The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, 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 Tyler Davis.
Tyler Davis 2024 NFL Combine RESULTS
- Height: 6-foot-2
- Weight: 301 pounds
- 40-yard dash: 5.02 seconds
- 10-yard split: 1.72 seconds
- 20-yard shuttle: 5.00 seconds
- Vertical jump: 28.5"
- Broad jump: 9'0"
- Arm length: 31 ⅜"
Tyler Davis 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
STRENGTHS
- Excellent athlete for defensive tackle position. Showed mobility and lateral quickness to make pursuit plays outside the box.
- Played with good balance and body control in addition to strength and power. Consistently moved interior offensive linemen.
- Point-of-attack strength to stalemate and split double teams in the run game. Strong lower half to maintain gap integrity.
- Sudden quickness and burst off the ball. Light, nimble feet for his body type with an explosive feel to his movement.
- Ripped through blocks in confined space with his explosiveness off the ball and the pop and power in his hands.
- Showed both power bull rush and hand usage to play off contact. Effective club and arm-over move to clear offensive guard.
- Rushed quarterback from wide defensive tackle alignment with quickness and velocity off the ball and hand usage and arm extension.
- Would be effective as a middle defensive lineman in loaded fronts with his speed and velocity conversion to power vs. offense guard.
- Effective as penetrator in T/E stunts. Able to split offensive guard and offensive tackle and create pressure on the quarterback. Strong and quick.
- Quickness and explosiveness to everything he does. Active, violent hands and live, agile feet constantly in motion.
- In 2023, showed 2-gap ability using hands and arms to control and play off of offensive linemen blocks to make plays in the run game.
- Again saw confined-space strength to work through double teams and combo blocks to make run-game plays.
- Flashed an effective rip move as an inside pass rusher that allowed him to work the edges and clear the offensive guard.
WEAKNESSES
- Not as big as you’d ideally like for an NFL defensive tackle (0-technique and 1-technique). Short arms would also be a concern.
- Can get eaten up inside by double-team blocks in the run game. Needs to get better stalemating and defeating.
- Would not be seen as an inside pass rusher at the next level but as a base-defense defensive tackle who could play in odd or even fronts.
NFL TRANSITION
Davis has a specific traits profile that will project his transition to the next level as base-defense defensive tackle much in the way that Derrick Nnadi made the transition when he came out of Florida State to the Kansas City Chiefs as a third-round pick in the 2018 draft. Davis has lighter feet and is a better inside pass rusher than Nnadi, which could present a slightly different projection, especially as teams look at what Davis could become in two to three years with coaching and experience.
Davis was quick and explosive off the snap at times looking sudden and twitchy in his movement for an interior DL and his first step juice to attack and penetrate gaps and be effective on slants and inside stunts (which Clemson featured) consistently showed up on film, Davis showed excellent bend and flexibility for a DT with his stout body type and he was able to re-direct and change direction with efficient lateral mobility;
He was more of an athletic inside defensive tackle than a power force player (although that was there on his tape), but it is not likely he will be seen especially early in his career as a sub-front pass rusher. However, I believe he can develop into a quality inside pass rusher with him having shown many flashes on tape.
In some ways, Davis is a bit of an anomaly in that his game is built more on finesse and quickness and athleticism. But his stout body type suggests a more physical, point-of-attack defensive tackle, which he showed but which was not the strength of his game.
Overall, Davis has a desirable combination of quickness and confined-space short-stroke strength despite lacking the mass and arm length teams ideally want. He's a player I liked the more I saw his tape.
OTHER NOTES
Davis came out of Florida as a consensus 4-star recruit and a top-100 player in the nation regardless of position. He became a starter in his freshman season (2019).
In 2022, Davis lined up at 1-technique, 2-technique, 2i and 0-technique depending on defensive front personnel and down and distance. Davis was dominant vs. NC State in 2022.
In 2023, there were third-down pass rush snaps where Davis lined up at wide-9 defensive end. At times from that alignment, he was a penetrator in multiple stunt concepts. He was also featured as both a looper and a penetrator in inside stunt concepts when aligned at 2- and 3-technique.
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