Originally, I only used the Force Players to shift through pass-rushers, but after being asked about how it translated to defensive tackles over and over, I eventually started collecting data for that position.
Unfortunately, I lost a lot of data when my computer crashed in January of this year, but I was able to retrieve enough to still have first-round splits. Here are the players I would consider as interior defensive linemen who were drafted in the first round from 2005-2014.
They are split into four groups: Force Players, Mid Tiers, Non-Force Players and incomplete data. In these groups, they are sorted by AV/Y. I explained a bit why in my What is a Force Player? piece.
I included J.J. Watt, Cameron Jordan and Datone Jones as interior defensive linemen for this visual, even though I had also counted them as EDGEs in previous pieces. I believe they have the bodies to play both positions. They all started their careers in 3-4 defenses as ends, a position considered as the interior line. Jordan is the only one of the three who has been presented with the opportunity to play in a 4-3 defense, where he’s now playing an EDGE position as an end.
Above is the entire set of first-rounders in this time frame sorted by AV/Y. The Force Players average is around eight, dropping to seven if you throw out the Watt/Jordan/Jones combo. Mid Tiers average an AV/Y of seven, and Non-Force Players hit at five.
I don’t think the Force Players filter works as well for interior defensive linemen as it does for EDGEs, but it clearly does have some impact. Two of the biggest misses the filter has are the exclusion of Gerald McCoy and Star Lotulelei, who have interesting athletic fingerprints that are rarely seen in edge defenders. The same can be said of Henry Anderson in this class.
In the same graphic, I took the time to get the full 2015 draft class splits, as I have all of the available data from this past class on hand. Because of loss of data, I cannot provide a complete list of interior Force Players and Mid Tiers like I did for the EDGEs.
I also searched through some college football numbers on NFL Draft Scout to try an pull some prospects who might potentially make the list in the future. There were 15 EDGEs who made my 2016 Watch List. After looking at the top-50 defensive tackles in the senior, junior, sophomore and freshman class, I’ve found 13 names out of the 200 players who fit the height-weight-speed criteria which would suggest they have around a 60-70 percent chance at passing the filter, if their measurements are correct.
Seniors:
Luther Maddy, Virginia Tech
Sheldon Rankins, Louisville
D.J. Reader, Clemson
Juniors:
Taiwan Johnson, Arkansas*
Robert Nkemdiche, Ole Miss*
Nigel Williams, Virginia Tech*
Sophomores:
Nifae Lealao, Vanderbilt**
Nazair Jones, North Carolina**
Steven Richardson, Minnesota**
Kentavius Street, North Carolina State**
Freshmen:
Neville Gallimore, Oklahoma***
Daylon Mack, Texas A&M***
Kahlil McKenzie, Tennessee***
If I were to order them in order of height-weight-speed, it would look like:
- Mack***
- Gallimore***
- Street**
- Rankins
- Lealao***
- Reader
- Johnson*
- Williams*
- Richardson**
- Jones**
- McKenzie***
- Nkemdiche*
- Maddy
If you have any comments or questions, make sure to either email me at [email protected] or ask me on Twitter.
Justis Mosqueda
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