PFF scouting report: DeAngelo Brown, DI, Louisville

Name: DeAngelo Brown

School: Louisville

Position fit: Nose tackle

Stats to know: Finished no lower than 46th in our interior defensive linemen rankings in three years.

What he does best:

Instinctive player, finds the football and is rarely influenced by misdirection or traps.
Smart, avoids repeating mistakes.
Tremendous upper body strength, possesses capacity to rag-doll offensive linemen.
Impressive lateral agility and explosion for the position, can fire off the ball.
Vicious “arm over” move facilitated pressures and tackles for loss, packs a powerful initial punch with his outside arm to force offensive lineman to overextend.
Delivers a significant impact when he extends his arms to bull rush.
Understands hand placement as a pass-rusher, maintains spacing with OL effectively.
Plays with good leverage, short stature not always a weakness.
Sinks his hips effectively to anchor against double teams.
Displays ability to re-anchor after losing initial contact, can arrest momentum.
Second-best overall grade in the East-West Shrine Game, finishing with five stops.

Biggest concern:

Pass-rush production has been solid for the college game, but may not be enough to stay on the field in subpackages at the next level.
Fails to consistently recognize and track down screen passes.
Somewhat vulnerable to down blocks, better against a heads-up blocker.
Stamina might be an issue, better in a rotation or when he can be spelled (played career-high 743 snaps in 2016).
Fails to consistently narrow passing lanes, did not bat down a pass in close to 1,700 snaps.

Player comparison: Dan Williams, Oakland Raiders

Brown possesses starter-level upside in the NFL. His skillset is reminiscent of Raiders’ run-stuffer Williams. Although an effective pass-rusher, capable of collapsing the pocket intermittently, Brown’s is at his best doing the dirty work in the trenches.

Bottom line: Brown was a highly productive college player, but he perhaps suffered from Louisville’s dependency on their big nose tackle. He seemed to wear down playing three quarters of the Cardinals’ defensive snaps in 2016, and was less productive as a result. Brown’s best fit is as a base package specialist, where he can terrorize centers with his power up front. Teams in need of a nose tackle should strongly consider the Louisville product.