Byron Young

Pos: IDL

School: Alabama

Ht. 6’3″ 

Wt. 294

Games Watched: Tennessee, Ole Miss, LSU

One Liner: Powerful defensive tackle who wins with a quick get off, functional strength, and high football IQ. 

Strengths: 

  • Very good get off. Young generates great jolt off the line of scrimmage through powerful legs. His get off thrusts him into offensive lineman where he can use his long arms to generate shock and immediate pushback
  • Very good functional strength. Young displays high levels of strength throughout his frame, allowing him to take on double team zone blocks and maintain contact balance inspite of blockers attacking in space. He’s rarely on the ground and can, at the very least, eat up blocks with his powerful build. His arm strength generates great shock on offensive lineman.
  • Good football IQ. Young is an obvious two gapping defensive tackle at the next level due to his ability to dissect and read what happens in the backfield. Experience helps him identify which gap to secure, making his run defense smarts quite valuable at the next level.
  • Good demonstration and understanding of leverage. At the POA, Young wins most of his battles as a result of his low pad level and proper body positioning once engaged with offensive lineman. This positioning is critical in allowing him to make a play off the lineman with a rush move.

Weaknesses:

  • Marginal athleticism. Young is not a good athlete, and is a stiff mover in short area situations. Young lacks the athletic ability to be a successful stunter as he lacks fluidity in his hips to rotate in time. 
  • Marginal twitch. Young will not finesse blockers at all before he makes contact, going head on into the block. His lack of agility prevents him from making such moves and marginalizes his ability to rush the passer. 
  • Adequate rush arsenal. Young can utilize a pretty solid rush arsenal, with a nice swim move and sometimes a tug + pull move, however his usage of these moves are very inconsistent. Oftentimes, Young tries to win his battles in 1v1’s with a strong arm or just a pure bull rush, rather than attempting one of these moves. In other cases, he lets blockers get into his chest by not bringing up his arms with correct timing at the POA. 

Overall Assessment: Byron Young from Alabama is a high floor, underrated prospect entering this year’s draft. Young will be an immediately reliable two gapping run defender due to his football smarts and ability to diagnose plays in the backfield. Young displays great strength to hold his own, maintaining good balance against double teams, and functional strength in his arms to generate a pushback and bullrush against the pass. Young is a limited athlete however, with little to no twitch or agility in his rush moves or counters. While his pass rushing upside may be limited at the next level, Young has a chance to develop as a pass rush threat, while being a reliable two gapper at the next level 

Scheme Fit: Two gapping 3t who can shade in as 2i or out as a 4i in certain run heavy subpackages. 

Pick Projection: Late 2nd – Mid 3rd

Grade: 6.34