Byron Murphy II scouting report: Exploring the Texas interior defensive lineman's strengths and weaknesses

One of the top-500 overall recruits in 2021, due to the crazy depth of the Texas D-line, Byron Murphy II started only two of 25 games played over his first two years with the Longhorns, recording 41 total tackles, 6.5 of those for loss and three sacks.

This past season he cracked the lineup and made first-team All-Big 12 as well as second-team All-American, thanks to putting up career-highs across the board (29 tackles, 8.5 for loss and five sacks). The Big 12 also got a little sneaky when they named Murphy the conference’s Defensive Lineman of the Year, even though his teammate T’Vondre Sweat received the DPOY award.

Details: 6’0”, 300 pounds; JR

Breaking down Byron Murphy II's scouting report

Byron Murphy #DL18 of Texas participates in a drill during the NFL Combine

Strengths

Run defense

• Byron Murphy is a stout run-defender, who plays uncommonly low and regularly demands both offensive linemen on combos to stay firm on him, which allows the linebacker to work around freely.
• Capable of lining up at the nose and anchoring against the angular element of combo-blocks.
• Has an uncanny feel for where pressure is being applied and how to counter it. There are snaps where he doesn’t move one inch while his knee towards the second man is hovering barely over the ground.
• Showcases highly impressive lateral agility to counter zone concepts, where he doesn’t only maintain leverage on the gap but gets his hands onto the next lineman who may try to provide a helping hand on the front side.
• The short-area quicks to back-door blockers or execute run stunts pops a couple of times in every game.
• Asking a center to down-block on him when pulling a guard across the formation is pretty much off the table, because he sticks to the hip of that guy and often ends up bumping him into the ball-carrier in the offensive backfield.
• Murphy’s sudden hands regularly cause issues, as he side-steps linemen and steps past their hip, initiating first contact with ball-carriers at the line of scrimmage that way regularly.
• His 83.9 run-defense grade in 2022 was a top-10 mark among Power Five interior defensive linemen and he had three extra stops (21) on basically the same amount of such snaps.

Pass rush

• His height gives Byron Murphy a natural leverage advantage already. Paired with his explosion off the ball and his ability to keep his upper body parallel to the ground basically makes him almost impossible to slow down when he just attacks up the field.
• Packs a violent club-rip move, including cross-face maneuvers, and fights hard through the reach of interior pass-protectors.
• Recognizes when linemen lean too far into him, rapidly yanking them forward and pulling his arm over to get by them.
• Has the flexibility and strength in his ankles to corner his rushes working on the outside shoulder of guards or tackles.
• When the O-line slides his direction or a tackle sets out to him rushing off the edge and Byron Murphy attacks the other way, the guy responsible for him typically has to get into catch-up mode and try to take him enough off track.
• Capable of drawing multiple bodies with him as he slants across gaps and attempts to open up a lane for one of his teammates to loop over the top of.
• Murphy’s ability to suddenly disengage from blocks and then chase down scrambling quarterbacks really stands out.
• His 14.8% pass-rush win rate in 2022 put him just outside the top 10 of the interior D-line group and while he “only” had five sacks last season, PFF had him with the highest pass-rush productivity (9.6) among the position (with at least 100 rush snaps).
• You see him turn his head and chase down screen passes 10+ yards down the field on multiple occasions.

Weaknesses

• Will get a little undisciplined with his run fits and attack too far upfield or across blockers, to open up bigger lanes than they should otherwise be.
• There’s room for improvement with how quickly he transitions from run-defense to disengaging from blocks and rushing the passer.
• You love the ability to torpedo up a gap in passing situations, but you do see him end up on the turf quite regularly and blockers are able to push him down because of it.
• Needs to start incorporating counter moves when he wins off the line but then doesn’t punish blockers as they try to recover and get loose with their footwork.

Byron Murphy's 2024 NFL Draft projection

Byron Murphy offers a rare blend of leverage, explosiveness, quicks and strength. He can pretty much fit in any type of front and become a difference-maker with the versatility to move around throughout games. Having said that, because the Longhorn coaches took advantage of that diverse skill set, he needs some development to realize his potential one day.

Being able to recognize plays before he’s charged into opponents, playing under a little more control and countering the techniques of blockers are all necessary if he wants to be a legit “play-maker” instead of just a disruptor.

Yet, you’re not going to find many guys who can penetrate as a three-technique or anchor against double-teams as a nose tackle, before either side-stepping or going straight through a 330-pound guard on thirds pretty much equally well. And then he backed that up with elite testing and a tremendous positional workout at the combine.

You may not want to put too much on his plate right away, but Byron Murphy has the potential to end up being the best defensive player from this entire draft. He should go off the board at some point in the teens.

Byron Murphy grade: Mid-first round.

You might like other DL scout reports: Leonard Taylor III; T'Vondre Sweat; Maason Smith.