New Orleans Saints select Bryan Bresee with the 29th pick. Grade: A
(Ken Ruinard-USA TODAY Sports)
Saints head coach Dennis Allen saw his defense lose some valued defensive linemen in free agency, so Bresee is a smart pick here, as long as he can transcend a slightly worrisome injury history. As Allen tends to prefer, Bresee can play all over the line, and he is a disruptor above all, with a knack for the kinds of quick pressure that is job one in the NFL these days.
Height: 6′ 5⅝” (94th percentile) Weight: 298 (30th)
40-Yard Dash: 4.86 (93rd)
10-Yard Split: 1.71 (72nd)
Bench Press: 22 reps (15th)
Vertical Jump: 29″ (46th)
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: N/A
Arm Length: 32½” (25th)
Hand Size: 10¼” (73rd)
Bio: A star at Damascus High School in Damascus, Maryland, Bresee was ranked the top high school prospect in the country by 247Sports and chose Clemson over a ton of other offers. Over three seasons with the Tigers, Bresee had eight sacks, 13 quarterback hits, 39 quarterback hurries, 34 tackles, 35 stops, and one forced fumble. He had 583 snaps in the B-gaps, 190 in the A-gaps, 69 over the tackles, and 68 outside the tackles.
Stat to Know: Bresee’s pressure rate of 12% ranked third in this class among interior defensive linemen, behind only Jalen Carter and Calijah Kancey.
Strengths: Bresee’s ability to create quick pressure on the quarterback is something that NFL teams value. It speaks to his explosiveness off the snap, and how he can just wreck a backfield by knifing through blocks.
These traits also apply to his potential as a run defender — when Bresee has it on lock right from the snap, there are times when blockers can’t even get their hands up before he’s zoomed by them.
Weaknesses: This is true of a lot of collegiate defensive linemen and edge defenders who haven’t yet learned to integrate advanced techniques with their athletic potential, but Bresee doesn’t always have a plan if you stone him at the line of scrimmage. Too often, he’ll wrestle instead of disengaging. Tennessee right tackle Darnell Wright, another player with first-round talent, got Bresee on this play for that exact reason.
Bresee could also do with a bit more functional upper-body strength; his hell-for-leather style doesn’t work as well when he’s getting buried by blockers who gain the leverage advantage.
Conclusion: Right now, Bresee would fit like a proverbial glove in any front in need of one-gap disruptors who go 100 miles per hour on every play, and can do so from any gap. Where he’s a bit of a project, and where the upside is really exciting, is how much he’ll be able to advance his hand work and pure power with next-level coaching and weight work. Were we to stamp all of that with a seal of approval, Bresee might have a few All-Pro nods in his future.
NFL Comparison: Darnell Dockett. Selected in the third round of the 2004 draft by the Cardinals out of Florida State, Dockett was a more powerful man than Bresee at 6-foot-3 and 293 pounds, but the quickness to the backfield from multiple gaps tracks pretty well. And if Bresee can add to his technique palette when he hits the NFL, those similarities could play even more obviously.
