Season vs the Offseason

Posted: April 14th, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | Comments Off on Season vs the Offseason

Adetomiwa Adebawore is one of the more fascinating players in this draft class. He was Honorable Mention All Big Ten in 2021. He was Third Team All Big Ten in 2022. Then he had a great offseason (Senior Bowl and Combine) went from mid-round prospect to some first round talk.

Let’s compare a couple of prospects.

6-2, 282
33 7/8 inch arms
10 1/2 inch hands
40 – 4.49
10 – 1.61
VJ – 37.5 inches
BJ  – 10’5″
Bench  – 27 reps
41 games – 24.5 TFLs – 12.5 sacks – 6 PD – 4 FF

6-1, 281
30 5/8 inch arms
9 1/8 inch hands
40 – 4.67
10 – 1.64
VJ – 34.5 inches
BJ  – 9’4″
37 games – 34.5 TFLs – 16 sacks – 3 PD – 1 FF

The first guy is Adeboware. The second guy is Calijah Kancey.

Most people have Kancey in the 20 to 40 range, in terms of Top 100 prospects. Adeboware is generally looked at in the 50 to 70 range.

There is no question that Kancey was the better college player. He was regularly disruptive. He was a finalist for national awards. He was voted to multiple All-American teams.

It will be interesting to see which guy becomes the better NFL player. Adeboware is bigger, faster, stronger and more explosive. But football is more than numbers. Kancey is a skilled pass rusher. He has a relentless motor. You can’t quantify those traits.

Why is this of interest to Eagles fans?

https://twitter.com/DiBirdsBlog/status/1646939839105736712

I can absolutely believe Howie loves Adeboware. One of the players he reminds me of is…Milton Williams. His info coming out of college:

6-3, 284
31 1/2 inch arms
9 3/4 inch hands
40 – 4.63
VJ – 38.5 inches
BJ  – 10’1″
Bench  – 34 reps
30 games – 19 TFLs – 10 sacks – 1 PD – 0 FF

You could wonder if Adeboware is redundant with Williams already in place. Fair question. They are similar in a lot of ways. Adeboware was a better player against better competition so I think he’s got a higher ceiling in the NFL.

Adeboware is best suited to play 3-tech in the NFL. He could also play 5-tech, 4i or on the edge. That’s the beauty of him. His combination of versatility and athleticism is perfect for today’s NFL and multiple fronts. Northwestern had him play all over and he made plays in a variety of ways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEeHDbdj2_E

You can see his talent.

He looked great at the Senior Bowl.

Adeboware showed the ability to win with speed, burst, strength, effort, etc. He was disruptive every day and in every way. It is hard to watch that and not smile at the thought of him lighting it up in midnight green with a slew of good pass rushers around him.

One of the reasons to like him is that he’s not just a pass rusher. He’s not just going to fly off the edge. He can play the run. He’s got some 2-gap potential.

If the Eagles are interested, they could take him at 30 or move back a few spots and hope to get him. The NFL covets interior pass rushers. Think about the big deals that Javon Hargrave, Dremont Jones and Jeffrey Simmons just got. Finding players who can get to the QB up the middle is invaluable. That makes it tricky to get a good feel for just what Adeboware’s draft value is.

It would be really interesting to see what happened if Kancey fell to 30 and the Eagles had a choice of him and Adeboware.

*****

Speaking of pick 30, it could become coveted if QB Hendon Hooker is on the board.

Let’s hope Hooker falls to that spot and there is a small bidding war for the pick.

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