Osa Odighizuwa NFL Draft Overview
Position: Defensive tackle
Height: 6’-2”
Weight: 279 pounds
School: UCLA
2021 NFL Draft: Osa Odighizuwa Player Profile
After spending the entirety of his collegiate career with UCLA, defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa is taking his talents to the next level in the 2021 NFL Draft. Odighizuwa is coming off of yet another solid season, recording five sacks, seven hits, and 13 hurries on a combined 450 snaps. This impressive season earned him First-Team All-Pack 12 honors as a redshirt senior.
Odighizuwa initially joined the college football ranks as a three-star recruit. Following a fantastic high school wrestling career, the Oregon native struggled to find much interest from top-end college programs. At the end of the day, Odighizuwa only received an offer from one program, and ended up joining his brother at UCLA.
Odighizuwa made his collegiate football debut in 2017 as a rotational defensive tackle. During his first real season, the defensive tackle recorded a combined 15 tackles, one sack, and one forced fumble. He steadily improved over the next three years, as he saw all of his major statistics rise for the majority of his time at UCLA.
Strengths
- Quick off the snap with great reaction time;
- North-south strength with the ability to collapse the pocket and clog up run lanes;
- Uses his long arms to avoid blockers getting their hands on his chest;
- Incredibly strong for his size – rarely moves backward in the run game;
- Due to other weaknesses on the UCLA roster, played a role that might not have brought out the best in his potential skillset – room for NFL improvement;
- Advanced knowledge of hand work with sound fundamentals.
Weaknesses
- Undersized relative to the typical NFL defensive tackle and will probably need to add weight;
- One-move rusher that doesn’t adjust well when blocker counters his first move;
- Below-average lateral agility despite his relatively undersized frame;
- Lacks the build and speed to be anything other than an interior defender at the next level;
- Run defense might not translate to the next level.
NFL Comparison: Less-athletic Nick Fairley
Teams With Need at Position: Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tennessee Titans
Projection: Late 2nd – early 3rd
Bottom Line on Osa Odighizuwa
Osa Odighizuwa is far from a perfect prospect, but he has a lot of the traits you like to see in today’s defensive tackles. First and foremost, he’s quick off the snap and rarely allows his blocker to easily engage him. Despite his smaller frame, he possesses phenomenal strength and can go toe-to-toe with just about any interior lineman in the trenches. He holds his own against the run but has the potential to be an above-average interior pass-rusher at the NFL – UCLA just didn’t use him in that way.
Dominating college linemen as an undersized tackle is great, but there’s no guarantee that he can do it against NFL-caliber competition. Only time will tell if he can overcome his undersized build against the world’s greatest competition, but he’ll probably need to add some weight regardless. Additionally, Odighizuwa will need to work on his secondary moves, as he can be taken out of a play if his initial move fails. A part of this comes down to his lack of lateral agility, as you usually expect someone of his build to move a bit quicker in an east-west direction.
Ultimately, Osa Odighizuwa should be a good pickup during the 2021 NFL Draft. While he probably won’t ever be an elite player, he can provide a solid presence along the interior on all three downs. That alone is definitely worth a late second or early third-round pick.
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