Bolts From The Blue
Michigan’s Josaiah Stewart and Marshall’s Mike Green are two of the biggest names at edge rusher during this week’s Senior Bowl.
The 2025 Senior Bowl is underway this week and we’ll be looking at a handful of players at the event at the positions the Chargers should be targeting in this year’s draft.
Next up, we’ve got four big names at edge rusher that I believe should be on the Chargers’ radar leading up to this year’s draft.
This year’s Bronco Nagurski Award winner, given to the nation’s top defender, Kennard headlines a strong group of edge rushers in Mobile. The former Gamecock posted 11.5 sacks and 16 tackles for loss in his first and only year with the Gamecocks. In four previous seasons with Georgia Tech, Kennard had just 12.5 sacks and 23 tackles for loss.
Kennard is a twitchy edge player with a strong knack for taking good angles which usually ends up with him finding the football. When his first move does not work, he doesn’t always have a counter ready. This is an area he needs to work on, but his ability to threaten around the ring should make it an easy thing to fix if he trains it into a habit. a\
Green is getting a lot of hype this week in Mobile and that’s not surprising as the nation’s leader in sacks in 2024 with 17. There were some who expected Green to weigh in light for an NFL edge rusher but those questions were put to bed when his verified weigh-in came in at 251. Still, Green has small hands and one of the smallest wingspans amongst the edge group.
Will that ultimately matter? Honestly, I don’ think so. He’s got a filthy spin move and is already making waves as the best edge rusher on day one of Senior Bowl practices.
I’ve highlighted Stewart on BFTB before in a recent two-round mock draft where the Chargers selected him in the second round. He’s a shorter edge player but that doesn’t seem to matter when you look at the power he packs in his punches. He explodes off the snap and will catch an offensive lineman of guard if they don’t expect his ability to turn speed into power at a moment’s notice.
If you want a really fun game to watch of Stewart’s, go check out the game against USC. He had a field day against the Trojan offensive tackles.
Umanmielene has the longest arms of this group and that physical trait is apparent...
