Off of preliminary viewings, who are the top DT prospects in the 2024 NFL Draft class? The 2024 group doesn’t have a Jalen Carter — at least not yet. But there’s an abundance of depth and talent, and that talent yields a massive amount of potential energy as the season slowly approaches.
Ranking the Top DTs in the 2024 NFL Draft
Time will tell just how rewarding the returns are with the 2023 NFL Draft DT group, but on the surface, it’s an inspiring class. As long as he can stay on the right path, Jalen Carter is a blue-chip talent. Behind him, other prospects like Bryan Bresee, Calijah Kancey, Mazi Smith, Adetomiwa Adebawore, Keeanu Benton, and Zacch Pickens all have great upside.
The 2023 class was formidable. Carter, Bresee, Kancey, and Smith all earned Round 1 capital, and many others are in position to make a difference in the Day 2 and Day 3 ranges. As strong as the 2023 class was, however, the 2024 group has the potential to be even more substantial.
10) Paris Shand, LSU
The LSU Tigers have three defensive linemen on this list. It’s rare for a team to have that level of talent in a defensive line rotation, but LSU has it. How far the group ultimately rises may depend on its under-the-radar addition: Arizona transfer Paris Shand. Shand, who had 2.5 sacks and as many TFLs in 2022, has all the talent to break out if he can put it all together.
The prototype is there with Shand. He has a long 6’5″, 290-pound frame, and though he’s a bit lean, he can line up anywhere from 1-tech to 5-tech. He plays too upright at times, but when he’s on, Shand has one of the most explosive first steps in the class. He also has the flexibility to work around the apex after levying violent double swipes with his length.
9) Ty Hamilton, Ohio State
Although he only logged a half-sack in 2022, Ty Hamilton’s stats are misleading. He earned more opportunities as the 2022 season went on, and some of his best reps came in the team’s close playoff loss against the Georgia Bulldogs. Hamilton — the brother of Jaguars’ DL DaVon Hamilton — is just now coming into his prime, and he could be primed for a breakout.
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Now listed at 6’3″, 295 pounds, Hamilton carries his weight and volume with impressive ease. Like his brother before him, he has the strength and density to absorb blocks and hold the line in run defense, but he’s also a high-motor threat with imposing burst and power drive in the pass-rushing phase. The best is yet to come for the younger Hamilton.
8) Darius Robinson, Missouri
The Missouri defense lost Isaiah McGuire in the 2023 NFL Draft, but they return a treasure trove of talent at other spots. Kris Abrams-Draine and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. return at cornerback, while Ty’Ron Hopper stands tall at the linebacker spot. And on the interior defensive line, Darius Robinson maintains a presence with his natural tools.
At 6’5″, 290 pounds, with arms over 35″ long, Robinson is built to get inside his blockers’ frames and prevent displacement. As a run defender, he holds up well, but he also has the straight-line burst and power capacity to carry value as a pass rusher. With 3.5 sacks and 5.5 TFLs, 2022 was a career year for Robinson, but another leap could be in store in 2023.
7) Leonard Taylor, Miami (FL)
A former five-star recruit, Miami’s Leonard Taylor has done nothing but confirm his pedigree with his play in college football. Since breaking out as a true freshman in 2021, Taylor has five sacks and 19 tackles for loss to his name, along with an interception as a bonus. Alongside Akheem Mesidor and Branson Deen in 2023, he’s only due for more.
Taylor wears 305 pounds about as well as a player can. His athletic 6’3″ frame affords him a great deal of alignment versatility, which he uses to his advantage. Interestingly, several of his pressures come from angle confusion, athleticism, and pure effort. He’s still refining his hand usage arsenal, but once Taylor starts to string together moves with consistency, look out.
6) Mekhi Wingo, LSU
Transferring from Missouri to LSU in 2022, Mekhi Wingo broke new ground in the bayou. He amassed 47 tackles, six tackles for loss, three sacks, four pass deflections, two fumble recoveries, and a forced fumble in a career emergence. Wingo earned second-team All-SEC honors for his play, and in 2023, he’ll be a favorite on the draft circuit with his disruptive style.
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We may come to have the same “outlier” conversation about Wingo that we had about Calijah Kancey. At 6’0″, 290 pounds, Wingo’s incredibly compact as a rusher. But with that compact size comes alignment versatility all the way out to 5-tech and beyond. For his size, he has surprising power capacity, and his legs churn like the Energizer Bunny after contact.
5) Fabien Lovett, Florida State
Fabien Lovett accepted an invite to the Senior Bowl in the 2023 NFL Draft cycle before opting to return to school for another year. He was already fielding all-star interest, and that interest should remain in the 2024 cycle. An injury limited Lovett to seven games in 2022, but when he was on the field, his impact was very stark.
At 6’4″, 315 pounds, Lovett is one of the best run defenders in the upcoming DT class. He’s long and burly, makes contact quickly, and can stack and shed and one-gap effectively with his raw strength, anchor placement, and torque. There’s also reason to believe, with his length and first-step quickness, Lovett has untapped potential as a pass rusher.
4) Ruke Orhorhoro, Clemson
Ruke Orhorhoro had a strong case to declare after the 2022 campaign. But after accruing 6.5 sacks and 16 TFLs across 2021 and 2022, Orhorhoro instead chose to return to Clemson alongside Tyler Davis, enacting his fifth season of eligibility. Orhorhoro would’ve scored a Day 2 grade from me in 2023, and that’s where he starts in the 2024 NFL Draft cycle.
At around 6’4″, 303 pounds, Orhorhoro has enticing physical traits. He’s one of the most explosive athletes on this list, and he channels that burst with superb proportional length, culminating in elite raw power capacity. Orhorhoro came to America from Nigeria and didn’t start playing until his junior year of high school. But already, he’s extremely versatile, playing all across the front.
3) Michael Hall Jr., Ohio State
The Ohio State Buckeyes represent a football factory all across the board. And while the school hasn’t been quite as productive on the interior defensive line as it has been at positions like wide receiver and quarterback, there’s still high-quality talent to know at DT. The Buckeyes have two DTs on this list and another in the honorable mention category. The best is Michael Hall Jr.
Hall notched 4.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss in a breakout 2022 campaign. He’s a bit undersized at 6’2″, 290 pounds, and maintaining his balance when working across-face can be an issue at times. But Hall has the bristling explosiveness, agility, and natural leverage to play between 3-tech and 5-tech. He uses those same traits to capitalize in one-on-one situations — with swims and rips — and stunts across the formation.
2) Jer’Zhan Newton, Illinois
The Illinois defense was a dominant unit in 2022, and that was reflected in the amount of 2023 NFL Draft talent they produced. Devon Witherspoon, Sydney Brown, and Jartavius Martin all loomed near the top of their positions, and had he declared, Jer’Zhan Newton would have been in a similar situation. Instead, he’s one of the top DTs in the 2024 NFL Draft.
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Newton is coming off a career-best campaign that saw him earn 61 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, three pass deflections, and two fumble recoveries. At 6’2″, 280 pounds, he has the versatility to rush inside or use ankle flexion and active hands to work around the apex. Through it all, he’s strong and stout enough to disrupt in the run game as well. He and Hall are similarly sized, but Newton is the better player right now.
Who Is the Best DT in the 2024 NFL Draft?
If you need a disruptive defensive lineman, the 2024 NFL Draft class has what you need. But as many DTs as there are vying for top-10 spots, only one has the truly transcendent traits to submit an early case for the DT1 mantle. Others could challenge him, but no one can match the raw physical skill set possessed by LSU’s Maason Smith.
1) Maason Smith, LSU
This ranking is admittedly a large projection, especially after Maason Smith’s 2022 campaign. Smith broke onto the scene in violent fashion with a four-sack, five-TFL true freshman outing in 2021. But on the very first defensive drive of the 2022 season, Smith tore his ACL during a celebration.
Thus, Smith spent most of the 2022 season in recovery mode, and he’s still working his way back. But now nearing 100% again, the expectation is that Smith will be back to full strength for the 2023 campaign. And if he is, he has the upside to be the first DT selected in the 2024 NFL Draft.
In his standout true freshman campaign, Smith was able to accomplish things on tape that not all seniors can boast. At 6’5″, 300 pounds, with arms likely over 34″, Smith expectedly holds his own in run defense. But then you see him line up at 5-tech, explode off the line, and bend around the edge while unleashing cross-chops and swims, and you know you’re not dealing with a normal player.
The sheer degree of two-phase upside, alignment versatility, and raw upside that Smith provides doesn’t come around very often. It’s all contingent on him coming back at full health, but if he does, Smith is one of the few DTs in the 2024 NFL Draft who has the talent to reach the blue-chip range.
Honorable Mentions
- Braden Fiske, Florida State
- Shemar Turner, Texas A&M
- Tyler Davis, Clemson
- Keith Randolph Jr., Illinois
- Tyleik Williams, Ohio State
- Kyon Barrs, USC
- Akheem Mesidor, Miami (FL)
- Branson Deen, Miami (FL)
- Mosiah Nasili-Kite, Auburn
- Nazir Stackhouse, Georgia
