Calijah Kancey 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Pittsburgh IDL

Calijah Kancey, Pittsburgh

6’0”, 280 pounds; RS JR

One of the top-1,000 recruits in 2019, Kancey took an initial redshirt and then made an impact in his debut campaign, before breaking out in 2021, when he recorded seven sacks and 13 tackles for loss, making him a third-team All-American in 2021. Last season, he slightly increased those numbers (14.5 TFLs and 7.5 sacks) and was named a first-team All-American, along with winning the award for ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

+ Very much comes in the mold of three-time DPOY Aaron Donald as a fellow undersized D-tackle whose explosiveness jumps off the screen and brings a lot of violence in his hands

+ Already flashed with his suddenness as a freshman, and profiles best as a penetrating three-technique who can throw off a lot of plays before they can even get going

+ Routinely penetrates with his upfield burst, and he’s so quick to get from holding up his blocker to arm-overing that guy and creating disruption in the backfield when he sees a chance

+ His quickness laterally allows him to back-door blockers and disrupt zone concepts at a high level

+ Does a nice job of turning his shoulders to minimize the surface area for the angular blocker on combos and standing in that gap between the two guys

+ Yet his height allows him to consistently win at pad-level and he also has pretty impressive contact balance, to stay on his feet after getting bumped

+ Quite regularly you see ball-carriers try to hit the hole next to him, as Kancey squeezes the blocker down into the pile and he’s able to come off to wrap up the runner

+ Basically had the exact same combine numbers as former Pitt standout Aaron Donald, with a 4.67 40 and 1.64 split

+ This guy’s explosion off the ball and suddenness in short areas really creates problems for guards singled up against him in passing situation

+ Especially when they slide his way and he beats them across their face in a split-second, guys often don’t even know what hit them

+ There are plenty of instant wins with a rapid swim move on tape and you see his flexibility when his shoulders are basically aligned vertically as he steps around the blocker

+ Can dig underneath one shoulder and press through it to create balance issues and create softer corners for himself

+ You see him slant inside by one gap and go through the chest of linemen sliding towards him, who aren’t low enough, to push up the middle of the pocket

+ At the same time, if they overstride towards him, Kancey can also cross-face them with the swim move and get vertical again almost instantly

+ Really good when linemen lean into him, to hit a rapid arm-over and pull those guys by him, to get up into the quarterback’s face

+ One of the rare interior rushers to pull off cross-chop maneuvers, where he actually snaps his hips to point at the quarterback

+ Has definitely improved his ability to finish rushes, in terms of blockers arm-barring him after he wins off the line, or another lineman can help out and step towards him late, to knock off that extra hand and get through

+ Already earned a 83.7 overall PFF grade in 2021 as a redshirt sophomore, when he racked up 38 pressures (367 pass-rush snaps), but then last season that number went up to 91.8, with an insane 47 pressures across 275 pass-rush snaps, with a 22.7% win rate

– Clearly an outlier in terms of size for defensive tackles, with his height, weight, arm length and hand-size in the bottom-7th percentile – and if blockers are able to latch their hands into his frame, he has a tough time getting off them

– Simply lacks the mass to anchor against true double-teams if the offensive linemen step together and unite their power

– Tends to get a little bit out of control and off track with his rush lanes in passing situations

– The lack of length, with T-Rex-like arms at 30 5/8-inch arms, does show up when he has push-pull maneuvers and hand-swipes perfectly set up it feels like, but he can’t quite pull them off cleanly

Right off the bat – the Aaron Donald comparison is unfair (even though I did use that parallel here). We’re talking about one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history and really a unicorn at the position. While he has about the same height/weight combination and ran almost the same times at the combine, don’t believe Kancey is as strong as Donald, and what really hurts this year’s prospect out of Pitt is that his arms are a full two inches shorter. That lack of size and length along with not playing under control as much as I’d like is what concerns me.

With that out of the way – the kid is fun to watch. He plays with his hair on fire every single snap, attacks up the field, uses violent hands and has a gift for getting home as a pass-rusher. Teams will be scared of drafting another outlier like this, but Kancey has been a first-rounder for me all along and I’m happy to see him finally receive some more buzz.

Grade: Late first round

Feel free to head over to halilsrealfootballtalk.com for all my draft breakdowns and check out my YouTube channel for even more NFL content!