Cleveland Browns NFL Draft Profile: Josh Paschal, DL Kentucky
The Cleveland Browns are in the market for some defensive linemen in the 2022 NFL Draft and Kentucky's Josh Paschal is worth a look on Day 2.
With less than two weeks to go until the Draft, the Cleveland Browns defensive line depth chart remains a barren wasteland outside of Myles Garrett. Jadeveon Clowney is still a free agent and reportedly has an offer on the table from the team, and he is not the only quality EDGE option on the market. None of Jordan Elliott, Tommy Togiai, or Taven Bryan exude much confidence as a starter, and Chase Winovich is the only EDGE depth to speak of.
The Browns have a lot of work to do on the DL, and the Draft will be a big part of that. There are a variety of EDGE options who should be available when the team picks at 44 and 78, one of whom is Josh Paschal out of Kentucky. Paschal has some of the best burst in the class outside of Kayvon Thibodeaux, and that was backed up by his athletic testing.
Josh Paschal Relative Athletic Score
Paschal's get-off is elite and he has excellent closing speed as well. This is especially evident when he's lined up inside as a defensive tackle on obvious passing downs, as he was simply too quick for collegiate guards and centers to react to, beating them right off the snap and causing chaos in the backfield.
There are plays where Paschal looks like he's 30 pounds lighter than his nearly 270-pound playing weight. He has a shorter, stocky build at 6-2, giving him similar size to Olivier Vernon and Takk McKinley which is something to keep in mind as the Browns seem to have a type opposite Garrett, especially if that player is going to be rotational, as Paschal would.
He's a quality run defender on the outside and is able to use his leverage to get under linemen and hold his ground to set the edge. He also spent a good amount of time inside, and that's where the majority of his pass-rush damage came from. Paschal isn't heavy enough to play inside full-time in the NFL and it'll be interesting to see how effective he is in that role as a rookie.
When rushing from an outside alignment, Paschal did not show a vast repertoire of moves and was often just run out the arc as he lacks bend and ankle flexibility which is going to limit his ceiling in the NFL. To counter this, he can improve his rush plan, block shedding, bull rush, and hand usage.
Over five years (45 games) in college, Paschal totaled 137 tackles, 35.5 tackles for loss, and 13 sacks, including 15 tackles for loss in 2021. He is on the older side and will turn 23 in December, so he may not be under consideration until Cleveland is on the clock at pick #78, if he's still on the board. Up until recently, he was thought to have been 23 going on 24, so at least he is now on Cleveland's radar due to his age.
He definitely has some limitations and concerns to his game, but Paschal's explosiveness at his size cannot be taught, and he played a really nice game against Georgia in 2021, so he can perform well against quality competiton.
Josh Paschal is a player that if developed and utilized properly, could be very difficult to deal with, and should definitely be on the Browns draft board as Round 3 begins.
