Myles Murphy 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Clemson EDGE

Myles Murphy, Clemson: 6’5”, 270 pounds.

The number one defensive end and a top-10 overall recruit in 2020, Myles Murphy recorded 12 sacks, 25 tackles for loss and five forced fumbles through his first two years with the Tigers.

This past season, he was basically right on par with his sophomore numbers (11 TFLs, 6.5 sacks, two passes batted down and 1 FF), but he was recognized as a first-team All-ACC for it, after being second-team the year prior.

Myles Murphy scout report: Strengths

Myles Murphy - Clemson v Pittsburgh

+ Such a physical, disciplined run defender who can re-set the line of scrimmage against drive blocks from tackles.

+ You see him sort of shock blockers at contact with the force in his hands, especially at the point of attack.

+ Attaches to the hip of the tackle blocking away from him on like wide zone runs and flattens once he sees an opportunity to run down the ball-carrier.

+ Refuses to be sealed on the backside by tight-ends, crashing through that C-gap and chasing after the ball. Even if by alignment he can’t quite gain that inside lane, he at least rides those guys down the line and at times into the lap of RBs looking to cut back.

+ Happily throws his body around and creates traffic, crashing into pulling linemen, slipping blocks and starting piles, to where the ball-carrier has to stop and redirect.

+ Can just jolt up tight-ends/H-backs sifting across the formation.

+ Realizes when there are opportunities to work across the tackle’s face and create an angle towards the ball (or go underneath and force bounces out to the boundary after plays have been strung wide, to where space is running out and his teammates can clean up).

+ When nobody puts a hand on Murphy early on, he has the short-area explosion to attack down the line and create traffic in the backfield (as offenses try to read out something and/or have a player coming across the formation pops off the screen).

+ Displays great awareness for screen passes and routinely chases down the designated target.

+ Heavily asked to read-and-react, rather than being allowed to shoot upfield, yet even when his approach didn’t lend itself to getting home to the QB, Murphy consistently condensed the pocket off the edge (and took away space to move around back there).

+ When he was able to just attack from these wider, at times tilted alignments and explode off the snap, his get-off and ability to put tackles on skates when they had to overcommit to his speed was eye-opening.

+ Has a nasty long-arm to punish blockers trying to give him ground and sit back on him.

+ Plus, once he feels those guys lean into him, he can quickly swat their hands away and corner around, or take the inside path if he initially connects with the inside pec of the tackle.

+ Displays a strong push-pull maneuver to open up a path for himself to get to the quarterback, along with the flexibility to come through cleanly. He did so when reduced inside on passing downs as well.

+ Quick to crash through the inside shoulder with the rip if tackles overset him or if he feels them lose balance/the inside foot is lifted off the ground.

+ Continues to work as a pass-rusher and eventually finds a way to get through. Has an impressive secondary burst when he seems to get into stalemates momentarily and then swats away the hands of the blocker.

+ His closing burst when used as a looper across multiple gaps and that ability to curve his path towards the QB are pretty scary.

+ As a contain rusher, Murphy does well to aim at the quarterback’s outside hip and not get outflanked by blind-side spin moves.

+ On 687 pass-rushing snaps these last two years, along with 14.5 sacks, Murphy had another 61 other pressures.

Myles Murphy scout report: Weaknesses

Myles Murphy #98 of the Clemson Tigers celebrates a missed field goa

– Overall I’d like to see Myles Murphy be more pro-active by defeating the hands of blockers initially and taking control of snaps himself (where his freakishly small 8 and ½-inch hands may come into play).

– There’s definitely room for improvement in terms of bringing his hips through contact, locking out and keeping his head up, to track the ball-carrier.

– Doesn’t quite have the speed to win cleanly around the corner with the third and fourth steps, or hit ghost moves to great effect.

– Allows athletic tackles to land punches inside his chest too regularly and force stymie his rush, Notre Dame sophomore Joe Alt was able to negate him pretty well.

– His high-end reps are freaky, but they’re too few and far between.

Myles Murphy scout report: Grade

Looking at the Clemson defense as a whole, I feel like everybody’s 2021 tape was significantly better than what they put out there this past season (when they switched away from DC Brent Venables) and that’s especially true for Myles Murphy.

You saw the talent flash and some plays that make you think he could be a top-ten pick, but you’d like to see more consistency from a three-year player. There are definitely some technical things that he needs to really work on and he won’t be putting up big sack numbers with clean wins early on.

Nevertheless, the explosion off the ball, the force he can unleash on blockers and how he keeps working, there’s a lot of upside. If Myles Murphy learns how to maximize his power and then can work off that, if he takes reps early on he can be a problem to deal with off the edge.

Grade: Mid-first round.

You might like other 2023 NFL Draft Scouting Reports: Tyree Wilson (EDGE), Texas Tech; Will Anderson Jr. (EDGE), Alabama; Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR), Ohio; Zay Flowers (WR), Boston; Jordan Addison (WR), USC; Jalin Hyatt (WR), Tennessee; Jordan Addison (WR), USC; Quentin Johnston (WR), TCU; Zach Charbonnet (RB), UCLA; Bijan Robinson (RB), Texas.

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