Top 10 interior defensive linemen in the 2021 NFL Draft

#4 2021 NFL Draft Prospect: Tommy Togiai (Ohio State)

6’ 2”, 300 pounds; JR

Tommy Togiai

Just outside the top 50 overall recruits back in 2018, Tommy Togiai saw plenty of action right away as a rotational D-lineman for the Buckeyes. His first two years in that role, he recorded 26 total tackles and two for loss each per season. While he didn’t have any sacks through his first two years, he recorded three in 2020 as a starter, when the season was shortened to just eight games, to go with 4.5 TFLs.

Togiai mostly played shade nose for the Buckeyes’ 4-3 defense and really was a table-setter for that unit. He displays a lot of juice off the snap from that spot and you routinely see him overwhelm centers at the point of attack in one-on-ones, coming in with a natural leverage advantage and jolt in his hands, to set the tone.

He’s a wrecking ball out there, who can jerk big linemen to the side, when the ball-carrier is in range. Despite not having prototype nose size, he has plenty of strength to hold his ground versus double-teams. Against zone runs, Togiai can anchor and penetrate on the front-side.

Togiai also does a nice job of squeezing blockers down from the backside of run plays overall and when he wraps up any body part of the ball-carrier, those guys usually don’t get away from him anymore. The Buckeyes were one of only six teams in the country to hold their opponents to under 100 yards rushing per game on average and this guy was one of the biggest keys to it. So while he wasn’t asked to two-gap, in those even fronts he can basically fill any role and be an impact run defender from day one at the next level.

However, Togiai is far from just a two-down run-stuffer. When he is matched up one-on-one, he can put linemen on skates and you see him literally push those guys into the lap of the quarterback, making them move and allowing teammates to finish off for sacks. If he doesn’t put them flat on their backs, once he gets them leaning one way, he can pull them to that side and open up a direct path to the quarterback.

He is also crafty with the way he hooks the arm of the blocker and doesn’t allow them to flip and push him past the quarterback. Togiai can be really set loose on passing downs, when he is in wide three alignment (almost over the tackle), to build up force, as he can take a couple of steps before engaging with the guard soloed up. You see those guys put everything they have into trying to slow him down, but once he gets that initial momentum going, they rarely find a way to re-anchor.

Yet, he also has the quicks to beat them across their face, if they set too far to the outside, and he will only become more difficult to block, once he adds some power-to-speed maneuvers, where he engages to make blockers stop his feet and then gets around them. When Togiai gets close to the quarterback, but still has an opponent in-between the two, he gets those big paws up, to take away passing lanes. While his sack total isn’t overly impressive, the former Buckeye did have 24 total pressures on less than 200 pass-rushing snaps, getting one on 12.7 percent of those.

As much as he can influence plays, Togiai needs to find a way to finish them more regularly. I don’t think he quite has the upside as a pass-rusher as the guys in my top three, based on measurements and quick-twitch athleticism. Togiai’s lack of length shows up when he has that arm-over move shut down, because he can quite reach over the top.

If a team has three good defensive ends and one of them excels at rushing over guards, this guy might be taken off the field in favor of that third man rotating in. Considering Togiai is only 300 pounds, he will likely not play as much in the A-gaps as he did at Ohio State and he never played at least 300 snaps in any season and he had no sacks and just six career QB pressures before this past season.

Togiai is one of my favorite players in this draft. He may never be a super star or blow you away with great statistical numbers, but he will make a defense better as soon as he gets out there for them.

His automatic pad-level advantage and the natural strength to own his space in the run game and the ability to push the pocket up the middle will lead to a lot of production for his teammates, as linebackers are allowed to stay clean and make tackles, while the quarterback will be flushed out and wrapped up by the guys off the edge thanks to him.

Depending on how much you ask your D-line to get upfield, I think Togiai can actually play one-technique for you and then try to break the anchor of guards on third-downs.