New Cincinnati Bengals Defensive End Myles Murphy Compares to Former All-Pro Jason Pierre-Paul
Cincinnati took Murphy with the 28th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
The Cincinnati Bengals took Myles Murphy with the 28th pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
At 6-4⅝ tall and 268 pounds, he has the build they look for in an edge rusher.
He has nearly 34-inch arms and still bench pressed 225 pounds 25 times. Despite being a massive unit, he can fly as well.
Murphy ran a 4.53 40-yard dash (99th percentile) and a 1.59 10-yard split (95th percentile). Even his agility score came out well with a 4.29 short shuttle (87th percentile) and a 7.21 3-cone (71st percentile).
A guy who has this athletic profile will have a high-end ceiling. He was a 5-star recruit coming out of high school and led the team with 12 tackles-for-loss as an 18-year-old freshman. He made progress in his sophomore year with seven sacks, but then stagnated some when Clemson switched defensive coordinators.
His elite testing shows up on film as well, so it's not just projection. He's has some rawness to his game in terms of reading the offensive line and needs to develop his pass rush.
His profile and play style has a striking resemblance to former Pro Bowler and All-Pro Jason Pierre-Paul.
Pierre-Paul had all the physical tools coming out of the University of South Florida. He had an excellent size and speed combination at 6-4¾ tall and 270 pounds. He also had a high-end get off and would use it mostly to convert speed to power and bull rush offensive linemen.
However, he didn't have a developed pass rush and only managed 6.5 sacks in 2009 (the exact same as Murphy had in 2022). Both players had just OK bend entering the NFL and struggled some with reading the keys of the offensive line.
This does not mean Murphy is going to go for 16.5 sacks at any point in his career (that's not impossible, but hard for anyone), but other than Pierre-Paul's 2011 season, I think these two may have similar careers.
It's reasonable to expect Murphy to develop into a Pro Bowl caliber player that can average around 10 sacks per season.
If Murphy, like Pierre-Paul, can develop his pass rush and quickly turn his block recognition from a weakness to a strength, then he can reach that level.
It's not common for a player with this profile to last until 28. Rashan Gary, Pierre-Paul, Marcus Davenport, Shawne Merriman, Bradley Chubb, and pretty much every other 270 pound player that moves like Murphy was a top 15 pick in the draft.
Grade: A-
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Source: Sports Illustrated
