The 2018 NFL Draft Prospect series breaks down draft-eligible players, highlighting their college production as well as their NFL potential. Daily fantasy players should know about NFL rookies before they’ve played a down of professional football because they are among the most misvalued assets in all of DFS. People who know NFL rookies have a significant DFS edge. The draft will be held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, from April 26-28.
This piece is on Virginia Tech linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, who has declared early for the draft. For the total list of all players leaving school early, see our underclassmen tracker.
Junior | 6’5″ and 253 Pounds | Born May 2, 1998 (Age: 19) | Projection: Round 1
Combine numbers: 40-yard: 4.54 sec | bench reps: 19 | 3-cone: DNP | 20-yard shuttle: DNP | vertical: DNP | broad: 117 in
Edmunds enters draft season as one of the most athletic prospects in recent memory. Somehow still just 19 years old, the first-team all-ACC linebacker possesses the same wing span as Jadeveon Clowney. Edmunds’ 40 time was the draft’s 11th-fastest mark among all linebackers over the past five years and is particularly impressive given that none of the players ahead of him weighed over 250 pounds. Long-time Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster boasted that he hasn’t seen a prospect like Edmunds in 23 years of coaching, which is a fair statement given the linebacker’s NFL-ready combination of size and speed.
Still, Edmunds is more than just a workout warrior. The third-team All-American was a Butkus Award finalist as a junior after leading a Hokies defense that was just one of 14 units to allow fewer than 320 total yards per game. Overall, Edmunds averaged 101 tackles, 15.3 tackles for a loss, and five sacks in his two full seasons as a starter. He regularly showed up big against elite competition:
- 17 tackles in two games against Clemson
- 19 tackles, 4 TFLS, and 1 INT in 3 bowl games against Tulsa, Arkansas, and Oklahoma State
- At least 7 tackles in every ACC game in 2017
It would’ve been nice to see Edmunds rack up more than five pass deflections in 32 career games, but the Hokies often utilized him as a blitzer or quarterback spy on passing downs. Edmunds has both the production and look of a Day 1 pick, and his film tells the same story.
Virginia Tech’s wide variety of blitzes and coverages undoubtedly placed a heavy mental burden on their lead linebacker. Edmunds played the heavy majority of his snaps as off the ball, but his alignment varied and the team utilized him as an edge defender in certain packages. None of this was too much for Edmunds to handle as an athlete, as his speed and physicality jump off the screen no matter where he lines up:
The nature of the Hokies defense allowed Edmunds at times to pin his ears back and attack downhill from the second the ball was snapped. As a result, he sometimes struggles with play recognition and man coverage. Diagnosing backfield action and covering the ever-growing brigade of dangerous pass-catching backs are valued traits possessed by the league’s best three-down linebackers. Edmunds doesn’t have those yet, but he has flashed enough on the field to seemingly convince pro scouts that the best is yet to come.
Even if Edmunds never becomes great at recognizing backfield misdirection or covering in space, his size and skill set are more than enough to be put to use elsewhere on defense. Only nine linebackers weighing 250-plus pounds and standing 6’4″ or taller have been drafted in the first round over the past 25 years, and each was deployed as a pass rusher to at least some extent. It wouldn’t be surprising if Edmunds goes through some growing pains as he continues to learn the game, but his on-field ability could be a headache for offensive coordinators sooner rather than later thanks to his limitless physical capabilities.
In our most recent mock draft, we have Edmunds going to the Steelers at No. 28.
Photo Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
