But in game situations where he was allowed to let it rip, you see how explosive he can be. Banks destroyed LSU in 2024, when the Tigers were trailing in the 4th quarter and in pass heavy mode, allowing Banks to tee off. He finished the game with 45 pass rushes (career high), 9 pressures, 2 QB hits and a sack.<\/p>\n
Also, because of Banks\u2019 collegiate playing style and pad level issues as he moves up the field, there just isn\u2019t a whole lot of impact as a speed-to-power rusher. So he\u2019ll need to be a player who wins by crossing the face of his opponent or accessing the edges of blockers, which he seems well-prepared to do.<\/p>\n
As a run defender, good luck figuring Banks out. His approach isn\u2019t always one you\u2019d show in the defensive line 101 videos, but some of these unconventional sized defensive linemen do play this way, even in the NFL. Banks has inconsistent take-on technique, sometimes crashing into blockers with his shoulders and not using his hands at all. But he\u2019s so big and strong that throwing his body into gaps somehow works for him, even if he doesn\u2019t always control space well enough to stack\/shed\/stop in the run game.<\/p>\n
It should be noted that Banks did seem to be improving his run game technique and awareness toward the end of the 2024 season. The tapes against Tennessee and LSU feature a lot of strong take-on play and block awareness, and his pad level in the run game is a strength on most plays. It\u2019s actually crazy to watch a player his height come off the ball so leveraged. When he isn\u2019t moving gaps at the snap, Banks showed the ability to hold points and stack blocks, even if he\u2019ll probably never be the \u201cfront fracture\u201d, devastating run defender that the special guys are.<\/p>\n
Also, like apparently almost every defensive tackle in this class, Banks is a dreadful finisher\/tackler. 21 stops (tackles that constitute a \u201cfailure\u201d for the offense) and 13 missed tackles over 5 years of college play is a hilariously bad ratio, and a troubling lack of production. But Banks is probably a little more impactful than those stop numbers would indicate, even if his style of play won\u2019t have the same level of success in the NFL. He\u2019s disruptive on a regular basis, yet the finishing has been elusive.<\/p>\n
Banks isn\u2019t always going to be a textbook run defender, and there will be ups and downs in the duo world of the NFL where more double teams attack him. The really talented offensive linemen with great technique might make his life miserable, at least at the beginning.<\/p>\n
But, in one of the worst interior defensive line classes we\u2019ve seen in awhile, Banks is one of the few defensive tackles with blue chip talent and traits to go with improving tape and pass rush skill\/upside. I\u2019m terrified about the health, but he\u2019s the defensive tackle in this class that it makes the most sense to bet on based on the on-field play.<\/p>\n
Banks landed confidently in Tier 3 for me as a Good Starter, but it\u2019s very possible if he\u2019d played in 2025 and had more production I could trust, that I would have him as a Tier 2 player. I think he easily offers the most valuable skill set amongst all defensive tackles in the class.<\/p>\n
Banks best reps are reminiscent of Chris Jones coming out of Mississippi State, big guys who play more of a finesse, athletic, slippery style rather than a raw power down the midline approach. That isn\u2019t to say he\u2019ll have the same career as Jones, who was uncorked as an attacker in Mississippi State\u2019s scheme far more than Banks was at Florida. But the traits and strengths and weaknesses are similar enough that you can see a path to better, more productive ball in the NFL for Banks than there was in college. Close your eyes and roll the dice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But in game situations where he was allowed to let it rip, you see how explosive he can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[7,233,259,113147,1387,2529,6,234],"class_list":["post-878547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-vikings","tag-football","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-minnesota-vikings-2026-nfl-draft","tag-minnesota-vikings-draft","tag-minnesotavikings","tag-nfl","tag-vikings"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116492819773716833","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878547","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=878547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}