Darius Robinson scouting report: Exploring the Missouri edge defender’s strengths and weaknesses

Despite being one of the top 1,000 recruits in the nation in 2019, Darius Robinson faced a challenging road at Missouri, gradually earning more playing time over his first three years (34 tackles and one sack combined) before solidifying his role as a starter in 2022 (35 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, and 3.5 sacks).

Nonetheless, it was during the previous season that he truly emerged as a standout player, earning the honor of first-team All-SEC. This was due to his impressive performance of 43 total tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, and both forcing and recovering a fumble.

Physical Profile: The individual stands at 6 feet and 5 inches, with a weight of 290 pounds. He is currently a redshirt senior.

Analyzing Darius Robinson’s strengths and weaknesses

Defensive Ground Game:

• Plays with heavy hands at the point of attack and presses off blockers in the run game with authority
• Frequently will outreach opposite blockers with 34.5-inch hands and massive (10 and 5/8-inch) hands, in order to maintain leverage on the gap
• Asking tight-ends to seal him on the backside is a recipe for disaster unless you aim off-tackle the other way, since Robinson might put that guy on roller-skates and eliminate any cutback opportunities
• Has the physicality to slide into the 4i spot for certain matchups and deal with combos
• Showcases the contact and upper-body strength to fight off multiple blockers and own his space near the point of attack
• You see Darius Robinson mess up power/counter plays single-handedly, where locks out against the down-block, pulls the man forward to face-plant as he feels him lean in too much and takes on the first puller in order to create traffic
• Regularly stonewalled pulling linemen tasked with kick-outs against him in general
• Does a great job of patiently playing the mesh-point on read-option plays and not giving the quarterback a clean key to read

Defensive Pressure:

• There’s some real violence in his hands and you just know linemen facing him will have bruises all across their arms the day after facing Robinson
• Frequently buries those paws inside the chest of tackles and works the depth of pocket with them, really testing their ability to anchor
• When he sells out for the bull-rush, you see him take that guy in front of him all most of the way there, then disengage late by pulling cloth or push off and get hits on the quarterback
• Blockers who try sit on power will be surprised with how quickly he can get by them with a rapid swim-move
• Has more lateral agility to stress the edges of blockers’ frames than you’d anticipate
• Will stress blockers up the B-gap when given the freedom to do so or slanting across on E-T twists, being able to contort his upper body away from contact and crash through their reach
• Powers through tight-ends and chips by backs as if they’re just road-bumps
• Regularly chops down or lifts up one arm of blockers straining to hold their ground in order to create angles towards the quarterback, with the sudden burst to run them down
• Logged 42 total pressures across 277 pass-rush snaps last season despite having an extra hand coming his way regularly

Areas for Improvement:

• There’s certainly room for improvement with Darius Robinson when it comes to block recognition, not allowing guys to seal/wall him off away from the point of attack
• Can get a little reckless with his run fits and rush lanes in general, forcing the rest of the defense to make up for it
• Needs to do a better job of countering the outside hand of tackles and not allow them to stab at his chest in order to take control of reps, along with setting up his speed-to-power moves more effectively instead of immediately reaching out those arms
• Doesn’t have a comprehensive rush plan or ability to access counters when needed at this stage
• May be labelled as a tweener by some teams, lacking the speed in his second and third step to win around the hoop but also not showing the mental capacity to ID and counter the first steps of and place his hands accordingly onto offensive linemen in that more condensed space on the interior

Darius Robinson: Future NFL Star in the Making

Despite showing promising skills during Senior Bowl week, Darius Robinson’s hype took a hit at the combine. His 40-yard dash time of 4.95 was the slowest among all edge defenders and his broad jump of 9’3″was also near the bottom of the list. These results may have cooled off some of the excitement around him, as his performance was not dominant.

Upon observing Darius Robinson’s first step explosion off the snap at 290 pounds, it is evident that his true capabilities as an athlete are not accurately reflected by those numbers. His impressive combination of explosive power and long reach gives him the potential to become an elite run-defender. However, he must work on improving his awareness of blocking schemes and how to effectively counter them.

Despite being a skilled pass-rusher, he still heavily relies on one technique, using his power to dominate early and then seeking openings later on. To achieve long-term success as an edge rusher, it will be crucial for him to become more proactive in defeating blockers by attacking their hands and focusing on one side.

In my opinion, Darius Robinson is best suited as a defensive end on the strong-side, whether in odd or even fronts. He has the ability to excel on passing downs by utilizing his strength and collapsing the pocket from various tilted and wider alignments. Based on his skills, I believe he would be a suitable pick in the early second round.

The grade received was “early second round”.