Overview

Position: EDGE

College: Tennessee

Class: Senior

Age: 22

 

Measurables

Height: 6’3 1/8”

Weight: 242 lbs.

Arm length: 34 1/4″

Hand size: 10”

 

Athletic testing

40-yard dash: N/A

10-yard split: N/A

Vertical jump: N/A

Broad jump: N/A

Bench press: N/A

3-cone drill: N/A

Short shuttle: N/A

 

Strengths

Excellent length. Terrific burst off the ball and aggressive into the rush. Athletic and energetic movement skills. Explosive and fast with a clean speed rush. Attacks with extension and uses his hands to get around blockers on the speed rush. Very strong pull-through move on the speed rush. Shows shake on the speed rush. Effective rip move turning the corner. Has a subtle dip to avoid the reach of offensive tackles. Flashed a very quick inside spin counter off the speed rush. Fast and strong on straight-line inside moves as a rusher. Exceptional extension strength to get blockers off balance as a rusher. Powerful inside bull rush. Outstanding ability to turn speed to power after starting with a speed rush. Quick penetrating inside as a rusher. Very effective reaching for strip sacks. Tremendous play recognition and instincts. Recognizes things immediately after the snap and reacts. Strong extending with quick hands to shed. Quick reaction time getting off blocks to make a tackle. Quick feet and hands to avoid disengagement on the edge. Instinctive to side step a block while keeping his eyes on the ball. Great range and strength as a tackler on the edge. Aggressive pursuing the ball-carrier in the backfield on outside runs. Chases down the ball as the backside defender. Aggressive pursuit in general. Hustles back to pursue an inside run if attacking hard up the field off the ball. Physical taking on blockers on the edge. High effort crashing into blockers to blow things up. Physical and aggressive getting inside to tackle. Quick crossing the face of tight ends crashing down inside to tackle. Patient and instinctive reading things out at the mesh point. Saw plenty of snaps on both sides of the formation. Experience in a two-point stance and putting one or both hands in the ground. Used to drop in coverage. Strong checking running backs coming out of the backfield in coverage. Does a nice job sticking with opponents underneath in man coverage.

 

Weaknesses

Will rush with too wide of an angle at times and fail to push the pocket. Can get stood up and halted as a rusher when he gets too wide. Limited ankle fluidity bending around the edge considering his overall skillset. Would like to see his counter moves implemented more often. Has trouble getting off blocks when opponents successfully latch on. Gets controlled when blockers get to his frame. Can get absorbed by double teams. Needs to avoid being too aggressive pinching inside and allowing runs to bounce outside.

 

NFL comparison

Kayvon Thibodeaux

 

Conclusion

Overall, Josephs is an explosive edge defender with an ideal combination of speed, power, instincts, and aggression. The ceiling will be determined by his success in learning how to be more consistent in implementing the impressive blend of rush moves shown.

 

Big Board ranking: #69 | Positional ranking: #11