Chris Braswell scouting report: Exploring the Alabama edge defender's strengths and weaknesses

A top-50 overall recruit in 2020, Chris Braswell redshirted his first year in Tuscaloosa and saw very limited usage the following season, before earning a role as part of Alabama’s “Cheetah” package on passing downs.

He recorded 20 tackles, four for loss, 2.5 sacks and a forced fumble. This past season, he reached career-highs in snaps played (569), tackles (42), TFLs (10.5), sacks (eight) and forced fumbles (three), along with adding a pick-six.

Profile: 6-foot-3, 250 pounds; RS JR.

Breaking down Chris Braswell's scouting report

Run defense:

Has improved his ability to standing up and anchoring against drive-blocks at the point of attack
Counters the first step(s) of offensive tackles to where if they use bucket-steps or open the hips horizontally, Braswell will make sure he turns his body and keeps the outside shoulder clean
Does a nice job of staying ready to slip inside and wrap up the ball-carrier up the B-gap when setting the edge
The way Chris Braswell can bounce laterally allows him to side-step blockers effectively
Happily erases space toward pulling guards and squeezes the lane the offense is trying to create inside of him on power/counter plays, as well as squeezing down sifting tight-ends on split zone
Frequently is able to press of blockers late and corral the ball, with pretty strong tackling efforts where he stays on his feet to stop the initial momentum of ball-carriers
Disciplined with staying home for QB keeps and (naked) bootlegs, yet provides insane pursuit speed when left unblocked on the backside of lateral concepts, rollouts, etc.
Spent 52 snaps in coverage last season and earned a PFF grade of 71.7 in that regard – Particularly dropping into the hook-zone, you like his ability to get square and read the eyes of the quarterback to chase down underneath throws or scrambling QBs

Pass-rush:

Has real pop off the ball, with the hips and ankle flexion to turn the corner at challenging angles
Features an effective chop-rip move to clear the reach of tackles, plus he added a promising cross-chop to his arsenal last year
Even when he doesn’t defeat the hands, you see him drive through contact and circle around as he’s dipping underneath opponents with his legs not being underneath his frame
Has improved his ability to convert speed to power and will give a little dip up the field to force tackles to open their hips in order to go through them with the long-arm
Whether it’s violently sticking his foot in the ground when stunting over to the A-gap or accelerating as he’s circling back towards the quarterback after overshooting the target initially, the mobility in his lower body stands out regularly
Alabama moved Chris Braswell inside a lot more regularly on passing downs and he’d condense the pocket by angling directly towards the QB or set up lanes for loopers that way
Does well to yank aside tight-ends after engaging with them initially on play-action, even if they do get hands inside his frame, as well as arm-overing to get inside of tackles setting out to him occasionally
Recorded 27 total pressures on just 167 pass-rush snaps in 2022 and his pass-rush productivity (11.9) was actually higher on a heavier workload last season – tied for 11th among all FBS defenders with 56 pressures

Weaknesses:

While his run defense certainly improved last season, Bama started almost every game and used more even fronts on early downs last season, where he’d be off the field in favor of a heavier base D-end on the strong side (for a reason) who could shoot and lock out his arms
Struggles to set a firm edge against double-teams with the tight-end on the front-side of (wide) zone concepts, allowing the ball-carrier to string plays out and allow lanes to develop inside
Can get some happy feet when trying to anticipate the snap count and have a false in his get-off because he’s not loaded up optimally
It took Chris Braswell a while to figure out how to really win that initial phase as a pass-rusher and now his counters are still largely absent, outside of throwing some spin moves without really moving off the spot
While he can run the hoop – even through contact – in impressive fashion, he lacks suddenness to reduce his surface area in those encounters as more of a linear rusher

Chris Braswell's 2024 NFL Draft prospect

A lot of times when you watch these guys on the defensive front for Alabama and you see who’ll be “next up”, you do have to take it with a grain of salt because their top guys more often than not are the ones who already show some technical refinement rather than being athletic freaks, which is literally where Chris Braswell sort of started off as number seven on Bruce Feldman’s annual list, after flashing in small doses as a redshirt sophomore.

I thought he had a long way to go watching his tape last summer but I have to admit that I became a bigger fan the more I dove in. His raw explosiveness, the moments of side-stepping blockers in the run game to make plays and then how he found ways to impact quarterbacks with his ability to turn the corner through contact or go through tackles with speed-to-power moves pulled me in.

Unfortunately, Chris Braswell still has a ways to go in order to set a physical edge vs. the run and his approach rushing the passer is still very much straight-forward with no counters off it. Yet, I’d feel a lot more comfortable now investing a second-round pick in him with the knowledge that he’ll be a rotational pass-rusher for me as a rookie whilst I teach him some more tricks.

Grade: Mid- to late second round