Chop Robinson scouting report: Exploring the Penn State edge defender's strengths and weaknesses

The fourth-highest ranked defensive end from the 2021 recruiting class, Chop Robinson played in all 12 and started one game as a true freshman with Maryland, recording 2.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Following that, he transferred in-conference to Penn State, where he logged 10 TFLs and 5.5 sacks in his debut campaign.

Chop Robinson's numbers went down a little this past season (15 tackles, 7.5 TFLs, four sacks, two fumbles forced and one recovered) in 10 games, but he was still recognized as a first-team All-Big Ten selection.

Profile: 6-foot-3, 250 pounds; JR.

Breaking down Chop Robinson's scouting report

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Run defense:

Has the strength in his triceps to lock out and win the leverage battle on the front-side of run concepts
Is able to creation flexion in his lower body and get underneath blockers in order to not get ridden or washed down when they are able to create initial momentum
Shows the ability to reduce the shoulder against angular blockers, step under and around combo-blocks near the point of attack, routinely being able to dup under and force blockers to grab
You can’t ask tight-ends to cave him in or seal him off on the backside, but Chop will crash through the C-gap and ruin plays in a hurry
With his speed and flexion in his ankles, Chop can flatten down the line and chase down plays from the backside or bend around pullers to get a hand on the ball-carrier
Only missed one (of 14 attempted) tackle(s) last season thanks to how he meets ball-carriers with square pads and the long arms to extend his radius
Led all Power Five edge defenders in overall grade (90.6) and pass-rushing grade (92.4) in 2022, which he actually slightly improved those numbers along with a more than respectable 76.3 mark in run defense
Was peeled off the edge quite regularly and would push targets in his path off track, as well as crowd underneath passing windows

Pass-rush:

Instantly threatens offensive tackles in their pass sets with his get-off and rushes super low
Twitched-up pass-rusher who can give blockers a lot of trouble trying to mirror him, including the leverage and leg-drive to ride guys backwards if they get too tall in their sets or use wide arms
Effectively bends his rushes combined with chop-rips and double-hand side swipes, where if tight-ends are assigned to block him (off play-action), those guys typically have no shot of taking him off track
Snatches and lifts the outside hand of tackles in order to create a softer angle for himself a few times
Lands some wicked up-and-under moves paired with the high swim
Working from the three-technique for some longer downs, that ability to stay low and get around guards created major issues
Possesses the triceps strength to push off and extend the inside arm through the chest of blockers, in order to open up the inside lane, along with also freeing himself quite regularly by pulling the inside arm over and that foot through
Shows some crazy ankle flexibility where he’s a little past the quarterback and is able pivot back around to run that guy down from behind
Recorded 48 pressures across 267 pass-rush snaps in 2022 and 26 on 148 opportunities last season – pass-rush grades from PFF of 92.3 and 92.4, respectively

Weaknesses:

Needs to do a better job of not getting his body turned in the run game and setting a firm edge against tight-ends
Both in the run and pass game, his upper and lower body don’t always seem to be in sync, limiting his effectiveness at the moment of first interaction with blockers
When Chop Robinson tries to jump inside of tackles and is cut off, he doesn’t really have a secondary approach to still win those reps
Doesn’t yet string together moves in a comprehensive fashion or reads pass-sets particularly well
Only has 32.5-inch arms and that lack of length certainly showed up in the 2022 Ohio State game against that great duo of OTs, who were largely able to neutralize him

Chop Robinson's 2024 NFL Draft prospect

Chop Robinson has been acclaimed as this crazy athletic edge defender for a couple of years now, making the top of Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List ahead of the 2023 season, which was backed up by running a 4.48 and leading all defensive linemen with a 10’8” broad jump at the combine after weighing in at 254 pounds.

I believe he played at a good 10 pounds less and unfortunately the sack production at least never quite lived up to the hype (9.5 combined over the last two years).

Chop Robinson will need to fill out his frame a little more in a sustainable fashion and then there’s still plenty of room upwards in the way he formulates rush plans as well as his reactionary skills to counter how offensive tackles approach him.

I do certainly understand the appeal here in terms of someone with his kind of get-off and ability to cleanly win around the arc when his hand-swipes hit and I think he plays really hard, but I don’t see him being a very productive early on in his career.

If you can get Chop Robinson to play at that weight he tested at in Indy and his future coaches can get that light bulb to go off, I think he can be quality three-down starter by his second season, but I do see a significant drop-off from the “big three” and Robinson to me is more so a target late in the first round.

Grade: Late first round