{"id":868407,"date":"2026-04-17T13:27:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868407\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T13:27:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T13:27:38","slug":"college-coaches-name-tennessee-football-dl-2026-nfl-draft-slepper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868407\/","title":{"rendered":"College Coaches Name Tennessee Football DL 2026 NFL Draft Slepper"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"Tennessee<\/a>Photo By Kate Luffman\/Tennessee Athletics<\/p>\n

Despite Tennessee football\u2019s 2025 defense underperforming and leading to a change at defensive coordinator, the Vols are projected to produce multiple draft picks on that side of the ball. This includes potential first-round pick cornerbacks Jermod McCoy and Colton Hood, along with likely second-day pick, edge rusher Joshua Josephs.<\/p>\n

However, there\u2019s another piece of UT\u2019s defensive line that may also hear his name called. Veteran defensive tackle Bryson Eason is looked at as a likely third-day selection and someone who could make a quick impact at the next level.<\/p>\n

Anonymous college coaches agree. ESPN\u2019s Adam Rittenberg talked to coaches across the country to get feedback on players who are sleepers in the draft. He then compiled a list of prospects you should know<\/a>. This included Eason.<\/p>\n

\u201cEason came to Tennessee as an inside linebacker and moved to the edge before eventually finding his home at defensive tackle,\u201d Rittenberg wrote<\/a>. \u201cHe stood out for a nationally elite Vols\u2019 defense in 2024, finishing third on the team in tackles for loss with seven. Eason finished his career with more than 1,500 snaps. The 6-foot-2, 323-pound Eason tied for fifth in the broad jump (9 feet, 4 inches) among defensive tackles at the combine and clocked a 5.09 in the 40-yard dash.\u201d<\/p>\n

More From RTI:\u00a0ESPN\u2019s Mel Kiper Jr. Projects Two First Round Picks For Tennessee, But One Vol Slides Down the List<\/a><\/p>\n

The assistant coach Rittenberg noted is an assistant in the SEC. While it doesn\u2019t say which team he coaches, it can be assumed he\u2019s had first-hand experience seeing Eason in action.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe got better every year,\u201d an SEC assistant said in the article<\/a>. \u201cWhoever ends up taking that kid is going to be pleasantly surprised. He\u2019s super strong, he can run. He\u2019s a Day 3 guy that I think people are going to be glad they took.\u201d<\/p>\n

This past season, Eason finished with 31 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. He played six seasons at the college level, each at Tennessee. He is from Memphis, where he played for Whitehaven High School.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo By Kate Luffman\/Tennessee Athletics Despite Tennessee football\u2019s 2025 defense underperforming and leading to a change at defensive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4955,102861,7,6,15,1209,6364],"class_list":{"0":"post-868407","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-bryson-eason","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-nfl-draft","13":"tag-tennessee-football","14":"tag-tennessee-vols"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116420283311946450","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868407","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=868407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}