Marquel Lee, LB, Wake Forest: 2017 NFL Draft Scouting Report
By Henry Payne
Marquel Lee was incredibly productive during his career at Wake Forest. His contributions began as soon as he stepped on campus, and he worked his way up to become a tackling machine.
Strengths
Has ideal NFL size and length and was incredibly productive during his college career. Was a team captain and also has experience at ILB, OLB, and special teams, which will be of tremendous value to him at the professional level. More of a textbook tackler, however, there were some big hits on film.
Will occasionally fire through the hole and on the whole shows well in the run game, filtering plays back inside when he has outside contain. He is very disciplined in that regard. On occasions, he uses his long arms effectively by shooting offensive lineman in the chest and maintaining the force. Drops with excellent depth in zone coverage and can matchup with quarterbacks when spying. Times his blitzes well from the ILB position, therefore, interior lineman find it difficult to stop him.
Weaknesses
Questionable athletic ability chasing down runners and breaking down in space. His lack of athletic ability is also evident when changing direction. Slow in engaging blockers and will often run himself into traffic by biting on misdirection and RPO’s. Doesn’t fight through blocks and effort to disengage must be questioned, often Lee is far too close to the line of scrimmage and cannot make a play on the ball.
When blitzing, there are no notable moves in his arsenal, and he relies mostly on effort to get to the quarterback. While he will get by playing zone coverage, Lee is eaten alive in man-coverage by backs coming out of the backfield.
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Projection: Round 6-UFA
Lee will likely have to begin his NFL career the same way in which he began his Deacs career, a reserve linebacker, and core special teamer. Whether or not he has the athleticism and the ability required to become an NFL starter is unknown, but Marquel Lee should hear his name called on the final day of this year’s NFL Draft.