Kevin Dodd drafted by Titans with the No. 33 pick
Dodd’s huge performance against Alabama raised eyebrows, but can he give the Titans the same production?
Kevin Dodd was one half of a dynamic pass rushing duo at Clemson, and the Tennessee Titans will hope that he can keep his productivity rolling in the NFL after taking him early in the second round with the No. 33 overall pick.
During a season that ended with a trip to the national championship for Clemson, Dodd and Shaq Lawson combined for 24.5 sacks and 49 tackles for loss. The production was a huge leap for both players, as Dodd didn’t record a single sack in his first three seasons with the Tigers, although a knee injury in 2013 caused him to miss most of the year and receive a medical redshirt.
Not only was Dodd a one-year wonder, but maybe even a one-game wonder. In the College Football Playoff National Championship against Alabama, he abused the Crimson Tide's right tackle to the tune of three sacks and five tackles for loss, a pair of career bests.
Still, on several occasions in 2015 Dodd showed the type of bend, hand fighting and burst off the line of scrimmage that make for a dangerous pass rusher:
In his breakdown of Dodd’s teammate, Shaq Lawson, Stephen White described the depth needed to beat an offensive tackle around the edge and still be en route to the quarterback.
“Usually, you are going to have to be able to turn the corner 7-8 yards deep in order to get offensive linemen to bail out of their stances which then in turns gets them all out of whack and makes them much easier to beat,” White wrote. “If you can’t do that, you’re going to get stuck a lot at the level of the quarterback, unable to continue around the corner to make the play and unable to come inside because the offensive tackle isn’t over committed to stopping a wide rush.”
Getting straight up field 7-8 yards deep and sharply bending around the corner was something that Dodd did on more than one occasion during his breakout 2015 season. And if he can do it in the NFL, he will be well worth the early selection. But whether or not he can is the million-dollar question.
His production came against collegiate right tackles, and his testing numbers don't bode particularly well for his future. Dodd's 30.5-inch vertical, 110-inch broad jump, 7.18-second 3-cone drill and 4.44-second short shuttle are all average, at best. And with his 24th birthday coming in July, Dodd is already one of the older players near the top of the 2016 NFL Draft.
Still, even if he doesn’t turn into the double-digit sack artist that the Titans are hoping he will be, Dodd was still one of the better run-stopping defensive ends in the nation. According to the Pro Football Focus draft guide, Dodd made stops on 7.8 percent of run snaps, a higher percentage than other top prospects like Lawson, Emmanuel Ogbah, Noah Spence and Kamalei Correa.
Brian Orakpo and Jurrell Casey tied for the team lead with seven sacks each, and Tennessee could use a premier edge rusher to add to the fold with Derrick Morgan, as well. After Ogbah went to the Cleveland Browns one pick earlier, Tennessee didn’t want to wait much longer to take a pass rusher.
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