NFL draft positional rankings: Edge rush talent is strong up high

Leading up to the NFL draft on April 28-30, Shutdown Corner will examine each position, rank the top players at each spot and identify some sleepers, sliders and lesser-known gems.

Want to dip into the 2016 NFL draft’s riches of pass-rushing talent? Don’t wait too long.

Although this year’s draft appears to be quite top-heavy in ready-made “edge” talent of 4-3 defensive ends and 3-4 outside linebackers, there is a clear and precipitous dropoff after a certain point. We believe 5-6 of these type of players could go in Round 1, and another dozen or so on Day 2 of the draft. After that? Let’s just say that the law of diminishing returns appears to kick in quickly.

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Our top rusher in this mold is Ohio State’s Joey Bosa. (We project Oregon’s DeForest Buckner as a 3-4 end, so he doesn’t naturally fit into this grouping.) Bosa offers immediate value as a three-down base end in a 4-3, and his work in linebacker drills at his pro day convinced many teams he’d be more than capable of it as a Mike Vrabel-type performer.

The Clemson DE duo of Shaq Lawson and Kevin Dodd are almost certainly first-round locks, and we project Georgia’s Leonard Floyd, Eastern Kentucky’s Noah Spence and Oklahoma State’s Emmanuel Ogbah are other players in play in the first 31 picks. They are three different styles of rushers, with three different body types, who could appeal to different types of schemes.

There are other players in this crop besides Bosa who could appear to both 3-4 and 4-3 teams, and because of that there is some real appeal in this year’s edge class. It might not produce more than one or two players capable of collecting 13 or more sacks in a season, but that shouldn’t diminish the value of what looks like a fruitful supply in the first three rounds or so.

Shutdown Corner’s Top 10 edge rushers for 2016

1. Joey Bosa, Ohio State (4-3 DE, 3-4 OLB) — 6-foot-5, 269 pounds — Sack production fell off last season, but pressure did not; hard-working, well-built impact defender
2. Shaq Lawson, Clemson (4-3 DE, 3-4 OLB) — 6-3, 269 — Blue-collar, effort rusher whose energy is infectious and could ignite a stagnant unit if not overused
3. Kevin Dodd, Clemson (4-3 DE, 3-4 OLB) — 6-5, 277 — Powerful, hard-working base end who can kick inside or stand up but is not an elite athlete
4. Noah Spence, Eastern Kentucky (4-3 DE, 3-4 OLB) — 6-2, 251 — Ex-Ohio State rusher with big-time talent, character questions, good but not rare athleticism; stood out at Senior Bowl
5. Leonard Floyd, Georgia (3-4 OLB) — 6-6, 244 — Praying mantis-shaped rusher with elite gifts but inconsistent production, which both thrill and frighten evaluators
6. Emmanuel Ogbah, Oklahoma State (4-3 DE) — 6-5, 271 — Long-armed, tight-hipped base end with great sack production but inconsistent motor
7. Shilique Calhoun, Michigan State (4-3 DE, 3-4 OLB) — 6-4, 251 — Athletic, coachable, committed pass rusher with run-stopping deficiencies
8. Kamalei Correa, Boise State (3-4 OLB, 4-3 DE) — 6-3, 243 — Lack of mass, explosion could limit him, but Correa wins with effort, athleticism, instincts
9. Kyler Fackrell, Utah State (3-4 OLB) — 6-5, 245 — Soon-to-be-25-year-old plays with incredible desire, instinct and has rare length to be good part-time rusher
10. Bronson Kaufusi, BYU (4-3 DE, 3-4 DE) — 6-7, 285 — Best going forward (less so on his feet), Kaufusi works extremely hard, flattens to the ball and consistently lived in backfield

Positional grade: B-plus

There will be missed up high, of course, as there are every year. But there is a very high floor for many of the prospects projected to go in Round 1, outside of Floyd, who is as risky as any prospect graded that high. Although the depth of the class is not great, and finding talent among the flotsam and jetsam in Round 4 and beyond will be dicey at best, this is a very respectable allotment of talent for both 3-4 and 4-3 schemes.

Sleeper
Yannick Ngakoue, Maryland (3-4 OLB, 4-3 DE)

Why aren’t more people talking about him? (If they can pronounce his name, of course — and it’s Yah-NEEK In-GAH-kway, for those who wonder.) The 6-2, 252-pound Ngakoue has produced for the Terps at two different positions, linebacker and defensive end, and in two different schemes. In 2015, he set the school record for sacks in a season with 13.5, in 12 games. Watch the tape — especially the Wisconsin and Bowling Green games. e.g. — and you’ll see a hell-on-wheels, speed-to-power rusher who can close the deal. He has a shredded physique, played more than 80 percent of the snaps last season (despite getting hurt vs. Rutgers) and is a self-motivated player who should improve. Ngakoue has some run-stopping deficiencies, and he lacks good length. But he’s a promising player who could go late in Day 2 of the draft.

Small-school wonder
Matt Judon, Grand Valley State (4-3 DE, 3-4 OLB)

The NFL knows all about the 6-3, 275-pound Judon, who is the Lakers’ all-time sack leader with 34, including an amazing 20 in 2015. That earned him an NFL scouting combine invitation, and he made the most of it by doing 30 reps on the 225-pound bench press despite his 34-inch arms, jumped 35 inches vertically and looked surprisingly nimble when asked to perform in the linebacker positional drills. His special-teams value, having played on all four core units, also is very appealing to NFL teams. Judon can be a bit reckless in his style, and his game might need refinement, especially with the big jump from Division-II to the league. But he could be a surprisingly early Day 3 pick who pays off.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm