Overview
Position: Linebacker
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 235 pounds
School: Utah State Aggies
Combine Performance Data
40-yard dash: 4.79 seconds
Bench Press: 16 reps
Vertical Jump: 33.5 ”
Broad Jump: 9’6 ”
Three-cone drill: 7.34 seconds
David Woodward 2020 NFL Draft Profile
Coming out of high school, David Woodward was a highly touted two-way player from Olympia, WA. After earning offensive player of the year and being named first-team all-league as a defensive back and return specialist, Woodward was asked to move to the linebacker position for the Aggies.
He redshirted his first season at Utah State to get himself familiar with the system. As a redshirt freshman in 2017, he played in 10 games and recorded 29 tackles, one sack and three tackles for loss in a backup role. The following year, Woodward made his way into the starting lineup and had a breakout season recording 134 tackles, 12 tackles for loss, five sacks, two forced fumbles, and two interceptions. His 134 tackles were good for first in the Mountain West Conference and earned him first-team all-conference honors, third-team all-American honors by the Associated Press and first-team all-American honors by Pro Football Focus.
Woodward was due for an even bigger 2019 season but suffered a season-ending injury after playing in seven games. He still managed to record 93 tackles, five tackles for loss, two sacks and four forced fumbles.
Strengths
- plays with a high motor and consistently finds the football;
- a disruptive blitzer;
- versatile – lined up at outside and inside linebacker and lined up out on the boundary in man coverage;
- aggressive at stripping the ball when gang tackling;
- slippery when shedding offensive linemen’s blocks;
- drives his feet after making initial contact on a tackle;
- not afraid to navigate through traffic in the run game;
- not elite speed, but does have good burst once he diagnoses the play;
- rarely gets caught out of position in man coverage.
Weaknesses
- a slow first step out of his stance;
- takes a bit longer to process and read the offensive play;
- gets caught guessing when trying to shoot the gap in the run game a lot;
- not necessarily a big thumper when tackling ball carriers;
- will be too high at times when tackling running backs in the hole;
- gets caught on blocks for too long, even against tight ends and receivers;
- will occasionally take poor pursuit angles on plays towards the sidelines;
- gets caught in no man’s land at times in zone coverage.
NFL Comparison: Steve Longa
NFL Teams with a Need at the Position: Cincinnati Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, Los Angeles Rams,
Projection: sixth to seventh round
Bottom Line
When you look at the stats, the numbers for David Woodward pop up immediately. His 24 tackle performance against Wake Forest in 2019 and his 20 tackle performance against Colorado State in 2018 were tremendous. However, the more and more you watch his film, the more evident his flaws become. It’s actually pretty remarkable to watch Woodward play because even though his technique and natural traits aren’t elite, he still always finds himself near or around the ball.
He’s a bit undersized for the prototypical NFL 4-3 outside linebacker, which isn’t the problem. It’s his lack of long speed. The NFL has trended more towards the smaller, faster linebackers that can cover sideline to sideline and Woodward doesn’t necessarily fit that mold. The Aggie linebacker is a bit undersized and doesn’t shed blocks efficiently to play middle backer. However, you can’t ignore his high motor, his ability in man coverage and natural instinct to find the football. If he cleans up his technique and drops weight to get faster, he has a chance to serve as a backup nickel linebacker for teams that need depth at the position.
