Adetomiwa Adebawore Drops on the Draft Board

Northwestern’s Adetomiwa Adebawore has had some good game film, and some very bad game film.

This defender who lined up at every spot along the defensive line on 2022 game film had a rough three games (embedded below).

It’s a shame, because I had put a first-round grade on Adebawore in my fall report, but there’s no way after what he showed in this most recent study.

I couldn’t wait to get done watching this game film, that’s how painful it was for me to watch.

Handled

The theme of these three games in 2022 were Adebawore got neutralized a lot.

He got handled.

It didn’t matter if it was against the pass or the run a high percentage of the time, this was the result.

Adebawore flashes his raw quickness off the snap and in space, but outside of that, he disappeared for long stretches of film at a time against Purdue and Penn State.

He flashed one spin move in these three games. That was all he showed for pass-rush moves.

His pass rush on this block of game film looked like melted vanilla ice cream.

Concerns about level of competition

This is a piece to the evaluation puzzle.

If a prospect disappears against college level competition, what will he look like against even stiffer competition in the NFL?

This is my main concerns now with Adebawore.

Can’t watch enough film

This draft season I’m committed to watching six or more games on each of the prospects I’m considering mocking into the first-round.

My NFL Scouting mentor once said, “If you get 70% right, you’re a rock-star.”

Some of my recent misses in the past couple of drafts are driving me to put in more work to try to close the margin even more.

It just goes to show, you can love a guy on a couple two, three games, but then like with this one, you can watch three more and wonder what you were thinking.

That’s where I am sitting with Adebawore.

I felt like I was being punished for putting an earlier first-round grade on him, having to sit through these three games.

Historically, 53% of first-rounders are busts. That’s the percentage for the league’s general managers who are getting paid millions upon millions of dollars to send the card in.

The more film the better, then there’s the need to swallow some pride, which I’m doing with this one.

Flashes

Nothing scares me more as an evaluator than a prospect who flashes ability but then disappears.

The 2022 Ohio State game was by far Adebawore’s best of these three games.

He flashes cat-like quickness off the snap and getting into gaps. He chased plays down plays to the sidelines a couple of times too like he meant it.

There’s no question the ability is there, but in the right round, to mitigate the risk that he put on game film.

#99 Adetomiwa Adebawore 6-foot-2, 280 pounds

Daniel Kelly’s Final 2023 NFL Draft Grade: Fifth-Round (I would select him)

First Round Mock Big Board: TBD

Projected by 0.9% (up from 0.6% on November 29) of the NFL Draft Community to be a first-round pick as of February 1, 2023 (nflmockdraftdatabase.com)

2022 game film reviewed: Purdue, Penn State, and Ohio State (click to view games watched to form this evaluation)

Level of competition: High

2021 stats: 36 tackles (25 solo, 11 assists), 4.5 sacks, 3 passes defended, 2 forced fumbles

2022 stats: 38 tackles (27 solo, 11 assists), 5.0 sacks, 1 pass defended, 2 forced fumbles

2023 NFL Draft Scouting Report

Thick build with long arms and a very inconsistent quickness and close as a pass rusher and struggles to disengage on run blocks. Lined up inside and outside. At times, he is fast off the snap, and at other times, he’s not. Showed he can shoot into gaps and be tenacious trying to get to the quarterback, but that’s once in a great while. Unimaginative pass rush. Flashed ability to jolt and lock out. Mostly little movement. Good straight-line speed once he’s in space. Against the run showed difficulty holding his ground inside or outside and inconsistent using his hands to shed blocks. Did show he is capable of coming off blocks and making stops, but more neutral and negative results than positive outcomes. Visibly shows some fire. A very different-looking prospect this time around.

Final words

Disappointing and disheartening.

Daniel Kelly is a former NFL Scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He currently writes for Sports Illustrated New York Jets and he is the Editor-in-Chief for First Round Mock. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. He can be followed on Twitter @firstroundmock.