NFL: Draft run on QBs - but you won’t run on Vita Vea

With so many NFL teams in need of help at the most crucial position, there is likely to be as many as four quarterbacks taken within the first 10 picks when the cream of the collegiate crop are selected in the NFL draft (April 27-29).

Cleveland Browns (who pick at spots 1 and 4), New York Giants (2), New York Jets (3), Denver Broncos (5), Miami Dolphins (11) and Buffalo Bills (12) are all teams who need help at the most crucial position – and it would be no surprise to see the Arizona Cardinals (15) attempting to trade into the top 10 in a bid to select a premium passer.

Sam Darnold (USC), Josh Rosen (UCLA), Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma) and Josh Allen (Wyoming) are all expected to go in the top 10. Mason Rudolph (Oklahoma State) and Lamar Jackson (Louisville) could also go in the first-round arm-talent frenzy.

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Yet the quarterback class of 2018 may not prove to be as rich as many pundits would have us believe. Many teams, much less their fans, buy into the hackneyed – and statistically arguable – adage that ‘offense wins games, defense wins championships’. So, particularly this year, teams who seek a top prospect on the other side of the ball should get better value.

And there may be no bigger low-hanging fruit in the first round than Tevita “Vita” Tuliakiono Tuipuloto Mosese Va’hae Faletau Vea, who is not just a mouthful, he’s also a bit of a handful.

Vita Vea is projected to be taken as a top 15-20 pick overall after an outstanding season with the Washington Huskies.

Vea possesses a rare combination of size and speed. At 6-foot-4 and 347lbs, he has the size of a traditional 3-4 nose tackle, but he has the quickness of a much lighter player. While too much stock is often put in the statistics from the NFL Combine, Vea ran the 40-yard dash in an impressive 5.1 seconds.

Power is equally important. The 23-year-old benched-pressed 225lbs 41 times at the Combine – more than just 14 players since the league started keeping track in 1998 – but it is his game tape that impresses.

An excellent run stopper, he is extremely difficult to move out of run lanes, even when double and triple-teamed and, as a result, he won Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honours in recording 43 tackles (5.5 for loss) and 3.5 sacks.

Vea, who will be targeted by 3-4 teams looking for a dominant run defender on the end, reminds many of Dontari Poe, the 11th overall selection of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2012, who went on to enjoy success at Atlanta and who has recently joined Carolina.

However, Vea is slightly taller than Poe and his ability to get upfield draws more comparisons to the disruptive Haloti Ngata, who was a linchpin of a fearsome Baltimore Ravens’ defense for seven seasons before moving to Detroit and Philadelphia.

There is no doubt he is a raw talent. Very raw. At times, his footwork is slow. If there is one concern with Vea it is that he relies purely on his natural athleticism and his technique can suffer. Lowering his pad level to gain maximum leverage and consistency with his hand movements are things that can be coached, however. He also has only 9.5 career sacks, which has some questioning his ability to dominate.

Yet he consistently applies pressure and fills up lanes. The question is not whether the most physically imposing player in the Draft will develop into a force in the NFL – with the correct coaching, you can bank on that – it is who will take him and where he best fits. That may be two separate places.

Teams like the Oakland Raiders (10th pick), Dolphins (11th), Washington Redskins (13th) and Green Bay Packers (14th), who need an impactful interior defensive lineman, will be better placed than usual to take the cream of defensive talent from the college ranks.

Raiders’ fans would be salivating if they paired Vea with Khalil Mack and Bruce Irvin on the same defensive line, which would give new head coach Jon Gruden one of the most troublesome fronts in the NFL.

The Dolphins need to add depth and talent along the interior of the defensive line, since they allowed Ndamukong Suh to leave and find a home at the Los Angeles Rams. Though Jordan Phillips and Davon Godchaux are the team’s projected starters at defensive tackle, beyond that, they don’t have too much.

Green Bay may have added former Jet Muhammad Wilkerson via free agency, but while he is well-known to new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, he was benched for disciplinary reasons last term and could just be a stop-gap on a ‘prove-it’ one-year deal.

The Packers, who have not had the talent on the interior line since drafting the now-retired B.J. Raji with the ninth pick in the 2009 draft, could be the better fit, given Pettine’s likely aggressive scheme.

Ironically, this will be the Packers’ highest Draft pick since 2009.

Pettine must hope that the Raiders or Dolphins take Georgia’s LB Roquan Smith or, in Miami’s case, a QB or safety (Florida State’s Derwin James fits the bill), and hope Vea falls into their lap at pick 14. They simply won’t pass up the best available player, as Vea would surely be at that stage.