April 20, 2018
By Greg Ostendorf
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. ââ'¬" Nobody had a knack for getting to the quarterback better than Jeff Holland this past season. The junior pass-rusher led Auburn with 13 tackles for loss and 10 sacks. His 65 total QB pressures, per Pro Football Focus, were the most among all Power Five edge defenders in the 2018 draft class.
As a result, Holland declared a year early for the NFL draft.
Jeff Holland was a menace in 2017 pic.twitter.com/q6zRJZQfFP
- PFF Draft (@PFF_College) March 13, 2018
The only concern some draft analysts have is that Holland might be a little undersized to play the same edge position at the next level.
"In the NFL, he might have to stand up," NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock said Friday. "There are more of those type of players in this draft than I've ever seen, primarily because the college game is getting smaller and quicker to deal with these spread offenses. So we're getting all these undersized edge guys that we have to figure out what to do. Jeff Holland is one of them.
"So even though he showed he could rush the quarterback, he's going to have to be an off-the-ball linebacker in a sub-package and may be able to be a joker ââ'¬" in other words, move him around a little bit and provide extra value.
"I've got him in my fourth-round stack, end of fourth to the beginning of the fifth, and I think special teams is going to be important for him early."
One thing that can't be questioned about Holland is his effort, and that's why ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit thinks the 6-foot-2, 249-pound pass rusher could go higher and even sneak up into the second round depending on how the draft goes.
"I think Jeff Holland really helped his draft status with a great year in 2017," Herbstreit said earlier this week. "Just a relentless approach. Not necessarily a guy that's just going to blow your mind with how fast he is. But because of his work ethic and because of the way he never really gave up on plays, it allowed him to be very productive."
Holland ran the 40-yard dash in 4.79 seconds at the NFL combine in February.
Regardless, it doesn't always matter what round you're selected. Just ask Carl Lawson, the man Holland replaced at Auburn. He was a fourth-round pick by the Cincinnati Bengals last year, and he went on to record 8.5 sacks, 59 pressures (best among all rookies) and was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team.
The NFL draft begins with the first round next Thursday, April 26.
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @greg_ostendorf