STRENGTHS
Dallas has a lot of potential to work with for the team that selects him. He has good overall athleticism and solid speed to play more than one position in your front seven. As an Edge rusher, he shows a good burst off the line of scrimmage with the quickness to get around his blocker and the foot speed to run down QB’s and RB’s behind the line of scrimmage. Dallas gives good effort on every play and because of his overall athleticism has been used to cover players in the slot and coming out of the backfield in passing situations. Dallas has the length teams look for in an edge rusher and that length along with his stats suggests that after he works out, teams will know that Dallas has the potential to be a starting edge rusher for the team that selects him in this draft.
CONCERNS
There are a lot of concerns. Dallas is not stout against the run and is inconsistent setting the edge. He lacks the flexibility to turn the corner when he rushes the passer and needs to develop more moves to get to the quarterback quicker for the next level. Although they use him sometimes in coverage when Alabama goes to its 3/4 defense, they take him off the field and that sends me a signal that either he lacks the football intelligence to play linebacker or, he lacks the change of direction quickness, and flexibility to play the LB position. He also struggles to get off blocks and hasn’t got a clue how to handle double teams. Dallas also is not a strong tackler overall unless he is running down players from behind. There is also, a lack of hand-fighting techniques but enough is enough, you get my drift.
BOTTOM LINE: 2.72
Teams will have to decide in his workouts where Dallas might fit in their defensive schemes and that will affect his draft status. Those who feel that Dallas is an edge rusher and just needs to bulk up and learn better techniques will rate him higher than other teams. In this draft class, there are not many potential dominating edge rushers so, Dallas could very well be selected in the first round. Those teams that are confused like I am, about where he might be the best fit, will rate him most likely as a weak-side linebacker who will still have to learn the position. Either way, I believe, Dallas is the type of player who will take time before he can impact at the next level despite what his accomplishments have been at the college level. Nevertheless, the potential to be an excellent edge rusher is there, given some time to develop his athletic talent and football IQ and that is what the draft is all about…potential. What round do you select potential in and the value of the position? My talent score doesn’t tell you that, it only tells you what impact I think the player will have and how quickly he will have it. What round Dallas most likely will be selected in you will find on Rob’s Value Board.
