Kansas City Chiefs NFL Draft scouting report: Taven Bryan

The Chiefs need some major help along the defensive line. Could Taven Bryan be a possible draft pick for them?

It’s no secret that the Kansas City Chiefs need some help along the interior of the defensive line. Outside of defensive end Chris Jones, there are a bunch of question marks among the linemen. Nose tackle Bennie Logan was on a one year deal with the Chiefs in 2017 and has yet to receive an extension. Defensive end Allen Bailey is getting older and is still not a reliable threat against the pass.

One of the names that pops up frequently on the much too early Chiefs mock drafts is defensive lineman Taven Bryan out of Florida. Raised in Casper, Wyoming where he won all-state honors as an offensive and defensive lineman.

Before looking up his draft profile, I went and looked at the film on Draft Breakdown. This is a great website to watch every play by the player you are looking at. Watching the games against Florida State, Kentucky, and Missouri I was able to make my own profile for the young lineman.

Strengths

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Bryan has some great athletic abilities that gave him an edge over offensive lines in college. The 6’4, 295 pound lineman played both sides of the ball in high school and knows how to attack offenses. He was also known for eating up blocks in college receiving most of the double teams.

The most common moves you will see from Bryan are the push-pull and punch-release. These and the bull rush are about the only moves you will see from the former Gator, but his athletic ability helped him make it work. He also has a quick first step catching offensive linemen off their stance the second the ball is snapped.

The ability to chase down running backs and sometimes even wide receivers is astounding. When you watch him running after a running back full speed, you tend to forget that he’s almost 300 pounds! He also has the reach to be able to grab onto runners before they can get past him and even knock down passes at the line.

Another ability he has is being able to squeeze his way through small gaps in the line. When Bryan gets off his block he has a great closing speed on quarterbacks. Given time to work with coaches in the NFL, Bryan’s flashes of pass rush skills could become a major threat. He ended his 11 game season with Florida hauling in 40 tackles, 6 tackles for a loss, and 4 sacks.

Weaknesses

Probably the biggest weakness I noticed when watching the three games of film on Bryan was his ability to follow the ball. Keeping his head down and attacking his original target from before the snap often results in him being in the wrong place. He lacks the awareness especially on play action plays rushing right past the runner in some instances.

Outside of the bull rush and push-pull moves, Bryan lacks much technique much like Kpassagnon coming out of college and relying on his athletic ability. As we saw from Chiefs outside linebacker Tanoh Kpassagnon early on, this will not work every time in the NFL like it did in college. This is also something that has brought linebacker Dee Ford’s career to a standstill is not being able to develop more than one or two moves.

Lastly, the young Wyoming native struggles with power linemen it seems. When he’s playing against smaller athletic linemen he is able to get by. If a powerful lineman engages Bryan first, however, he fails to get off the block in most cases.

Conclusion

In many senses, he reminds me of Kpassagnon. The thing the two of them have most in common is the raw talent and how much they rely on their athletic ability. Like Kpassagnon, Bryan will most likely take a year or two at least to develop and become a threat along with a defensive line. His inability to get off of power offensive linemen concerns me considering the Chiefs tend to play only two down linemen on most plays.

Bryan would have to learn to get off blocks and become more powerful if he wants to succeed in the NFL. While the young lineman has experience all over the defensive line, I feel that he is more of a project player much like Kpassagnon. The upside is there, but not guaranteed and would take a year or two due to the great lack of experience and awareness.

If the Chiefs want another project they can develop and mold on their own, Bryan could be a great fit. However, I would like to see an instant contributor in the second round this year especially considering the fact that it will be our first pick of the draft.

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