3-4 Defensive End/Defensive Tackle/Nose Tackle

Alabama

6-3 319

Draft Board Overall 3-4 Defensive End Rank: #1

Draft Board Overall Prospect Rank: #6

Rating: 96 (elite) 

40 time: 4.92

Marcell Dareus is regarded as the safe pick of the three top defensive linemen in this class (Dareus, Fairley, and Bowers). This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Dareus hasn’t even played a full season as starter. He put up amazing stats as a backup rotational player in 2009, with 6.5 sacks at 300 pounds at age 19 and then in 2010, when he finally got a starting job, he missed 2 games with a suspension. Dareus is as boom or bust as any of the three elite defensive linemen in this class. He also has as high of an upside. This kid has barely scratched the surface of his talent.

He’s an athletic freak with a 4.92 40 at 6-3 319. He’s about 30 pounds heavier than Fairley and runs almost as fast and the 10 second splits between the two are nearly identical. He’s better coached than Fairley, coming from Nick Saban’s program at Alabama. He plays more contained and doesn’t have the same “dirty” label as Fairley. He has experience in a 3-4 scheme and it’s easier to convert from a 3-4 end to a 4-3 tackle than it is for a 4-3 tackle to do the opposite. Just look at Tyson Alualu, the 10^th pick in 2010 as a former 3-4 end out of California moving into Jacksonville’s 4-3. He’s almost more well rounded than Fairley. Fairley is the better pass rusher, but Fairley is the better run stopper by far.

At his best, this is an absolutely dominant lineman in all facets of the game. However, he only has 15 career starts. He didn’t produce on Fairley’s elite level, against the same competition in the SEC. This isn’t a Suh/McCoy debate where Suh was the more athletic, more productive, and more well rounded player. Fairley was more productive, but Dareus is more athletic and more well rounded. Dareus had 6.5 sacks in 2009, in 13 games, 4 starts. He had 5.5 sacks in 2010, in 11 games, 11 starts.

Dareus can really play any position on a 3-4 line. He lined up inside at the 3-4 nose at times last year and weighing in at 319 pounds, he can definitely play that position in the NFL if a team chose to play him there. I wouldn’t play him there full time as it doesn’t best utilize his skills, but he could move inside on passing downs. He can also play the 4-3 tackle position, either of them.

He can take on multiple blockers and plug up multiple gaps and free up other players to roam around and make tackles and he can also play the one gap, as a pure interior rusher. He’s very versatile. He’s just not as good of a pass rusher as Fairley, as proven against the same competition. When it comes to the Fairley/Dareus debate, it’s so close. I take Fairley for a 4-3 team and Dareus for a 3-4.

NFL Comparison: Haloti Ngata