Strengths: 

  • Great Strength

Tyler Shelvin is going to be a nose tackle in the NFL and he surely has the strength to play the position. At 350 lbs he’s an absolute mammoth on the interior and he uses his size to bully smaller guys and win leverage battles.

  • Holds Multiple Linemen In Place

Tyler Shelvin can really help the linebackers run free because even he isn’t being double teamed he will rush diagonally and make sure that he is able to hold off two guys.

  • Eats up Double Teams

Because of how big he is teams with smaller interior offensive linemen will have to double team Shelvin. He not only does a good job attracting double teams but he is also able to still penetrate, and he at the very least is able to hold both his blockers in place.

  • Wins Leverage Battles Consistently

Shelvin does a good job playing with great pad level to gain the leverage advantage and then consistently win leverage battles. He has incredible strength and gets great hand placement under the centers’ pads to uproot them and win the rep.

Weaknesses: 

  • Tires Out Quickly

The trade off for being such a big guy who is able to push around people is that his conditioning isn’t going to be great. He didn’t play every snap towards the end of games for LSU and he also looked a bit gassed at the end of some snaps.

  • Won’t Move Around to Make Plays

If the play isn’t directly at him then Shelvin will not have a direct impact on the play. He isn’t mobile enough to make plays far away from where he’s lining up and he’s not a great pass rusher.

  • Not a 3 Down Player

On obvious passing downs Tyler Shelvin will not be on the field. He’s not a good pass rusher whatsoever and the ways that a team can use him are kind of limited.

Player Comp: As the big nose tackle slowly starts to die out in favor of quicker guys who can rush the passer and play all three downs it becomes tough to find a fit for Shelvin. I think Danny Shelton is a pretty good comparison because both guys are absolutely massive and have phenomenal strength that they use to bully smaller guys as well as attract double teams and clear space for LBs in the run game. They constantly win their leverage battles and can uproot offensive linemen, but they have similar limitations that they can’t really move around to make plays and they aren’t great pass rushers which is going to keep them off of the field on some downs.

Final Thoughts: Tyler Shelvin is a guy who is absolutely phenomenal at the task you are asking him to do but unfortunately that task is becoming increasingly less valuable. I loved watching his tape so much but he’s not going to be on the field all three downs and he’s going to tire out quickly so as great as he is at holding guys in the run game and making others’ jobs easier, I can’t justify taking him before mid round 3 which I think is close to the general consensus. He’s going to line up at 0 tech or 1 tech making him a fit for 3-4 NT as well as 4-3 teams that like to use a NT. A fit would be the Titans where he can be that run-stuffing force they need in the interior, who can also open up opportunities for Jeffery Simmons on the line as well as Jayon Brown and the rest of the LBs in the run game.