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Prospect name: Alex Okafor
School: University of Texas
Height/Weight: 6'5 264
40 time: 4.7
Projected Round: 1-2
The tape:
Okafor vs West Virginia and Oklahoma State 2012
Pros:
- Okafor has an extremely quick first step for a guy his size. He often relies upon his underrated speed to get past the tackles.
- He has one of the best arsenal of pass rushing moves in the draft class, showing very little tendency to favor either speed or bull rush moves. Okafor showed this skillset during the Senior Bowl week. He's not the fastest guy but makes up for it with the array of moves.
- The hand usage and strength is impressive. He is very useful with his hands on the tackles and guards when forced to cover screens and draws.
- The dropback speed is quite good as well when lined up as an outside linebacker. It's even better when he's dropping back from the defensive tackle/end positions.
Cons:
- Okafor tends to get lost in the wash easily when there's a back to chip him. The instincts sometimes fail him as he tries to get to the quarterback instead of covering the back on option plays.
- Guilt by association of a historically bad defense that Texas fielded in 2012. It was so bad that the defensive coordinator Manny Diaz was interviewed for several other jobs but much to the dismay of Longhorn fans, came back. Okafor was the only one that pretty much showed up to play outside of Kenny Vaccaro.
Additional notes:
Okafor was one of the rising stars of the North team during the Senior Bowl practice sessions. He was blowing up the offensive line at almost every turn, using his vast arsenal of moves and speed. The second best rated tackle in the draft (depending on who you ask), Eric Fisher even had his troubles trying to guard him. The Alamo Bowl game was Okafor's swan song performance for the ages. He racked up 4.5 sacks in the game. Okafor also has the ability to transition from a full time 4-3 end where Texas used him a lot to 3-4 outside linebacker.
The verdict:
Would I draft him in the second round if he was still there at 40? Absolutely. He would help the serious depth issues at end that currently plague this team. Okafor can also be used in the Akeem Ayers role of stand up pass rusher in certain nickel and dime packages. I know the Longhorns get unabashed hatred here due to several of them not doing so well in a Titans uniform but Okafor is a different situation.