Height: 6’5”

Weight: 245 LBS

College: Utah

Utah’s Trevor Reilly is one of the more interesting prospects entering this year’s NFL draft.   Reilly is a 26 year old outside linebacker/defensive end had a productive senior year with 99 tackles and eight and a half sacks.   The only question that may hurt him is his age.

Strengths

Pass rush: Reilly is a speed rusher off of the edge for the most part.  His main objective is to get out in space and race to the edge beating the tackle, bend around the corner and sack the quarterback which is mostly the cause of his eight and a half sacks.  In spite of the fact sometimes he does tend to play too tall, he is able to plant his foot in the ground and turn effectively.

Coverage: Reilly does a nice job in zone but can run and stay with opponents in man to man coverage.  His size and athleticism make him somewhat of a unique player in what he could potentially do in matching up against giant tight ends in the NFL.

Weakness

Run Stopping: One this that hurts Reilly is his finesse style of play and that really shows up in his lack of run support.  If somehow a team could get Reilly to be more of a physical player he has a shot to be productive in the run game just based on his athletic ability and strength, but as of now this is going to limit him to only being a pass rush specialist to begin his NFL career.

NFL comparison: Reilly’s NFL comparison to me is someone of the likes of Rob Ninkovich , Ninkovich is a player with experience in play defensive end and outside linebacker similar to Reilly during his college career. In New England Ninkovich is mostly used in passing situations and has had big games at times. Reilly could be the same way as a NFL pass rushing specialist.

Draft Outlook: I would say right now Reilly is projected to go in the third to fifth round range, my guess is he is a fifth round pick, but could bring second or third round talent to your team.

Best Fits: Creative defensive teams like the New England Patriots, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, or Baltimore Ravens might be really intriguing to see the amount they could do with a player like Reilly in their lineup with all of the ability he has.