NFL Soup|Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Sheldon Richardson 2013 NFL Draft Scouting Report 

sheldon richardson

Player: Sheldon Richardson

Position: DT

School: Missouri

Height: 6’2”

Weight: 294 lbs

Strengths

Big time hustle player with upside. Very quick and agile, getting into the backfield in a hurry. Recovers well from cut blocks and doesn’t quit on many plays. Excellent lateral ability to keep up with developing runs. Relentlessly gets into the backfield which is a good and bad thing. Initial burst off of the snap is unbelievable at times. Hard to block as he’s always moving his feet and keeping lineman on their toes. Looks to be an excellent three gap penetrator at the next level.

Weaknesses

Needs to be more violent with his hands, at times just running into lineman with his hands down. Could stand to become a better wrap up tackler. Needs to work on control when he gets through the line. Has a past knee injury. Closing speed isn’t ideal.

Overall

In the end, Richardson is a well balanced defensive tackle who can be very effective at the next level in either a 3-4 or 4-3 scheme. He has the size and strength to mix with the big boys right now, and is versatile enough to be used in a variety of ways. He’ll almost certainly hear his name called in the middle of the first round, with an outside chance of being a top-10 pick.

Draft Range: Middle of 1st Round

Interested Teams: Saints, Panthers

NFL Player Comparison: Muhammad Wilkerson

College Video Highlights:

About the author: Keet Bailey

Keet Bailey heads the NFL Draft division of NFL Soup. Bailey’s 2012 NFL Mock Draft scored 12th overall among 112 participants according to The Huddle Report’s Annual Mock Draft scoring contest. An avid Cleveland Browns fan, Keet hails from and resides in Ohio. Follow Keet on Twitter @NFLSoupKeet

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