Breaking down the prospects: Tremaine Edmunds

Heading into the 2018 NFL Draft, the Miami Dolphins have several weaknesses throughout their roster. They need help on the offensive line, a tight end who can stretch the field, depth at defensive end and a sideline-to-sideline linebacker. That is where Tremaine Edmunds comes in to play. Edmunds, a standout at Virginia Tech, has been compared to Brian Urlacher by several NFL analysts and scouts. He’s a natural fit in a 4-3 defense, and would develop nicely in Matt Burke’s system. So without further ado, here is my draft breakdown of Hokies’ linebacker Tremaine Edmunds.

Biography

Position: Linebacker

Class: Junior

Height: 6’5

Weight: 250 LBs

Hometown: Danville, Virginia

Pros

When watching film on 19-year old Tremaine Edmunds, one thing that stood out is how well he is at blitzing the quarterback. Below is an example of this, as he executes this delayed blitz with perfection. Expecting a running back to block Edmunds isn’t fair.

Here you can see how well he reacts to a play. Immediately after the ball is snapped, Edmunds dissects the play, and reacts accordingly. He moves fluidly from sideline to sideline, and prevents the running back from turning up field.

Here is another prime example of how well he is able to read and react to a play. Sure, the pass is terrible. But had it been on target, Edmunds was going to blow it up for a significant loss.

Here, Edmunds shows off his awareness. His main goal is to prevent Clemson from scoring and he does just that.

One more look. Yes, it’s a quarterback, but he’s no pushover. Edmunds frees himself from the block and prevents the touchdown.. Solid hit at the goal line.

Here you can see Edmunds use his alligator arms to shed a block, stuffing the running back for a short gain. The word block can be used loosely here, as the center nearly takes out the guard, allowing for an easy tackle.

Rosier is a turd, this we all know. He has about 10 guys open, but manages to throw to the one dude that is covered. Nonetheless, Edmunds reads the QBs eyes and makes a play on the football. To be honest, I’ve seen more in this GIF from Edmunds than I’ve seen from Kiko in coverage the last two seasons. #PBU

Here, he fights his way through traffic, eventually making the tackle for a minimal gain.

Great coverage downfield eventually leads to the QB trying to scramble for the first down. Tremaine Edmunds won’t allow it. Not today nor tomorrow.

Justice Hill is one of the better running backs in the nation and here you can see Edmunds ability to use his tree-like length to make a tackle. Hill makes a nice move, but is unable to break free from Edmunds spaghetti arms.

Here, the center gets to the next level and essentially escorts Edmunds to the ball carrier. Edmunds perfectly demonstrates his ability to read the play and more importantly his ability to disengage from the offensive lineman.

Despite being on the other side of the field, Edmunds uses his speed to track the running back down short of a first. The angle is piss poor, but no one is perfect.

This play was blown up from the start.

Cons

No one is perfect and here is a prime example of why Edmunds is not. He gets caught up on the underneath route, allowing the running back to run freely for a massive touchdown. Mistakes like this happen, but he must get better if he wants to be one of the league’s better linebackers at the next level.

Here he reads and reacts well, but instead of sticking to his man he runs right past him. Why? Who the hell knows. But the result is a big gain and one that could have been blown up in the backfield.

This is the kind of play you’d like to see one of the nation’s top LBs make. However, Hill is just to powerful for the young LB.

Conclusion

Although I still believe Georgia LB Roquan Smith is the best LB prospect in the draft, Tremaine Edmunds could end up being the better player when all is said and done. At just 19-years old, he has the ability to make plays that many linebackers simply can’t. And his strength and skill-set will only get better with experience. His prototypical size would make him an ideal fit as SAM in a 4-3 defense, or a MLB in a 3-4. Edmunds ability to dissect a play and react without hesitation is an art, and one that I look forward to seeing develop as the years pass. He needs to continue to get better in coverage, but has shown enough throughout his collegiate career to warrant a top-10 pick in this year’s draft. Whether or not Edmunds will be available when Miami is on the clock is anyone’s guess. But one thing is certain, the Dolphins could do a lot worse than Tremaine Edmunds at No. 11.

Because who doesn’t like highlights?

This article was written by Josh Houtz. Follow him on Twitter!

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