STRENGTHS
Caleb is a 1 gap attack type of Defensive lineman with excellent quickness and mature hand usage to free himself up and be a disruptive force in the opponent’s backfield. He has good foot speed and because he is so quick to get off blocks he has the ability to play more than one defensive line position in different styles of defensive fronts. Caleb loves to rush the passer and with his foot speed and quickness he will be adept at accomplishing this at the next level. I think right now his best fit is as a pass rushing defensive end in a 4/3 defense but that was not how he was used in college. He was used in college mostly as a defensive tackle and at times on the nose. There were a few times his team moved him outside and that’s when you saw all of his talent to rush the passer against a more open situation with less traffic and double teams to go up against.

CONCERNS
I suspect most teams will down grade Caleb because playing inside he was overmatched a lot and struggled to get through double teams to get to the quarterback and into the backfield to make tackles. Considering that fact, Caleb did a very good job but his talents suggest that he needs to be in a more one on one situation in open space to really show his impact. Caleb seems to stop moving his feet when he is close to tackling running backs in the whole. He lunges and this allows running backs to break his tackles. He has to learn that if he continues to play inside on the defensive line he must continue to move his feet like he does when he plays on the outside. This will allow him to secure tackles inside the hash marks much better than he did in college. Caleb also has to get a lot stronger in his upper body and lower body and once that happens and he gets into better football shape he will be even quicker and faster than he is right now.

BOTTOM LINE
Caleb has a lot of talent but I think using him inside on your defensive line doesn’t allow him to really get free into the backfield. Also using him as a Defensive End in a 3/4 Defense will not allow for him to impact because of all the double teaming that can happen against him. Caleb needs to use his talents on the outside and get offensive tackles in space as a pure Defensive End in a 4/3 defense for his talents to impact. Caleb will become a double digit sack artist in that style of defense otherwise…he becomes a good player but maybe not the impact player his talents suggest.

Drew Boylhart  FEB.2017