Scouting Report: Tyson Alualu, DT, California

Ht: 6'3 Wt: 295 40: 4.87

Strengths: Good bulk, but has room for improvement. Extremely high motor; plays with intensity. This kid is flying to the football every play. Very physical player. Does a great job of getting low and driving linemen into the pocket. Keeps him feet moving when engaged. Can fight through double teams. Has good strength and knows how to use his hands to throw or disengaged linemen. Great bull rusher. He can get a good anchor which enables him to stand linemen up and locate the football. Can be really quick off the football and shows decent agility. Knows how to string the play out and follow the football along the line of scrimmage. Very solid tackler. Is good against the run and the pass. Always around the football, he can be a solid playmaker. Good versatility; will be able to be a 4-3 DT or a 3-4 DE. Team leader, excellent intangibles. Great experience, played in 51 games in his college career (38 consecutive games). Has a lot of potential.

Weaknesses: Pass rushing techniques need improvement; he relies on the bull rush too much. This will not always work in the NFL as it did in college. Even though when he plays he shows good strength, there is still room for improvement. He only benched 225 lbs 24 times at the combine. This isn't bad but it could definitely be better. He often over-pursues, needs to learn to break down and stay under control. This will help him in open space tackling as well. Does not have elite speed.

Summary: Tyson Alualu has one of the best motors in this draft. He never gives up on a play. He gives 110% on every play; that is easily his biggest strength. This kid is quick, physical and deceptively strong. He is effective against the pass and the run and can play DT in the 4-3 or DE in the 3-4. My main area of concern is his habit of relying on the bull rush. He was able to use this move a lot in college but he won't in the NFL. It works occasionally, but if that is your main move to get by a linemen; in the NFL that won't work. He will be facing competition that is a lot stronger than what he saw in college. He will need to improve himself by learning how to effectively use the rip, swim and other moves in order to beat NFL linemen. In addition to that concern, he will also need to improve his basic techniques (not over-pursuing, using his hands better ect..) Tyson Alualu is one of my favorite players in this year's draft. He is a playmaker (strong, physical, instinctive) who has great intangibles. I wouldn't be surprised to see him go off the board early in the 2nd round.

Draft Projection: 2nd round