Jeremiah Ledbetter is a guy that must have caught Bob Quinn and his staff’s eye at the combine. Because the tape I saw was not all that impressive. Still he has the physical profile to fulfill a need as the base end in our scheme (5 technique that plays just outside the edge of the tackle and inside the tight end). Video ? Video.
Positives. Well he has violent and heavy hands which is always important to defensive line play. There were times on film he really flashed those hands and his impressive arm length (35 inches), and that will be important because the base end in our system needs to be able to set the edge while two-gapping (responsible for both the gaps on either side of the offensive tackle.) This is not an easy task, and so it requires big, mean individuals, with long arms and vicious hands. I can say that Ledbetter fits that profile.
Negatives ? Well he moved inside for Arkansas this year .. and his stats were fairly solid so it must have been a good move .. But in the film above I felt he looked a lot better at DE. At DT, he was mostly neutral – he did not win a lot or lose a lot. But when he did lose it was UGLY. OL from Auburn, TAMU and Missouri took him for a RIDE at times. While that’s bad when it happens to linebackers, it is inexcusable to happen to your interior defensive linemen. He is listed as a DT, but if you notice in my positives I refer to him solely as a DE. He just is too small to be a nose tackle and not explosive enough to be a 3-tech tackle for us inside. He got killed by double teams which is a little scary because the base end in our scheme is designed to eat double teams from the tackle and the TE without losing ground and I’m not sure if he can handle that.
Overall, I’m not expecting a ton from a pick this late. The film is meh, but the measurables point to a potentially useful rotation player. We have quite a few guys on the roster that can fit this profile however, so I’m wondering if this pick may have been better served getting a pass rusher (you know since we were 30th in sacks last season) or grabbing a power RB. So I’ll give it a C-.
The Smartest Guy in the Room 