Laiatu Latu scouting report: Exploring the UCLA edge defender’s strengths and weaknesses

Laiatu Latu, a highly sought-after recruit in 2019 for Washington, made an impact as a true freshman with 15 tackles and 0.5 sacks. However, he was unable to play in the next two seasons after announcing his retirement due to a neck injury.

Despite not starting right away, Laiatu Latu made the decision to return to UCLA in 2022. This proved to be a wise choice as he was selected as a first-team All-Pac-12 member and put up impressive stats with 12.5 TFLs, 10.5 sacks, and three forced fumbles.

In the previous season, he exceeded these statistics with a total of 49 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss, 13 sacks, two interceptions, forced fumbles, and passes deflected at the line. This achievement earned him the title of first-team All-American and the Pac-12’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Physical Profile: Standing at 6 feet 4 inches and weighing 265 pounds, this athlete is a redshirt senior.

Analyzing Laiatu Latu’s strengths and weaknesses

Defensive Tackles and Linebackers

• Being labelled more of an average athlete, Laiatu Latu ran the seventh-fastest 40-yard dash (4.64) with the sixth-fastest 10-yard split among defensive linemen at the combine, before looking smooth going through the change-of-direction drills and incredibly natural going through all the pass-rush drills
• Does a great job of maximizing his length and keeping his frame clean in the run game, along with being able to suddenly disengage and help wrap up the ball-carrier at the line of scrimmage
• Regularly squeezes tight-ends into the action when they’re tasked to seal him on the backside of run concepts
• Yet when he’s put on the strong-side of multi-TE sets, he’d line up in a level two-point stance and play control, where he’d locked out and two-gap against those guys basically
• His expert hand-usage also shows up in the run game, when he’ll hit a high swim to slip zone-blockers and force cutbacks or just swipe the reach of blockers away and meet the ball at a spot
• You can tell he plays like a guy who had football taken away from him, going 100 mph at all times
• While known for his effective pass-rush portfolio, Laiatu Latu earned the highest overall PFF grade among all FBS defenders in 2023 by quite a margin (96.3), thanks to also finishing with an 82.1 in the run game
• Looked smooth dropping out into the flats and showed good spatial awareness, also earning a 94.8 coverage grade

Improving the Pass Rush:

• The way Laiatu Latu anticipates the snap and how quick he comes out of his stance creates challenges at the start of reps
• His ability to defeat the hands and win reps in the pass game is pro-like already, consistently hitting connecting points with a broad arsenal of pass-rush moves
• How he times up the strike of the offensive tackle’s hands and is able to keep them from making contact with his frame makes him rip-move highly effective, to barely change his track to the quarterback
• Has the flexibility at the hips to flatten on cross-chop moves or curve back around as the quarterback steps up
• Packs a nice dip-and-rip paired with the euro-step in order to win inside against over-aggressive vertical sets
• Yet when they set too softly and stand up early, Latu will quickly remind them that he’ll gladly go through their chest with the bull-rush – especially on those tilted rushes from wide-nine alignments
• Frequently is able to gain late wins against pass-protectors who seem to be in good position, quickly getting to his counters and finding secondary escape paths with non-stop weaponry-like hand-usage
• Has become highly effective at beating guards and centers cross-face with a perfectly-timed arm-over move, often times off stunts, and even when an extra pair of hands is available to help on Latu, he’s frequently able to slip through that crack between those blockers and affect the quarterback
• After finishing tied for second among FBS edge defenders (with Will Anderson Jr.) in terms of his 62 total pressures in 2022, he put up the highest pass-rush productivity (13.3) among EDGEs in this draft with 100+ snaps rushing

Areas of Improvement:

• Wasn’t really asked to take care of traditional run fits, where he’s stacking and shedding blockers, but rather was allowed to swipe past guys and make plays in that facet
• Latu’s ability to come off the ball was a major plus in college, but a lot of that had to do with getting out of the tracks perfectly and I don’t think the raw explosion is quite up there with some other of the other top EDGE prospects
• His 32.5-inch arms rank in the 16th percentile for edge defenders and you see blockers be able to re-fit their hands even if he wins that initial phase of the rush, because they can out-reach him and stall him by grabbing cloth
• Missed a massive 23-of-86 attempted tackles across his two seasons with the Bruins (26.7% miss rate), because he gets so out of control attacking the backfield at times

Laiatu Latu: A Potential Star in the 2024 NFL Draft

The elephant in the room must be acknowledged. It is concerning that Laiatu Latu has been temporarily forced into medical retirement, making it a daunting prospect for any NFL team to use a first-round pick on him.

Despite my previous statement, as I stated in the introduction, I am unable to accurately assess this information and make a fair judgement in order to properly factor it into my draft grades. Therefore, after solely evaluating the tape, it is clear that no other edge defender has performed at the same level as Latu within the past two years.

His skill set makes him the most NFL-ready pass-rusher in this draft, whether he’s lining up on the inside or outside. He possesses a variety of hand-fighting techniques that even experienced veterans in the league struggle to master.

However, if I had to choose one player who I believe will consistently record double-digit sacks in multiple seasons of his career, potentially even as a rookie, this is the player I would select.

Ranking: In the top 10