Pass Rushing
It is no secret that the Panthers struggled to generate a pass rush last season – while there were a number of reasons behind that, if the Panthers are going to spend an early pick on a defensive lineman of any sort, a major reason why is going to be to improve their pass rush. Fortunately, that is something that Tillery is rather good at.
Despite his length, Tillery’s pad level is much less of an issue as a pass rusher and at times he showed an ability to generate disruption and pressure simply using his quickness and power as a bull rusher:
Part of why he was able to be so effective in this regard was the way he used his hands, as can be seen more clearly on the following play:
Here, Tillery is able to generate a reasonable amount of momentum before initiating contact, and squares as if he is going to attempt a lateral move but by staying low and recognizing that he has a leverage advantage, he instead decides to strike high to the frame of the guard – allowing him to drive through him by putting the guard off balance. He then disengages effectively – something we’ll come back to in a moment – to make the sack.
Even if he isn’t able to drive the blocker back into the quarterback, by putting him off balance in this way, it makes it easier for Tillery to move him laterally and work inside the block:
As nice as this is, it’s hard to make a career out of rushing in this way – if they know that a bull rush is coming, blockers can negate it by leaning into the initial contact to take away the rusher’s momentum. Of course, the blocker can’t just keep leaning forward without running the risk of falling flat on their face, and so after the initial contact they need to take a quick backward lean to recover their balance. Tillery looks to use all of this to his advantage.
On these plays, Tillery initially moves to bull rush, but when the blocker looks to lean back after negating his momentum, Tillery looks to pull the blocker forward and to the side, allowing him to work around the block and forcing either the hold, the double team or a free run at the quarterback. This is something that Dontari Poe has used effectively at times throughout his career, and can be extremely effectively against blockers who play with a high center of gravity.
Going back to Tillery’s ability to disengage for a moment, this largely comes as a result of him keeping his arms straight and locating his punch effectively while maintaining a decent pad level. By doing this, he prevents the blocker from getting hands inside his frame, and so when Tillery then looks to break away, the only things that the blocker can look to hold onto are all likely to draw flags. This might seem like a minor point, but it played an important role in allowing Tillery to come up with a number of clean-up sacks and late pressures:
As well as making him a nightmare on stunts:
Of course, this ability to disengage is but a part of the general category of ‘hand usage’, and this is an area where Tillery really impresses. There are times when the blocker did of the work for him, and he certainly did a good job of taking advantage when an offensive lineman got himself off balance:
But he also does a nice job of generating mistakes. He repeatedly showed the ability to force blockers off balance using a nice punch to the frame with a quick pull forward before releasing to the side and, crucially, using his inside arm to work through the gap:
Even when he wasn’t able to drive the blocker off balance, he was still able to use that inside arm effectively to create outside leverage – which he then had the quickness and bend to exploit:
Of course, this isn’t going to work every time:
But even when his initial move wasn’t successful, he showed the ability to counter effectively if the offensive lineman overcommits to stop the move:
For extra credit, Tillery even showcases a few reasonably well-developed pass rushing moves:
The swim move in particular was something that he had repeated success with, and is a level of technical development that is rare among college prospects.
What almost all of these moves rely on though, is the ability to take advantage of leverage opportunities by bending around blockers to the quarterback. This is something that Tillery generally does quite well, but there are, of course, times when the guard will be able to force him wide:
These plays still have value, as by forcing the quarterback off the spot, Tillery is able to disrupt the play making it easier for the rest of the defense.
Given Tillery’s length and quickness and the Panthers potential use of multiple fronts, there might be some curiosity about his ability to play on the edge of a 4-3. While this is something that might make sense in obvious rushing situations and was something that Notre Dame tried at times, from a pass rushing point of view, he just doesn’t quite have the speed and bend to be a consistent threat around the edge at the NFL level:
Tillery isn’t the perfect pass rusher, his length does still create some issues and his quickness, while good, isn’t as good as some others in this class – but he shows a very good understanding of how to use leverage advantages both lateral and vertical, and has some of the most polished hand usage in recent years. In terms of his value at the NFL level, it is still not totally clear to me exactly which scheme would maximize his value, and while for some teams that is going to be a concern, if the Panthers are sold on using multiple fronts, they should see this as a positive. In a 3-4, he can play the end, on passing downs he’s a natural 3-tech in a 4-3 – and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to see him play the edge in a 4-3 in obvious rushing situations.
This isn’t a full endorsement of Tillery as the Panthers’ choice at 16, but he is somebody who, depending on where the team stands after free agency, could be a genuine and sensible option at that spot, especially if the Panthers have a clear plan of how they are going to get him on the field in various situations.
Grade: Late First Round
Best Case NFL Comparison: Leonard Williams
