Akheem Mesidor 2026 NFL draft prospect profile, grades, rank, measurements

Canadian edge rusher Akheem Mesidor is a powerful and hard playing edge rusher for the Miami Hurricanes. He and teammate Rueben Bain have anchored the edges of the defensive line for the Hurricanes all season and have helped guide Miami to a national championship.

Mesidor is a strong and generally disciplined edge rusher. His plays with high effort and can reduce inside in passing situations and has shown to be effective rushing against guards. He can dip and bend around he corner when he gets to the outside shoulder of the tackles he is facing. He also packs a strong initial punch on contact when bull rushing and creates counter opportunities.

Overall production for Mesidor peaked in 2025. He has 11 sacks on the year to go along with 63 totals pressures, not including the national championship game against Indiana.

As a run defender, Mesidor is a strong edge setter and will take on pulling lineman. He is disciplined at holding the edge and keeping contain, but will occasionally jump to the inside in an attempt to make a play on the ball carrier and open the corner for the play to bounce outside.

Mesidor will be a polarizing prospect on many fronts during the pre-draft process. He will turn 25 years old a few weeks before the draft and is likely near his athletic ceiling. He also has an extensive injury history including a foot injury that caused him to miss most of the 2023 season. He also missed one game with a foot injury in 2025.

Despite the question marks surrounding Mesidor, if his health checks out, he can immediately step into an edge rotation. Miami would often line he and Rueben Bain up on the same side, with Mesidor rushing from a 3-tech alignment challenging guards, a similar role can be waiting for him in the NFL. He plays with high effort and shows quick recognition off of the edge to see counters, screens and pulling lineman.

Akheem Mesidor is big edge rusher for Miami. He is smart and his motor is always running. He is a very good run defender with a high effort pass rush. He will be 25 years old on draft night and is pretty much at his ceiling. pic.twitter.com/rNjj01IUka
— Thomas Martinez (@BoltsDraftTalk) January 19, 2026

Measurables

Name: Akheem Mesidor
Height/weight/class: 6'3 280lbs, edge rusher, 6th year senior
Awards: 2020 Freshman All-American, 2020 All-Big 12, 2024 All-ACC Honorable mention

What Akheem Mesidor does well

Miami Hurricanes edge rusher Akheem Mesidor — Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Good hand fighting and relies on swiping away strikes from tackles to create room to rush
Good get off and will often beat lineman to their spot creating a panic response opening the door for counters
Excellent play recognition and sees the play developing and maintains discipline

Where Akheem Mesidor can improve

When rushing inside, he will often turn on his bull in a china shop attitude and simply create chaos but will often lose balance and create a pile and miss the play
Needs to clean up his tackling technique with a 21.6 percent missed tackle rate in 2025
Although generally disciplined, needs to hold edge longer and not dip to the inside

THIS is why Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love will go so early in this draft.
Miami edge rusher Akheem Mesidor sets the edge well but goes inside and Love just puts him through the spin cycle 👀 pic.twitter.com/sux24KYUMa
— Thomas Martinez (@BoltsDraftTalk) January 19, 2026

Grade, position rank, expected draft round

Grade: B
Position rank: #7 edge
Expected draft round: Second

Summary

Akheem Mesidor will have the chance to be an impactful defender in an edge rotation early in his career. His abilities in defending the run and rushing from multiple alignments will be an asset. Versatility will be his calling card early in his career

He will be highly scrutinized during the draft process. Physically he may be close to his peak but he can still develop greater technique and consistency as an edge rusher. His injury history will likely go through multiple rechecks during the pre-draft process and may cause his draft stock to slide slightly.