The 2019 NFL Draft will be a great event for teams to start building for their future. The Game Haus will be doing scouting reports on some of the top prospects in the 2019 NFL Draft. Mississippi State defensive end Montez Sweat has been one of the top sackers in the SEC and now will get his chance to play in the NFL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH_kfwCSgrc

Background

Position: Defensive End

Class: Senior

2018 stats: 53 total tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, 12 sacks, one forced fumble

Size: 6-foot-6, 260 pounds

After two seasons of not getting much playing time at Michigan State, Sweat transferred to Mississippi State. Once he arrived in Starkville, he started to produce and has built up his NFL Draft stock through his good pass rushing the past two seasons.

In his career, Sweat had 105 total tackles, 30.5 tackles for loss, 23.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovered. He jumped onto the scene with his 10.5 sacks in 2017 and added to that in 2018, when he totaled 14.5 sacks. For the 2018 season, he teamed up with Jeffery Simmons to form one of the best defensive fronts in college football. The Bulldogs only allowed 13.2 points per game and a lot of that is a huge credit to Sweat.

With Sweat’s two great years of production, he will be ranked highly on a lot of NFL Draft boards. If all goes according to plan for Sweat, he won’t be waiting much past the middle of the first round to find out which team selected him.

Strengths

Sweat has great size, length and strength for a defensive end. His size is prototypical for a defensive end. His length helps him to shed blocks and disengage from offensive linemen to go make the play. Sweat’s strength is great, as he can outmuscle and get past blocks with ease at points.

He uses his hands well to help fight offensive linemen. His hands are also strong and he will continually try to shed the block to get free. This helps him on his pass rush, as he punches and rips well and helps him in the run game to disengage.

While defensive ends aren’t always asked to be good run defenders, Sweat is able to stop the run well. With his ability to get off blocks and make tackles, he is one of the best defensive ends against the run in the class. Sweat keeps good gap integrity and is willing to run ball carriers down.

Weakness

His biggest weakness is that he is very stiff. He stands straight up at the snap of the ball, which limits his ability to move laterally. With his stiffness, he doesn’t bend well and often can’t get around the edge, due to his inflexibility. If he does win on the edge, it is because of his great hands.

Sweat isn’t the best mover in the class. His lateral quickness and agility leave a lot to be desired. If he goes one way, he doesn’t always have the agility or quickness to change his direction to make the play. His strength made it easier to overcome his lack of quickness in college, but it may not get the job done in the NFL.

His burst at the line of scrimmage is very inconsistent. Sometimes he will be very quick at the snap of the ball, but other times he is very average. He’ll need to get faster at jumping at the snap of the ball and be more consistent at doing so to be really effective at the next level.

Projected Draft Range: First round pick

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