DKphin
Club Member
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11.DT Daniel McCullers, Tennessee 6'6" 351
11.DT Daniel McCullers, Tennessee 6'6" 351
http://withthefirstpick.com/2013/10/28/2014-nfl-draft-scouting-report-daniel-mccullers-dt-tennessee/System Fit
McCullers’ best fit is as a traditional nose tackle in the middle of a 3 man front, but he might be too tempting to pass up for some teams running the 4-3 as well. He is a tremendous run clogger that wreaks havoc in the middle of the line and disrupts running plays and protects his linebackers to enable them to run around and make plays. He is a better fit in the 3-4 because his lack of pass rush ability is less of a problem there, but there will be 4-3 teams that look at him as the ideal 2-down run stopper and not care that he is not a great pass rush threat. Some of the teams that would be a great fit for McCullers would include Pittsburgh, Cleveland, San Francisco, Baltimore, Green Bay, and San Diego, but again, teams running a 4-3 in on McCullers will certainly outnumber those who are not.
NFL Comparison
With the news of McCullers’ height and if he comes in anywhere near that 6’8” height he has been listed, he compares to former Johnathan Henderson, most notably of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Henderson came out at 6’7” but was 335lbs at least when he left college. That number went north as his career progressed which hurt his ability to be the impact player he was initially. He was always an incredibly tough player to move but when he was lighter, he was a monster up front and as good as he was against the run, had 15.5 sacks in his first three years. He was able to compile 29 sacks overall in his 8 year career. It is unlikely that McCullers will pile up big time sack numbers but he could end up having this type of impact where he may get a few sacks per year but his impact is in his ability to create for teammates and shut down the run, which is what Henderson did so well.
Draft Projection
Daniel McCullers looks ready to contribute right now and would likely be a top 50 pick if the draft were held today. He is simply overpowering in what he can do in the middle of the line and he has done it against extremely highly rated players who were drafted in the top half of the first round in the NFL Draft, so there is little reason to expect he will not be able to translate to the next level. In addition to simply continuing to work on his game, he should really consider continuing to drop more weight. It helps his motor, stamina, and his balance and he has seen how much of a different the loss of weight has made for him this year; it may only continue to get better and better with less of him to get in the way. The biggest areas to improve for McCullers come down to stamina, his motor and trying to work to play lower and with consistency. McCullers projects as a top 50 pick right now but has the chance to work his draft stock solidly into the first round pick as the best pure nose in the entire draft and the potential is there for him to go as high as the top 15 picks.
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