2023 NFL Draft: Adetomiwa Adebawore - Northwestern Defensive Tackle
Adetomiwa Adebawore - Northwestern
Strengths:
1. Contact from 3-Tech - His release on the inside seems quicker with more linear power where his initial contact is lower and more sudden. Perhaps it is because he knows that driving forward is his only option, as opposed to the edge where he will attempt speed rushes too often for his skill set. His strength and quickness when coming off of the line from the interior yields more success than when he comes from the edge in both the run and the passing game.
2. Release - There are occasionally reps where he is delayed getting off of the line, but he is among the best in the game when he is dialed in. Many times throughout his tape, he is driving forward before any other linemen on either side have really moved. He also has good pad level into contact on the majority of plays, although he is not immune to getting stood up or having the occasional upright rep. His timing and suddenness should give him an advantage on the line at the next level as an undersized interior player if he can create a pass rush plan and refine his existing moves.
3. Hands - He has quick and violent hands. His length accentuates each punch as he can use quickness to get by offensive linemen or aggression to drive them back. Placement could be more consistent, but his hands overall are one of his primary strengths.
Weaknesses:
1. Lateral Movements - His bend, agility, and lateral quickness are all lacking. This is one of the reasons his tape from the interior is more inspiring than his tape from the edge. He usually does not win taking the edge unless it's a very deep drop back, and he occasionally becomes off balance when attempting to shoot inside on a second move. Adebawore is far better moving in a straight line than taking an angle.
2. Second Moves - Once the offensive lineman gets his hands on Adebawore and pushes him upright, the play is over. Adebawore still has good motor and effort, but he does not really know how to contest blocks once he gets stood up. A second pass rush move would serve him well, but he must refine his initial pass rush moves first or a weak second move will still be ineffective. In general, he tends to stay locked up on blocks for too long before attempting anything at all to get off of it.
3. Run Defense - Poor tackling aside, he gets moved too easily in the run game. His anchor is weak, and he gets taken out of plays completely by offensive tackles when he lines up on the edge. Guards can push him back, and he does not understand how to use his length to his advantage to pull off and plug a gap. He is a pass rusher only on the inside as it stands, and he will need to gain significant mass and lower body strength if that is ever going to change.
Grade: Late Second
Pro Comparison: Milton Williams
Adebawore has tremendous length, speed, and burst on Williams. They are quite different players, but it is very difficult to find an appropriate comp to Adebawore when the combination of his skill set and measurables has rarely been seen before.
Film Notes:
Nebraska (08/27/2022)
Good footwork on stunt. High initial contact and lacked acceleration. Late off the line on multiple plays, which is rare for him. Low contact that time, but speed to power appeared to be lacking. Good contact angles. Caught up one-on-one rather easily. Does not appear to ever have a pass rush plan. Below average lateral quickness. Not really attempting to perform any pass rush moves. Good upper body quickness. Seems to lack bend. Confirmed lacks bend. Late off the line. Weaker anchor. Great use of length on speed rush. Decent closing speed. Excellent pull off the block from the right tackle to make the stop, although the right tackle seems to have some balance issues. Took the inside effectively against a tight end, which is expected but still good to see. Great pad level. Long arm would be deadly with his build if he ever decided to attempt it. Good first step on that play. Questionable lateral fluidity. Poor pass rush move, but won on the inside against the guard from 3-tech stemming from an excellent first step. Chop to win inside against another admittedly poor rep from the right tackle. Good motor and hand fighting. Lower body appears weaker on many reps. Release, contact, and power are all superior from 3-tech than the edge. Doubled and still moving towards the pocket with quick hands. Unimpressive power after getting multiple steps into contact. Slower lateral movements on stunt. Decent hop step. Quick feet. Good patience from the edge against the run. Still gets moved easily by the tackle in the run game. Quick and powerful hands. Significantly more impressive on the interior. Good contact, but takes the outside far too often as an end. Hand quickness is excellent. Got stood up in one-on-one. Insane first step. Lacks effective power rush moves. Another impressive first step. Release has been incredible this entire drive. Decent strength, but needs to take a tighter angle. Off balance when moving laterally throughout this game. Doubled often, leaving other defensive tackle one-on-one with a guard. First step is one of the best in the game.
Ohio State (11/05/2022)
Excellent first step to immediately penetrate zone block. Quick hands and great burst. Clearly has long arms. Unsuccessful taking the edge as expected. Does not use length well to his advantage on the outside. Tight end cannot block him. Doubled, but seemed too quick for Dawand Jones. Excellent first step, but locked up by guard. Lines up everywhere from shade nose to outside tackle. Bullied by Wypler. Long arm was extremely effective. He needs to do that more often. Missed tackle. Great first step, but shot by the pocket again. Effectively rip in the run game. Stayed on interior block way too long before attempting any move. Release is so quick, he shot a gap before the offensive linemen could really move. Still lacks bend. Excellent swipe. Pop is incredible. Solid bull rush, which also is not seen often throughout his tape from the interior. Definition of raw athleticism. Excellent pop, quickness, aggression, and strength that typically end up not contributing to the play whatsoever. Easy to tell which player is Adebawore because he explodes off the line before anyone else can move. Occasionally lacks play awareness and is too focused on contested the block. Does not seal gaps effectively. Needs to close instead of contain. Poor play awareness. Pushed off of the run by zone blocks easily. Push-pull was late, but worked well enough to where he should attempt it more from the interior in one-on-one reps. Completely taken out of run play. Manhandled by Dawand Jones. Pushed off of his mark by a tight end. Should have been able to space and fill the gap, but does not appear to understand how throughout his tape.
Wisconsin (10/08/2022)
Lacks bend around the edge. Great first step, but could have made contact at a better angle. Decent raw strength. Goes through players smaller than him without thinking about it. Excellent first step. Still initiating contact a bit higher than he normally does. Brick walled. Great pad level and release, but lacks leg drive and a second pass rush move. Less effective after first couple of seconds. Taken out of run plays as an edge. Okay stunt footwork, despite the lane not being there. Really would do better with freedom to win on his own from the inside as opposed to trying to scheme everything. Good acceleration, poor tackling. Used length well for spacing. Initial pop from the interior is unbelievable. Could be unstoppable with pass rush moves and better speed to power with his explosiveness and timing of the snap. Initiates contact well before the rest of his fellow linemen. Most likely received poor coaching and development behind the scenes at Northwestern given his lack of fundamentals and pass rush plan.
Alignment:
A-Gap - He is too small to play nose tackle.
B-Gap - Adebawore is most effective as a pass rushing defensive tackle. If he can be molded and gain some mass, then his athleticism could make him a weapon from the inside. This is where he should play the most in the NFL based on his college tape.
4/5-Tech - This is where he took the the majority of his snaps in 2022 (52.5%). The previous year, he was actually a full time defensive end (82.9% of snaps). Northwestern must have realized that he is a stronger interior player who can effectively be moved around the line. He may become a base end at the next level due to his size, but has better skills from the interior.
Edge - He lacks the bend and open field movement skills to play edge. He is better in a straight line up the middle than he is having to use finesse in any capacity.
Attributes (Grade/10):
Attributes | Bend | 3 |
Burst | 10 | |
Motor | 6.5 |
Bend: He lacks bend from the outside, and frequently runs right by the pocket.
Burst: His first step is wildly impressive from the interior. He has many reps where he has initiated contact and taken a second step before his peers have finished their first.
Motor: While he consistently plays with effort, his effectiveness as the play continues diminishes significantly. He is better within the first two seconds of leaving the line than any proceeding time on the play.
Skillset | Pass Rush | 7 |
Run Defense | 2.5 | |
Coverage | NA |
Pass Rush: His pass rush is by no means refined, but the tools are all there to eventually become an elite pass rusher if molded properly.
Run Defense: Bad run defender all around. He has poor awareness, no anchor, gets moved off of plays easily, does not understand how to plug gaps on the interior, and is a poor tackler when given the opportunity. The only reason this grade is not lower is because he is a decent edge setter when playing base end, but even then is manipulated rather easily.
Coverage: While he did drop back on occasion, it was not often enough to gauge his comfort in coverage. His lateral movement skills are not conducive to coverage, and he should spend most of his time on the interior rushing the passer regardless.
Hands | Placement | 8.5 |
Effectiveness | 9 | |
Quickness | 9.5 |
Placement: His hand placement could improve on his lengthier contests, but is typically sound on his quick punches.
Effectiveness: Even without a pass rush move, his hands have been used to get by linemen. If he can refine his decision-making, then his hands will surely be used to his advantage.
Quickness: Hands this fast can be refined by good coaches into something special. His hand quickness is elite, and should be an essential part of his pass rush moves.
Line Control | Strength | 4.5 |
Balance | 6 |
Strength: He has decent strength in the pass rush, but lacks any sort of anchor in the run game.
Balance: His balance is decent head on and when he is more in control of the rep, but can lose balance easily when redirected or performing a lateral move of any sort.
Pass-Rush Decisions | Versatility | 6.5 |
Technique | 4 | |
Execution | 5.5 |
Versatility: He can line up anywhere along the defensive line. He also has a variety of pass rush moves sprinkled throughout his tape. That said, he rarely has a plan and does not perform any type of move often. His effective moves are few and far between, and while they may be in his arsenal, he has to show that he can execute with more consistency on both speed and power rushes before giving him the 'versatile' tag that he could so easily achieve some day.
Technique: Again, he has effective moves sprinkled throughout his tape, but his pass rush technique on a play-to-play basis is a weaker part of his game.
Execution: A 14.3% pass rush win rate to go along with 5 sacks and 9 TFLs is decent, but could be so much better given his release, linear burst, and athleticism.
Traits | Agility | 3 |
Athleticism | 10 | |
Length | 8.5 |
Agility: Footwork is fine, but poor lateral movements and quickness all around. After moving laterally, he also has average proceeding acceleration.
Athleticism: Adebawore had an all-time combine performance. At 6'2" 282lbs, he ran a 4.49 40 with a 1.61 10 split, had a vertical of 37.5", and benched 27 reps at 225lbs with nearly 34" arms. He is truly an alien, and will get over-drafted compared to what he has shown on tape because of it.
Full Report:
Adetomiwa Adebawore is the definition of raw athleticism. His combine performance is one of the best in the history of the league, which drew all eyes towards him. His tape backs up his metrics with some of the best burst out of the gate of any prospect in this draft class. The issue is that the pass rush moves to go along with his insane first step are practically nonexistent. He is unrefined as a pass rusher, undersized for the interior, and lacks bend around the edge. For all of his athleticism, he appears to not have any specific skill set that is ready for the NFL. He lacks an anchor and gets moved easily in the run game from both outside and inside the tackles, does not understand how to plug gaps on the line, and is a poor open field tackler. His lateral movement is lacking as well, which makes him appear awkward at times on stunts and occasionally fly right by the pocket when taking the edge. All that said, his explosiveness is unparalleled at the position. His near 34" arms and leverage in the pass rush allow him to execute a plethora of pass rush moves when he elects to perform them, which he rarely does. He can win with both speed and power, and has some of the most violent hands in class. Although he lined up primarily as a defensive end at Northwestern, Adebawore projects better as an interior pass rusher in the NFL. He may be a liability on an NFL field today, but his traits will cause him to get selected earlier than expected in the NFL Draft. If a team falls in love with his potential, it would not be surprising to see him sneak into the first round. All things considered, he currently has a late second round grade. While he has the potential of becoming a unique difference-maker in the NFL, he could just as likely not develop into the player that everyone wants him to become.
NFL Projection:
Adebawore will likely get overdrafted because of his combine and have a disappointing rookie campaign. If he can spend some time developing as an interior pass rusher, then he could become an excellent player after a few seasons.
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