NFL Draft Prospect Spotlight: Cameron Sample
The Las Vegas Raiders have done their due diligence in trying to improve their defensive line heading into the 2021 season.
Pass rushers like Yannick Ngakoue are capable of making a major difference, but there’s no reason the Raiders need to stop there.
When you’re in a division with quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, you need to be capable of bringing waves of pressure at the quarterback.
When looking at pure pass rushers in the 2021 NFL Draft, Tulane’s Cameron Sample is an intriguing prospect.
Coming in as a two-star recruit, Sample worked his way from being unheralded to one of the best pass rushers in the American Athletic Conference.
Sample had by far his biggest breakthrough during his senior season in 2020, being ranked as the eighth-best edge defender in college football by Pro Football Focus.
That rating was fueled by a pass-rush grade of 90.4, the best rating he ever had been given.
Sample's surface numbers don’t illustrate it as well since he only had five sacks for the season, but he had 43 combined quarterback hits and hurries.
His size of 6-3 and 280 pounds gives him the ability to win many leverage battles by consistently being the lower man at the line of scrimmage.
Sample has shown to be a plus at reacting to what offensive linemen do to counter him, has been able to kick inside and produce, and explodes on contact.
Teams could doubt the level of competition he faced in the AAC, as it’s not a power 5 conference.
Sample will need to supplement his go-to bull rush move at the next level, as well as getting the linemen’s hands off of him when he gets engaged.
He won’t be among the first edge defenders taken in the draft, but Sample's skills as a pass rusher could make him an enticing option for teams in the third or fourth round.
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