Derick Hall 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Auburn EDGE

Penn State vs. Auburn

Derick Hall, a four-star recruit in 2019, worked his way into the Auburn Tigers starting lineup in his junior year, when he put up career highs in tackles for loss (12.5), sacks (nine) and forced fumbles (two), making him a second-team All-SEC selection.

Last year he put up nearly the exact same stat line, along with one interception and fumble recovery each, and ascended to first-team all-conference, despite playing on a 5-7 Auburn team.

Derick Hall, Auburn

6-foot-3, 250 pounds; senior

Positives

+ Good thickness and muscle throughout his frame, along with 34½-inch arms

+ Does well to lean into and lock out blockers at the point of attack ... You rarely see him get moved off his landmarks

+ Seems to consistently be in control when tight ends are asked to solo block him, where you see him press of guys like Georgia’s Darnell Washington

+ Goes right behind the back of tackles blocking away from him and chases down zone runs the other way with ferocious pursuit

+ Is looking to dip inside of sift blocks and make an impact when designed to be kept from the action

+ Displays the short-area burst to track down mobile quarterbacks pulling the ball or midpoint as the read man on speed option and still make the tackle on the back

+ Provides the powerful strides to drive ballcarriers backwards as a tackler in tight areas and helps make sure there are no more yards after contact when he arrives there

+ You also see him shuffle along from the backside of zone-read or RPO looks, where he has burst to run down the tight ends coming across for slide routes and stuff like that

+ Was asked to peel off and drop to the flats or hook zones a few times, he was an effective tackler when offenses flipped the ball out to the back that way

+ When he gets a good jump on the ball, Hall looks like he’s shot out of a cannon a few times, which he pairs up with a forceful rip

+ Can power through the outside shoulder at an angle to shorten the arc and at least condense the edge even against powerful OTs

+ Last season, I thought he got a lot more effective at converting speed to power from those wide alignments and riding tackles into the space of quarterbacks by rolling his hips through contact

+ Will also press through the inside shoulder to either get a wrap on quarterbacks or flush them off their spots to enable his teammates to clean up

+ If you present the hands to Hall prematurely, he will work those and somehow knock them away before attacking your frame instead

+ Continues to work the hands and fight off blocks with the speed to hunt down quarterbacks escaping the pocket

+ Auburn used some packages on longer downs, where Hall lined up at MIKE backer to rush him from different angles

+ Has earned 80.0-plus pass-rushing grades in each of the past three seasons from PFF, with 90 pressures across 659 rush opportunities over the last two combined

Negatives

– Possesses the length and explosiveness to be an impact pass rusher, but he needs to add more moves to his toolbox, varying his steps and pacing his rushes more, in order to create softer angles for himself

– In particular slants/stunts and rushing from different angles, he allows blockers to square him up and doesn’t proactively attack their edges, in order to really challenge those guys

– Simply has to find reliable counters off pure speed rushes and the long arm, where a little stiffness in the hips shows up

– Could do a better job of getting his head out of traffic when shooting inside or having a tight end work towards him

– He may have been provided that freedom to peak and cheat inside on blocks due to the speed on their second level, but some NFL coaches will chew him out for not staying in position to keep his contain all the time

Overview

I thought Hall really missed an opportunity down in Mobile to separate himself from a couple of other guys in the Senior Bowl edge group. He couldn’t really dictate rushes and allowed guys to mirror him on spin moves, due to not threatening upfield aggressively enough. Even so, that was a pretty strong collection of tackles. Now that I’ve finished and published my breakdown of that class, and if you go back to the tape, you find several stretches of him being in control of matchups.

My worry is, when going up against more complete and technically advanced OTs, his repertoire of moves is a little too straight line and predictable right now. If he can become more diverse in that regard and play with vision on the ball through blocks in run defense, he can be a longtime starter at outside linebacker for an odd-front defense. I expect him to ultimately be a top 50 pick.

Grade: Late second round

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