right foot\/ankle<\/a> injury against East Carolina that forced him to miss the final three games of the season (2025)<\/p>\nBackground<\/p>\n
\u2013 Started his first two seasons at Gardner-Webb before spending his next two at FIU and playing his final season at Memphis
\u2013 Three-star recruit out of South Broward High School after starring at tackle, defensive end, and long snapper
\u2013 Earned Class 7A All-State Honors as a senior
\u2013 Grew nearly ten inches between freshman and senior seasons
\u2013 Added over 20 pounds of muscle between junior and senior seasons
\u2013 Varsity pitcher and first baseman for the baseball team
\u2013 Pitched a 2.19 ERA and struck out 19 batters in about 16 innings pitched
\u2013 Recorded opposing batting average of .250
\u2013 First-team All-AAC (2025)
\u2013 Credits his father, who was his offensive line coach in high school, for his physical transformation
\u2013 Transferred to FIU to be closer to home
\u2013 Visualizes leverage and angles while watching film
\u2013 Described as having a \u201cMonday through Sunday\u201d mentality<\/p>\n
Tape Breakdown<\/p>\n
Burke is a gargantuan human who has gained steam in draft circles thanks to his impressive performances on the offseason circuit. While his athleticism isn\u2019t stellar, it\u2019s functional and more than serviceable at his size. He separates himself from his measurables. At nearly 6\u20199\u201d with a wingspan over 83 inches, he can erase edge defenders from the play with his sheer length.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not a gentle giant, either. His entire game is built around his size and the power it generates. He plays with a relentless, aggressive mentality. More often than not, he\u2019s finishing the play after the whistle and driving his man into the ground.<\/p>\n
Pass protection is where he\u2019ll need the most refinement at the next level. His current play style is built around maximizing his size and length. When he lands his initial punch, he uses his 10-inch hands to latch onto the defender\u2019s breastplate and dictate the engagement throughout the rep.<\/p>\n
The issues start as he comes out of his stance. Because of his massive frame, he comes out of his set a bit heavy and lacks the lateral suddenness to gain sufficient depth on his initial kick slide. Without that depth, he doesn\u2019t have the foot speed to consistently prevent edge rushers from running the arc on him.<\/p>\n
To compensate against faster rushers, he\u2019ll overextend and lunge, leading to whiffs and neutralizing his natural leverage advantage.<\/p>\n
His success rate skyrockets against more powerful rush attempts. Despite his size, he has the hip and ankle flexibility to sink his lower half and sit down on power. His anchor strength is highly impressive, and he\u2019s adept at stymying straightforward, linear bull rushes.<\/p>\n
While he does have issues in pass protection, most stem from advanced rush plans that exploit his lumbering, heavy movements.<\/p>\n
His run blocking is much stronger, but it also reveals his scheme dependence. While he isn\u2019t a statue and shows enough mobility to stretch blocks to the perimeter and execute reach blocks, he\u2019s at his best working vertically and using his size and power to overwhelm defenders.<\/p>\n
Once he\u2019s fully engaged, his lower-body drive is relentless and persistent. He pairs that constant leg churn with impressive torque, allowing him to forcibly twist, uproot, and displace defenders from their run fits.<\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/p>\n
After he gained steam during offseason workouts, I was eager to dive into Burke\u2019s tape. What showed up was a functional but not great athlete who leans heavily on his overwhelming size to dominate at his level of competition. His mindset is where you want it to be \u2014 nasty and tenacious \u2014 but his technique remains raw.<\/p>\n
In pass protection, he\u2019s heavily dependent on landing his initial punch to stall the defender\u2019s first move. If that punch doesn\u2019t land cleanly or the rusher is able to win leverage around the arc, he struggles to recover. His footwork simply isn\u2019t agile enough right now to consistently handle pure speed off the edge.<\/p>\n
Run blocking is where he shines. He\u2019s a true mauler, and his rare size allows him to wash defenders out and open large lanes on the right side. When he wins inside leverage on a defender\u2019s breastplate, he controls the entire rep. In gap and power schemes, he projects as a plus run blocker who could function as a spot starter early in his career.<\/p>\n
A realistic comparison for Burke\u2019s style of play is Dennis Kelly. Both are massive presences on the edge who largely rely on their frames to do the heavy lifting. Kelly improved his ability to sustain blocks in the league, an area where Burke still struggles. While Burke generates real pop on contact, he can falter when forced to reset his feet. Even so, his sheer size and power make him an intriguing developmental tackle with legitimate upside.<\/p>\n
NFL Draft Projection: Mid-Late Day Three
Steelers Depot Draft Grade<\/a>: 6.8 (Pure Backup)
Grade Range: 6.3 \u2013 7.2
Games Watched: @ Troy (2025), vs. Arkansas (2025), @ Florida Atlantic (2025), @UAB (2025), vs. USF (2025), vs. Tulane (2025)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From now until the 2026 NFL Draft, we will scout and create profiles for as many prospects as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[4955,92923,7,997,6,520,57,2360,426,107702],"class_list":{"0":"post-849495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-2026-nfl-draft-profiles","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-memphis","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-pittsburgh","14":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","15":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","16":"tag-steelers","17":"tag-travis-burke"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116335855934805114","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849495","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=849495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}