Marshawn Kneeland scouting report: Exploring the Western Michigan edge defender's strengths and weaknesses

Outside the top-3000 national recruits back in 2019, Marshawn Kneeland only played in one game and ended up redshirting initially, before starting three of the five games during the COVID-shortened season that followed (23 tackles, two sacks and one forced fumble).

Across 32 combined games over the next three years, Marshawn Kneeland combined for 126 total stops, 26 for loss, 10.5 sacks, three passes batted down at the line and a couple of forced fumbles. He was named first-team All-MAC in 2023.

Profile: 6-foot-3, 265 pounds; RS SR.

Breaking down Marshawn Kneeland's scouting report

Marshawn Kneeland: NFL Combine

Run defense:

• Presents a very thick, muscular build without any excess weight
• Lined up in a more conservative four-point stance on early downs and comes out of it with his 34.5-inch arms ready to shoot, with tons of shock in his hands to frequently rock the pads the blockers backwards at the point of contact in the run game
• Fights hard at the point of attack, to not allow guys to reach-block him and when Marshawn Kneeland’s in control, he’s looking to jump inside and get involved on tackles, as he sees the back cut it up inside
• Tight-ends don’t really stand a chance and you see Kneeland take them a couple of yards into the backfield in order to wrap up the ball-carrier on multiple occasions
• When he recognizes tackles stepping with the inside foot to just shield Kneeland on the backside, he will push that guy backwards and squeeze him into the vision of the ball-carrier
• Blockers working laterally on zone concepts and not being firm in their base may just get knocked over by Kneeland as he works down the line away from the action
• Seeing pulling guards come Kneeland’s way, those guys regularly get bumped backwards when they collide on intended kick-outs and traffic jams being created in the backfield
• Highly forceful tackler, who consistently is able to pull ball-carriers backwards as he has them wrapped up, with no YAC surrendered – never missed more than six tackles in a season
• Earned PFF run-defense grades of 83.3 and 83.4 these past two seasons, with 27 run stops in 2023 alone (tied for sixth among edge defenders)

Pass-rush:

• Very efficient pass-rusher when it comes to the arc he takes to the quarterback, regularly with the bull-rush or club-rip move – You rarely see the B-gap open up as an escape lane because of that
• Great leverage rusher, who combines the force in his hands and leg-drive to really challenge the depth of the pocket, even when working over the guard
• There at times where he gives a little shake or jabs inside to freeze the feet of tackles, in order to step around them without having to take a wider loop
• Showcases impressive flexibility when he initially gets hung up with blockers and then is able to slide off contact by knocking away the hands while turning his shoulders away
• His ability to stick one foot into the ground on stunts/loops or redirecting against screen passes at that weight is pretty wild
• Marshawn Kneeland’s combination of flexibility and power to crash through one shoulder of a blocker sliding his way makes him a problem to deal with on T-E twists, flushing the quarterback regularly on those
• WMU used this guy as a stand-up rusher and somebody that would move along the front on passing downs, to either rush from different angles off the ball or drop out as an extra defender underneath, to deny easy completions over the middle
• Tough for quarterbacks to get around or the ball over his head as he closes in and gets those arms up to deny them being able to still get the ball out
• Had his most efficient season getting after quarterbacks as a senior, logging 37 total pressures across 288 pass-rush snaps

Weaknesses:

• Will shift his weight too far into the center of blockers and has to rely on his speed to not get beat around the edge, which he won’t be able to as much on the next level
• Overall doesn’t seem to have the greatest play-recognition and can lose track of the ball on misdirection stuff
• Would still benefit from attacking the edges of the frame of tackles in passing situations, rather than attacking them as straight-up as much
• There’s certainly room for improvement with hand-placement to hit connection points and landing a wider variety of combats, along with getting to more consistently reliable counters
• His synergy between upper and lower body to execute moves to full effect and not stumble as he loses his balance momentarily needs work

Marshawn Kneeland's 2024 NFL Draft prospect

Marshawn Kneeland: NFL Combine

Marshawn Kneeland is an impressive specimen, who wreaked havoc on the MAC last season and may end up going significantly higher than what consensus rankings would make you believe.

Marshawn Kneeland had an excellent Senior Bowl week, I thought, especially re-watching the practice footage and seeing how efficient he was with his rush tracks, which is more indicative/translatable of what his job will look like on gamedays.

He then led all front-seven defenders at the combine in both the agility drills (three-cone and 20-yard shuttle), along with the 40 and both jumps being just above the 80th percentile at 268 pounds.

With that being said, he still is a fairly raw player. Whether it’s identifying and counter blocking schemes in the run game, the effectiveness and diversity of his hand swipes or how his body is linked to pull off more challenging moves, he’s certainly not a finished product.

And yet, I think he may have the potential to become the most complete player of the bunch after the top-three and I couldn’t blame anybody from the middle of the second round onwards making that investment, especially those contending teams toward the back-end.

Grade: Late second round