As your New Orleans Saints prepare for the 2021 NFL Draft, we take a look at the top 10 ranked players at various positions. The 2021 NFL Draft big board rankings are reflective of Bucky Brooks' top five 2021 NFL Draft prospects by position 1.0 and ESPN's NFL Draft "Best Available" list.
Here are the top 10 ranked draft prospects at defensive tackle:
2021 NFL Draft prospects - Defensive tackle | #1 Levi Onwuzurike | Washington
Overview: Considered by some scouts as a "flash" prospect with high-end moments on tape, but a lack of sustained excellence and production. Onwuzurike is undersized for his position but he's very strong for his size with the ability to anchor down against interior blockers. He's very physical and flashes moments where he is able to control and overwhelm single blocks.
2021 NFL Draft prospects - Defensive tackle | #2 Christian Barmore | Alabama
Overview: Attack-oriented defensive tackle with a big body, violent hands and the talent to work his way around blocks and find the football. Barmore tends to be in the lead and take control of a majority of reps. His hands and feet sing in harmony and allow him to stay active and free from attempts to sustain blocks against him.
2021 NFL Draft prospects - Defensive tackle | #3 Daviyon Nixon | Iowa
Overview: Three-technique who thrives with his ability to penetrate and disrupt the offensive proceedings. He's good at getting skinny and darting into gaps in order to attack the run or cause blocking schemes to come off track. He appears to have much more functional strength in his lower body than upper body.
2021 NFL Draft prospects - Defensive tackle | #4 Osa Odighizuwa | UCLA
Overview: "Tweener" with combination of size and athletic ability that lands him somewhere between base end and three-technique. Odighizuwa has experience playing in just about every alignment imaginable, so he could be ahead of the game from a playbook standpoint.
2021 NFL Draft prospects - Defensive tackle | #5 Jay Tufele | USC
Overview: Three-technique who parlays high energy with explosive brute strength to make his mark on the game. Tufele has average size and length, but shows a consistent ability to jostle and dislodge single blocks with leveraged strikes from either hand.
2021 NFL Draft prospects - Defensive tackle | #6 Alim McNeill | NC State
Overview: Sawed-off frame that lacks optimal length but carries plenty of base strength and upper-body explosiveness. McNeill lined up over the nose, which did him a bit of a disservice in relation to his athletic traits and overall strengths.
2021 NFL Draft prospects - Defensive tackle | #7 Milton Williams | LA Tech
Overview: Pound for pound, Williams can match his toughness and strength with many of the interior defenders in this draft. Determining his best positional fit will be up to the team that drafts him, but he's a good football player who understands leverage and knows how to use his hands.
2021 NFL Draft prospects - Defensive tackle | #8 Marvin Wilson | Florida State
Overview: Former five-star recruit who flashed good power, talent and motor in 2019 to back that rating up. However, Wilson wore excess weight in 2020, which slowed him and made him much less effective. His 2019 tape shows a classic stack-and-shed interior lineman with the strength and anchor to help control the line of scrimmage for 4-3 or 3-4 defenses.
2021 NFL Draft prospects - Defensive tackle | #9 Tyler Shelvin | LSU
Overview: Block-eating nose tackle with girth, power and leverage to play the role of tree stump against the run in an odd or even front. Shelvin can engage double teams with some effectiveness to allow linebackers to run free, but he doesn't display much range to make plays.
2021 NFL Draft prospects - Defensive tackle | #10 Marlon Tuipulotu | USC
Overview: Tuipulotu can play both nose and three-technique. He really raised his profile in 2020 with more consistent tape relative to his total number of games played in the Pac-12. He's a little undersized to be an interior run-stuffer but makes up for it with excellent use of hands and twitchy upper-body power to jostle and shed blocks.
