Will Echoles (defensive tackle, Mississippi) is a strong man who will be a second-year starter in 2026. He comes into the year with first-round buzz. Does the tape live up to this billing?
Will Echoles 2027 NFL Draft Early Scouting Report
Measurables
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 315 lbs
Statistics
2025: 68 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, and five sacks.
2024: Nine tackles, two tackles for loss, and 0.5 sacks.
The Tape
Games Watched: LSU, at Georgia (regular season), and Miami (playoffs).
Strengths
Echoles has experience lining up in a variety of positions. He will play over the face of an offensive lineman and two-gap, or in the A or B gaps. He projects best at the zero or one techniques. When faced with single teams, Echoles shows he can control blockers, read the play, and then shed to fill gaps.
Will Echoles sheds the Miami center here – so many example of these plays on his tape.#NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/s3IWwwhJpR
— Paul Emery (@UKDraftFan) June 21, 2026
Many NFL teams ask their defensive linemen to control a gap and a half, and Echoles can fill such a role well.
While at 315 lbs, he’s not the most athletic outside of the box, he does have initial quickness that can get him into the backfield to disrupt. Echoles has active feet; he’s always keeping them moving, and coupled with his strength, it means he can consistently get push.
Echoles has heavy hands and packs a strong initial punch. He has good initial hand use, displaying a powerful rip move to win early.
Echoles can also drop his hips to anchor effectively if he’s asked to fill the old school nose tackle space eater role. He is much more than that, though, and that’s exciting.
Areas to Improve
Echoles plays a large number of snaps. When he gets tired, his first movement is straight up. This means he’s a lot less effective. He can then struggle to get blockers off his chest.
Will Echoles' (over the left guard) first movement at times is straight up, as is the case here.#NFLDraft pic.twitter.com/29fwDOeGW5
— Paul Emery (@UKDraftFan) June 21, 2026
At times you’ll see offenses move him where they want. On zone runs, he’ll go with the flow of the line. If plays are designed to go the other way, he’s not always aware, and he’s then out of plays. This isn’t always the case, though, and we can expect further improvement with experience.
Echoles likes to use a swim move as a pass rusher, which is not always effective. His bull rush is better at this stage, and he’ll need to continue to develop nuance and counters as a pass rusher.
There are a few too many missed tackles on the tape. He’s enthusiastic, but he is a little out of control at times as a tackler. Echoles will leave his feet, so he just needs to make a slight adjustment. He’s not the most athletic outside of a short area, so it could well be that he knows he has to make tackles in that short area and will leave his feet in an attempt to make the play.
Key Tests in 2026
Ole Miss fans have September 19 circled in red, as former Head Coach Lane Kiffin makes a quick return to Oxford. This will also be a test for Echoles against a good LSU offensive line.
The other standout tests are at Texas (October 24), Georgia (November 7), and at Oklahoma (November 14).
The full schedule can be found here.
Will Echoles 2027 NFL Draft Projection
Echoles is a scheme-diverse prospect who fits the current gap-and-a-half trend in the NFL. He has enough initial quickness to also fit one-gap systems.
His strength and ability to shed blockers demand double teams, which frees up linebackers and box/nickel safeties.
He projects as a better version of Alfred Collins, who was the 43rd overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Echoles offers more as a pass rusher than Collins coming out of Texas.
Main Photo: [Petre Thomas] – Imagn Images
