STRENGTHS
Uchenna has the size, speed, and burst off the snap to be an impact player for the team that selects him. He has those long arms and natural strength to keep players off his body to shed and make tackles. He has the burst off the line to rush the passer and the size and lower body strength to turn the corner and sack the quarterback. Uchenna has those long arms and does an excellent job using them to knock down passes at the line of scrimmage. There is a lot of upside to Uchenna’s overall game and this should excite a lot of teams in this draft looking for this type of talent to add to their defense.

CONCERNS
There is a lot of upside but at the same time there are also a lot of questions. Nevertheless none of those questions have anything to do with a lack of effort because Uchenna works hard on every down. He has a very bad habit of stopping his pass rush to early to knock balls down. He also struggles once he gets up to full speed, to change directions and finish his rush. USC was smart and at times lined him up at MLB and used him in a delayed blitz to make sacks on a more direct line to the quarterback and this helps him. Uchenna has to use better and more consistent techniques when playing against the run and not accept double teams so easily when the run is coming right at him. And finally it will take some time to find what position at the next level that Uchenna athletic talent best fits. USC used him as a stand up edge rusher and unless he can become better against the run I’m not sure he will be able to be a starting 3/4 edge player at the next level.

BOTTOM LINE
Uchenna has the talent and size to become an impact player very much like the Raiders Khalil Mack. It’s possible that Uchenna would be better coming off the line with his hand on the ground instead of standing up. With his hand on the ground he comes off at a better pad level than standing up and this allows him to think less and use his god given strength off the line of scrimmage. The kid thinks too much and tries to mentally cover the whole field and that’s not a good use of his talents. With his hand down he will see less and will think less and this will give him direction and purpose, mentally. When he stands up and comes off the line he is thinking way too much and trying to make plays covering the whole field when that’s not his job. His job should be is to get into the backfield as fast as possible and disrupt the timing of the offensive play. His job is not to get off the line and then stop and look at the quarterbacks eyes and try to knock balls down. Uchenna talents need to be unleashed and I think once they are you just might be selecting one of the more underrated players in this draft.

Drew Boylhart   MAR.2018