New York Giants Draft Prospect: IDL Mekhi Wingo

The Giants have a sneaky need for depth on their defensive line. Let's see what LSU's Mekhi Wingo brings to address that.

Oct 14, 2023; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA; LSU Tigers defensive tackle Mekhi Wingo (18) reacts after / Matthew Hinton-USA TODAY Sports

Mekhi Wingo, IDL

Height: 6’0”
Weight: 284 lbs.
Hands: 9 ¼”
Arms: 32”
Class: Junior  
School: LSU
Stats

MEASUREMENTS

40-yard dash: 4.85
10-yard split: 1.64
Vertical Jump: 31.5”
Broad Jump: 9’11”
Bench Press: 25 reps

Wingo was a former three-star recruit out of DeSmet High School in St. Louis, Missouri, where he was the 9th player in Missouri and the 74th-ranked defensive lineman in the 2021 recruiting cycle. He played one season (2021) in Missouri before transferring to LSU for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Wingo had 58 pressures in 873 career pass-rushing reps. He had 19 pressures in 2023, 25 in 2022, and 14 at Missouri in 2021. Wingo was revered at LSU, earning the prized No. 18 jersey prior to the 2023 season. He was a permanent team captain, was on the AFCA Good Works Team/SEC Community Service Team, and was an AP Third Team All-American in 2022.

Wingo was also an SEC freshman all-American at Missouri. One of his career highlights was his freshman season, when he returned an interception for 48 yards and a touchdown. He attended the 2024 Scouting Combine and ran the second fastest 40-yard dash of the position group, ranking just behind Braden Fiske of Florida State; both players fit Shane Bowen’s system. 

Strengths

• Compact and stout player with natural leverage
• Great stance at the LOS allows him to maximize burst into contact
• Fires off the LOS, quick and explosive
• Light feet - coordinated athlete 
• Very balanced and controlled into contact
• Gets low and can bend through contact
• Stays low when leveraging his agility on stunts
• Excellent lateral agility, light feet, and COD
• Excellent burst into contact - a powerful player
• Good eyes and ability to sift through traffic when penetrating to locate ball carrier
• Excellent overall use of hands as a pass rusher - technically sound
• Active hands - has several moves
• Hands are efficient - excellent aiming points to win at the POA
• Push-pull and sheds quickly - good swim move
• Solid lower-leg drive with bull rush
• Showed ability to threaten the edge and corner at EDGE
• Strong and authoritative punch
• Stacks, and flashes his eyes - very low center of gravity
• Adaptive rusher who has a plan
• Defense executed a lot of gap exchanges
• Elite leverage (due to stature)
• Can convert speed to power
• Competitor - Energizer bunny mentality 
• Was supposed to be out for the season after a lower-body injury and surgery but returned for the bowl game against Wisconsin, where he had two sacks and five pressures

---

[View more draft prospect scouting profiles.]

---

Weaknesses

• Lack of height can work against him
• Very light - can lack sand in his pants
• Can get gobbled up by IOL due to size
• Double teams are tough - adequate anchor vs. two blockers
• Has to improve as a run defender to earn a full compliment of snaps early on at the next level
• Can get washed by angle blocks that disallow him to use his lateral movement skills to avoid the contact
• Missed six games in 2023 with a lower-body injury that required surgery

Summary

Quick, adaptive, and flexible - Wingo is great in a phone booth with a slippery nature and an authoritative punch that can stun OL. He has an array of moves and understands how/when to strike to maximize separation while staying low into contact. Wingo flashed the ability to also win on the edge, which can give defenses a versatile option who isn’t a liability across the line of scrimmage. 

Wingo’s ability to get upfield to disrupt wasn’t necessarily maximized in LSU’s ODD defense where he played 4i-shade and 4-technique in non-passing situations; that fact, combined with the gap-exchange element of laterally moving at the snap limited his penetration ability through the gap he was aligned over pre-snap. Still, his excellent lateral agility and low center of gravity while moving allowed him to successfully attack the half-man of blockers, but it’s plausible that his burst could be successfully employed as a 3-technique in an even front, while also being an asset in a defense like Shane Bowen, who frequently twists to create four-man pressure.

Wingo is an elite competitor who will win over the team's fanbase that selects him. He’s versatile, plays with excellent leverage, and is a different task to frame due to his lateral movement skills and low nature. However, that low nature can get him in trouble against bigger guards who quickly set him and control his chest. Despite that, he’s a good and disruptive football player with efficient hands, a plan, and the short-area-quickness to win as a pass rusher at the next level. 

GRADE: 6.29

Nick Falato's Draft Grade Chart / Nick Falato

---

• Follow and like us on Facebook.
• Submit your questions for our mailbag.
• Follow Patricia Traina on Instagram.
• Check out the Giants Country YouTube Channel.
• Subscribe and like the LockedOn Giants YouTube Channel