Max Llewellyn DE/EDGE Iowa |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| Jersey: #48 SUB-POSITION: EDGE RUSHER | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 03/13/2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FORTY time: 4.81 seconds (53%*) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Age: 24.0 DOB: 08/16/2002 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jersey: #48 | |
| SUB-POSITION: EDGE RUSHER | |
| Last Updated: 03/13/2026 | |
| Draft Year: 2026 | |
| Forty time: 4.81 seconds (53%*) | |
| Age: 24.0 DOB: 08/16/2002 | |
| Overall Rating: | 82.5 / 100 | |
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| Average rating of opposition Offense player has faced | ||
| Offense Rating: |
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74% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| Tackling: |
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47% |
| Pass Rush: |
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91% |
| Run Defense: |
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61% |
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DRAFT PROJECTION:
5th
Overall Rank:
#154
Position rank:
#33 (DL)
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| College Games: 42 College Snaps: 1025 | ||
ESPN RATING: 76/100
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247 RATING: 91/100
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RIVALS RATING: 5.7 (93%)
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| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Bralen Trice - Washington |
|
77% |
| Colby Wooden - Auburn |
|
75% |
| Sai'vion Jones - LSU |
|
75% |
Drafted: ROUND: 7 - Pick Number: 238 (MIA)
Draft Profile: Bio
Max Llewellyn grew up in Urbandale, Iowa, about twenty minutes from Iowa City, and turned into one of the more productive defensive ends in Des Moines-area prep history. Standing 6'5" and weighing 263 pounds, Llewellyn was a three-year letterman and senior captain at Urbandale High School, where he doubled as a tight end and defensive end. His senior campaign featured 13 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, and 13 receptions for 278 yards on offense, earning him a spot on the Des Moines Register's Elite All-State team along with first-team all-state and all-district selections. Recruiting services were mixed on his upside: 247Sports graded him as a four-star (0.91 composite), while both Rivals and ESPN slotted him as a three-star with a 76 ESPN rating. He ranked as the No. 436 overall recruit on 247Sports' composite board.Llewellyn committed to Iowa and redshirted in 2021, earning the team's defensive Leader Award despite never seeing the field. He picked up scattered reps in 2022 across four games (44 snaps total), then worked as a rotational piece in 2023, logging 147 snaps across all 14 games and collecting his first two career sacks. The real breakout came in 2024 when, despite still playing behind the starters, Llewellyn torched opposing pass protectors in 290 snaps. He racked up 22 tackles, eight tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, three passes defended, and a forced fumble in what amounted to a part-time role. His per-snap production was among the best on Iowa's defense that season.
The 2025 season finally brought a full-time starting role, and Llewellyn responded with 26 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks, a team-leading eight quarterback pressures, five pass breakups, and two forced fumbles across 13 starts. He earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors from both the coaches and media, along with Iowa's defensive Hustle Award. That production came within the framework of one of the nation's best defenses, as Iowa ranked fifth in first downs allowed, eighth in scoring defense (15.6 points per game), ninth in total defense, and tenth in passing defense. His brother Luke played baseball at Iowa, keeping the family firmly planted in Hawkeye territory.
Scouting Report: Strengths
- Super quick first step that immediately threatens the offensive tackle's outside shoulder and forces blockers into panic mode on their initial kick-slide.
- Owns one of the better inside spin moves in this entire draft class, setting it up with long strides and body fakes that manipulate the tackle's weight distribution.
- Diverse pass-rush toolbox featuring chops, club-swims, long-arms, rips, swipe-rips, and two-handed swipes, giving him plenty of counters when Plan A stalls.
- Uses his long-arm strike to elevate blockers' pads and soften the edge, creating leverage advantages even against bigger tackles who outweigh him.
- Relentless pursuit of the quarterback with legitimate closing burst, particularly dangerous against mobile quarterbacks who try to escape the pocket laterally.
- Gets his hands up at the line when he loses the rush, batting down three passes in 2025 and disrupting throwing lanes even on non-pressure reps.
- Smooth gap-exchange ability on stunts and twists, transitioning into B-gap attacks without losing speed or balance through traffic.
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- In run defense he is limited; gets washed inside by down blocks and driven off his spot by tight ends in wide-zone concepts.
- Alarming missed-tackle rate that spiked badly in 2025 after a much cleaner 2024 season, calling into question his tackling reliability at the next level.
- Pad level stays elevated far too often, sapping his leg drive and preventing him from consistently bending the corner even from wide alignments.
- Over-reliance on the spin move makes him predictable for tackles who have done their homework; needs to weaponize his counter moves more effectively.
- Struggles to disengage once offensive linemen lock hands onto his frame, lacking the hand-fighting counters to keep his rush alive through contact.
Scouting Report: Summary
Llewellyn is one of the more interesting later-round gambles in this class because the gap between his best pass-rush reps and his worst run-defense snaps is enormous. When everything clicks, he looks like a legitimate NFL starter: the first step is violent, the spin move is filthy, and he chains rush moves together with a fluidity that most Day 3 edge rushers simply cannot replicate. His 2024 tape, even in limited snaps, was some of the most impressive part-time work from any edge rusher in college football. The problem is that the 2025 full-time starter tape revealed real cracks, particularly against the run and in tackling situations, that temper the excitement.His best fit is as a designated pass rusher in a 3-4 scheme, where a defensive coordinator can deploy him on obvious passing downs and shelter him from the run-game responsibilities that currently eat him alive. Llewellyn does not need to be an every-down player to justify his draft capital. If a coaching staff can get 25 to 30 pass-rush snaps per game out of him and let him pin his ears back, that spin move and first-step burst will create sacks at the professional level. The speed testing confirms what the tape shows: this is a legitimate athlete, not just a one-trick college rusher.
The development curve is the real story here. Llewellyn was essentially a redshirt and benchwarmer for three full seasons before breaking out, which means he is simultaneously older than most prospects at his experience level and less seasoned than his age would suggest. His pass-rush plan is still incomplete and his anchor against the run needs serious work in an NFL weight room. But the raw tools and the trajectory both point upward. A patient team that drafts him on Day 3, brings him along slowly as a situational rusher, and invests in developing his hand-fighting and run-game technique could end up with a quality starter in two or three years. He is not a safe pick by any stretch, but the ceiling is tantalizing for where he will be selected.
Max Llewellyn percentiles vs other Defensive Ends (NFL Combine historically - higher value represents better perfomance)
How other scouting services rate Max Llewellyn (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
161.6
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
46.0
*Percentile Ranking in Player's Position Group (NFL Combine Historical Data): This percentile reflects how a player's specific statistics rank
in comparison to historical performances at the NFL Combine, specifically within their position group. A higher percentile indicates a better performance.
For instance, being in the 90th percentile for a particular stat means the player outperformed 90% of their peers in that category.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.