{"id":42606,"date":"2018-04-23T10:00:50","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T14:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=42606"},"modified":"2021-03-14T15:16:14","modified_gmt":"2021-03-14T19:16:14","slug":"derrick-nnadi-2018-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2018\/04\/23\/derrick-nnadi-2018-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Derrick Nnadi 2018 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>Position:<\/strong> Defensive tackle<br \/>\n<strong>Height:<\/strong> 6\u20191\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Weight: <\/strong>299 pounds<br \/>\n<strong>School: <\/strong>Florida State Seminoles<\/p>\n<p><strong>Combine Performance Data<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>40-yard dash: <\/strong>5.38 seconds<br \/>\n<strong>Bench press: <\/strong>25 reps<br \/>\n<strong>Broad jump:\u00a0<\/strong>8 feet<br \/>\n<strong>Three-cone drill: <\/strong>8.15 seconds<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Derrick Nnadi 2018 NFL Draft Profile<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>Florida State defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi enters the 2018 NFL Draft as a mid-tier defensive line prospect. While he\u2019s not expected to be a day one selection, he should still be off the board relatively early into the draft.<\/p>\n<p>Nnadi\u2019s best collegiate season came in 2017. The Seminole senior started all 13 games for Florida State, accounting for 53 tackles, 10 of which went for a loss. Additionally, the interior lineman managed to record one forced fumble and three and a half sacks from the defensive tackle position. His accomplishments earned him Third-Team All-ACC honors.<\/p>\n<p>Nnadi first joined the Seminoles in the 2014 season and made an immediate impact as a true freshman. While he wasn\u2019t a starter, the defensive tackle appeared in nine of a possible 13 games, recording 18 tackles. The best game of his rookie season came against Wake Forest when he recorded four tackles, one and a half of which were for a loss.<\/p>\n<p>The Florida State product built on his successful rookie season to start all 13 games in his sophomore year. Nnadi was one of just five Seminoles to start every game on defense, and he finished his second season with 45 tackles and two sacks. All in all, Nnadi\u2019s 45 tackles were second on the team among defensive linemen, only to <strong>DeMarcus Walker<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Nnadi\u2019s 2016 season was arguably the best of his collegiate career, as he once more took a step forward in his development. Once again playing all 13 games, Nnadi stepped up to become the leader of the Seminoles interior defensive line. Nnadi did a little bit of everything that year, finishing with 49 tackles, six sacks, one pass breakup, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. The 2016 Seminoles led the nation in sacks per game, and Nnadi\u2019s presence in the middle was a big reason for that. Coaches in the ACC named him first-team All-Conference while he also earned FSU&#8217;s Defensive Most Improved Player award in the previous spring.<\/p>\n<h2>Strengths<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Low center of gravity allows for increased interior leverage;<\/li>\n<li>Quick to react after the snap;<\/li>\n<li>Consistently wins one-on-one matchups in pass rushing situations;<\/li>\n<li>Strong lower body allows him to push the pocket;<\/li>\n<li>Stayed healthy throughout collegiate tenure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Weaknesses<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Undersized relative to the prototypical NFL interior lineman;<\/li>\n<li>Needs to win with his hands \u2013 can get pushed around if he doesn\u2019t get initial leverage;<\/li>\n<li>Can get pushed around in the run game when facing larger linemen;<\/li>\n<li>Loses ground when double teamed;<\/li>\n<li>Takes longer than one would like to diagnose and identify run direction.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NFL Comparison: Javon Hargrave<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Teams With Need at Position<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/dolphins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Miami Dolphins<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/buccaneers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/raiders\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Oakland Raiders<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/patriots\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New England Patriots<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/redskins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Washington Redskins<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/bengals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Projection: <\/strong>Third to fourth round<\/p>\n<h2>Bottom Line<\/h2>\n<p>While Nnadi was a solid all-around player in college, his limited size likely prevents him from being a true three-down lineman. He doesn\u2019t have the size to consistently play the run, which limits him to being a situational interior pass rusher in the NFL. There\u2019s certainly a role for a player like him, but he possesses a relatively low ceiling.<\/p>\n<p>That being said, there isn\u2019t much bad film on Nnadi. He can\u2019t help his size, but everything within control, he does well. As a rookie, Nnadi should be a very useful situational pass rusher capable of generating pressure up the middle. If he\u2019s able to add more weight as his career goes on, there\u2019s no reason to think that he won\u2019t develop into a solid NFL starter. However, that\u2019s a big if. At the very least, Nnadi provides a solid third-down pass rush option. At best, Nnadi could develop into a serviceable three-down defensive lineman, although his work in the run game will likely never eclipse his pass rushing threat.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"DStW3fwRQIpBu7Syj8oPGQ\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/880095500\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'DStW3fwRQIpBu7Syj8oPGQ',sig:'z5FjkIteokoCoBc-cqjBDNRZGlknl1LVO7naySwgBeA=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'880095500',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florida State Seminole defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi earned third-team All-ACC honors in 2017 after a season that saw him register 3.5 sacks and 10 tackles for loss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":42621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_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":[54,1647],"tags":[2580],"class_list":["post-42606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-nfl-draft","tag-2018-nfl-draft"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42606","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\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}