UCLA Football: Laiatu Latu Wants to Tackle Two Recent NFL MVPs Early On
We get it, Laiatu.
Beware NFL quarterbacks.
UCLA defensive end Laiatu Latu is on the verge of entering the 2024 NFL Draft, as he is expected to be drafted in the first round on Thursday. Ahead of the draft, Latu shared that on his NFL bucket list the player he wants to sack is Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and the player he wants to tackle is Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson when he's on the run, he told NFL Total Access.
Mahomes and Jackson are two of the NFL's best quarterbacks, and also two of the hardest players to take down. The two two-time NFL MVPs are elusive scramblers both in and out of the pocket. They can run around behind the line of scrimmage for seemingly ages before chucking an improbable pass down the field, or simply taking off to run. Jackson is especially hard to bring down when he's on the move, with his unique movement making him one of the most dangerous scramblers in the game.
The good news for Latu is he showed a knack for bringing down the quarterback at UCLA. With 13 sacks his final year of college, few collegiate pass rushers could take down quarterbacks at the same rate as Latu, who won the Ted Hendricks award as the best defensive end in college for his efforts. Along with sacks, Latu also excelled at tackles for loss, a skill that could also come in handy with his goals to bring down some of the best quarterbacks in the game.
For Latu to have the best shot at reaching his goal of taking down these quarterbacks, he'd have to get drafted by an AFC team so he would go up against Mahomes and Jackson more frequently.
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