Positional Rankings: Top-10 Defensive Tackles from Summer Scouting

Want to know who the top defensive tackles of the 2027 NFL Draft class are? I've got you covered.

Our first positional rankings of the 2027 NFL Draft summer scouting circuit! And first up is the big men along the defensive trenches.

We are coming off a pretty abysmal defensive tackle class that saw just two go in the first round and five in the first two rounds total. Many of those defensive tackles had predominant nose tackle responsibilities as well. This year’s class, through summer scouting, is a promising one to keep a close eye on. There are names galore, and a handful with first round potential.

I have watched and graded 14 of them with the highest summer and consensus grades among the group. I have never been afraid of going against the grain of consensus for the players that I feel are worth pounding the table for (and against players who I see as a bit overrated compared to consensus).

So, what are my initial thoughts on the defensive tackle class? Here, I break down my top-10, name some honorable mentions, tier the 14 names watched, and even give a bit of a scouting synopsis of what I look for when scouting defensive tackles.

Table of Contents

• What I watch for when scouting DTs

• Honorable Mention: Just Missed the Mark

• Top-10 defensive tackle rankings

• 2027 NFL Draft summer DT tiers

What I watch for when scouting DTs

When watching and evaluating defensive tackles, I reduce my evaluation to five key traits to evaluate, all weighted differently based on how I value their importance. Those five key traits are:

• Explosiveness

• Lower Half Fluidity

• Pass Rush Plan

• Physical Play Strength

• Versatility

Let’s talk a bit more about what each of those traits entails.

Explosiveness

How fast does a defensive lineman get off the ball? There is a snap timing element to this, but there is also a skill of how much pop they can instantly generate when uncoiling through their hips at the moment the ball is snapped.

Can they win with power through the chest of the man across from them? I cap a player’s explosiveness rating if they cannot continue to take that speed and pop off the ball and convert it into a power profile to devastate the anchor of the blocker. If a defender can fire off the ball, but their legs stall out and are stood up by blockers, the explosiveness has room for improvement.

Lower Half Fluidity

Can the defender fire off their plant foot laterally with suddenness from a standstill position? This translates to crossing the face of blockers and penetrating gaps with quick-twitch. This short-area suddenness is a starting point for me when looking at the lower-half fluidity of defensive linemen.

Do their pass rush attempts tend to stall out at the top of the arc, or can they find a way to flatten their pathway to the quarterback? This is a sign of how tight or loose a defensive tackle’s ankles are. If a defender can constantly exploit the outside shoulder of blockers but can never find a pathway to the quarterback from there, the chances that they have stiff ankles are high.

Does the defensive tackle find ways to knife narrow alleyways upfront? Can they play with their hips stacked up laterally, or are they constantly exposing the full width of their chest? To me, this is a sign of how much wiggle a defensive trench player has in their hips.

That ability to flatten corners is a sign of hip fluidity as well, especially if the pass rusher can show signs of stacking up their hips inversely to hide targets for blockers to strike. It also allows for shorter-armed defensive tackles to still find leverage points and ways into the chest of the man across from them if they can manipulate their body into angles that keep longer-armed blockers at bay.

Lastly, the pad level. How much knee bend does a defensive tackle have? We’ll talk through a few defensive tackles in this class below who just cannot find any sink in their knees to get underneath blockers. This limits the amount of power one can generate and how many leverage points they can find.

Pass Rush Plan

This one is pretty self-explanatory. How well can the pass rusher conceive and execute a plan specifically designed to beat the player across from him? There are upper-half and lower-half elements at play here.

Can slippery, speed rushers learn to set up blockers outside, threatening with that speed, then learn a changeup back across the face once that overset has been worked? Can a power rusher who thrives through the chest work out the feel and timing to throw a hump move, swim, or spin the moment he feels that blocker starting to drop back onto their heels and anchor in against their power?

“Pass rush bag” is overrated. Especially for defensive tackles who have less green grass between themselves and blockers. However, defensive tackles still need to know their own tendencies, how the man across from them will look to gameplan against their tendencies, and how to throw changeups off of those tendencies to keep blockers guessing.

Physical Play Strength

Another trait that is pretty self-explanatory here. Football is a contact sport. Players have to 1. Be able to initiate contact that the man across from them feels on a down-to-down basis, and 2. play through that same level of contact that the opponent is looking to put onto them.

How heavy are a defensive tackle’s hands? When he uncoils and strikes the man across from him, can you see the thunderous knock-back power, or does the blocker just tend to absorb it and go about his business?

When a blocker lands a punch on the defensive tackle, how well do they maintain their balance through contact? Are they devastated by solo blocks or down blocks, or can they maintain gap integrity through that punch? How strong is their anchor when taking on two blockers (there is also a leverage and pad level element at play here, too)?

Lastly, how well can the player finish when he has quarterbacks and ball carriers dead to rights? There are A LOT of poor-tackling defensive tackles. Much of this is a lower-body trait as well, as running backs tend to show some wiggle in a phone booth and catch bigger bodies flat-footed. However, there are times when defensive tackles just cannot get quarterbacks and ball carriers to the ground when they have a shot at production.

Versatility

This is broken down into two parts for me at positions along the defensive line (both defensive tackles and edge rushers). First, how many different alignments can the player provide positive output at? Secondly, are there situations where the player has to come off the field because of some sort of skillset or play-strength deficiency?

Just because you see a defensive tackle playing from nose all the way out to big end does not mean that player CAN play from all of those alignments with success. Sometimes teams have to kick players in or out solely because of a lack of bodies or talent on the roster. However, how does a predominant three-tech look when he’s kicked inside to nose tackle? Does he still hold his own against the run? If not, then that’s not necessarily a sign of versatility in his game.

In terms of situations where the player is on or off the field, the two main ones that show up are 1. short-yardage and goalline situations, and 2. obvious passing situations. Is the player off the field in one of those situations? That may just be a tell-tale sign about the kind of player their coaching staff thinks they are and the situations they do not trust that player to be on the field for.

You can find a full conversation about what to watch for when scouting defensive tackles between my podcast co-host, James Foster, and me on the Daft on Draft podcast (link below).

Honorable Mention: Just missed the mark

• Cody Sigler, Auburn

• Kemari Copeland, Virginia Tech

• AJ Holmes, Texas Tech

• Devan Thompkins, Alabama