Like my Tight Ends ranking a couple of days ago, there’s no real reason to go beyond four with the defensive tackles in this year’s NFL Draft. Pat these four, pretty much you’ve got a group of guys that will probably be decent placeholder tackles. Maybe you can develop a guy like Larry Ogunjobi into something, but I don’t view him as a top prospect in this draft. You try not to always hold coming from a small school against a guy, but one look at Ogunjobi’s Louisville tape, and it’s really easy to dismiss what he did against Charlotte’s FCS schedule.
Other guys like Vincent Taylor out of Oklahoma State and Elijah Qualls out of Washington just look like bodies to me. Nothing special.
4. Montravius Adams, Auburn (6-4, 304)
2016: 43 tackles, eight for a loss, four sacks, two passes defensed, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, one interception
Well, they did it. They trapped and shaved a Sasquatch and taught it to play football. To be as big as he is, Adams is a legitimate athlete who naturally knows how to use his body and leverage to overpower interior offensive linemen. Adams is quick enough off the snap, that Auburn moved him outside on a lot of passing downs to rush end. Ole Miss couldn’t do anything with him for the last two seasons, even getting manhandled on double teams. If you watch that tape, and you should, about half-way through you start feeling sorry for the poor running backs he gets his hands on. It’s like watching a hippopotamus take down a canoe.
Ideal situation: Houston Texans, New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Dallas Cowboys
3. Caleb Brantley, Florida (6-3, 307)
2016: 31 tackles, 9.5 for a los, 2.5 sacks, one forced fumble
Brantley has outstanding first-step quickness, but what makes him a fixture in an opponent’s backfield is how he uses his shoulders, arms and hips. Brantley has a knack for sliding through blocks sideways, while keeping a good, solid base underneath him. When he clears a blocker, he can pick up speed immediately to attack a ballcarrier or pressure a passer. His lateral quickness has been good enough to stop Dalvin Cook and Leonard Fournette in the backfield multiple times, so there should be no question about that. Especially with the linemen he had to go through to get at those two running backs.
Ideal situation: New York Giants, Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks, Carolina Panthers
2. Malik McDowell, Michigan State (6-6, 295)
2016: 34 tackles, seven for a loss, 1.5 sacks
For a guy that large, McDowell can slip pasts blocks with deceptive ease. He has a few different techniques he uses, but my favorite is when he keeps his arms down and charges in like a bull, minimizing what an offensive lineman can grab. Sometimes he’ll just bowl into a guard with his shoulder, knocking him backwards at his own quarterback. McDowell’s length, his speed and his size meet all the exercise and tape measurement requirements for NFL scouts too, which is why he’s No. 2 on virtually everyone’s list. What I really love is the motor that makes him stay after the ball and chase guys down from behind if they got away from him on his first push.
Ideal situation: Indianapolis Colts, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks
1. Jonathan Allen, Alabama (6-3, 286)
2016: 69 tackles, 16 for a loss, 10.5 sacks, two passes defended, three fumble recoveries, two defensive touchdowns
This guy is a one-man avalanche. It’s difficult to see how Allen makes it out of the Top Five of April’s NFL draft. He can play every position on the defensive line and did at Alabama, moving outside as a pure rusher whenever the team needed him. He obliterated some of the best offensive linemen in the SEC and plenty of them will end up in the NFL as well. Allen is just a different kind of monster. He knows how to use his athleticism, and playes intelligently, seemingly dissecting plays as they happen to disrupt them.
Ideal situation: San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears
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