Mississippi State’s Montez Sweat blew away Scouts at the Combine, could he be a fit in Washington?

Montez Sweat, EDGE
School: Mississippi State | Conference: SEC
College Experience: Senior | Age: 22
Height / Weight: 6-6 / 260 lbs
Projected Draft Status: 1st round
NFL Comparison: Danielle Hunter, DE, Minnesota Vikings

College Statistics

Player Overview

Former tight end and current edge defender Montez Sweat is a very intriguing prospect. Over the course two years at Mississippi State (did not play at Michigan State in 2014 and 2015) he became one of the elites at his position. In two seasons he totaled 22.5 sacks and 101 tackles in 26 games with the Bulldogs. Sweat earned first-team All-SEC honors in both years as a Bulldog, 2018 First-Team All-American, 2018 Bednarik National Player of the Week, 2018 Bednarik Award Semifinalist, and a 2019 Senior Bowl Selection. In his senior year he recorded the second-most total pressures in the SEC (47) and tied the second-most QB Hits (10) among edge defenders according to Pro Football Focus. During his time at the 2019 NFL Combine, Sweat blew scouts away with his premier athleticism for a 260 pound athlete with a 4.41 40-yard dash (best of all positions), 36 inch vertical jump (5th best of edge group), and 10.4 inch broad jump (4th best for edge).

Strengths

• Great first step - Developed through great timing and good burst as pass rusher. Good hands when engaging blockers.
• Length - Very hard to get around in his tackling radius. Very little concerns as a tackler and run defender.
• Quick processor at the line of scrimmage - able to diagnose run vs pass in great time.

Weaknesses

• Struggles with flexibility and not as agile as you would prefer for an edge defender.

Let’s see his work (DE #9)

More Montez Sweat videos

How He Would Fit on The Redskins

For Montez Sweat to work with Washington, the Redskins would have to rely on coaching to make him a schematic fit. I believe Montez Sweat is a defender who will thrive in a 4-3 due to his limitations as a flexible and agile edge player. In a 3-4 where the edge rushers are sometimes counted on to play in space very often, as well as playing in coverage, it hinders Sweat’s ability to maximize his impact on an offense. Besides, we have seen enough of Ryan Kerrigan struggle in coverage.

However, for Sweat, he would be most effective in nickel situations for the Redskins that requires him only to go north and south. The good thing about today’s NFL is that would be a high percentage of snaps for him so that he will get plenty of reps. Sweat presents the speed factor that the Redskins has also lacked since transitioning to the 3-4 defense in 2010 and gives them the option of developing a pass-rusher like Sweat to become one of the best at his position under the leadership of fellow edge rusher Ryan Kerrigan.