Leading up to the 2019 NFL Draft, we will preview prospects who could be a fit for the Detroit Lions.
Height: 6 feet 4 inches
Weight: 277 pounds
Projected round: 1
40-yard dash time: 4.58 seconds (1st among DL, 13th among EDGE)
Bench press: 26 reps (t-14th among DL, 3rd among EDGE)
Vertical jump: 38 inches (1st among DL, 4th among EDGE)
Broad jump: 120 inches (t-1st among DL, 7th among EDGE)
3-cone drill: 7.26 seconds (t-4th among DL, 12th among EDGE)
20-yard shuttle: 4.29 seconds (3rd among DL, t-5th among EDGE)
Key stats: First-Team All-Big Ten Conference in 2017 with 12 tackles for loss and 6 sacks. First-Team All-Big Ten in 2018 with seven tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.
Quotable: “I feel I’m more versatile. I played base end, but you’re able to throw me aside to D-tack, I could work over a guard. I could stand up, rush off the edge. I could really do anything anybody wants me to be.”
Observations: The draft always has those super athletes who seem caught between a couple positions, challenging teams at the next level to decide whether that makes for more of a strength than a weakness. On one hand, the ability to play in multiple spots presents a floor in case one doesn’t work out so well, and it allows a player to become a matchup piece in a league that’s becoming increasingly subpackage and hybrid. On other, it could leave a player lacking a singularly great skill, which can diminish his ceiling and stunt his development.
I tend to like these prospects more when they play on the defensive line, and so does Matt Patricia, which makes Rashan Gary a prospect really worth exploring. The defensive line offers more predictable downs to find mismatches, such as short-yardage versus obvious passing situations. Gary is exciting and perplexing in these terms.
You see a player who is at his best in that wide-nine stance, where he can attack the tackle like a sprinter hitting the finish line, where his long punch combined with that 4.58-second speed can knock a man back into his quarterback. You’ll see it at times when Gary stunts and gets the same kind of running start to the chest of a guard, who is lighter than the tackle.
These are rare moments for Gary, though. He ended his Michigan career with fewer than 10 sacks, which, even when factoring in some of the injuries he played through last season, is perplexing for such an experienced edge player with an athletic advantage on so many of his opponents. It’s because he has so far needed such a particular set of circumstances to win all the way to a quarterback: either he wins with his first step to already gain the edge or, as mentioned, has the path to launch into a lineman and convert that speed to power.
When he’s asked to do the basic of simply winning the edge against a quick and ready tackle, it rarely works. Tackles seemed to learn this by Gary’s final year. They were able to extend outside and beat him to spots, and he appeared surprised and left without the counter move to compensate. The same seemed to happen when he looped in for a stunt and the pathway wasn’t as clear or obvious as he envisioned.
On a majority of snaps, Gary looks like a man without a plan. That can creep up in the running game as well, where he does a nice job of holding ground but can get taken upfield on any kind of delayed run.
Gary was a first-team all-conference performer despite great production in part because of his background but also because he is a player to consistently be aware of. His long speed allows him to stretch out runs by both quarterback and running backs. He’s rarely pushed around in the run game. He can murder your quarterback if you give him too easy of a lane.
But he never reached high production, awards or All-American status despite the playing time, program and level of competition to achieve it, and that’s what it takes time to figure out. On one hand, Michigan could have done a better job lining Gary up inside as a rusher more often. But in the same defense where Devin Bush and Chase Winovich just continually got better, Gary seemed as good as he ever was when he arrived. The nuances of counter moves and a rush plan didn’t arrive.
Now, it’s worth asking when they will. Gary could find the right coach to teach those moves to where he’s setting a tackle up outside and rushing inside, or reacting better when his stunting lane is clogged. So much of that will come down to Gary and his mental capacity and willingness to work at it, and enough of that remains a mystery at this point.
Gary’s freakish athleticism and strong fit in a hybrid, passing league will make him a first-round pick, but his floor isn’t like that of other top prospects. In a vacuum, he looks like a good fit in a Patricia defense, but Detroit signed Trey Flowers to man this same role in the post-Ezekiel Ansah era, and it drafted Da’Shawn Hand last year because he can do much of the same. If they were more in love with Gary, perhaps they wouldn’t have given $56 million guaranteed to a similar skill set when they have the eighth pick. Then again, Bob Quinn has admitted he values production over traits with high picks, and the eighth selection isn’t one he can afford to mess up.
Gary’s draft range seems as wide-ranging as any top prospect in this draft. But when you combine roster needs with desired traits, it feels unlikely the Lions will be the landing spot.
Previous prospect previews:
Hakeem Butler, WR, Iowa State (Rounds 1-2)
DK Metcalf, WR, Mississippi (Round 1)
N’Keal Harry, WR, Arizona State (Round 1-2)
Montez Sweat, EDGE, Mississippi State (Round 1)
Jonah Williams, OL, Alabama (Round 1)
Brian Burns, EDGE, Florida State (Round 1)
Ed Oliver, DT, Houston (Round 1)
T.J. Hockenson, TE, Iowa (Round 1)
L.J. Collier, DL, TCU (Rounds 2-4)