(2023) Karl Brooks-EDGE/DE-Bowling Green

Karl Brooks

EDGE/DE

6’4, 300

Senior

Strengths	Weaknesses
Very Physical and Violent Player Great Burst and Explosiveness Use of Counter Moves Dominant Bull Rush High Effort Player	Lack of Arm Length Play Recognition can be Questionable Tweener, Hard to Project Role May Struggle with Jump in Competition

2022 Statistics (Per PFF)

*(Ranking is out of the 241 EDGE/LB with 200+ pass rush snaps this season)

2022 Statistic	Total	Ranking *	Rank Percentile
Pressures	69	T-1st	Top 1%
Sacks	9	T-17th	Top 7%
Hurries	49	2nd	Top 1%
Pass Rush Win Rate	23.6%	7th	Top 3%
QB Hits	8	T-40th	Top 17%
Tackles	32	N/A	N/A
Missed Tackle %	20.5%	N/A	N/A

Write-Up:

Karl Brooks was one of the most productive pass rushers in all of CFB in 2022, finally breaking out after a 5 year career at Bowling Green. Brooks has essentially been a starter since his first season in 2018, and has stayed relatively healthy other than a banged up 2020 season where he only played 3 games. While he had always been one of the better defenders at Bowling Green, he took a massive leap in 2022, co-leading in pressures generated alongside Washington’s Bralen Trice. Brooks had 3 games this season with 10+ pressures and 3 sacks. Even more intriguing is Brooks’ player profile. Despite being listed at 6’4 and 300 lbs, Brooks played in a two-point stance, and even as an outside linebacker as a Falcon.

Brooks has some really interesting traits that he puts on display. Firstly, he is an extremely violent and strong pass rusher. Nearly every rush Brooks was in on resulted in a huge collision and large amounts of hand fighting. He has a strong lower half which allows him to generate loads of pressure, and is one of the better bull rushers in this year's edge class. For someone so big, Brooks is great off the line of scrimmage and has great explosiveness. He frequently utilizes counter moves when rushing the passer, to varying degrees of success. Brooks has the ability to shed blockers in the run game, though he can get stuck at times. His effort looks to be top notch on most of his snaps.

In terms of concerns with Brooks, his unofficial arm lengths at this time are very worrying. Per NFLDraftBuzz, his arms are supposedly 31.75 inches long, which is almost historically short for an edge defender. (The shortest successful edge players in the past 11 seasons with around the same arm length, per Mockdraftable, were Trey Hendrickson at 32 inches, and Markus Golden at 31.5.) This, combined with his heavier build make him a hard projection for a role in the NFL. He may be forced into becoming an interior pass rusher, which takes away from how good his burst to the outside is. He also can struggle in play recognition, and his missed tackle rate is a direct side effect of this. Brooks can often be much too aggressive in his run defense and find himself out of position to clog up his run lane.

Overall, Karl Brooks looks to be one the harder evaluations of the 2023 edge class. There is a lot to like about him, especially his violent play, use of counter moves and explosiveness off the line, but his size, length, and play diagnosis make it hard to project a role at the next level. I could see him fitting in as a rotational interior pass rusher, with the potential to become an every down defensive end if he works on his game a bit more.

Draft Projection:  Early Day 3