Patriots Draft Preview 2025: Defensive linemen & edge rushers
We’re halfway through our 2025 NFL Draft positional preview. It’s now time to switch from offense to defense, starting with the defensive line and edge rushers.
This is an area the New England Patriots focused on heavily in free agency. Their signings included defensive tackles Milton Williams and Khyiris Tonga up front, and Harold Landry and K’Lavon Chaisson on the edge.
Still, bolstering these spots through the draft would make sense. At defensive tackle in particular, the uncertainty of Christian Barmore’s status could leave the team looking for another rushing defensive tackle to play next to Williams. On the edge the Patriots have added depth don’t have a clear lead rusher, and have room for competition especially for a third down-specific role.
On top of that, this is simply a very strong class for players in the defensive front seven. There’s value to be found up and down the board. Even if the Patriots may not have an immediate need up front, they should be able to find players who can come in and contribute relatively soon.
As we did for each offensive position, let’s take a look at this class, going through the prospects expected to go in the top 100 and looking at some who stand out as Patriots fits later in the draft…
Choices at 4
Whether or not the Patriots should consider taking a defensive player fourth overall is a debate in and of itself after the team’s defense-heavy free agency approach. However if they are going to do so, there could be two main options.
The top player at the position – and arguably in the entire draft – is Abdul Carter from Penn State. Carter made the move from off-ball linebacker to full time pass rusher last year and took off. While he is still improving his game technically after the position change his athleticism, explosiveness, motor, and football IQ give him an incredibly high ceiling.
When it comes to Carter the only question for the Patriots is really whether or not he’ll be on the board. If the Titans and Browns both take quarterbacks at the top of the draft, there’s a case to be made for the Giants taking Travis Hunter over Carter given their only real strength right now is their defensive front. However if either of those top two teams don’t take a quarterback, Carter would be the best player on the board and the most likely selection.
Assuming Carter goes in the top three picks, that would leave Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham as the top true defensive player on the board for the Patriots (not including Hunter as a two-way player who can play cornerback). Graham has been tied to the Patriots since early in the pre-draft process.
At 6-foot-3, 306 pounds Graham is an attacking, aggressive defensive tackle who plays to get up-field and disrupt the offense in the backfield on run and pass plays. Based on the moves the Patriots have made this offseason that seems to be the way they’re going to want their defensive linemen to play in this new scheme.
The thing is, they already spent significantly on such a player in Milton Williams. Would they also use their top draft asset to double-down at a non-premium position? If Christian Barmore can’t return that could be in play, but if the team plans on having Barmore it might not make as much sense.
Top 40 EDGE picks
After those two players is where the depth of the edge rusher class really starts to show. There’s a crowded group of players projected to go certainly within the top 40, if not in the first round.
At the top of that group are two Georgia players who should be top 10 picks. Depending on where you look, Jalon Walker may be included in this group, or as an off-ball linebacker given he plays both positions. Walker projects to have similar versatility as a pro, with his explosiveness and physicality. Insiders also rave about his leadership skills.
Walker’s teammate Mykel Williams should go right around the same range that he does. Williams has all the natural tools teams look for in edge rushers at 6-foot-5, 260 pounds, but his still rounding out the technical part of his game. Given how toolsy edge prospects have worked out in recent years, Williams should be quick off the board.
Shemar Stewart from Texas A&M should also go in this range, especially after a strong performance at the NFL Combine. Stewart had good size (6-foot-5, 267 pounds) and power with skills to match, but teams may be a little weary at a production-heavy position that he never had more than 1.5 sacks or six tackles for a loss in a season.
Then there’s a group of rushers projected to go later in the first, or early second at the most if there’s an overall slide at the position. Mike Green from Marshall leads that group, and has as much variance in his stock as maybe any non-quarterback projected to go in the top 50. Green is a dynamic rusher with great production, but does enter in the NFL with some off-field questions teams will have to be comfortable with.
There are also two speed rushers in James Pearce Jr. from Tennessee and Donovan Ezeiruaku from Boston College who should go around here. Both project to win with quickness and advanced rush plans at the next level, but will most likely be passing-down players early on. Between the two, Ezeiruaku has more upside as a three-down player.
Top 40 defensive linemen
In addition to the seven edge rushers projected to go in or just after the first round, there are also four defensive tackles – including Graham – expected to go in that range too. While it’s tough to see how any of them would end up with the Patriots without significant trading, these players rising up the board could help push other players down to the Patriots at Pick 38 or a similar spot after a trade up.
For teams looking for a defensive tackle in this range, sorting through these players is more about fit than overall ability with them all grading out similarly. Walter Nolen from Ole Miss is the most similar to Graham as a smaller, more athletics attacking defensive tackle. Graham’s teammates from Michigan Kenneth Grant meanwhile is a true run-stopping nose tackle at 6-foot-4, 331 pounds. Derrick Harmon from Oregon brings more versatility with an ability to play defensive tackle or end at 6-foot-4, 313 pounds, occupying blockers with strength and physicality.
Second-round EDGE picks
If the Patriots miss out on that second tier of edge rushers, they’ll still have plenty of options if that’s the direction they want to go at Pick 38. This group includes not just pass rushers, but edge setters as well.
In terms of power players on the edge, both of Ohio State’s bookends from their national championship defense should go in this range. Both Jack Sawyer and JT Tuimoloau play with power and violence, which they can use against the run and the pass. Sawyer plays with a bit more punch while Tuimoloau has shown a bit more in terms of pass rush finesse, but both project as front side defensive ends. Sawyer also has the experience of being a team captain in 2024. Another high-floor power edge player in this range is Landon Jackson from Arkansas.
A player in a similar mold but with more upside is Nic Scourton from Texas A&M. Scorton’s power and motor make him a regular in opposing backfields, and he should hit another level as he refines his rush plan. However he is a tweener who played at closer to 300 pounds at Purdue but measured in at 257 pounds at the Combine – any team that drafts him will have to decide what weight they want him playing at relative to his position.
Teams looking for more of a finesse rusher in this spot would probably target Princely Umanmielen from Ole Miss. He plays shot out of a cannon, but might end up being a passing down-specific player in the NFL.
Third-round EDGE picks
While most of the position’s we’ve covered so far we’ve broken down with ‘Day 2 options,’ the depth on the edge is so deep this group is getting split up into the second and third round. Compared to the second round players, this group for the most part still has impact upside but lower floors.
That second round group has mainly power rushers, but this group has a larger concentration of speed rushers. Players like Kyle Kennard from South Carolina, Josiah Stewart from Michigan, and Jared Ivey from Ole Miss all rush with quickness and finesse, giving them a floor as passing down players. They’ll need to refine their pass rushes to hit the next level in the NFL, and even if they don’t end up being three-down players have the makeup to make an impact in key situations. Jordan Burch from Oregon is more of the power rusher here.
Bradyn Swinson from LSU is the more technically advanced player in this group. He doesn’t play with the pop some of the other edge players in this range do, but still does a good job of regularly getting into the backfield and had 13 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks in 12 games last year.
The real project of Day 2 is Femi Oladejo from UCLA. Like Abdul Carter he’s a converted off-ball linebacker who found success in his first year playing off the edge. He’s not as far along as Carter and last year seemed to be playing as much on raw athleticism and instinct as anything else, but given the success he had his ceiling looks to be higher as he actually picks up the position technically.
Day 2 defensive linemen
Finishing out Day 2 with a look at the pure defensive linemen, including a player with significantly high potential. Alfred Collins is the latest potential three-down difference making defensive tackle to come out of Texas, following in the steps of Byron Murphy and T’Vondre Sweat last year. At 6-foot-6, 332 pounds Collins has the power to play the run but the quickness to get after the quarterback, especially when it comes to using his upper-body in the pass rush. He played both end and tackle in college, but should focus on the interior mainly as a pro. That focus should only continue to help his game.
Another potential three-down tackle in this range is T.J. Sanders from South Carolina. However at 6-foot-4, 297 pounds he doesn’t quite have the measurables that Collins does.
Teams looking primarily for interior pass rush here could target Darius Alexander from Toledo, who is most likely a high Day 2 pick but has a chance to sneak into the first round. Alexander was a standout at both the Senior Bowl and NFL Combine. He has an advanced pass rush plan for this stage, and the power to back it up. At 6-foot-4, 305 pounds he has the upside to be a three-down player but right now projects primarily as a rusher.
Omarr Norman-Lott from Tennessee and Shemar Turner from Texas A&M are both pass rush tweeners, who could end up as interior players or defensive ends. Norman-Lott plays with quickness, but doesn’t show the power to match up with his 6-foot-2, 291-pound frame. His best path may be moving to defensive end full-time. Turner, at 6-foot-3, 290 pounds matches his quickness with power and violence, but that violence can be used to a fault – he has had issues with personal foul penalties in the past.
Finally there’s one of the most fascinating players in this draft in Deone Walker from Kentucky. Walker is a mountain in the middle at 6-foot-7, 340 pounds. Yet despite that size, Walker plays more as a finesse rusher. He often lined up on the edge for Kentucky and at times even played standing up. That cuts both ways. His ability to move at his size can make him a matchup nightmare against the right opponents, but he gets bullied by power blockers more than a player his size should.
That appears to be more due to technique and motor than lack of power, so with the right coaching his upside is significant. However, it’s harder to project him into a regular role without improvement in that area. Given Terrell Williams’ experience coaching up defensive linemen, Walker should be viewed as a potential target for the Patriots.
Day 3 EDGE picks
As we get to Day 3, some of the EDGE talent starts to thin out. With 18 edge players projected to go in the top 100, there is a drop-off later on.
Among those projected to go early on Day 3 are Sai’vion Jones from LSU and Ashton Gillotte from Louisville. Both are bigger, defensive end-type rushers with Jones being more of a ceiling option and Gillotte being more NFL-ready.
Elijah Roberts from SMU is also projected to go in this range. Roberts is another tweener, who played on the edge and even standing up at 6-foot-4, 285 pounds. He’s been productive with 17.5 sacks over the last two years, but that was as more of a true edge. He’ll likely need to transition to a full-time defensive end at the next level.
There are also some players who flash talent, but are undersized. That includes Kaimon Rucker from North Carolina. Rucker was a three-year starter in college and plays with a good motor and efficiency, but at 6-foot-1, 254 pounds is on the smaller side at the position.
That’s also true for David Walker, at 6-foot-1, 263 pounds with 31 3/4-inch arms. Walker plays with outstanding power and had great college production, but will need to be put in the right role to succeed at the NFL level.
Jah Joyner from Minnesota is sort of the opposite as a pure upside player. He’s still very raw in his approach and technique, but at 6-foot-4, 262 pounds with 34 1/8 inch arms playing with a high motor there’s a lot of untapped potential there. It just could be a year or two until he starts to make an impact.
Day 3 defensive linemen
The edge depth might thin out on Day 3, but the defensive line depth certainly does not. This class just keeps on going.
Here we’ll start with Jamaree Caldwell from Oregon, who objectively could sneak into Day 2 if there’s a run on defensive tackles. Caldwell moves incredibly well at 6-foot-2, 332 pounds and plays with a great motor. His technique still needs to improve but he has the upside to be a disruptive three-down player in the middle of the defensive line.
6-foot-6, 3339-pound Cam Jackson from Florida also fits this description, with even more size. However he has less production than Caldwell and while he does play with violence there’s more in his game that needs refining. Still, his combination of size and lateral movement ability is a rare combination that gives him a solid ceiling.
As far as pure rushers go, Vernon Broughton from Texas is the top defensive tackle in this range. At 6-foot-5, 311 pounds he has an advanced rush plan but needs to improve as a run stopper and is likely a rotational player at this point.
J.J. Pegues is another athletic defensive tackle, who projects as a sub rusher at 6-foot-2, 309 pounds. He can do more than that too – Ole Miss used him as a short-yardage running back and he had 21 carries for 69 yards and seven touchdowns last year. He projects to continue to be a multi-role player in the NFL, getting some fullback work at the NFL Combine.
This is also where there are more primary run defenders and pure power players. That group includes some tackle/end tweeners like Ty Robinson from Nebraska and Rylie Mills from Notre Dame, who both play with a high motor and good physicality.
UDFA defensive tackles
![Florida Gators defensive lineman Desmond Watson (21) tackles Tulane Green Wave quarterback Ty Thompson (7) during the first half at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL on Friday, December 20, 2024 in the 2024 Union Home Mortgage Gasparilla Bowl. [Doug Engle/Gainesville Sun]](https://985thesportshub.com/uploads/2025/04/USATSI_25084268-1_1743650590_.jpg)
For just the second time in our preview this year we’re going to go as far as highlighting projected UDFAs. The other position we did that with was running backs, which is right up there with defensive tackles for the deepest position in this class.
Nazir Stackhouse, Georgia: Pure early-down run-stopper at 6-foot-4, 327 pounds. Three year starter for the Bulldogs.
Thor Griffith, Louisville: New Hampshire native and Harvard transfer. Youth hockey and wrestling standout who appeared twice on Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List.
Yahya Black, Iowa: Elite nose tackle size at 6-foot-6, 336 pounds with 35-inch arms. Run stopper, but needs to be more consistent.
Joe Evans, UTSA: Began college career at LSU in 2019 before transferring to UTSA in 2022. Standout run defender, but suffered a season-ending knee injury five games into this last season.
Desmond Watson, Florida: Biggest player in this year’s draft at 6-foot-6, 464 pounds. Three-year contributor for the Gators on early downs. Potential Tush Push answer?
