{"id":853436,"date":"2026-04-04T15:34:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T15:34:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/853436\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T15:34:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T15:34:18","slug":"scouting-miami-edge-rusher-akheem-mesidor-for-saints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/853436\/","title":{"rendered":"Scouting Miami edge rusher Akheem Mesidor for Saints"},"content":{"rendered":"

April 4, 2026, 4:56 a.m. CT<\/p>\n

Edge rusher appears to be a deep position in the 2026 NFL Draft. The New Orleans Saints<\/a> are one of several teams that are among the favorites to take advantage of this position’s depth as early as the first round. One of those talents is Akheem Mesidor of the Miami Hurricanes<\/a>, a fast riser up the boards who could even land in the top 10 picks.<\/p>\n

New Orleans pass rusher Chase Young had a breakout year in 2025. However, there are questions on the other side of Young with the consistency of Carl Granderson and 15-year veteran Cameron Jordan still on the free agent market. The Saints own the eighth overall choice, but a potential early run on edge rushers might move a player like Mesidor up into the top ten.<\/p>\n

Akheem Mesidor bioPosition: Edge rusherCollege: Miami (Fla) HurricanesHeight: 6-feet, 3 inchesWeight: 259 pounds<\/p>\n

A three-star recruit as a senior at Clearwater Academy International in Florida, Mesidor was only there as a senior after growing up in Ottawa, Canada. He’d initially choose the West Virginia Mountaineers as his destination and made an immediate impact as a 2020 freshman. Mesidor had 6.5 stops for loss and led the Mountaineers with 5 sacks that season, helping him to a 2nd Team All-Big 12 selection. He had 4.5 sacks and 8 tackles for loss the following year before electing to transfer, where he ended up in Coral Gables with the Hurricanes.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Like at West Virginia, opponents felt Mesidor’s impact immediately in 2022 with a team-leading 7 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss. A foot injury limited him to only three games in 2023, but he bounced back strong with 9 tackles for loss and a team-best 5.5 sacks on his return. Mesidor was arguably the most consistently disruptive Hurricanes defender on Miami’s run to the national championship game this past season. His 17.5 stops for loss led the team, while his 12.5 sacks were tops in the ACC and resulted in 1st Team all-conference and 2nd Team All-American honors.<\/p>\n

StrengthsTerrific mix of speed and powerRelentless through the whistle on every playReads blocks in an instant and adjusts on the flyEndless array of counter movesNatural bend around the edge without losing speedImpressive closing burst to the ballFeisty run defenderWeaknessesGets pushed past pocket too easilyA bit undersized without prototype lengthVulnerable to inside running gameMust improve anchor against the runOlder prospect (25 years old)Akheem Mesidor 2026 draft outlook<\/p>\n

Most project Mesidor to be selected around midway through the first round at the highest. However, an early run on edge rushers could push him into the top dozen picks. His tenacity and natural pass abilities should allow him to contribute right away with the upside to be a starter in a short period of time.<\/p>\n

New Orleans may yet bring back Cam Jordan, but will likely still draft a young edge defender. Mesidor may not be looked at as a consensus top-10 choice, but has the necessary skills to excel as a stand-up rusher along the edge in the scheme of coordinator Brandon Staley. It wouldn’t be a reach in the first round because of Mesidor’s skill set, potentially giving the Saints a pair of young playmakers on the edge for the next several seasons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 4, 2026, 4:56 a.m. CT Edge rusher appears to be a deep position in the 2026 NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[95878,7,896,55,2572,2571,6,397,15505,96128,95882,96771,97767,97758,96155,99678,96129,95906,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-853436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-new-orleans","11":"tag-new-orleans-saints","12":"tag-neworleans","13":"tag-neworleanssaints","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-saints","16":"tag-sstssportsnflsaints","17":"tag-sstsnsaints","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagcameron-jordan","20":"tag-tagcarl-granderson","21":"tag-tagchase-young","22":"tag-tagmiami-hurricanes","23":"tag-tagmiami-hurricanes-football","24":"tag-tagnew-orleans-saints","25":"tag-tagoverall-positive","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116347172995461799","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853436","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=853436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}