The 2024 NFL Draft is here, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Byron Murphy.
Byron Murphy's 2024 NFL Combine Results
- Height: 6-foot 1/2"
- Weight: 297
- 40-yard dash: 4.87
- 10-yard split: 1.69
- Vertical jump: 33"
- Broad jump: 9'3"
- Arm length: 32 3/8"
Byron Murphy 2024 NFL Draft Scouting Report
Strengths
- Compact frame with a powerful lower half. Desirable combination of sudden quickness and explosive power.
- Played low with natural leverage, getting underneath OL, maximizing his contact strength, and generating power.
- Showed quick explosive arm over swim move that consistently beat interior OL. Sudden explosive movement.
- Showed strength and power as an inside pass rusher to drive through half-a-man and pressure the pocket.
- Outstanding off-the-ball quickness as a pass rusher with both his feet and hands. Violent club move to beat OL.
- Won as a pass rusher early in the down and late in the down. Both primary and secondary pass rush traits.
- Flashed quickness and strength-power to rush from wider-nine alignment and drive through the inside shoulder of the OT.
- Featured at times as a looper on inside stunts and showed both short area burst and explosive closing speed.
- Light, agile, fluid feet with the lateral quickness and twitchy suddenness to play off blocks and shoot gaps.
- Highly effective slanting into gaps off the snap, challenging inside or outside shoulders of the OL with an explosive burst.
- Arm extension to control and displace interior OL. Grip strength to keep his legs clean and explode laterally,
- Consistently stalemated and defeated double teams in the run game with leverage and lower body strength.
- Played with excellent balance and body control, allowing him to stay on his feet to make second-reaction plays.
- Made plays in the run game, playing off blocks and working laterally down the line of scrimmage. At times, looked like an RB playing DT.
Weaknesses
- Some may see lack of length as a concern, but there have been many quality three-techniques with his measurables.
- Will need to continue to work on pass rush moves and tools as he further develops in NFL, it's limited right now.
NFL Transition
Murphy was one of my most enjoyable evaluations of any player in the 2024 draft class. He showed a high-level combination of power, quickness, explosiveness, relentless energy and an outstanding playing personality.
Murphy is a sudden, twitchy, almost freaky athlete with startling movement traits. He played low to the ground, maximizing his power and explosion and making it challenging for interior OL to control him. He stalemated and defeated double-team blocks with outstanding leverage and strength in confined spaces, rarely getting displaced out of his gap and making tackles when he defeated them.
As a pass rusher, he consistently showed off-the-ball explosiveness with the leverage, power and flexibility to drive through blockers and beat them. He also showed quickness and active violent hand usage.
Murphy played multiple DT positions in Texas' defensive front alignments and is, without question, position- and scheme-versatile. But he likely profiles and projects most effectively as a three-technique in a one-gap four-man DL front to take maximum advantage of his sudden explosiveness as a pass rusher and as a gap penetrator in the run game. Murphy is the most dominant DT prospect in the 2024 draft class. He will be an immediate contributor and maybe even an impact player in his rookie season.
Other Notes
Murphy played three years at Texas starting in 16 of his 39 career games. In 2023, Murphy was the Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year and a Second-team All-American.
Murphy played multiple DT positions in Texas four-man defensive front alignments, including zero-technique and three-technique. There were third-down snaps in which Murphy lined up at wide-nine. He beat BYU LT Kingsley Saumataia with an inside counter, driving through Suamataia’s inside shoulder and hitting Kedon Slovis just as he released the ball.
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