James Lynch, Baylor
mockmaster’s Grade: 6.153 (Fourth Round)
Missed Which Athletic Cut? Weight and Vertical
Projected Round: Late Day Three
NFL Play Style Comp: Matt Ioannidis
Pros:
His hands are strong, has a decent anchor, and has a great motor
Showed a good versatility of counters on tape that is encouraging for translation to the NFL
Good penetrator on run defense and if there’s head-to-head contact, he rarely loses that battle
Cons:
Lacks a top-end burst and needs a bit of space to get power
His lack of length showed some issues for him at Baylor and that definitely will be a concern in the NFL as players get even more athletic and have more length
Not a lateral athlete, works best when working vertically
Not a ton of body control or balance and can get pushed out of a play easily if he’s not careful
Analysis: Lynch intrigues me - he doesn’t look all that great of an athlete on tape and looks like he just outworks everyone else and uses strong hands to win, but his athletic profile was almost perfect with the exception of a strong vertical (which makes sense given his lack of burst off the line). So it’s a question of athleticism in testing vs. tape and getting the most out of him. He’s got upside to him with traits that are easy to project into the NFL and some technical refinement can remove some of the reps of him just getting pushed out of the way, but he will still need work to add some strength and could step in as a rotational DT along with Shamar Stephen in the meantime.
Went defense with the last two picks seeing how we lost both Joseph and Griffin, so I'm not mad at the picks at all, especially Dye, a tackling machine. Would like to see some O- Line picks with remaining selections. A QB would be nice too