On
the defensive side of the ball I’m going to take an approach somewhere between
my skill position reviews and my linemen overviews. So without further ado,
your very deep 2016 interior defensive linemen class.
|
Overall
|
Player
|
Team
|
Ht
|
Wt
|
Role
|
Grade
|
|
4
|
Rankins, Sheldon
|
Louisville
|
73.125
|
299
|
Starter
|
7.7
|
|
8
|
Billings, Andrew
|
Baylor
|
72.625
|
311
|
Starter
|
7.6
|
|
13
|
Buckner, DeForest
|
Oregon
|
79
|
291
|
Starter
|
7.5
|
|
14
|
Jones, Chris
|
Mississippi State
|
78
|
310
|
Starter
|
7.5
|
|
19
|
Nkemdiche, Robert
|
Mississippi
|
75.5
|
294
|
Starter
|
7.4
|
|
22
|
Butler, Vernon
|
Louisiana Tech
|
76
|
323
|
Starter
|
7.3
|
|
23
|
Hargrave, Javon
|
South Carolina St
|
73
|
309
|
Starter
|
7.3
|
|
30
|
Reed, Jarran
|
Alabama
|
74.875
|
307
|
Starter
|
7.2
|
|
39
|
Robinson, A'Shawn
|
Alabama
|
75.625
|
307
|
Starter
|
7.1
|
|
45
|
Clark, Kenny
|
UCLA
|
75
|
314
|
Eventual Starter
|
7.0
|
|
57
|
Bullard, Jonathan
|
Florida
|
75
|
285
|
Eventual Starter
|
6.8
|
|
64
|
Day, Sheldon
|
Notre Dame
|
73
|
293
|
Eventual Starter
|
6.7
|
|
76
|
Collins, Maliek
|
Nebraska
|
74
|
311
|
Eventual Starter
|
6.5
|
|
92
|
Henry, Willie
|
Michigan
|
75
|
303
|
Eventual Starter
|
6.3
|
|
105
|
Ioannidis, Matt
|
Temple
|
75
|
299
|
Eventual Starter
|
6.1
|
I’ve
heard people lament the talent in this year’s class but here’s is one of those
places the talent runs deep. We’ll start with the fact I have 9 players who I
think will be starters right away, and/or have the talent. At the top is
Sheldon Rankins, an explosive athlete with good production and the ability to
disrupt the pocket from the inside. He needs to work on consistency but his flashes
are too much to overlook. Behind Rankins, I have Andrew Billings, a big bodied
tackle from Baylor whose light on his feet, moves laterally well, and
production to match what the testing tells us. Billings does need to become
more consistent with his pass rush, but his lateral agility at his size is a
major plus. Behind them are DeForest Buckner & Chris Jones. Both are tall
athlete, 6’7” & 6’6” respectively, but Jones is 20 lbs bigger. That 20 lbs
is probably why he was played over center instead of 3 tech where he would have
been more disruptive and better utilized. With a move to a position where he
can penetrate more, and with his athleticism Jones should be an impact player
on the interior year one. Buckner is a player who should move about, he should
be able to play anywhere from a 1 (he’d be a bit undersized) to a wide 9 (which
wouldn’t utilize him quite right). I think he slots in very well at the 5 in a
3-4 or a 3 in 4-3. He’s strong with a great bull rush and a willingness to try
multiple different rush attacks means with a little polish you’re looking at a
6’7” wrecking ball with enough finesse to keep you on your toes. The biggest
value of the draft’s first two days will probably be Robert Nkemdiche. Nkemdiche
had an incident this off-season that may sour some teams and mean he’s a late
first, early second round pick but he has all the tools to be a force of
nature. Like Buckner he’s a long lanky player, but he’s built like a brick
shit house and shows those flashes that will make any DL coach drool. Much like
other number one prospects he’s been able to coast a bit in college because of
his physical tools, but he has an awareness of that and I think he’s worth the
risk to see if that light turns on. #6 on my list will probably be a new name
for most of you. Javan Hargrave is a DT from South Carolina State and boy has
he been a revelation. Hargrave played in the FCS, but his testing traits were
great, his numbers showed what you’d want, a player dominating a level below is
talent. Hargrave had 13.5 sacks last year and another 8.5 TFLs he may surprise some
people with how early he goes but don’t let it surprise you. Vernon Butler on
the other hand had a coming out party at the Senior Bowl. Butler played at La
Tech where he was a force, and a focus for other offenses. Butler showed what
he’s capable against good talent at the Senior Bowl and I came away impressed.
The last two I have categorized as Starters are the pair of Alabama defensive
tackles. I want to start out by saying that there is a theory about their
production as to why their production was lower than it should have been. That
theory being that they were asked to clog space so that the linebackers and
edge players could be more disruptive and clean up. And they may be right, I
may be looking too much at their production, but there are other worrisome
numbers. Especially for Mr. Robinson. His athletic numbers just weren’t that impressive.
His numbers were fine, they weren’t red flags, these are more orange flags. Even
for being a bigger guy his numbers suggest more of a run stopper than a
penetrating force in the passing game. That’s his M.O. and it isn’t a bad
thing, but it does mean that the pass rushing is something that needs to grow
and it hurts hampers we’re sure he’ll be. The other Alabama player is Jarran
Reed who tested better than Robinson which is good to see, but his production,
especially his disruption numbers which show little penetration. Reed plays
hard, is athletic, and can anchor at the point of attack extremely well. All
the positive outweigh the negatives but they knock him down the ladder. They’re
still very good prospects. The last 6 players in my top fifteen feature a
favorite of mine, the athletic, the inconsistent, the stout, and the
overlooked. The favorite is Kenny Clark at UCLA, he’s missing the disruption,
but his TFL to tackle ratio is impressive and his athletic testing was superb
for a 314 pound man. Clark just put together consistent tape at UCLA and a team
that utilizes him correctly will get a very nice pick day two. Jonathan Bullard
is a freaky lean interior player, much like Nkemdiche. At 6’3”, 285 Bullard can
shift along the line as a disruptive one tech in passing situations, a
penetrating one gap 3 tech on all three downs or as an edge player in certain
sub-packages. Bullard hopefully gets stuck with a staff that experiments and
doesn’t pigeon hole their players. Shledon Day from Notre Dame is also a sub
300 lbs tackle but his probles are more of the consistency variety. His numbers
are fine but they could, and probably, should be much better. But when he’s on
he is a disruptive force for any offense that went against Notre Dame. You just
need to find the right landing space. The last three players in my fine,
forceful, fifteen are three guys who may not get the most pub but I think have
all the tools to be special, slightly different ways. Let’s start with Collins
who certainly fell off at Nebraska this year after a promising 2014 (14 TFL,
4.5 sacks). That being said all the tools are there for a return to that form
that caught so many eyes in 2014. Collins tested out really well comparing very
favorably to Clark, but the production concerns were just too much for me to
completely disregard heading into the draft. Staying in the B1G Willie Henry
from Michigan has a chance to be the many regret overlooking. He was disruptive
at Michigan, with a violent bull rush, and a healthy amount of athleticism he
should most likely got left out because of the atrociousness of the last couple
Michigan defenses. Lastly is a player from a defense that was so much fun to
watch last year, Temple. Matt Ioannidis left Mobile this year after the Senior
Bowl with praise from Rod Marinelli, and a fantastic last season at Temple.
Ioannidis isn’t the most athletic guy, which isn’t to say he un-athletic, he’s
just not what you’d call a freak. He is however a tactician and a player who is
going to set the interior for your defense extremely well. He’ll get upfield
from the 3 tech, and he’s going to free up your linebackers well.
If
you can’t tell I really like this DT class and I’m excited as a Packers fan
because there is impact to be had even late in the first round.
