wrote about age-based draft analysis regarding Rousseau<\/a>, and that now, at 26 years old, he\u2019s starting to look like a clear long-game win for those \u2014 like myself \u2014 who very much factor age into pre-draft analysis.<\/p>\nOn that note, check this tweet I sent back on April 5 (disregard me mis-spelling Mesidor\u2019s first name):<\/p>\n
How insane is that? Rousseau is more than 3,500 NFL snaps into his career despite being exactly one year older than the Chargers rookie who\u2019ll play in his third professional game in Orchard Park. Mind-blowing, really.<\/p>\n
Mesidor does have five pressures on 40 pass-rush snaps through two contests, which equates to a solid albeit unspectacular pressure rate of 12.5% \u2014 anything over 15% for an edge rusher is outstanding.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s appeared on 66 snaps through two games, which means he\u2019s the bookend to one Khalil Mack, a defender who many believe should be a future Hall of Famer. I am one of those many, by the way.<\/p>\n
At 6\u20193\u201d and 260 pounds, Mesidor is decently compact, sizable outside rusher, and he thrived against the run in college.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what I wrote about him before the draft:<\/p>\n
\u201cAkheem Mesidor is a wide-framed, well-built EDGE with adequate length and a powerful, tenacious play style. He\u2019s difficult to displace in the run game thanks to his mass and balance, and he delivers consistent pop on contact. While his first-step burst is above average, he won\u2019t consistently win in the NFL purely on get-off. He\u2019s a better overall mover than you might expect for his build \u2014 fluid enough changing directions, flexible enough to flatten occasionally, and relentless with his motor.<\/p>\n
As a pass rusher, Mesidor is advanced and versatile. He works half a man effectively, mixes outside speed with inside counters, and keeps tackles guessing with varied rush paths. His rip move carries real power, the swim is functional, and he\u2019ll mix in bull rush attempts with good \u2014 though not overwhelming \u2014 point-of-attack strength. He\u2019s close to being a true finesse technician, showing more polish than most EDGE prospects in this class. That said, when counters stall out, his pad level can rise and he can be driven off his track. He wins more with sequencing, balance, and controlled violence than rare explosiveness.<\/p>\n
Against the run, Mesidor aggressively works off blocks and shows strong awareness locating the football. He\u2019s not fun to double due to his brawler mentality and sturdy base. The primary caveat is age \u2014 he\u2019ll be 25 before the draft \u2014 and his game reflects that maturity in terms of nuance and refinement. While others in the class may be more explosive, few offer his blend of power, hustle, hand usage, and natural movement skills. He projects as a pro-ready rotational EDGE with three-down capability and a relatively high floor.\u201d<\/p>\n
In short, Mesidor showed outstanding relentlessness on film that was every bit first-round caliber. Frankly, he looked exactly how you\u2019d expect a 24 year old to appear facing offensive linemen younger than him. It was because of his age I couldn\u2019t convince myself he should\u2019ve been selected in Round 1. I gave Mesidor a late Round 2 – early Round 3 grade (and compared him to Michael Bennett).<\/p>\n
He ultimately was picked at No. 22 overall by the Chargers and will see his fellow Hurricane alum and birthday twin on Sunday as the Chargers take on the Bills.<\/p>\n
What a strange coincidence regarding Rousseau and Mesidor, one that provides immense perspective on how age factors into the pre-draft process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Akheem Mesidor and Greg Rousseau are connected in a few ways. They both attended the University of Miami.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1009577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2048],"tags":[215,214,53,85590,1622,2086,7,6],"class_list":["post-1009576","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-buffalo-bills","tag-bills","tag-buffalo","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-buffalo-bills-analysis","tag-buffalo-bills-opinion","tag-buffalobills","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117326618542289462","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1009576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1009576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1009577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1009576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1009576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1009576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}