Top Defensive Linemen in NFL Draft: Best of the Rest

The Packers could use another defensive lineman and a deep class awaits. Here is the rest of our top 20 prospects, led by Baylor juggernaut James Lynch.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Apr 14, 2020 7:10 PM EDT

The Packers could use another defensive lineman and a deep class awaits. Here is the rest of our top 20 prospects.

No. 9: James Lynch, Baylor (6-3 5/8, 289; 31 7/8-inch arms): Lynch had a prodigious final season with 13.5 sacks, 19.5 tackles for losses, five passes defensed, three forced fumbles and two blocked kicks to be a unanimous first-team All-American and the Big 12’s Defensive Player of the Year. His three-year totals were 22 sacks and 33.5 TFLs. Of our top 25 defensive linemen he had five more sacks and 6.5 more tackles for losses than anyone else, and he was tied for No. 1 in pressure rate. However, he lined up mostly on the edge. If only he could have tackled. According to Sports Info Solutions, he missed a whopping 15 tackles for a missed-tackle rate of 29 percent. The change of positions, lack of length and woeful 5.01 in the 40 dim the luster of his production.

“As a competitor, you always think like I feel like I bring the most to the table,” he said at the Combine. “I feel like I have the ability to go from a zero to a five and be able to play in a three-man and a four-man (line). I just want to make sure whatever people think about me, I want to take it one step further and make sure that they know that I'm a good athlete and I can play and I'm smart and just show them that I'm capable of doing whatever they need me to do.”

If he could eat dinner with any four people in history, he would choose Ndamukong Suh, Abraham Lincoln, Genghis Kahn and Al Capone. Why Genghis Kahn? “He was the emperor of the Mongol Empire,” Lynch said in a Q&A with Statesman.com. “After he created the empire, he started the Mongol invasions and conquered most of Europe and Asia. They took over everything, dominated like savages. It’s just a topic I find interesting.” His dad, Tim, played football at Nebraska; his middle name is “Husker.”

No. 10: DaVon Hamilton, Ohio State (6-3 3/4, 320; 33-inch arms): A first-time starter as a senior, he posted six sacks and 10.5 tackles for losses in 2019. He didn’t boost his stats against a bunch of nonconference lightweights. All of the sacks and 7.5 of the TFLs came during the final six Big Ten games and the national playoffs against Clemson. Of our top 25 defensive linemen, Hamilton was 20th in PFF’s run-stop percentage but ninth in pressure rate. “I just feel like I was able to enough have experience and really understand the defense,” he said at the Combine. “I’ve learned a lot. I feel like I’ve really exploded onto the scene, and just been really blessed.” His 10-yard time of 1.80 seconds was tied for the second-slowest among the D-linemen at the Combine.

He’s flying under the radar a bit. That’s nothing new; the OSU game program spelled his name wrong in the program for three years, opting for a lowercase “V” rather than uppercase. “I learned the art of perseverance. I didn’t really play until third or fourth year, I didn’t even start until my senior year. So it’s really kind of molded me to who I am today.” As a kid, he played soccer. In one game, Hamilton tackling a boy who had been picking on a girl. “At that point, we probably figured he would be better at football than soccer,” his mom told the Columbus Dispatch.

No. 11: Leki Fotu, Utah (6-5 3/8, 330; 34 1/4-inch arms): Foku was a two-year starter. As a junior, he was first-team all-Pac-12 with three sacks and 5.5 tackles for losses. As a senior, he earned some second-team All-American honors with one sack and nine tackles for losses. Of our top 25 defensive tackles, Fotu ranked seventh in ProFootballFocus.com’s run-stop percentage, a metric that measures impact tackles, but tied for 23rd with a 5 percent pressure rate vs. the pass, according to Sports Info Solutions. He didn’t miss any tackles, according to SIS. He is huge, long and really hard to move but not explosive (his 10-yard time of 1.80 seconds was the second-slowest among the defensive linemen at the Combine).

Rugby was his first love; he even spent a month in London with the USA Boys All-American team working with a professional team in 2014. The family moved to Utah in 2015 for his senior year in high school. That’s when he turned his attention from rugby to football because football offered him a better opportunity. “I believe most people, when I tell them I play rugby, seem pretty surprised for someone my size to play that sport,” he said at the Combine. “But I tell them it helped me a lot with transitioning into football. With the way that I move for my size, I think rugby has to play a lot with that role. From carrying the ball and learning how to run with it to playing defensive line and moving in that area, it definitely helped me a lot.” He’s a big man with bad intentions but a huge soft spot in his heart for his sister, who horrifically died when she was 3. A few weeks later, his dad died from a stroke.

No. 12: McTelvin Agim, Arkansas (6-2 5/8, 309; 33 1/2-inch arms): Agim put up steady production in four seasons, finishing with career totals of 14.5 sacks, 31 tackles for losses and six forced fumbles. After recording career highs of 4.5 sacks, 10 TFLs and three forced fumbles as a junior, Agim posted five sacks and 8.5 TFLs as a senior. He also ranked fifth in PFF’s run-stop percentage. He’s not a finished product but offers a well-rounded skill-set and a great motor.

A five-star recruit, Agim was a two-time state champion in the discus and won the district title in the 100 meters at Hope (Ark.) High School. Being drafted will provide a happy ending to an unusual journey. “It's going to mean a lot,” he said at the Combine. “I haven't put it on my mind that I'm going to be drafted. I think I know my worth. So, I honestly didn't think and understood the hardship that came at Arkansas, but I still feel like I know who I am.” When he was 14, he was arrested for trying to steal a car and running from police. The incident earned him a weekend in jail. “I really believe it’s one of the best things to ever happened to me,” Agim told The Associated Press. “I thank God that it happened to me then when I could change my life instead of later when it was too late.” Before that, after the death of the grandmother who helped raise him, he stole food from a Dollar General. “I feel bad about it, but it was either steal or starve,” Agim said.

No. 13: Rashard Lawrence II, LSU (6-2, 308; 34 1/8-inch arms): Lawrence had a breakout junior season with four sacks, 10 tackles for losses and 54 tackles. All of those set career highs. He wasn’t as productive as a senior with his 2.5 sacks and six TFLs among 28 stops, but the team captain was named second-team all-SEC. If only he could finish; he missed eight tackles for a 25 percent missed-tackle rate that ranks 24th among our top 25 defensive tackles. His 10-yard time of 1.72 seconds was the sixth-fastest of the D-linemen at the Combine. With long arms and enormous 11-inch hands, he’s got quite a skill-set.

Asked for his earliest football memory, Lawrence answered it this way: “It wasn't a good memory actually. But in high school, they had me tight end. I was always in to block so they had a little tight end pop pass for me. I was wide open in the back of the end zone. I hear the student section cheering behind me. I dropped the ball and then the whole crowd just went, ‘Ugh.’ That was something I was like, ‘Yeah, I'm a defensive lineman. I'm staying away from tight end.’” When he was 13, he had a full beard. “He's a big Teddy Bear, because he's so sweet,” former LSU linebacker Devin White told the school athletics site. “He doesn't have a bad bone in his body. He makes straight A's, and people don't even talk about it.”

No. 14: Rob Windsor, Penn State (6-4 1/2, 290; 33 1/8-inch arms): Born in Green Bay and raised in Fond du Lac, Windsor earned all-Big Ten third-team honors each of his final two seasons. As a senior, he tallied 3.5 sacks and five tackles for losses. “It’s a pretty big deal in my town (being at the Combine). I’ve got people from my hometown that I don’t even know telling me, ‘Hey, Fond Du Lac has your back, man.’ There was an article in the local newspaper. It’s pretty cool for the town.”

Of our top 25 defensive linemen, he ranked 22nd in PFF’s run-stop percentage but tied for ninth with a pressure rate of 10 percent. Not bad for a guy who wasn’t offered a scholarship by Wisconsin and was the last man in Penn State’s recruiting class. “I was the last recruit. I didn’t know anybody. When I committed, I had no friends there. I said, let’s see how this goes. But that experience and that journey got me here and sets me apart.” The stats tell the story of his game. At this point, he’s a situational rusher.

No. 15: Khalil Davis, Nebraska (6-1, 308; 31 1/2-inch arms): Davis had five sacks and 13 tackles for losses during his first three seasons. As a senior, he had eight sacks and 11 tackles for losses among a career-high 44 tackles. He outdid his twin brother, Carlos, by earning third-team all-Big Ten as a senior and was Nebraska’s defensive lineman of the year each of his last two seasons. According to Sports Info Solutions, he had a pressure rate of 11 percent but opponents were successful on 52 percent of runs at Davis. Those marks ranked fifth and 25th among our top 25 defensive line prospects. The stats tell the story of his game, but his upside is obvious.

“It was so competitive. It took over a lot of things” Davis said at the Combine of his relationship with his brother. “It’s not often you get a guy that’s just as good as you. Maybe one brother is a lot better than the other. I never wanted to be beat by him; he never wanted to be beat by me. It was so competitive. Sometimes, we took it too far but it helped us become the people we are today.”

As is the case with Carlos, he was an eight-time letterwinner – four apiece in football and track. As a senior, he qualified for nationals in the discus. At the Combine, he was the fastest defensive lineman in the 40 (4.75 seconds) and the initial 10 yards (1.66).

No. 16: Raequan Williams, Michigan State (6-4, 308; 33 3/8-inch arms): Williams closed his career with 42 consecutive starts and a pair of all-Big Ten first-team honors. For his career, he posted 11.5 sacks, 29 tackles for losses and three forced fumbles. He had five sacks and 7.5 tackles for losses as a senior. Among the top 25 defensive linemen, Williams ranked eighth in ProFootballFocus.com’s run-stop percentage and opponents were successful on only 29 percent of their runs at him, the best mark in the draft class, according to Sports Info Solutions. He was in the middle of the pack with a pressure rate of 8 percent. He missed eight tackles. He needs to get stronger to go with his notable quicks.

Williams’ path to the NFL was almost derailed by the murder of a cousin and his younger brother in separate shootings in Chicago in 2016 and 2017. “It’s definitely a blessing,” he said at the Combine. “I’ve seen a lot of stuff growing up. The fact that I’m here still is a bit of a shock but I’m definitely blessed and grateful for this opportunity.” Somehow, Williams escaped the circle of violence, refused to seek revenge,and kept his eyes on a brighter future. “Sometimes, I try to reflect on that and think about how I did it. Growing up in Chicago, every day you might make the right moral decision at some point. I feel like I made those decisions the right way and it got me here.”

No. 17: Malcolm Roach, Texas (6-2 1/8, 297; 31 7/8-inch arms): In four seasons, Roach recorded eight sacks and 22.5 tackles for losses. He saved his best for last, with career-high marks of three tackles and nine tackles for losses among 40 stops as a senior team captain. His 10-yard time of 1.68 seconds was the second-fastest among the defensive linemen at the Combine. He ranked in the middle of the pack in PFF’s run-stop percentage and SIS’s pressure rate. “I believe my best strength on the football field is my versatility, being able to play multiple positions,” he said at the Combine. “I feel that's a real strength for me because teams aren't just looking for guys that can play one position. They want guys that can play multiple positions, especially with there being 53 spots on the roster.”

Roach was coached by his father, Mike – an All-American linebacker at Southern and a former coach at Grambling – at Madison Prep in Baton Rouge, La., where he was an all-state linebacker. “My dad being a coach has been a blessing that I didn't even know I had,” he said. “Just growing up from a young age, I was sitting in meetings, hearing football terminology. I'm just sitting there, 3-year-old, 6-year-old kid just listening, hearing terms like a three-technique, a zone, inside zone, things like that. I didn't know what they were talking about. But the older I got and I listened to it, it reminded me of the things I heard. I had been hearing these terms since I was a kid. I feel like he was prepping me my whole life without me even knowing it. I am thankful for that every day. I like to say I have a football IQ because of him because of just the way I've been around it all my life. I grew up around football, not even knowing what was going on, but it was just always in my DNA.”

No. 18: Tyler Clark, Georgia (6-3 3/8, 289 pounds; 34 5/8-inch arms): Clark had 2.5 sacks and eight tackles for losses as a senior. While he was second in PFF’s run-stop percentage, he was 23rd out of our top 25 defensive tackles in pressure percentage, according to SIS. Opponents had only a 39 percent success rate when running at him, according to SIS. Despite run-stopping prowess and superb length, he was not invited to the Scouting Combine.

He’s been a “beast” since a young age. “Whenever he played at that age, the rumor in the league was that he really wasn’t 5 or 6 years old,” his mother, Angela Clark, told Dawg Nation. “There were a couple of times where we actually had to bring a birth certificate to a game just to let the other team know he was actually that age.” He is all football, all the time.

No. 19: Larrell Murchison, North Carolina State (6-2 1/2, 297; 32 5/8-inch arms): As a senior, Murchison led N.C. State with seven sacks and 12 tackles for losses. His sack total was seventh-best in the ACC. However, his 10-yard time of 1.81 second was the slowest for any defensive lineman at the Combine. Combine that with a lack of brute force and the formula isn’t ideal.

A one-star recruit after being a Wing-T fullback in high school, Murchison spent his first two seasons at Louisburg, a junior college. “Coming from JUCO, I was a really raw player," he said at the Scouting Combine. “My redshirt year was one the best years to help mold me as a player.” He’s drive by his twin brother, Farrell, is a running back at Winston Salem State. Farrell was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2018 but was back on the field in 2019. “When he hurts, I hurt,” Murchison told Rivals. “Everything about him inspires me. Him beating cancer inspires me to this day.”

No. 20: Calvin Taylor, Kentucky (6-7 5/8, 309; 36 3/8-inch arms): Somehow, the towering Taylor – a three-year starter on a state championship football team – slipped through the recruiting cracks. “Basketball, at first, is what I was thinking,” Taylor told Kentucky.com. “I guess people thought I did football as just a hobby. But my passion ended up moving from basketball to football, so I decided to pursue (football).” Because his initial focus was on basketball and he was traveling so frequently for his AAU team, he skipped the camps that are essential in recruiting. Thus, he didn’t sign with the Wildcats until long after National Signing Day.

As a senior, he had 8.5 sacks – second-most in this year’s defensive line class – and was fifth in pressure percentage. However, he was last in PFF’s run-stop percentage and missed eight tackles. He was not invited to the Combine, and pro day was canceled because of the pandemic. “The pro (postponement) was gut-wrenching because there’s a lot of guys that have put in a lot of work. A lot of people all over the country have put in a lot of work to showcase some things,” Taylor said recently. “It’s just kind of sad to not be able to showcase that, but everything happens for a reason.” Pad level will be critical but his raw talent makes him worthy of a pick.