I have faith in this defensive line.
When I wrote about the positional coaches, I made sure I noted that La’Roi Glover had the potential to get guys who might not be the ideal body type for the defensive line to play at a high level since that’s the exact thing that he did. So when I talk about some of these players and their backgrounds and production or lack thereof, I think there is a good chance that they can improve with a guy like Glover coaching them up.
Here’s a spoiler: the way that college and NFL coaches looked at rugby players for potential punters, the Battlehawks did that for edge rushers. Let’s see how that works.
Kevin Atkins
Tackle
25 years old
6’ 3”
305 lbs
When you’re looking for a run defender that can jam up a short-yardage play, Atkins will be there for you. He’s able to get low and jam up the guy across from him to get penetration. He can also move his blocker so linebackers to get a free shot into the backfield. Sounds good to me.
When you’re looking for a guy who can consistently get a good pass rush, Atkins might not be the guy you are looking for. He’s stiff, doesn’t have quite the speed when he needs it, and he has trouble getting out of clamps. Aaron Donald practiced against guys holding knives. I don’t know law, but I’m going to assume I’m not able to suggest that Atkins also practices against guys holding knives, but I’m also not going to not suggest it.
Taniela Tupou
End
30 years old
6’ 1”
284 lbs
Tupou has been listed as a tackle for most of, if not his whole career.
Well, in the past couple of months, he got signed by Seattle’s professional rugby team. Good for him.
Well, a competitive defensive tackle has a very different build than a rugby player.
Jordan Mailata, the Eagles’ offensive tackle used to be a rugby player in Australia. As a matter of fact, Mailata and Tupou played the same position, the “Prop” (I know nothing about Rugby). A couple of things about that:
1. Jordan Mailata is a freak of nature athlete and that’s why he’s in the NFL.
2. Tupou is more typical as far as body size goes for Props. (Mailata is 6’ 7” and was 300ish lbs when he played rugby).
He’s undersized for a tackle. He’s played for a handful of NFL teams, an AAF team, and he was part of the XFL in 2020, which is always good for experience, but his size is notable. Luckily the defensive line coach, La’Roi Glover, was an All-Pro Undersized defensive lineman, so he can work with that. I imagine he’ll be a defensive end because they have some mondo beef boys for tackles.
Damion Daniels
Tackle
23 years old
6’ 3”
324 lbs
Daniels is a big guy who can use his power to really move the guy across from him to mess up the passing game and put his body in spots to shut down running lanes.
But with that size, he lacks a lot of lateral speed and agility making him susceptible to getting shut down by double teams and it makes his pass rush a little weak because he can get moved around by a good block.
If they line him up over center in 0 technique, maybe getting him moving to either side won’t be that big of an issue. 324 lbs of meat is still on the field and you can’t take that away from him.
Elorm Lumor
End
6’ 4”
242 lbs
Lumor played linebacker at Rutgers which explains his size for this defensive line. I would imagine his use being close to that of what the Eagles’ did with Haason Reddick. Yeah, he was technically a linebacker, but he was an edge rusher who could drop into zone coverage.
He was the sack leader for the Scarlet Knights when he last played for them. Now, it was only 3 sacks so that’s not a great number, but that Rutgers team was a really bad 3-7. Take from that what you will.
LaCale London
Tackle
25 years old
6’ 5”
315 lbs
London spent the entire 2020 season on the Bears’ practice squad then was put on IR at the beginning of the 2021 season, and then cut at the beginning of the 2022 season. Again, experience is always good, but he’s still greenish.
He plays a couple of years of ball at Western Illinois and he had key plays. In 2019 he had 3 forced fumbles. Getting to the quarterback is great, and changing the game is fantastic (they went 1-11 because the team was stupid bad, so they weren’t that game-changing, but the potential was there). He also had 45 tackles and that’s sick too.
Hands-up: I don’t know how he plays.
Freedom Ankinmoladun
Tackle or End?
27 years old
6’ 3”
286 lbs
Freedom has a whole lot of experience. He’s played for the Giants, Bengals, Titans, Jets, and a USFL team (Philadelphia Stars). That’s all great stuff.
I want to focus on his stop in the USFL. In the 10-game season, he recorded 23 tackles, 4 tackles for a loss, and 3.5 sacks. That’s pretty good production, especially since he was playing with Adam Rodriguez, who was really good during that season.
He has the ability to get into the backfield and when he gets lined up next to some bigger guys who are going to demand double teams, he should have a lot of opportunities to make an impact.
Ts and Ps to the guys on the broadcast who have to pronounce his last name on the fly.
Gelen Robinson
End
27 years old
6’ 1”
280 lbs
Robinson was part of the XFL in 2020 for the Dallas Renegades and recorded 13 tackles and 2 tackles for a loss. After that season ended, he went and played rugby for a team in Colorado. It’s the same thing that I said for Tupou, building your body for rugby and building your body for football are two pretty different things. Yeah, he has played tackle in the past, but if they want to use his size and speed on the edge, it would be a good move.
His dad is Glenn Robinson. His brother is Glenn Robinson. They both played basketball in the NBA and were pretty good. I don’t know if they mucked up the birth certificate or what happened, but I have to imagine if Gelen was named Glenn then he would’ve made it to the NBA too, and I won’t be listening to any arguments otherwise.