2021 Draft Board: Edge Rushers

Go check out my 2021 Quarterback Draft Board article if you want to get more background information on how this all works. I’m just going to jump right into the top five and the board.

TOP FIVE

1) Joseph Ossai (Texas)

Analysis: The guy who sparked me to write this article (link to fact or fiction). Ossai’s sack production may not have been on par with some of his peers that are in this draft (it wasn’t awful either), but his tackle and tackle for loss production was towards the top. I’m hoping that we can lay the questions about whether or not he can make it in the NFL with his length to rest. There’s definitely no questioning his athleticism.

2) Jayson Oweh (Penn State)

Analysis: This one surprised the heck out of me, but Oweh was this close (I’m holding my fingers as close together as I can without touching) to having a factor that has led to a 100% success rate. That also would have given him a PSR that would have provided a 1st round grade. His college production wasn’t there, and he is very raw, but his athleticism is not something you can teach.

3) Shaka Toney (Penn State)

Analysis: We’ve been wondering what they’re putting in the food at Penn State for a while and Oweh and Toney aren’t going to make those questions go away. Toney didn’t do as well as Oweh did in the athletic tests, but he still did pretty dang good (4.53 forty, 39” vertical, 128” broad jump). His size might drop him down a little for some (6’2”, 242 pounds). I don’t drop him for it, but I will acknowledge that his best scheme fit as a pro is going to be coming off the edge in a 3-4.

4) Jaelan Phillips (Miami)

Analysis: I was surprised that Phillips made my list over Rousseau who I was definitely higher on going into the pre-draft process, but here we are. Phillips’ final season of production really gave him the boost he needed as did his 4.12 short shuttle and 4.56 forty. He has the tools to be the next big Edge Rusher to come out, but the questions about durability keep him from moving up in my top five.

5) Azeez Ojulari (Georgia)

Analysis: Similar size to Toney (6’2”, 249 pounds), though he does have slightly longer arms (34.5” to Toney’s 33”), and I’d consider him a 3-4 fit over a 4-3 just like Toney. His speed didn’t quite match Toney’s (4.6 forty), but the 28 reps he put up on the bench were impressive at his size.

Sleeper: Darius Hodge (Marshall)

Analysis: Hodge was a player I listed in my “8 prospects they missed” article referring to the Combine invitee list, and I wouldn’t change that decision at all. Not only did he have solid college production, he also went out and had himself a good pro day. His short shuttle worries me a little (4.67), but his 3-cone was nice (7.16), and his jumps were fantastic (38.5” Vert, and 127” Broad). And while some may point to his height as a problem (6’1”) they’d be ignoring his arm length (34.38”) and ignoring my article on Scouting myths that I linked in the little blurb below Joseph Ossai.

SURPRISING LEFT OFF

Kwity Paye, Gregory Rousseau, Joe Tryon and Carlos Basham were all left off my list despite having buzz surrounding them. Fact of the matter is this Edge Rusher class has plenty of talent, which meant there were going to be at least two players left out of my top five. I don’t like Paye as much as everyone else. Sure he had a 4.57 forty and 36 reps on the bench, but he didn’t show the same kind of burst or wiggle as the guys I listed. Rousseau hurt himself by running a 4.53 short shuttle and a 7.30 3-cone, which I mentioned in a previous article, are the two most important drills for Edge Rushers. Tryon and Basham didn’t do bad in any category, but they also didn’t excel in any. Basham doing what he did at 274 pounds was more impressive than the other three mentioned in this paragraph and because of that I’d rank him above all three of them.

DRAFT BOARD

My Draft Board

REMOVED FROM DRAFT BOARD

For each position there are players who either had a red flag in their college production or athletic testing (or both) that led to them being removed from my draft board. These are referred to as negative factors and can lead to one of two labels: Depleted or Empty. In order for a player to receive a Depleted label, they had to have a negative factor that significantly decreased the chances of success in players who had that same factor from 2009-2018. In order for a player to receive an Empty label, they had to have a negative factor that led to zero successful players who had that same factor from 2009-2018. There were nine Edge Rushers removed from my board.

Adetokunbo Ogundeji (Notre Dame) - Depleted

Daelin Hayes (Notre Dame) - Depleted

Darius Stills (West Virginia) - Depleted

Earnest Brown IV (Northwestern) - Depleted

Jonathon Cooper (Ohio State) - Depleted

Malik Herring (Georgia) - Depleted

Patrick Jones II (Pittsburgh) - Depleted

Jordan Smith (UAB) - Empty

Wyatt Hubert (Kansas State) - Empty

**Note: Darius Stills is almost always listed as a Defensive Tackle, but since he weighed in under 280 pounds he was removed from my DT board, which automatically adds him to the Edge Rusher list and compares his numbers to this position group. His numbers for either would have him removed from both boards (he would receive an empty label if left at DT).