STRENGTHS
Phidarian is the most technically sound defensive tackle in this draft. He has excellent size and strength and solid feet, balance, and lateral agility to string out plays against the run. If you don’t double team him on passing downs he will bull rush his opponent into the backfield like a rhinoceros looking for a mate. He uses mature and consistent techniques to keep lineman off his body to shed and make tackles at the line of scrimmage. He has solid foot speed that goes along with all-out effort on every play to disrupt plays and run-down players from behind. He works well with his teammates on stunts and understands his role on every play. Phidarian is an excellent overall football player and the type every team needs on their defensive line to make the players around him better.
CONCERNS
Phidarian is the type of player who gets overlooked because he does his job completely. Most will think there is not much upside to his game and they are right, he is a plug-and-play type player and coaches love to select players who are projects earlier instead of plug-and-play types. Also, Phidarian plays for a program that most evaluators think the program burns the players out. That genialized thinking affects those player’s draft status. I prefer to evaluate each player on their own and not generalize a player because of a program.
BOTTOM LINE: 2.22
I tell you this all the time and still you don’t believe me. If you don’t have a Defensive Tackle who demands a double team on passing downs and running plays then you will not have a consistent pass rush and your linebackers will not stop the run. Everyone else will tell you it’s the speed rushes or the cornerbacks and there is truth to those theories, no doubt but a true pass rush needs the pocket to get collapsed first and linebackers need to be free to run to the play for both to be effective. There are some exceptional speed rushes that can consistently impact but if you look closely even the hall of fame edge rushers had a defensive tackle who collapse the pocket in most cases. Phidarian has the ability to stuff the run and on passing downs, collapse the pocket. He will fight through the double team on passing downs and running downs and THAT is the difference he will bring to your defensive line. You won’t see it in the stats but you will see it in the defense as a whole. To open a lock, you need a key and the Defensive Tackle position is the key to opening the lock that’s on a defense to perform at a high level. Phidarian could be that key.
