STRENGTHS
DaRon has the body type and technical skills for his position that makes him a complete defensive lineman for the team that selects him. His footwork is good and the way he uses his hands to free himself up when playing the run or when rushing the passer is impressive. He shows good lower and upper body strength and comes off the line of scrimmage with good pad level to gain leverage against his opponent. He has the size to play in multiple styles of defensive front on the inside in a 4/3 or on the inside or outside in a 3/4 defense. On passing downs he can be used on the nose in a 3/4 defense giving most offensive centers all they can handle blocking him. DaRon is a solid defensive lineman who will give you everything he has on every down.

CONCERNS
DaRon is a straight line style of player and although he seems to have decent lateral agility to string plays out he struggles to change direction once he comes off his burst to make plays in the back field consistently and that frustrates him. Nevertheless, DaRon’s film is solid and his production is solid and his work ethic and football intelligence is very good also.

BOTTOM LINE
If you’re selecting DaRon early in this draft expecting him to be one of the sack leaders and tackle leaders of your team than forgetaboutit, that’s not the type of player that DaRon is. I feel that DaRon’s best position for the next level is as a nose tackle in a 3/4 defense because of his excellent hand usage and his talent to stop the run. He likes to change the line of scrimmage, standing his man up and waiting for the play to come to him rather that bursting into the back field and having the play go by him because he lacks the change of direction skills to finish. DaRon likes to control the middle of the field and let others flush the play to him. I’m not suggesting that this kid is lazy on the contrary he is relentless in his play and his work ethic is excellent but chasing down plays all over the field (he knows) is not the smartest way for him to stay on the field. DaRon is very consistent and this makes it easy for his teammates to work with him and that allows them to make plays as DaRon does the grunt work. If I’m right DaRon could become an excellent nose tackle because he has as much talent as Vince Wilfork when Vince came into the NFL. Nevertheless that means DaRon will have to add on the weight that he lost originally for his college team and keep his strength and in the box quickness to impact they way Vince did for his team.

Drew Boylhart   FEB.2018