Clemson’s Myles Murphy is the forgotten pass rusher in the 2023 NFL Draft

The 2023 NFL Draft class has been widely praised for its talent at the edge rusher position. Among the most highly-touted prospects in this year’s incredibly deep class is Clemson’s Myles Murphy.

A five-star recruit coming out of high school, Murphy finished with 18.5 sacks and 36 tackles for a loss over the course of his three seasons with the Tigers. He was a first-team All-ACC defender in 2022, as well as a second-team All-ACC member in 2021. On a Clemson defense that featured a handful of NFL-caliber defensive linemen, Murphy seemed to be the best of the bunch.

The Cincinnati Bengals selected Myles Murphy with the No. 28 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. For full coverage of the Myles Murphy pick, head over to Cincy Jungle.

One of the quickest edge rushers in this draft, Murphy is quick off the snap and has impressive straight-line speed. His athleticism makes him a difficult defender to block on outside speed rushes. Even without concrete testing from the combine to go off of, it seems likely he would’ve been among the top testers at his position off of his tape alone.

Murphy plays hard on a consistent basis, thus maximizing his athletic tools. Whether he’s in a stand-up edge role, as a 5-, 3- or 4-tech, he plays very hard and has a relentless approach towards getting into the backfield. Clemson dropped Murphy out in coverage sometimes, and he’s a nimble athlete with loose hips and good lateral quickness. This also makes him a good pursuit defender in space and a nice option for stunt calls. His sheer natural flexibility allows him to turn the corner well on the outside, even when his pad level isn’t perfect.

Murphy has a tendency to shoot upright off the snap, and he doesn’t do the best job of keeping his anchor underneath him at the point of attack. This can affect his anchor strength setting the edge against the run, as well as his balance once engaged with a blocker. It’s clear Murphy has a high motor, but he sometimes maintains a mindset that is too aggressive. He can stand to work on controlling himself against play action and options, as he’s too quick to bite on one read over the other too often. There are some instances in which a lack of a clear plan as a pass-rusher can come back to bite him.

Because of a lack of athletic testing at the Combine, Murphy did not qualify for a Relative Athletic Score. However, he did measure and put up 25 reps in the bench press.

Though purely off of a size and bench press perspective, Mockdraftable’s profile comparisons for Murphy include the Jaguars’ Josh Allen and Whitney Mercilus.

Lance Zierlein of NFL.com had the following to say about Murphy:

Murphy has excellent size/traits and has been consistently productive in impact categories for three straight years. He plays with a plus motor and good first-step quickness, but his game isn’t really twitchy or explosive. He has finishing talent when he’s inside the pocket, but he needs to vary his rush angles and find an effective inside counter, as NFL tackles will be expecting his long-arm bull-rush technique. Murphy’s length and post-up strength could provide the scheme and positional versatility that puts him on every draft board. The traits and upside are there, but his skill level needs a boost to push the ceiling higher.

Though still a work in progress, Murphy has tremendous athletic tools with plenty of speed off the edge and flexibility, which makes him a scheme-versatile threat. Body discipline and a pass-rushing plan will be key for him to unlock his massive potential. His consistent production speaks for itself, though, and he has the tools to develop into a high-end edge rusher at the next level.