Defensive tackle – The Denver Post

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The South Florida Sun Sentinel ends its 10-part series looking at the top prospects in the upcoming NFL draft (April 28-30) with defensive tackles, the players who set the table for everyone on defense. This draft class features half a dozen defensive tackles who have the traits needed to start, and another dozen who should be viewed as rotational players.

Georgia’s Jordan Davis

This 6-foot-6, 340-pound defensive tackle is a massive human, who moves with the quickness of a cat (4.78 time in the 40-yard dash). Davis has good get off, and plays with a sustained pad level. His ability to eat double-teams frees up linebackers, allowing them to work. However, he’s a limited pass rusher (seven sacks in four seasons) and benefitted from playing in a heavy rotation, which allowed him to stay fresh.

Georgia’s Devonte Wyatt

Wyatt is an impressive athlete who has the functional strength to play at a high level in the NFL. It doesn’t hurt that he has heavy, violent hands and a relentless motor. He’s fundamentally raw and would benefit from good coaching because his lack of length and poor hand usage shows up on film. But that means he has plenty of upside left.

Connecticut’s Travis Jones

Jones has the size and strength needed to devour blockers. He has impressive quickness and change of direction skills and has a motor that is rarely put in idle. While he’s respected for being a physical player, he needs better coaching to refine his game because he should to be able to do more than bull-rush.

Alabama’s Phidarian Mathis

Taking an Alabama defensive lineman in the draft is like buying a blue-chip stock because you know it’s a safe investment. Despite being 6-foot-4, 320 pounds, Mathis plays with a quickness of a much smaller player. He does have some issues in the run game, and that might limit what scheme he can play in moving forward.

Oklahoma’s Perrion Winfrey

Winfrey is a twitchy athlete who is about to shoot through gaps as a rusher. He has quick hands and a low center of gravity, which allow him to play with good pad level. His lack of length means he struggles to hold up in traffic against the run from time to time. He’s best suited for a one-gapping scheme.

Best of the Rest

Texas A&M’s DeMarvin Leal, Ohio State’s Haskell Garrett, Tennessee’s Matthew Butler, and Florida’s Zachary Carter all have the talent to become NFL starters, if not rotational players if they get into the right scheme. And there are talents like LSU’s Neil Farrell Jr., Michigan’s Christopher Hinton Arkansas’ John Ridgeway, Minnesota’s Esezi Otomewo and Texas A&M’s Jayden Peevy who could be Day 3 steals.

Class Grade: D

The defensive tackle class drops off a cliff after the first half dozen prospects at this position, and making matters worse most of this class is scheme-specific players. That means expect a run at this position all throughout the draft because no teams wants to be left empty handed when the draft is over.

Teams in need

The Packers, Vikings, Buccaneers, Ravens, Bengals, Browns, Raiders and Chargers are among the teams desperate to add starting-caliber players on their defensive line. But there’s roughly half a dozen other teams that would benefit from selecting one to improve their team’s depth in the trenches.

Dolphins’ focus

While the Dolphins possess four defensive linemen who are all starting-caliber talents, none of them have proven to be dominant, requiring a double team. And if an injury happens on this unit the Dolphins would struggle, which explains the team’s slow start last season when Raekwon Davis missed four games. Miami needs to add a young nose tackle that can be groomed as a rotational player. That would benefit the team long term.