LB TOMMY EICHENBERG, OHIO STATE (BIG BOARD RANK: 107)
Eichenberg was an anchor up the middle of the Ohio State defense for much of the past three seasons, but he shined particularly in 2022. He showcased no weaknesses that year, earning an elite 90.1 run-defense grade, an 81.0 tackling grade, a 73.0 pass-rush grade and a 75.9 coverage grade to form an 86.8 PFF overall grade.Eichenberg elected to return to school for a fifth season in 2023, but his performance dropped across the board, most notably in coverage, where his grade fell from 75.9 to 52.7. His pass-rush productivity also took a huge hit, as his pressure total dropped by more than half, from 23 to 11, despite playing only 15 fewer pass-rush snaps from the year before. His PFF overall grade also dropped from 86.8 to 61.5, one of the steepest fall-offs in this draft class.
Eichenberg did miss two games in 2023 due to a dislocated elbow, an injury he managed to play through against Michigan, so that affected his counting totals, but one must wonder how much better his draft stock would have been had he declared for the draft after his stellar 2022 campaign.
