{"id":85123,"date":"2020-04-17T11:30:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T15:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=85123"},"modified":"2021-03-20T13:23:45","modified_gmt":"2021-03-20T17:23:45","slug":"leki-fotu-2020-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/04\/17\/leki-fotu-2020-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Leki Fotu 2020 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Leki Fotu Overview<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Position: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Defensive line<br \/>\n<\/span><b>Height: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6\u20195\u201d<br \/>\n<\/span><b>Weight: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">330 lbs<br \/>\n<\/span><b>Arms: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">34 \u00bc\u201d<br \/>\n<\/span><b>Hands: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10 \u215d\u201d<br \/>\n<\/span><b>School: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Utah<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>NFL Combine Performance Data<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>40 Yard Dash: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5.15 seconds<br \/>\n<\/span><b>Three Cone Drill: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">N\/A<\/span><b><br \/>\n<\/b><b>Bench Press: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">21 reps<br \/>\n<\/span><b>Vertical Jump: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">N\/A<br \/>\n<\/span><b>Broad Jump: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">N\/A<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Leki Fotu 2020 NFL Draft Profile\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Playing for Utah\u2019s Herriman High School, Fotu put together a strong senior campaign in which he totaled 79 tackles along with 7.5 sacks. The performance earned Fotu an All-State selection as well as a three-star recruiting profile which gained him an offer from the Utah Utes program. Despite possessing a rare blend of size and athleticism, Fotu received just one official division one offer. This was likely due to Fotu&#8217;s inexperience with football at the time as he spent his underclassman days of high school playing mostly rugby and basketball. Furthermore, Fotu missed his entire junior year of football before putting together an impressive senior season. \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fotu earned playing time as a true freshman in 2016 as he appeared in five games for Utah. Fotu took on a larger role the following season playing all 13 games, two of them starts, and recording 22 total tackles, 3.5 of them for a loss. In 2018, Fotu had a breakout junior year in which he earned First Team All-Pac-12 honors as he started 13 games and tallied 33 tackles along with three sacks. Fotu followed up his 2018 performance with another strong 2019 campaign in which he again earned <a href=\"https:\/\/pac-12.com\/article\/2019\/12\/09\/pac-12-football-all-conference-honors-announced\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">First Team All-Pac-12<\/a> honors with 22 tackles through 13 games.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><b>Strengths<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amazing size and frame;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Obvious strength, which his play style revolves around;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Solid hands with strong punch and length enables extension from blockers;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two-gap potential given his size and strength;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Surprising first step quickness for his body and fires into gaps with extreme force;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Eye opening bull rush move when rushing the passer;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wide tackling radius and gap plugger.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Weaknesses<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Struggles with lateral mobility and often has little impact on sweep plays;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Height results in leverage issues and inconsistent pad level;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Footwork and foot speed needs improvement;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is not flexible with rushes or when shedding blocks;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does not have a huge tool box of pass rush moves.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>NFL Comparison: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/H\/HankJo00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Johnathan Hankins<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>Teams With Need at Position: <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/49ers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Francisco 49ers<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/cowboys\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/falcons\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Atlanta Falcons<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/jaguars\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/panthers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carolina Panthers<\/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\/steelers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/texans\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Houston Texans<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/titans\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tennessee Titans<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>Projection: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Early third to early fourth round<\/span><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<h3><b>Bottom Line on Leki Fotu<\/b><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fotu plays with overwhelming strength and power at the point of attack along with being a handful for interior offensive linemen. Additionally, Fotu packs a powerful punch and demonstrates the potential to be an impactful two-gapping early-down defender at the next level. Fotu\u2019s bull rush is fun to watch and he is scary when tasked with maintaining one gap where he is given the freedom to fire off the football. While his footwork and leverage technique need improvement in order to help with his lateral mobility and consistency, Fotu\u2019s pure strength will raise his draft stock. Furthermore, despite Fotu being considered a developmental prospect, he should see playing time immediately within early down situations as his brute strength and gap plugging ability will likely translate to the NFL fairly easily.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"1k4CWg-1RTx0fROjLzp0lA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1209609520\" target=\"_blank\" 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:'1k4CWg-1RTx0fROjLzp0lA',sig:'FdRdobUFO0qSkmP45mw9uflGgO9BLR62Imyn8cCQVjQ=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1209609520',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>Leki Fotu Overview Position: Defensive line Height: 6\u20195\u201d Weight: 330 lbs Arms: 34 \u00bc\u201d Hands: 10 \u215d\u201d School: Utah NFL Combine Performance Data 40 Yard Dash: 5.15 seconds Three Cone Drill: N\/A Bench Press: 21 reps Vertical Jump: N\/A Broad Jump: N\/A Leki Fotu 2020 NFL Draft Profile\u00a0 Playing for Utah\u2019s Herriman High School, Fotu [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3217,"featured_media":85211,"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":[1647,54],"tags":[5273,114,6024],"class_list":["post-85123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","category-editorials","tag-2020-nfl-draft","tag-houston-texans","tag-new-england-patriots-draft"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85123","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\/3217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}