Cardinals Visit With NFL Draft LB

The five-year player spent all of his time with the Tar Heels and found plenty of success. Rucker compiled 22 sacks and his role is past rusher to go with 180 total tackles. 14.5 of those sacks have come over the last two years.

Production is not an issue here for Rucker. Where most of the questions lie are in his build. 

Rucker is well undersized at  6’1 and 254 lbs with the intention of turning into a full-time edge rusher in the pros. That makes it more difficult to protect how Rucker will adjust at the next level with bigger, stronger, faster, and more athletic competition in front of him than what he saw at UNC.

Unfortunately, for us, we did not get to see too much action from Rucker during the combine. The former three-star recruit opted not to do any drills and instead only competed in the bench rep competition, where he threw up 27 reps.

There’s no questions about his strength, but we’re still unsure how he compares athletically to the rest of his class.

Rucker is also not perceived as a player who will be drafted overly high in April. Lance Zierlein of nfl.com says Rucker is a candidate for the bottom or practice squad of a roster.

I’m not entirely sure where he fits in the grand scheme of things, but what I do know is the Cardinals will be doing their research on all available defenders in the front seven. It’s nice to see they’re doing their work not just for the top players of the draft, but for guys that can be had later on and potentially contribute.

It's tough to gauge where Rucker will be drafted, if he is selected at all. What I do know is it’s a smart decision from the Cardinals to be doing their research on any and all players in the front seven, no matter their draft position.