• Chop Robinson specializes in rushing the passer: He is the most visibly explosive and quick-twitch athlete of the top defensive line prospects, and he is perhaps the most likely to fit early into a situational role at the NFL level, even if he eventually becomes more than that.
• Jer'Zhan Newton is the top three-technique pass-rusher in this year's class: In that role, Newton had a 15.4% pass-rush win rate this past season, an excellent mark for an interior defender, and recorded 43 pressures from 402 pass-rushing snaps.
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The 2024 NFL Draft is just around the corner, which means it’s ranking season. For convenience, hundreds of different players are going to get lumped together in broad buckets and compared or ranked against each other even if they play functionally very different roles within the offense or defense of their peers.
Wide receiver rankings will show you at least three separate receiver positions all ranked against each other, never mind the varying skill set differences within those positions.
So it is with the defensive line where “interior” players and “edge defenders” can also be broken out into several different sub-categories.
In this article, we will give the best draft prototype for each defensive line role from this year’s prospects.
Pass-Rush Specialist: Chop Robinson, Penn State
Chop Robinson is the most visibly explosive and quick-twitch athlete of the top defensive line prospects, and he is perhaps the most likely to fit early into a situational role at the NFL level, even if he eventually becomes more than that. He recorded a 93.1 PFF pass-rushing grade this past season against true pass sets.
Some of his best plays come from that wide-nine alignment favored by defenses in obvious pass situations, and that’s where he may enjoy his biggest success early in his NFL career.
All-Around Edge Defender: Dallas Turner, Alabama
The difference between 4-3 defensive ends and 3-4 outside linebackers has never been smaller in today’s NFL of sub packages as the default deployment on defense, but it does still exist. Those outside linebackers — such as Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt — still need to function in space and drop into coverage without being instant targets for quarterbacks. Watt dropped into coverage last season 56 times, more than double the number of Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett.
Alabama’s Dallas Turner put on a show at the NFL combine, where he showcased his all-around athleticism with eye-popping numbers. Turner dropped into coverage at least 84 times in each of his last two seasons in college, both significantly higher rates than even Watt in the NFL last season. He graded well on those snaps and clearly has the athletic gifts to make that work at the next level in addition to being a capable run defender and potentially impact pass-rusher in his primary role.
Power Edge Rusher: Jared Verse, Florida State
For a classic hand-in-the-dirt edge defender, you can’t go wrong with either Jared Verse or Laiatu Latu. The former embodies the power part of the job description more than the latter, who is a phenomenal technician.
Verse has an excellent skill set and has been productive as a pass-rusher as well as having the power and force to set a hard edge in the run game. Latu’s technique in the run game has actually been better in college, as he has a higher PFF grade in that area, but Verse has the physical tools to reset that dynamic at the next level. He had 62 total pressures last season in just 329 pass-rushing snaps.
Hybrid Player: Darius Robinson, Missouri
Almost completely subsumed into the world of three-technique interior rushers in today’s NFL, there is still a role for hybrid players who can move all over the defensive line with more regularity than others. Arik Armstead or even Chris Jones can show up anywhere along the defensive line on any given snap and have the body types to cause problems from any alignment.
Darius Robinson has experience playing both inside and outside for Missouri, and only a pedestrian 40-time at the combine potentially lands him in this hybrid role instead of one or the other.
He had a 17.0% pass-rush win rate last season and notched 42 total pressures from 290 pass-rushing snaps, with still over 100 snaps lined up directly over the tackle rather than in a true outside alignment.
Three-Technique Interior Pass-Rusher: Jer’Zhan Newton, Illinois
Aaron Donald was the league’s prototype for this position for years, even as an undersized player, but with his retirement, that crown is open for business. Newton actually saw the majority of his college alignment at three-technique, as opposed to other adjacent alignments that help to cover off other gaps or make a defensive front more balanced.
In that role, Newton had a 15.4% pass-rush win rate this past season, an excellent mark for an interior defender, and recorded 43 pressures from 402 pass-rushing snaps. He was even better the year before, giving him one of the most impressive interior pass-rushing resumes in the draft.
Nose Tackle: T’Vondre Sweat, Texas
Today’s nose tackle has evolved from its previous iteration. Gone are the days when he can simply take up two gaps, stuff the run, and be a passenger or come off the field entirely on passing downs. Dexter Lawrence played over 700 snaps last season and rushed the passer 446 times at 342 pounds. He notched 65 total pressures and was a real force despite that nose tackle alignment. Lawrence is one of one right now, but he represents the new goal for nose tackles who actually impact the pass game as well.
Sweat is one of the largest prospects to hit the NFL in some time, checking in at the combine at 362 pounds. However, at that size, he had a 15.3% excellent pass-rush win rate last season and recorded 31 total pressures from 309 pass-rushing snaps.
Obviously, Sweat has the size and strength to stuff the run, and he had a 92.0 PFF grade in that area last year, but crucially he brings enough as a pass-rusher to be a modern-day nose tackle prototype.
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