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Dallas Cowboys Draft: NFL Prospects from the Dallas-Fort Worth Area

By Adithya Prabakaran

FORT WORTH, TX - NOVEMBER 29: Jalen Reagor #1 of the TCU Horned Frogs returns a punt for a touchdown against the West Virginia Mountaineers in the second half at Amon G. Carter Stadium on November 29, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. West Virginia won 20-17. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TX - NOVEMBER 29: Jalen Reagor #1 of the TCU Horned Frogs returns a punt for a touchdown against the West Virginia Mountaineers in the second half at Amon G. Carter Stadium on November 29, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. West Virginia won 20-17. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

SEC Prospects: DT Justin Madubuike, Texas A&M

Another Aggie defensive lineman has declared for the draft, this one coming from McKinney, Texas. Madubuike played three years at A&M lined up just about anywhere on the line. While Madubuike’s impact could be limited at times, he was was productive having over 25 tackles and 5 sacks in each of his sophomore and junior seasons.

Madubuike stands at 6’3″, 304 pounds so while we can give him “big boi’ status he is quite lean for his size. That lean body is great at fitting through small holes between offensive linemen when he explodes off the line to finish a sack or blow up a run. With his lean frame, could he be a bendy, finesse type of rusher? Maybe?

Madubuike doesn’t possess the bend you’d expect from someone of his build, and because he’s lean he doesn’t always have the power to get past linemen. It is worth nothing that finding incredible bend at the defensive tackle position isn’t very common even for the leanest of tackles.

What Madubuike does have is excellent body control, ball awareness, and pad height, which all developed greatly in his junior season.

As a run stopper, he’s learned how to win the leverage battle against bigger offensive linemen. His pass rush arsenal improved last season and it allowed him to take advantage of his lean body, explosiveness and good reaction time. He swims past defenders like Michael Phelps and changes direction like Barry Sanders. (Very clear joke here, but imagine a 305 pound man having these type of skills. That’d be fun!)

Unfortunately, the greatest question surrounding Madubuike is probably the most important one: where does he play? He has the versatility to play anything from a 4-3 1T tackle to a 3-4 edge defender because of his size, but his athletic characteristics make him a bit harder to peg. My best guess is he’s a 3T lineman on early downs and you move him to 1T on passing downs to take advantage of centers slower reaction times.

I’m not a defensive coordinator so I’ll leave that job up to the coaches of the team that draft him in April.

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