Former University of Miami defensive end Gregory Rousseau is seen as one of the top edge prospects in this year’s draft class, but where he ranks has been the subject of some debate in the last couple of days.
Ravens defensive end Calais Campbell pushed back against a negative assessment of Rousseau that an anonymous scout gave to Ian Rapoport of NFL Media by saying teams shouldn’t “overthink this one” because Rousseau is a “playmaker.” Rousseau had 15.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss in 2019 and opted out of playing in 2020.
There’s been discussion about whether players who opted out will see their draft position hurt by that call. Rousseau’s agent Drew Rosenhaus took to Twitter on Wednesday to say that teams aren’t knocking his client down the board.
“I’ve already had multiple teams tell me that they will take him in the 1st round if he is there when they pick,” Rosenhaus wrote.
The first round kicks off in Cleveland next Thursday, so it won’t be long before we find out if that’s the truth or if Rosenhaus will have to answer questions from Rousseau about why he’s still on the board heading into the second round.