Myles Murphy 2023 NFL Draft Scouting Report

Background: 

• Five-star recruit ranked as a top-five prospect in the country coming out of Hillgrove HS in Marietta, GA

• Scored ACC Co-Newcomer of the Year award as a true freshman in 2020
• Led Clemson in sacks and tackles for loss as a true sophomore in 2021

System: 

• Scheme tendencies: Even front defense with a blend of games and gap exchanges up front. 

• 2022 projected role: Starting right defensive end

Pros: While Myles Murphy may have hit the ground running with two sacks during his debut game as a true freshman back in 2020, it is really the growth and development of Murphy as a player that has me the most excited. Comparing who he was as a player in the season debut versus Georgia versus the player he showcased himself to be in the regular-season finale against South Carolina illustrated overwhelming growth and this is a player who feels like he’s still only just scratching the surface. Murphy has some overwhelming tools and traits at his disposal. He’s got good length and very dynamic hands, enough to keep tackles working throughout the full set in order to sustain hands. I’ve seen Murphy go into the toolbox with a variety of counters, both at first contact and as secondary counters. His hand power allows him to manufacture creases to slip off blocks once hands are set. From a movement skills standpoint, Murphy offers a potent first step and effective ability to flatten the edge when running the outside arc. His acceleration on two-man games and twists inside to explode through interior gaps is tremendous. Murphy offers a prototypical build to play as a 4-3 end but Clemson did charge him with some zone drops, both dropping to the flats and dropping into a shallow spy. He’s more than capable of executing these reps with more regularity but you’d be doing so at the expense of keeping him in your rush arsenal. Perhaps the most impressive athletic feat I saw him execute was aligning inside shade on the tackle, pressing through a seal block, and running to the boundary with a running back releasing outside from the backfield before flipping and carrying him some 20-plus yards downfield. 

Cons: Myles Murphy’s feel and play processing made significant leaps from start to finish in 2021, but I still lament about how much production he missed out on by not finishing plays. He was out-maneuvered in the pocket by opposing quarterbacks far too often, and early in the season teams had some notable success running zone read or optioning off of him as an unblocked defender. Continued reps here will hopefully manufacture more consistency in Murphy converting pressure and penetration opportunities into finished plays. Some of Murphy’s missed opportunities appear to show some lateral tightness in the hips; I do think he’s much more dynamic on shallow angles and in linear situations than what he can showcase when needing to corner or redirect with speed at steeper angles once he’s got his momentum moving forward—that’s a lot of mass to gear down and redirect so suddenly given how much explosion he can offer with his initial attack. Murphy’s season will be defined by how well he continues to grow his anticipation of play up front. If he builds upon his 2021 growth, he’ll claim draft stock very high in the order.

Myles Murphy NFL Draft Scouting Report by Kyle Crabbs