wide open in the running game.

Inconsistent against the run, Nnadi is even worse as a pass rusher. He has the strength to collapse the pocket in front of the quarterback, but instead of using it he usually just tries to run around the opposing lineman. He had an absolutely abysmal Combine, and his lack of athletic ability makes it easy for blockers to wash him out of his rushing lane, leaving the quarterback plenty of space to step up. Outside of his size and some promising strength, I really don’t see anything to like about Nnadi, and I wouldn’t take him before the fourth round.