Philadelphia Eagles scouting: 3 LB and DL studs and duds from combine

Duds along the defensive line

A.J. Epenesa racked up 101 total tackles and 26.5 sacks in 37 career games at the collegiate level, so naturally, he’s been a hot topic as he’s now turning the page on a great NCAA career.

Following his day in Indianapolis, he’ll continue to be a hot topic but for the wrong reasons. He only weighs 275 pounds, yet he was only able to run the 40 in 5.04 seconds. In other words, at the pro level, we might be able to assume he’d be easy to block and he’d struggle to keep up with any skill players on offense.

That’s not what you want to hear about one of the top prospects when the NFL Draft is less than two months away.

Listen up, and take notes if you’re a younger football fan. Once upon a time, the Miami Hurricanes were a football factory that pumped out NFL talent at an insane level. Nowadays, we don’t mention them for the same reasons. Mostly, we’re talking about the ‘Turnover Chain’, but Trevon Hill is a throwback to the old days at ‘The U’.

Unfortunately for him, he just ran a 4.89-second 40-yard dash and went 28 inches and nine feet in the vertical and broad jump respectively. He’ll be drafted, but it won’t be as high as we once thought.

Rashard Lawrence is yet another LSU standout that didn’t do as great a job as we thought he would in Indianapolis. He appeared stiff and stationary during drills and didn’t seem to possess the athletic ability that you would expect from a defensive lineman in the SEC.

He’s powerful and does have some straight-line speed, and he should have a great career at the pro level, but better efforts from other guys at the position may have damaged his draft stock slightly. Don’t be surprised if he doesn’t go as high as we think he will.