Across most of his collegiate career, Washington EDGE Bralen Trice was one of the most productive pass rushers in the nation. But now, as he transitions to the NFL, what does his 2024 NFL Draft scouting report say about his ability to sustain his pass-rush success?
Bralen Trice Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’3 1/2″
- Weight: 245 pounds
- Length: 32 1/2″
- Wingspan: 77 5/8″
- Hand: 9″
- Position: EDGE/DE
- School: Washington
- Current Year: Redshirt Junior
Some thought Trice would declare for the 2023 NFL Draft as a redshirt sophomore after racking up nine sacks and 12 tackles for loss last season.
Instead, he returned to school, kept developing his game, and competed for a Pac-12 title while adding seven sacks and 11.5 TFLs to his career totals.
Bralen Trice returns this fall 😤pic.twitter.com/2jOP5rDdBx
— College Football Network (@CFN365) April 27, 2023
On the surface, a slight dip in production suggests that maybe Trice made the wrong decision. But if you watch the tape, you’ll see that Trice was still generating pressure at a high clip, and he was still terrorizing QBs every week.
Trice earned his Pac-12 title and his CFP bid, but another year of quality tape has reaffirmed his standing as an early-round EDGE prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Trice’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Fairly explosive mover who can suddenly shift and accelerate with urgent strides.
- Has a well-proportioned frame with solid length and carries exceptional mass with ease.
- Combined burst, length, and frame density, which grant him respectable raw power.
- Amped-up and energetic short-area mover with stellar lateral twitch and foot speed.
- Twitched-up ball of energy who can widen tackles and expose them to power.
- Can divert course quickly with agility on outside-inside counters and leave OTs reeling.
- Flashes the necessary ankle flexion to sear through interior gaps on stunts with rips.
- Flashes the ability to acquire proper leverage with his well-proportioned frame.
- Has the composite upper-lower strength to violently stack and shed run blocks.
- Stubborn rusher who fights through contact with forceful hands and has a deep arsenal.
- Intelligent and has shown he can sequentially exert power and stack hand moves.
- Can stack elaborate combos like double swipe, rip, and swims while manipulating angles.
- Expert counter combatant who’s very hard to corral with his lateral freedom and instinct.
- Extremely fast closer once he has a lane to the QB; brings an unyielding motor.
- Can rush from four-point stances or be a stand-up rusher at 7-tech and beyond.
Weaknesses
- Length, while decent, is not quantifiably elite, which slightly detracts from raw power.
- Doesn’t have high-end hip flexibility, which inhibits change of direction and recovery.
- Lacks the elite ankle flexion necessary to sustain acceleration while sinking by the apex.
- Often passes up on outside track because he doesn’t have the bend to use it.
- Doesn’t always have the flexibility or long-track speed to convert pressures into sacks.
- Sometimes lacks the raw hand strength to finish moves and fully decouple from blocks.
- Outsmarts himself as a rusher at times and passes up easy chances to apply power.
- On occasion, precision on outside clubs and chops can improve to fully channel force.
- Sometimes drifts too far upright when attempting to offset blockers with lateral agility.
- Tall pad level and poor base load often stall out rushes and inhibit recovery.
- Upright nature can make him easier to displace with power in the run game.
- Sometimes overzealous and overshoots tackling angles with a runway in pursuit.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Bralen Trice grades on my board as a top-100 prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft. He’s worthy of mid-Day 2 capital, and he can be a high-value addition on Day 2 with his instant impact profile and high-floor tools.
Trice’s production as a pass-rusher was superb through 2022 and 2023, and that goes beyond the sacks. He’s one of the most consistent edge defenders when it comes to generating pressure. At the foundation of that pressure generation is a devastating mix of explosiveness, power, agility, hand variance, and relentless energy.
The 23-year-old should be able to have the same kind of impact at the NFL level, but a couple of factors are deflating his grade in the 2024 cycle: bend and leverage.
He has burst, agility, power, and strength, but he visibly lacks a reliable bend component and is very rarely able to roll his hips and sink below the apex. His leverage issues go hand in hand with that somewhat, but his high pad level hurts him in both phases.
Trice does flash a degree of functional bend when stunting and prying through interior gaps with counters, and he has shown he can acquire proper leverage and base alignment with his proportions and knee mobility. Still, neither one of those qualities consistently shows up.
Going further, Trice doesn’t have elite length, and that may hurt his projection as well. His speed-to-power is venerable, but he can be outreached by longer tackles, and he’ll have to prove he can keep his speed and agility while also keeping the 250-pound mass from his college days.
KEEP READING: Top EDGEs in the 2024 NFL Draft
Regardless, there’s a path to success for Trice at the next level — even without high-level bend — and if he can keep improving at loading his base and driving maximum force on power rushes, there’s exciting potential in this area of his game that he can further unlock.
A nuanced, versatile, and high-motor rusher with solid run-down utility, Trice can be a stellar rotational add for NFL defenses with quality starter potential. He fits best as a stand-up EDGE in odd and hybrid fronts, but he also has the size and strength to play on even fronts.
Draft with your friends today! PFN’s Mock Draft Simulator now supports multiple drafters during the same draft! Ensure your player rankings are up to date on the 2024 NFL Draft Big Board and you know what every NFL team needs before drafting.