Top 10 interior defensive linemen in the 2021 NFL Draft

#10 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Osa Odighizuwa (UCLA)

6’ 2”, 280 pounds; RS JR

Osa Odighizuwa

The younger brother of former five-star recruit and third-round pick Owa Odighizuwa, Osa wasn’t nearly as highly recruited but still got an offer from the Bruins as well.

He redshirted his first year on campus and was a rotational piece for UCLA, until he entered the starting lineup for the final eight games of his sophomore season. Since then he has started all 27 contests, but it took the Pac-12 until this past season to recognize him as a first-team all-conference selection.

At 280 pounds, you expect a pure upfield penetrator, but Osa displays an all-around skill-set and for his height, that 84-inch wingspan and the 34-inch arms are very good. He primarily lined up shaded to the outside edge of guards in a four-man front for UCLA, but was lined up in the A-gap quite a bit as well, where he wasn’t taken advantage of on many occasions.

Odighizuwa plays with good leverage and extension in the run game, while having the incredibly strong lower to hold his ground. He excels at shifting his weight to anchor versus down-blocks and then squeezes down the gaps inside by pushing his man that way, putting that guy on his butt a few times.

You actually see him drive some guys, who outweigh him by like 50 pounds, a couple of yards backwards in some short-yardage situations. And then he shows some suddenness to work across the face of blockers, as he sees the ball-carrier try to run through that gap, Osa has a very good understanding and feel for how to deal with double-teams, to where he keeps his hands inside the chest of the first man, but lean into the angular blockers.

At the same time, you see him get into the backfield against zone runs with the high swim a few times as well. On those wide zone runs, he at times stops his feet almost and crosses the face of guards, to not let the play flow to the outside, and he displays excellent pursuit from the backfield of those lateral schemes.

Odighizuwa’s burst off the ball allows him to attack the edges of blockers as well as the middle, to power through them. He does a nice job of knocking away the hands of blockers or lifting up their arms, to be able to stab at their chest and drive them backwards. He really compresses the pocket with his rushes and even when receiving extra attention, creates that push up the middle.

He gets linemen to slip off him quite a bit, as they lean into the rusher too much. More than anything however, he displays that ability to link his arms and hips, in order to actually step around blockers, to where he can twist his body as he gets through the gaps and stay on his path to the quarterback, with the ankle flexibility to corner, while a blocker is engaged with him.

He doesn’t do it consistently enough to totally clear his man, but the fluidity and flashes are there. And he just continues to work and somehow finds ways to slip through, to create pressure. Osa has experience rushing off the edge, where he can create issues for tackles by stabbing to the inside, and working as part of several stunts and twists, as well lining up at nose quite a bit and being strong enough to stay there, without having to substitute for base downs.

Despite being able to set up twists or loop to the edge and drop out three or four times a game, he put up 54 total pressures on 621 pass-rush snaps over these last two seasons combined (which I think that number doesn’t fully represent what I just explained).

When he’s at the point of attack in the run game, he may have done everything right, but then as the ball-carrier approaches, tries to slide towards the opposite gap a little too early and leaves his gap unoccupied. And at his size, he won’t be able to hold his ground in the run game, much less push around offensive linemen in the run game like he did at times in the Pac-12.

As a pass-rusher, his plan and moves overall could use some refinement, in terms of timing his hand-combats better and his approach depending on alignment. He needs to show better awareness for how offenses slide their protections and be pro-active against the man, who ends up being responsible for him. If he kept his chest clean more, he could be much more effective in that regard.

There just aren’t a lot of quick wins and he doesn’t work in successful counters at this point. And at 6’2”, 280 pounds, he definitely has tweener stature and some evaluators may struggle finding the right position fit.

When I first watched Senior Bowl practices, I felt like Odighizuwa was constantly looking to just engage and shuffle his feet during pass-rush one-on-one, not showing any actual plan. But after he was – to my surprise – named the Defensive Lineman of the Week for the North team, I went back to the tape and zeroed in on him, to where I was more impressed with his hands and getting that initial flash as a pass-rusher.

He just didn’t finish very effectively. Odighizuwa is not the easiest projection, because the measurements scream three-technique, but he plays much bigger than his size indicate and doesn’t necessarily have that slashing style of play. So I might actually like him better in a hybrid 3-4 front as four/five-technique. Either way, he flashes the tools to become a more productive player at the next level and he shows outstanding effort all-around.