{"id":279127,"date":"2026-04-25T08:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T12:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=279127"},"modified":"2026-04-25T08:15:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T12:15:26","slug":"david-gusta-2026-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/04\/25\/david-gusta-2026-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"David Gusta 2026 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Gusta has amazing numbers for a defensive tackle; a freak is how most scouts describe his abilities. His production was lacking, however. 37 reps in the bench press showcase his incredible strength. He is a round two physical talent who played at times like an undrafted free agent type.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>David Gusta 2026 NFL Draft Overview<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/04\/USATSI_27110721.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1775\" height=\"2661\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-279514\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/04\/USATSI_27110721.webp 1775w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/04\/USATSI_27110721-768x1151.webp 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1775px) 100vw, 1775px\" \/><br \/>\nPosition: Defensive Tackle<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Height: 6\u20192\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Weight: 308 pounds<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">School: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/category\/sec\/kentucky-wildcats\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kentucky<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-draft\/profiles\/\" target=\"_self\"><em>More 2026 NFL Draft Profiles<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">308-pound <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UKFootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@UKFootball<\/a> DT David Gusta with a 4.88u 40, with a 1.68u 10-yard split \ud83d\udc40<\/p>\n<p>2026 NFL Combine on <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nflnetwork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@nflnetwork<\/a><br \/>Stream on <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFLPlus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@NFLPlus<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MC5n8NrV3F\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/MC5n8NrV3F<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NFL (@NFL) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFL\/status\/2027116253987344646?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 26, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><b>2026 NFL Draft David Gusta Scouting Report<\/b><\/h3>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strengths<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Heavy hands and a motor that never stops are two of his traits that stand out on film. Scouts love that he is always on the go and is difficult for offensive linemen to disengage from.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His first burst off the ball is incredible, with hands that pack a serious punch.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He plays as hard in the fourth quarter as he does in the first quarter.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gusta collected 37 bench press reps at the NFL Combine. This guy is a beast.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4.88 in the 40-yard dash and 1.68 in the 10-yard split show both his speed and short-burst quickness<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His 8\u20191\u201d broad jump was solid, and a 32\u201d vertical jump was top 10 among defensive tackles.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gusta is smart and doesn\u2019t get influenced by line schemes. He handles zone concepts like a solid professional and maintains his gap responsibilities and both inside and outside runs.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gusta\u2019s thighs are like tree trunks, and with a powerful lower half, he is tough for one offensive lineman to ever move out of the way.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He has deceptive first-step quickness, much quicker than it appears from live action.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even though Gusta doesn\u2019t have one great pass-rush move, he uses a series in his toolbox depending upon the situation.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gusta doesn\u2019t get fooled by fakes, misdirection, and play-action. He trusts his eyes and rarely makes mistakes.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Played against top SEC opponents without seeing a lack of production.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">David Gusta is a DT prospect in the 2026 draft class. He scored an unofficial 9.75 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 52 out of 2046 DT from 1987 to 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Splits projected, all times unofficial, agilities left to run.<a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1euLA6gcOh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/1euLA6gcOh<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/1GNSrLMFuV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/1GNSrLMFuV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; RAS.football (@MathBomb) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MathBomb\/status\/2027127951049785759?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 26, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Weaknesses\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Played 44 games in college, yet only had 2.5 sacks. Scouts are concerned that although he places pressure on quarterbacks, he doesn\u2019t get to the quarterback as much as he should.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gusta\u2019s arm length, 31 \u215b,\u201d alarmed scouts, not an ideal length for a defensive tackle.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gusta ends on the ground on pass rush attempts far more often than a top defensive tackle should.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">His physical traits point to a first-round talent, but the production in college was not first-round caliber.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He will be vulnerable to being moved out of the way by large offensive linemen, as his shorter arms are going to be a hindrance to avoiding double teams.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Struggles to get off one-on-one blocks once offensive linemen engage<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Has shown a tendency to use one-arm tackles and not wrapping up with both arms<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>NFL Comparison: <\/b><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/prospects\/dean-lowry\/32004c4f-5761-7631-a34e-c6965ab51a7c\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Dean Lowry<\/b><\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/players\/adam-butler\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Adam Butler<\/b><\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nfl.com\/prospects\/mike-pennel\/32005045-4e32-0554-9daf-d78f7cf2d013\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><b>Mike Pennel<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n<h3><b>Teams With Need At Position: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/falcons\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Atlanta Falcons<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bills\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Buffalo Bills<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bears\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chicago Bears<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/packers\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Green Bay Packer,s Green Bay Packers<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/texans\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Houston Texans<\/span><\/a>, <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/rams\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Los Angeles Rams<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/vikings\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Minnesota Vikings<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/patriots\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New England Patriots<\/span><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/eagles\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Philadelphia Eagles<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/UKFootball?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@UKFootball<\/a> DT David Gusta put up 37 reps on the bench press.<\/p>\n<p>The best part is hearing how hyped up everyone was for him. \ud83d\udde3\ufe0f<\/p>\n<p>2026 NFL Combine continues today at 3pm ET on <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nflnetwork?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@nflnetwork<\/a><br \/>Stream on <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFLPlus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@NFLPlus<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rfPgWtrzAn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/rfPgWtrzAn<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NFL (@NFL) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFL\/status\/2027395465088467172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 27, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Projection:\u00a0 Rounds 6-7<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Gusta is a defensive tackle with a high motor and high ceiling, targeted by the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bears\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chicago Bears<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/bengals\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/span><\/a>, <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/steelers\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/span><\/a> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in particular.\u00a0 The Bengals eye him as a rotational fit on the line, the Bears as a gap player in Matt Eberflus\u2019 defense, and the Steelers for his alignment with hard-nosed football that the Steelers embrace.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Bottom Line on David Gusta<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gusta perplexes scouts. His game film and results is that of a marginal round 7 prospect. His traits, drills, and NFL Combine numbers point to a Round 2 prospect. He was a stud in the East-West Shrine Bowl and is easily described as a freak for his workout numbers. A team will gamble on being able to coach Gusta into how to best use his leverage and maintain body control. Easily the defensive tackle prospect who could vault into the biggest steal of the position group in this year\u2019s draft.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Main Images: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Gusta has amazing numbers for a defensive tackle; a freak is how most scouts describe his abilities. His production was lacking, however. 37 reps in the bench press showcase his incredible strength. He is a round two physical talent who played at times like an undrafted free agent type. David Gusta 2026 NFL Draft [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4925,"featured_media":279510,"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":[1647,33760],"tags":[33533,34233],"class_list":["post-279127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","category-profiles","tag-2026-nfl-draft","tag-david-gusta"],"modified_by":"Mike Roberts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279127","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\/4925"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279127"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279516,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279127\/revisions\/279516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}