Tyler Onyedim DE/EDGE Texas A&M |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| Jersey: #11 SUB-POSITION: VERSATILE DL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 04/11/2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FORTY time: 5.07 seconds (5%*) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowl Invite: Shrine Bowl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jersey: #11 | |
| SUB-POSITION: VERSATILE DL | |
| Last Updated: 04/11/2026 | |
| Draft Year: 2026 | |
| Forty time: 5.07 seconds (5%*) | |
| Bowl Invite: Shrine Bowl | |
| Overall Rating: | 82.3 / 100 | |
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| Average rating of opposition Offense player has faced | ||
| Offense Rating: |
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75% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| Tackling: |
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73% |
| Pass Rush: |
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68% |
| Run Defense: |
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77% |
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DRAFT PROJECTION:
5th
Overall Rank:
#161
Position rank:
#36 (DL)
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| College Games: 53 College Snaps: 1678 | ||
ESPN RATING: 73/100
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247 RATING: 84/100
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RIVALS RATING: 5.5 (90%)
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| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tyler Lacy - Oklahoma State |
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78% |
| Payton Turner - Houston |
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72% |
| Tyler Batty - BYU |
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68% |
Drafted: ROUND: 3 - Pick Number: 66 (DEN)
Draft Profile: Bio
The son of Nigerian immigrants who settled in the Houston area, Tyler Onyedim first took to football through flag leagues at age six, splitting time between running back and defensive line through Pop Warner before committing to the trenches full-time in high school. He attended John and Randolph Foster High School in Richmond, Texas, the same program that produced Pro Bowl receiver CeeDee Lamb.As a junior at Foster, he logged 56 tackles, 18 for loss and nine sacks while helping his team reach the Class 5A state semifinals in 2019. His senior year brought 63 tackles, 21 TFLs and 12 sacks, first-team all-district honors and a finalist nod for district defensive player of the year. Rated a three-star recruit, he committed to Iowa State in the spring of 2020.
Onyedim redshirted his first year in Ames, worked into rotational snaps in 2022, then started all 13 games as a junior and earned Honorable Mention All-Big 12 recognition in 2023. After a reduced role in 2024, he entered the portal seeking a truer interior fit, landed at Texas A&M and started 12 of 13 games in 2025, finishing second on the team with 9.5 tackles for loss. He accepted an invitation to the East-West Shrine Bowl.
Scouting Report: Strengths
- Fires off low on the snap and crosses the guard's face before the hand fight starts
- Long arms land first on contact, locking out and turning blockers to create backside lanes
- Cross-chop and swipe combos show up on film, pairing well with a sudden inside counter
- Tracks down zone runs from the backside, finishing plays at the numbers with real effort
- On line twists, he loops with urgency and arrives clean through the B-gap
- Wraps up in space when pursuit takes him outside the tackle box, rarely missing in the open field
- Flashes a heavy punch that stuns centers on the jump-through and buys him a half-beat to react
- Has not missed a game through injury across five college seasons, starting 33 times
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- Gets rooted backward when centers climb to him on double teams, losing ground before shedding
- Pad level rises coming out of his stance and exposes his chest against down blocks
- Goes to the long-arm on nearly every pass-rush rep, and guards sit on it by the second quarter
- Struggles to redirect once a tackle gets hands inside, showing tight hips through contact
- Flashes disruption early in games, then disappears for stretches when blockers adjust
Scouting Report: Summary
Onyedim spent five college seasons without missing a game due to injury, and that durability matters to a roster-building staff. The frame is built for interior work, the hands are large enough to control contact, and the get-off is genuine. Against Texas, he crossed the guard's face on a first-quarter run and made the tackle three yards in the backfield. Against Notre Dame, he tracked an outside zone to the sideline with better lateral movement than his size suggests. Those are the reps that make a defensive line coach willing to carry him on a 53-man roster.The pass-rush picture is where the ceiling gets set, and it gets set firmly. He logged over 290 pass-rush snaps at Texas A&M in 2025 and generated just 17 pressures. The long-arm is his primary weapon, and guards figure it out quickly. The Missouri tape showed what happens when an interior starts sitting on it: almost nothing else was ready. Counters arrive late, hip flexibility limits his ability to reset through contact, and spin attempts tend to land a beat behind where they need to be. That makes him a liability on obvious passing downs.
What Onyedim offers is a defined and realistic role. One-gap penetration on early downs, backside pursuit, and the awareness to hold up against the run. A front that rotates its interior, which most do at the NFL level, can get real production from him in a 20-to-25-snap window. He does not have a standout trait that separates him from similar prospects, but he also does not carry a flaw that gets exposed immediately at the next level. That is a workable profile for a depth piece who can contribute on day one.
Tyler Onyedim percentiles vs other Defensive Ends (NFL Combine historically - higher value represents better perfomance)
How other scouting services rate Tyler Onyedim (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
129.9
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
35.0
*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.