Middle linebacker

Arizona State

6-1 248

Draft board overall prospect rank: #158

Draft board overall middle linebacker rank: #5

Overall rating: 59 (5^th round)

40 time: 4.93

Games watched: Arizona State/Missouri, USC/Arizona State, Boise State/Arizona State

Positives

·         Physical freak

·         Has all the tools

·         Big, physical player with nasty attitude

·         Loves the big hit

·         Makes splash plays

·         Explosive tackler against the run

·         Heavily recruited player

·         3 year starter 

·         Competitive

·         Strong freshman and sophomore season 

Negatives

·         Has two speeds: Out of control violent and half speed

·         Personal foul prone

·         Overly intense and emotional

·         Didn’t play much down the stretch last season for disciplinary reasons

·         Didn’t interview well

·         Blamed coaches for his problems

·         Production did not live up to his abilities

·         Awful junior season 

·         Out of shape for Combine and Pro Day

·         Horrible 40 time (4.93 at fastest, other 3 times were north of 5 seconds)

·         Needs work on football instincts

·         Not comfortable in coverage in back pedal

·         Lacks maturity, leadership, work ethic and discipline

·         Goes for big hit over sure tackle

·         Tackling form needs work

NFL Comparison: Channing Crowder

Vontaze Burfict has drawn comparisons to Ray Lewis since he stepped on Arizona State’s campus in 2009. He was a 5 star recruit who took all of 3 games to be inserted into the starting lineup as a true freshman and he finished the season as a member of the Pac 10 (at the time) All-Freshman First team. He played with Lewis’ nasty demeanor, made splash plays against the run, held his own in coverage and was one of the most feared defensive players in the country. He looked like a future 1^st round pick.

However, he never really improved from there. Both the tape and the stats will tell you that. As a freshman, he had 69 tackles, 7 for loss, and 2 sacks. As a sophomore, he had 90 tackles and 8.5 tackles for loss. As a junior, he had 69 tackles, 7 for loss, and 5 sacks. Still, heading into his Junior year, he was a projected first round pick expected to put everything together and have an amazing junior season.

What he did was far from that. Not only did he regress statistically as he attempted to play less violently and avoid personal fouls, he got into conflicts with the coaching staff that led to him being benched towards the end of the season. Rather than stay and resolve these problems and try to improve his draft stock, he fled for the NFL Draft, blamed his coaches for everything at interviews (among other things that rubbed NFL personnel the wrong way), and showed up out of shape for both The Combine and his Pro Day, looking awful in positional drills and sluggish in timed runs.

Heading into the NFL Combine, I had a 3^rd round grade on him. I didn’t see anything in between a violent, overaggressive speed and a half speed for him. He was either out playing dirty and over pursuing and not wrapping up on tackles or he was dogging it. He couldn’t adjust to having to play less violently and playing within his ability and he had a terrible junior season because of that.

When you add that to run ins with his coaches, that’s where the 3^rd round grade came from. When he showed up out of shape to The Combine and alienated NFL personnel in his interviews, I dropped him to a 5^th round grade, which is probably where he’ll end up getting drafted this April. He’ll have one last chance to prove himself at a personal Pro Day, but I doubt he’ll chance many opinions there.

As a prospect, I compare him to Channing Crowder. Crowder plays with a similar demeanor on the football field and was actually one of the better 2 down run stuffing 3-4 middle linebackers in the league for a few years and I think that’s Burfict’s best fit at the next level. However, Crowder was always seen as a bit of a loose cannon on and off the field.

This was never more obvious than when he abruptly retired after being released at the end of the 2011 season, at the age of 27, despite having several offers from other teams. He has since expressed his desire to return to football, but he has yet to find a taker, for obvious reasons. Crowder was a 3^rd rounder in 2006. Burfict will probably come off the board between rounds 4-6 and could go undrafted if enough teams have crossed him off the board.