Chazz Surratt is 6’2 228 and he’s a raw prospect playing the linebacker position for just two years in college. People are expecting him to test well athletically although his athleticism doesn’t seem all that evident to me. He’s a great blitzer and significantly better in man than zone. His ideal role is for a will linebacker on 4-3 teams, or an inside linebacker on 3-4 teams, with man being preferred over zone.

Strengths: 

  • Blitzing Ability

One of the best aspects about Surratt is his blitzing ability. For this year’s linebacker class I’d say that he’s one of the best blitzers in the class. He hits holes extremely quickly and he has the strength to take on RBs and work through traffic.

  • Great in Man Coverage

Surratt struggles in zone but in man he’s pretty good. He has quality reps against slot receivers and tight ends with him being big enough to stay with tight ends and just quick enough to keep up with some slot receivers.

  • Consistent Tackler

Chazz Surratt is a textbook tackler who wraps up and brings ball carriers down. He doesn’t shy away from contact and rarely tries to body tackle which leads to few missed tackles on his tape.

  • Good in Pursuit

Surratt does a good job of staying in pursuit of ball carriers even when the play is away from him. He doesn’t have elite sideline to sideline speed to always make plays but he will occasionally affect plays because of his high effort and good pursuit.

  • Gets Good Penetration

On run plays he has enough strength to get penetration and get part of his body into the backfield even if he’s not completely able to get past the offensive lineman. If he adds a little more weight he could be able to do this at the NFL level.

  • Good Awareness

As a former QB Surratt does have a knack for knowing when offenses are trying to trick him with a play design and he does a decent job not getting fooled by these tricks.

Weaknesses: 

  • Slow to Average Processor

Surratt is not the fast processor and oftentimes he reads the play a bit slower than his teammates. This is a bit confusing because he was a QB, perhaps he’s playing conservative. This trait is the reason why I can’t see him realistically being a MIKE linebacker for a team.

  • Not Great Explosiveness

Once Surratt plants off of the ground he honestly doesn’t accelerate very fast after that and he takes a while to build up to his max speed which isn’t even very high. Overall he’s just not a twitchy athlete like people think.

  • Average Change of Direction

When Surratt is tasked with situations where he needs to get around a player he uses strength rather than quickness which is concerning for a player of his stature. His COD isn’t terrible but for a player who played under 230 he needs to have well above average movement skills and he just doesn’t.

  • Terrible in Zone Coverage

In zone coverage Surratt often just looks confused and out of place which should significantly lower his value on the boards for a lot of teams. His technique isn’t great and he doesn’t gain ground backward often or check back which leads to a lot of snaps where he’s really doing nothing.

  • Not a Playmaker

Surratt doesn’t have the size to play SAM linebacker and he doesn’t have the processing to play MIKE linebacker which really leaves him as a weak side linebacker for 4-3 teams. He’s not a great playmaker however, so teams looking for that in a WILL linebacker aren’t going to like him as much. There are a narrow list of teams that Surratt fits. 

  • Rarely Ever Engaged With Blockers

Some players are adept at avoiding blockers but for Surratt it was more of him just not seeing them at all because of the scheme. This means he doesn’t have many reps attempting to disengage with blockers and he’s also a smaller guy,

Player Comp: My player comparison for Chazz Surratt would be Jayon Brown who’s been an underrated piece of the Titans defense. It was tough to find a comparison for Surratt and Brown is no perfect comparison mainly because of the quickness aspect Surratt is missing. He does however, have the same size, coverage and blitzing abilities, tackling and processing as Brown coming out of college. The quickness however is why I believe that he won’t be nearly as good as Brown is in the NFL.

Final Thoughts: Surratt is a player that I just don’t see the hype around. He’s not gifted athletically and although he plays bigger than he is, when you combine a smaller linebacker with average movement skills and average processing it’s not a great combination. He’s limited in where he can play and I think that the earliest some team should take him is in the early 5th round. The perfect team fit would be the Bills to add to their rotation of linebackers, with other team fits being the Patriots and Lions.