Two Senior Bowl defensive line prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft highlight the importance of variety
In today's NFL, variety is key along the defensive line. Teams need to have their run stoppers, pass rush specialists, edge setters, and more to field the perfect defensive front. Variety is good. But when you can roster players with their own individual variety of skills who can succeed in multiple roles across the defensive […]
In today's NFL, variety is key along the defensive line. Teams need to have their run stoppers, pass rush specialists, edge setters, and more to field the perfect defensive front. Variety is good.
But when you can roster players with their own individual variety of skills who can succeed in multiple roles across the defensive line, those players are typically highly coveted.
T'Vondre Sweat (Texas) and Brandon Dorlus (Oregon) have both been standing out at the Senior Bowl, and both possess a variety of skills that help them win in multiple ways along the defensive front.
Both Sweat and Dorlus have done the majority of their defensive damage somewhere near the 3-tech position (lined up along the outside shoulder of offensive guards). Both can line up anywhere long the line and find success. But what stands out immediately when trying to compare the two to find where their success comes from is that there is more than an 80-pound weight difference between the two.
How can this be if they both project to play very similar role in the NFL? In the new age of defensive roster construction you not only need a variety of skills, but in many cases a variety of body types that fit how you want to attack on defense. Let's dive into how each of them wins and why they should dominate at the next level.
T'Vondre Sweat
T'Vondre Sweat wins with strength and his incredible size. This has been made evident every day down here at the Senior Bowl.
Sweat has taken on double teams, thrown offensive linemen to the ground, and stuffed run plays left and right this week showing exactly why some think he could be a first round NFL Draft talent.
In 2023 Sweat stopped or stuffed the run play for Texas on nearly 15% of his rushing snaps while also generating a pressure on over 10% of his pass rush snaps as well. And if he wasn't the one making a difference it was often because he was being double-teamed to make sure that he wasn't blowing up the play.
Due to his extreme size most scouts would assume that he projects as a nose tackle, taking on the center most plays. However, he played less that 10% of his snaps lining up over opposing centers in 2023. Instead, he was flexible and bursty enough to use complex moves outside the offensive guard in many cases to close off passing lanes and destroy running backs in the backfield.
Sweat's elite strength, size, and rare size-adjusted flexibility will make him a threat immediately at the next level regardless of where he lines up.
Brandon Dorlus
Brandon Dorlus wins with technique, flexibility, and leverage. This week he weighed in at just 272 pounds, despite playing most of the 2023 season as an interior (3-tech) defensive lineman. Some were a bit concerned by this initially, but when he makes plays like the one below worries subside rather quickly.
I interviewed Dorlus after the second day of Senior Bowl practice to learn more about how he wins and where he sees himself succeeding at the NFL level and learned quite a bit.
Dorlus shared that he primarily played outside on the edge in 2022, but shifted inside in 2023 both of out of team necessity and to prove his versatility to NFL decision makers.
He believes that he can play both inside and outside. If you want him to play on the edge, he says you're getting a player like Cameron Jordan (Saints). Inside? Kenny Clark (Packers).
Dorlus found that last fall he actually felt more successful playing on the inside despite his size because his flexibility (he emphasized the importance of this especially) and burst matched up well against inside offensive lineman.
The numbers definitely matched Dorlus' take on his success. Last fall he pressured opposing quarterbacks over 12% of the time, good for fourth among all interior defensive end prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft class.
If he continues to find creative ways to utilize his flexibility and leverage skills to win on the inside Dorlus will wreak havoc at the next level just like he's doing this week at the Senior Bowl.
Be looking for more content like this all week long and throughout NFL Draft season from the A to Z team. If you have any questions or comments feel free to reach out to me directly @FF_TravisM on X.
