The NFL will be flush with edge rushers after the 2025 NFL Draft concludes. Kaimon Rucker will be adding to this new crop of pass rushers.<\/p>\n
The 2025 NFL Draft has a lot of talent in it, and this year is particularly strong for edge rushers. While there is a lot of talent spread throughout the draft, you can find a decent edge rusher or two (or three or four) in every round. Some guys stand out. There is one player that NFL teams will be interested in learning more about before the draft. The player is Kaimon Rucker.<\/p>\n
Height-6\u20191\u201d
\nWeight-254 lbs.
\nArm Length-32 5\/8 in
\nHand Size-10in
\n40 Yards Dash-4.79<\/p>\n
Second-Team AP All-ACC (2023)
\nSecond-Team All-ACC (2023)<\/p>\n
North Carolina\u2019s Kaimon Rucker<\/a> is an interesting prospect. He comes into the 2025 NFL Draft not as one of the top prospects in the draft but as a lower-end guy who needs some work. Throughout his five seasons with the Tar Heels, Rucker had a total of 180 tackles, with 100 of those solo. He played 58 games and had 38.5 tackles for a loss totaling 192 yards. Rucker collected 22 sacks for 156 yards in losses, had one interception, four passes defended, four forced fumbles, and one fumble recovery. Rucker can be utilized in a few different ways on defense, rushing from the edge or dropping back into coverage, thanks to his size and athletic ability. He\u2019s agile and is strong up top. Rucker can change direction quickly and is quick off the snap with his first step. Most edge rushers should have good handwork and placement. Rucker does have that, and his handwork gives him the ability to keep larger blockers from getting in on him and keeping him from moving away to make the play. He plays aggressively and is willing to take on larger blockers.<\/p>\n When it comes to football intelligence, Rucker has plenty of it and is consistently able to see things developing ahead of him and diagnose the play. He doesn\u2019t get caught out of position that often and can react quickly. Rucker plays fast and hard all the time and never lets up. He\u2019s a tackling machine and doesn\u2019t miss that many opportunities to make the tackle. He has a lot of upside, and in the right system, he could be a more than capable player.<\/p>\n There are some issues with overall strength, and he\u2019ll need to hit the weight room a bit. Rucker will sometimes struggle to locate the ball carrier when he gets locked in on a blocker and then can\u2019t break free. He will struggle to hold his position against stronger and taller blockers. Rucker doesn\u2019t have great length and will allow the blocker to hit him first before he can hit them. This throws him off and takes him out of the play.<\/p>\n Rucker is not terribly consistent, and there are some health concerns with him. Also, what position should he play? Is he a defensive end or a linebacker? He\u2019ll need to settle into one position in the NFL.<\/p>\n A team that gets Rucker will likely need to be running a 3-4 defense to make it work for him (and them). Rucker will probably play outside in a 3-4 scheme as an outside linebacker or a pass-rushing specialist. But he\u2019s a project player for sure. Some teams that he might be a good fit with include the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a>, or the New York Giants<\/a>. Many teams run this kind of defense, and Rucker might fit with any of them.<\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to pin down just where Rucker might go. He\u2019s not a first-round pick or even a second, third, and perhaps not even a fourth-round pick. However, he should get drafted. He has a lot of raw ability and will make some NFL team happy in the long run, perhaps.<\/p>\n Main Photo: [Kirby Lee] – USA Today Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The NFL will be flush with edge rushers after the 2025 NFL Draft concludes. Kaimon Rucker will be adding to this new crop of pass rushers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5066,"featured_media":228062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647],"tags":[32605,32905],"class_list":["post-227798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2025-nfl-draft","tag-kaimon-rucker"],"modified_by":"Michael Zimmelman","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5066"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227798"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228063,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227798\/revisions\/228063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRucker was born in Hartwell, Georgia, and went to Hart County High School. He was a three-star prospect coming out of high school and received several honors before entering college to play football.<\/p>\n
\nAn important thing to note is that he did play both defensive end and outside linebacker during his college career. Rucker might find himself more of an outside linebacker in the NFL due to his size.<\/p>\nStrengths<\/h3>\n
Weaknesses<\/h3>\n
Potential Team Fits<\/h3>\n
NFL Projection<\/h3>\n
Mid-5th to 6th Round<\/h4>\n