NFL Draft
1/27/25
6 min read
Elijah Roberts 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For SMU Mustangs EDGE
Height: 6032 (verified)
Weight: 290lbs (verified)
Year: Redshirt Senior
Pro Comparison: Tyrone Crawford
Scouting Overview
SMU Mustangs EDGE defender Elijah Roberts is a dense, powerful defender with the requisite length to play as a point-of-attack defender at the NFL level. He boasts some surprising versatility with his usage at SMU, being charged with rushing from a 3T to standing up and rushing from 2-point stances off the edge.
He’ll be best served as a base end to play over tackles and help generate knockback to set the edge. Roberts is a powerful player with good linear force; his hands are active and stiff. This isn’t necessarily a featured pass rush talent, but he has shown a spatial feel for creases, and SMU successfully turned him loose on stunts and as a crash defender to attack gaps.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Stiff, heavy hands that jolt blockers when he catches them flush with his stun
- Powerful finisher as a tackler who jars opposing ball carriers violently
- Showcases good contact balance on crashes inside to claim gaps
Negatives
- Lacks the first-step explosiveness to be a consistently viable threat around the outside
- Is more of an effort rusher than a precise or surgical counter technician
- Lacks ideal lateral mobility and bend to be an impactful space player
Background
Robert is from Miami, FL, and played high school football for Christopher Columbus HS. There, he was a star defender and ranked as a 4-star recruit (247 Sports) who garnered interest from all of the major Florida programs and plenty of other interest across the country. He ultimately elected to stay at home and enrolled at the University of Miami, where he started one game in three seasons with the program from 2020 to 2022.
Roberts then entered the transfer portal and enrolled at SMU ahead of the 2023 season as a part of a major exodus from the program to SMU via the portal. Roberts would go on to immediately claim a starting role and served as a centerpiece of the Mustangs program for his final two seasons of eligibility.
Roberts led the team in sacks as a redshirt junior in 2023 and posted 17.5 sacks across his two years with the team. He was named Second Team All-AAC for his play in 2023 and attended the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl upon completion of his final season with SMU.
Tale Of The Tape
Roberts boasts a load of pop in his frame. He’s a densely packed player who provides power in most phases of the position. Most of Roberts' best features are rooted in strength, power, and short-area explosiveness. There are times in which Roberts can be an overwhelming blend of initial knockback and contact balance, which allows him to run through gaps and creases as a penetration-style defender.
Roberts was charged with lining up in a number of positions for the SMU defense but mainly lived as a true outside-edge defender. His NFL projection feels less likely to be so robust and diverse, but the central theme is his ability to serve as a physical player at the point of attack. Roberts generates most of his success as a pass rusher by softening angles with his heavy hands, but you do see enough activity with his hands to create space to play off of blocks and press to daylight.
This is a power rusher with a hot running motor who can retrace to the quarterback when his initial angles and rush plans are negated. He’s long, but not supremely long, and as a result, patient tackles who boast a good anchor will likely welcome any attempts for him to rush around the outside.
Roberts is powerful and explosive but not bursty — which robs him of some translatability to these outside rush reps and forces him into a world in which his strike counters need to be precise and fluid if he’s going to win real estate without playing through a body.
As a run defender, Roberts projects as a control player who can read blocks and diagnose concepts from a fit. His block diagnosis skills can use more polish to keep him properly leveraged to the football, and there is a good amount of projection here, given SMU played him outside on the edge for more than 1,000 snaps in the last two years vs. just 113 playing head up over the tackle. But at his size and stature, he’s much better suited to be developed in this realm. The alternative is to ask him to cut weight to play on the outside in hopes of pulling a more dynamic space athlete out of his frame.
The lack of space athleticism shows up on the end as an unblocked defender trying to mirror in space or when coming uncovered into the backfield and trying to flash and react to finish penetration opportunities. Missed tackles are a pain point that feels unlikely to go away if you continue to ask him to cover too much real estate. Roberts boasts a 21 percent missed tackle rate during the last two seasons at SMU.
The more attractive option is likely to lean into his physical play and develop him as a base-end player with his hand in the dirt. You can kick him inside on passing situations and look to isolate his power in stunt games. He’s thick enough to set a firm pick and athletic enough to be an effective looper or play off contact as the pick defender to redirect into the backfield and pursue the quarterback.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Roberts projects best as an odd front end who plays over the top of tackles in all shades and variations to accommodate over/under front versatility.
He’s ideally capped on the edge by another contain presence, but his linear power would be best served by trying to consistently create knockback at the point. Roberts should be regarded as a developmental starter.
Grade: 73.50/100.00, Fourth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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