Renell Wren, DL
School: Arizona State | Conference: PAC 12
College Experience: RS Senior | Age: 23?
Height / Weight: 6-4 / 318 lbs
Projected Draft Status: 4th or 5th Round
NFL Comparison: Adolphus Washington
College Statistics
Player Overview
Renell Wren was a 3-star prospect from St. Louis, Missouri who had little doubt in his mind where he wanted to play college football. Wren committed to Arizona State early in he recruiting process and never changed his mind. The defensive lineman has been one of the more underrated in this year’s draft due average production. When you watch him play though you’ll see a very disruptive player even if he doesn’t always finish. Wren has impressive physical traits and should have been more dominant in college. His explosion and strength is obvious but it looks like he hasn’t learned much in the way of technique from the Arizona State defensive line coaches. Wren has been spending his offseason preparing like every other NFL prospect but he has been trying to study his favorite players to help him get a hold of this technique thing. He spends his time watching tape on YouTube of Chris Jones and Fletcher Cox in hopes of getting a head start emulating their game. Wren knows what he has to work on now he’s hoping he goes to a good situation where he can show his true potential.
Strengths
- Great size, length, strength, and explosion for the position.
- Explosive first step to break the lines. If he wins the timing battle there is little the center or guard can do to recover. Can win and collapse the pocket with pure strength and can throw the backfield into fits.
- Has a powerful punch and great arm extension which creates separation from OL and the opportunity to counter if he wanted to. Shows good mobility for a DL.
- Shows promise as a potential scheme versatile player. Solid tackler when he actually gets hands on the ball carrier.
Weaknesses
- Has absolutely no vision or plan after the snap. Pass rush is lacking because he is too concerned with getting initial push and thats it. Doesn’t take advantage of his physical talent with technique work.
- I have no idea where he is looking. He is too caught up in his individual fight and getting stuck that plays can go right past him.
- Largely ineffective if he doesn’t win with his initial burst and power. Lunges and feet don’t match the work of the upper body so he can lost the leverage battle easy.
- Highly questionable instincts and natural feel for the position.
Let’s see his work:
DT Renell Wren. He had like 4 or 5 snaps in this game just like this. pic.twitter.com/22DeeK2qAr
— TB Times Subcriber (@Patskrieg) April 18, 2019
Renell Wren (@Renell_Wren) wins this rep with quality burst off the line. His first step covers a lot of ground, illustrates powerful pop through the hands and stacks/shed the OC to get in the backfield for the TFL with company. pic.twitter.com/K1OjYCpZv6
— Gavino Borquez (@GavinoBorquez) September 16, 2018
Renell Wren is a very, very good player. I know @ZachHicks2 is high on him. Explosive, athletic, and powerful player, and here is a great example of it. Completely wins the leverage of the line and just bull rushes him down. In his tape, it is not that uncommon. #DraftTwitter pic.twitter.com/v04S4IszTs
— Nick Farabaugh (@FarabaughFB) December 26, 2018
How He Would Fit On The Redskins
Wren is the definition of both ‘boom or bust’ and a ‘traits player’. He has never put it all together on the field and entering the NFL at his age there is a limited window to do so. Luckily the gamble on Wren won’t cost that much as he is projected to come off the board sometime on day 3. As I said a thousand times now if anyone can team technique its the Redskins defensive line coach. That said with how raw and ineffective Wren is aside from bull rushing the center I assume it will take him a couple seasons to really become an effective contributor in the rotation. With the resigning of Matt Ioannidis the Redskins have their starting DL set for a few years and now can focus on adding talent as depth to the line. Wren is certainly a project but the physical traits present are such that a roll of the dice could pay off in a big way. On day 3 of the draft when the Skins are looking to fill out depth on the team could someone in the War Room decide that Wren is worth the gamble?