STRENGTHS
Joshua has the quickness and explosion off the line of scrimmage teams are looking for in a pass rusher. He has long arms that help him to play bigger than his size when rushing the passer. He gives excellent effort on every play. Joshua has been used as a “hand on the ground”, pass rusher but he also has the athletic talent to be used at any one of the linebacker positions in multiple style defenses. Joshua shows on film enough cover skills to play zone coverages and be used in single coverage close to the line of scrimmage. He is smart and shows leadership skills through his play on the field.
CONCERNS
Joshua has the type of athletic talent that will confuse teams into wondering exactly what position he should play at the next level. This confusion will affect his draft status. Joshua also has to clean up his tackling. Right now, he is sloppy and falls off players letting them gain extra yardage.
BOTTOM LINE 3.06
My guess, as to Joshua’s impact position at the next level is as an interior linebacker. He struggles and can be defended one on one when he lines up as a defensive end with his hand down or standing up, once his defender gets a hand on him. Yes, he can beat some teams with his explosiveness but even good college tackles can nullify him. When he lines up off the line as a linebacker, he has the speed and explosion to get into the backfield and disrupt or sack a quarterback. Also lining up off the line as a pure linebacker will allow him to use multiple gaps of his Defensive coordinators choosing, confusing offensive lineman. As an interior linebacker, he has the speed and the coverage skills to impact but using him on the line of scrimmage even with his long arms, in my opinion, Joshua will struggle. If I’m correct about Joshua having to change positions to impact then most teams will wait to select him. Then again, in this draft, there are few impacting Defensive Ends and pass rushers and if teams feel that Joshua is a pass rusher than he will be selected earlier than I have rated him. If I’m doing the selection, Joshua needs to change positions and improve his tackling but that just me talking to myself.
