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Slimm's 2018 Defensive Ends (Seniors)

Pachyderm_Wave

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1. Bradley Chubb / N.C. State / 6'4", 269 [#1 overall]

2. Marcus Davenport / UTSA / 6'6", 264 [#15 overall]

3. Lorenzo Carter / Georgia / 6'5", 250 [#26 overall]

4. Harold Landry / Boston College / 6'2", 252 [#38 overall]

5. Kylie Fitts / Utah / 6'4", 263 [#89 overall]

6. Tyquan Lewis / Ohio St. / 6'3", 269 [#94 overall]

7. Chad Thomas / Miami / 6'5", 281 [#99 overall]

8. Marquis Haynes / Ole Miss / 6'2", 235 [#100 overall]

9. Ade Aruna / Tulane / 6'5", 262 [#108 overall]

10. Duke Ejiofor / Wake Forest / 6'4", 264 [#116 overall]

11. Da'Shawn Hand / Alabama / 6'4", 297 [#117 overall]

12. Jalyn Holmes / Ohio St. / 6'5", 283 [#121 overall]

13. Trevon Young / Louisville / 6'4", 258 [#143 overall]

14. Marcell Frazier / Missouri / 6'4", 261 [#144 overall]

15. Kemoko Turay / Rutgers / 6'5", 253 [#165 overall]

16. Joe Ostman / C. Michigan / 6'2", 248 [#187 overall]

17. Aikeem Coleman / Idaho / 6'3", 280 [#190 overall]

18. Antonious Sims / App. St. / 6'3", 260 [#246 overall]

19. Justin Lawler / SMU / 6'4", 264 [#247 overall]

20. Naashon Hughes / Texas / 6'3", 250 [UDFA]

21. Trent Harris / Miami / 6'2", 248 [UDFA]

22. Ja'Von Rolland-Jones / Arkansas St. / 6'2", 253 [UDFA]
 
I think Jalyn Holmes is going to rise through this process. Players with his frame, the way he carries his weight, his movement skills at that size, and particularly his highly, highly compelling interior rush capabilities...they become coveted. When you watch him reduce the interior with Nick Bosa, who will be amazing one day, Holmes not only stands with Bosa as far as being compelling as an interior rusher on those pass downs, he probably was more compelling there than Bosa in 2016. And he was no slouch at DE, either.
 
I also think that one guy that's going to end up on your list and then moving up it will be Notre Dame's Andrew Trumbetti.

I see things coming together for him this year, and when the games start, he will be productive and compelling as we go on.
 
Looking like another strong DE/Edge group! Rolland-Jones is my pick to be a late-season riser, but he'll have to cement it at the Combine. That said, it's hard to pick one of the eleven players you have ranked higher as someone who should move down so that he can move up.
 
Looking like another strong DE/Edge group! Rolland-Jones is my pick to be a late-season riser, but he'll have to cement it at the Combine. That said, it's hard to pick one of the eleven players you have ranked higher as someone who should move down so that he can move up.


Some of these kids like Haynes, Keshun Freeman, Rolland-Jones, etc. that line up with their hand in the dirt are going to be looked at as linebackers in the NFL. Similar to Haason Reddick.

That moves them up simply because they won't be competing with the 6'4", 260-270 pound guys for the same positions at the next level. These kids will all eventually get broken down into two separate groups....DE's and LB's.

That's why I don't particularly like the "DE" and "Edge" breakdown that a lot of the talking heads and analysts have started doing for some reason. You're either a defensive end or a linebacker. "Edge" serves no real purpose.
 
Some of these kids like Haynes, Keshun Freeman, Rolland-Jones, etc. that line up with their hand in the dirt are going to be looked at as linebackers in the NFL. Similar to Haason Reddick.

That moves them up simply because they won't be competing with the 6'4", 260-270 pound guys for the same positions at the next level. These kids will all eventually get broken down into two separate groups....DE's and LB's.

That's why I don't particularly like the "DE" and "Edge" breakdown that a lot of the talking heads and analysts have started doing for some reason. You're either a defensive end or a linebacker. "Edge" serves no real purpose.

Solid point, Slimm. I think people wanted a way to differentiate Von Millers from the Thomas Davises, but Rush LB and Off LB seem to do the trick.
 
That's a nice spot on the rankings for UTSA DE Marcus Davenport, and he really does look and play the part.
 
Personally I think Marcus Davenport plays like a 1st rounder. He's the first guy I've seen that actually makes me want to compare to the NFL version of Carlos Dunlap.
 
Honestly I like Davenport more than I like Arden Key.

You know it's really funny you say that because I was just looking at Arden Key and thinking the exact same thing.

Marcus Davenport is a strong Senior Bowl and validating Combine away from being in whatever 1st round conversations that Arden Key is part of, IMO.
 
Jeremy Smith from Tulsa looks like a potential starting 4-3 DE in the NFL. Great size, sound in responsibilities, and he uses his hands pretty well. You might remember his sack against OSU in 2016, where he showed a nice spin move to beat the RT. He only has 6 sacks on the season, but Tulsa only has 12 as a team. 1st team AAC, and I hope he gets a Shrine invite.
 
Let's not have any illusions about University of North Texas being full of NFL talent or anything.

But this is a 6'7" and 255 lbs defensive end predating a 5'11" and 180 lbs quarterback who scrambled/ran the football 66 times for +304 yards and a TD (once you exclude sacks and sack losses) this year.

Mason Fine is a slippery little bugger and believe it or not he's actually got some talent for the college game, having gone 294 of 497 for 3749 yards, 28 TDs and 13 INTs this season, while running for the aforementioned yardage on the ground.

But Marcus Davenport made this sh-t look like an episode of Nature.



Unless I'm way off and the guy runs like a 5.0, which I have a hard time imagining as I sit here and watch him cover Ricky Seals-Jones up the seam in man, then I don't see why Davenport is not a true blue, locked up 1st round pick.
 
Honestly I believe every single one of my top 12 Seniors ranked here have some 1st round abilities on the field. It's either injuries, off the field issues, or intangibles where they begin to separate.

I feel like my top 20 are all top 150 players. Talent runs deep among this group of Senior defensive ends. Its rare for me to find consistency this far down.
 
In the couple of games I saw of Marcus Davenport in 2016 he seemed to need to play his way into the game, not really looking all that great early on. He'd get more assertive as the game went on and he figured out what his opponents are doing. He was like that in the Texas A&M game and again in the bowl game against New Mexico. On the plus side, the conditioning must be pretty good for him to stay even while other players start coming down a bit. On the down side, you'd like to see a guy prepared to make an immediate impact.

That's something I appreciate as I watch him against Baylor, Texas State, and North Texas in 2017. He's showing up to those games ready to make an immediate impact, flashing that strength and explosiveness right away and making plays. He still has a knack for figuring out what opponents are doing to him and adapting as the game wears on, and by the look of things his conditioning is still really good, but he's finding ways to bring it right away in the first quarter. That might be the biggest difference in him from 2016 to 2017.
 
You know CK, you mentioned Dunlap as a comparison for Davenport, and I can see that. I read either a mock draft or an article on another website, can't remember which, but the author mentioned Calais Campbell as a comparison for Davenport. What are your thoughts on that? Or anyone else who wants to answer that.
 
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