2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Ohio State EDGE J.T. Tuimoloau

All my scouting notes on the strengths, concerns, usage/role, skill set summary, NFL comparison and grade/projection for Ohio State EDGE J.T. Tuimoloau

Ohio State EDGE J.T. Tuimoloau

Height: 6-5
Weight: 269
Birthdate: 5/10/03 (22 year-old rookie)
Production: 55 games, 23.5 sacks, 43 TFL, 3 FFs
Injuries: None
Games Watched: Tennessee, Penn State, Texas, Notre Dame, All Sacks

Strengths

• Strong run defender, will hold the point of attack with leverage and technique, locking out blockers and working hard to find the football
• Excellent urgency when unblocked at the snap, takes on pullers hard and finds the football quickly to get involved in the stop
• Finds the football through trash and will work back to the level of the quarterback to pick up hustle sacks/pressures
• Motor never stops, physicality evident on every rep
• Adequate first step, moves off the ball with good timing and always looks to initiate first contact
• Has some moves, loves the double swipe and long arm. It’s not consistent, but he’s cooked a few guys with that long arm over the years
• Flashes slipperiness to evade quick set punches and get into the backfield
• Football character guy with a ton of experience and very few mental mistakes

Concerns

• Lack of success as a pass rusher is extremely notable. Not many 1v1 wins in his tape
• Never really figured out cornering as a rusher. Doesn’t really look that stiff in how he moves, but just can’t turn those sharp angles to the pocket. Gets pushed wide up the arc too often
• With his pad level, size and hand placement you would hope for devastating power in his bull rush, but it just isn’t there. Not the kind of trait you can build the arsenal from
• Still looks like the plan is lacking as a pass rusher on too many reps. The natural feel for creating space against blockers just isn’t there
• Needs way more tricks and craftiness to his rush game. Where is the deep bag that a player with his experience and coaching should have?
• Great sack numbers this past season with a pretty mediocre win rate brought me back to the tape, where it was clear that many of his sacks were gifts, resulting from quarterbacks scrambling into his lap, broken plays or pass protection errors

Ideal Role/Usage

Tuimoloau is a true edge defender, who might be able to play from a two or three-point stance in the NFL. I’m curious to see how he tests at the Combine. He looked lighter and more fluid this past season. He’ll be at his best on a defense that deploys their front with heavy schematic influences and an aggressive blitz/twist game. Tuimoloau isn’t a great 1v1 winner, but as part of a team pass rush construct, he can be effective.

Summary

Tuimoloau reminds me so much of Joe Tryon-Shoyinka. Both are edge defenders with excellent size, urgency to their play and good athleticism to look like 3-down players. But, like JTS, there are just so few wins for Tuimoloau as a pass rusher, and no process that works consistently for him. He gets stuck at the top of the pocket a lot, struggling to corner. And his power is really only impactful in flashes (Michigan State sack), not to the point where he can built a pass rush plan off of it.

Still, Tuimoloau can be a helpful player in the NFL because of his run defense and ability to execute as a twister or drop into coverage and make plays. He’s a solid athlete in space, which helped him make a number of hustle plays on scrambling quarterbacks. Because of his technique and fight, I think he can pick up some production just from playing hard and working off of blocks on extended plays

Tuimoloau plays with the intensity and physicality that you need from rotational depth pieces, but it’s just hard to imagine him as a preferred starter in the NFL. He just doesn’t do any of the most valuable things at this position with a high enough frequency to warrant those kind of snaps. Perhaps there is a path to a starting job if Tuimoloau lands with a defensive coordinator who really values run defense and unit execution more than actual pass rush talent and skill? But even then he seems like a player who will likely only play heavy snaps if the game script is in the defense’s favor.

Finally, I think Tuimoloau could have a little bit of upside to his game as a pass rusher. Weird to say about a 55-game player in college, I know. He definitely isn’t some shining example of the 4 Pillars of Pass Rush Athleticism (burst off the ball, speed up the arc, bend/flexibility and lateral stop/start quickness), but I also don’t think of Tuimoloau as someone who is deficient in those areas either. I think there’s a narrow path to more wins as a pass rusher with a little more refinement in his hands and perhaps more reps as a wider technique. It’ll be a surprise if he’s ever a star in the NFL, but I wouldn’t rule out Tuimoloau becoming a strong no. 3 edge defender who boasts a solid all-around game by the time he reaches his prime.

Like JTS, Tuimoloau is a high-floor player who can help a defense and be a great culture fit, but there are likely limitations that will keep him from ever being a desirable starter/heavy snaps edge in the NFL. I like him as a middle rounds target for blitz/twist heavy defenses who want a glass eater who will do whatever you ask him to do for the unit to be successful.

Grade/Projection

Most of the current projections for Tuimoloau are somewhere in the top 50, but the tape just doesn’t show that kind of impact player. He’ll likely be in my top 100, but probably near the bottom of it.