2021 NFL Draft defensive end rankings: Ronnie Perkins leads a deep class
By John Blair
7. Carlos Basham, Wake Forest
6-foot-3, 281 pounds
2021 NFL Draft grade: Second round
One of the most productive players in the ACC over the past three seasons has been Wake Forest’s defensive end, Carlos Basham. Basham finished his career at Wake Forest with 33.5 tackles for loss and 19.5 sacks. His strong career for the Demon Deacons allowed him to earn an invite to the Senior Bowl where he was named one of the ten players who improved their stock the most by NFL.com’s Daniel Jeremiah.
To go along with his extremely productive college career Basham has some traits that also attract attention from NFL scouts. One of these is his high motor as he consistently gets sacks after his initial move is stopped. Another thing that impresses people with Basham is his hand use. He does a nice job of keeping active hands and has several different pass-rushing moves. One more positive with him is his versatility since he has taken snaps at both defensive end and at defensive tackle during his college career and at the Senior Bowl.
The question with Basham will be how will his college production transfer to the NFL. This is a question solely due to the fact he is not the elite athlete some of the other defensive ends are in the NFL Draft. One other concern with him is that at times he can be pushed around by offensive linemen, which raises some concerns about how well he would hold up at defensive tackle vs the run.
Basham will likely carve a niche as a defensive end in a team’s base defense and then switch to defensive tackle in pass-rushing situations. He also could make a living as a 3-4 defensive end in the NFL.