2014 NFL Draft: Pre-Season Breakdown – Daniel McCullers, DT Tennessee

Photo taken by Tara Sripunvoraskul of the Daily Beacon, the University of Tennessee’s Campus Newspaper

In a game played by giants, Tennessee’s Daniel McCullers stands out above the rest.  He is simply huge, but he is not just a fat guy sitting in the middle of the Vols defensive line; he is an athlete who can make plays for them.  The Vols have him line up at a traditional nose tackle, but he will also line up as a nose guard and at times, line up head up over the guard.  McCullers will wear down and get tired at times, but when his motor is running and he is going, his game looks like a series of bear attacks on a nature show as he tracks down prey in the form of running backs that he simply dwarfs in size.  McCullers has tremendous ability and potential for the NFL and while he should lose some weight to help him be more effective longer and more consistently in games, he looks like he can be an impact player at the next level now, let alone a year from now.

Vitals & Build

McCullers is listed at 6’6” 377lbs and while he carries the weight surprisingly well, he would be better off losing weight and playing around 340lbs.  Once a player gets to that 335-340lb area, the benefit to anymore weight is minimal at best and the added stamina and athleticism of not carrying around that weight would be worth it.  McCullers moves pretty well with impressive body control and short area quickness to reach out and make tackles.  He also possesses incredible strength and power.  Motor and stamina are both concerns with anyone of his size, but he has found a way to deal with being tired that has been effective at this level but may not work in the NFL.

Snap Anticipation & First Step

McCullers consistently seems to get off the ball quickly and anticipates the snap well.  The issue with McCullers is his first step and correlates with his level of fatigue.  When he is fresh and his motor is running, his first step is great and he fires off the ball quickly with power and ferocity.  When he is tired and laboring a little bit, his first step can get shallow and at times just gets him in position to put his feet under him.  McCullers is not going to get caught by surprise with the snap and put at a disadvantage, but when he is tired, the first thing to go is that aggressive first step.

Block Shedding

McCullers does not do much in terms of shedding when it comes to using moves.  He puts the opponent at a disadvantage and simply tosses them out of the way.  For the most part, he uses good hand placement that allows him to do this but most of the time, he is simply bench pressing opponents, knocking them off balance and then just tossing them aside or driving them into the backfield.  What is scary is when he has each arm on an opponent and drives them both into backfield completely disrupting the play.

Run Stopping

This is where McCullers makes his biggest impact as he takes up space, does not give up ground often, and has the ability to collapse the pocket, shed blocks, and make plays.  When his motor is running, he fires off the ball and collapses the pocket while he locates the ball and when he finds it, he throws his blocker out of the way and goes for the tackle.  Even as big as he is, he is able to contort his body quickly so he will take opponents by surprise with how quickly he is able to bend, extend his body, and take down an opposing ball carrier which improves his range and effective area impressive as a player really makes him dangerous patrolling the middle of the line.  McCullers also will slow play at times, perhaps because he is tired and will go to another gear and show quickness as he closes the distance and makes a tackle.

When McCullers is tired and trying to catch his wind, he will take a step or two and simply bench press the guy who is in front of him.  He still does his job in terms of holding his ground and shoving an opponent into the backfield to help teammates have the ability to make plays, but he is in a position where he can seemingly regain some energy for a snap or few.  It is difficult to know if this will work in the NFL, but it has been effective for him to this point.

McCullers is a guy who demands a double team and the times he is blocked one on one, the only thing that is stopping McCullers is his stamina.  Even Alabama’s Chance Warmack and D.J. Fluker (both top 12 picks in April’s draft) had trouble holding their ground against McCullers and even when they were able to hold up, it was with great difficulty.

Pass Rushing

McCullers is not doing anything fancy when it comes to rushing the passer.  He simply bulldozes an opponent into the quarterback or knocks the lineman off balance enough until he can simply toss him aside.  McCullers is not a major pass rushing threat in terms of putting up numbers, but when his motor is going, he collapses the pocket and significantly changes the amount of room a quarterback has to throw as well as taking away an escape route for when his teammates come off the edge.  And then obviously if he connects with the quarterback, he is simply an enormous man with incredible power so there is definitely a threat that he will do damage and potentially hurt the opposing passer.  The terror factor cannot be ignored as quarterbacks notice this bull charging towards them and that can result in a panicked decision whether it is a bad decision, hurried throw, or finding a place to go down that is not in his path.

The one thing McCullers can continue to work on and improve is putting his arms up when he is not going to get to the quarterback in an attempt to deflect passes.  Because of his height and how often he is able to get in the backfield, he could get in position to knock down a number of passes and only had one this past season.

Special Teams

By virtue of his height, size, and power, McCullers can also be a contributor on special teams, specifically when it comes to blocked field goals.  When he fires off the ball, is able to collapse the pocket and reach those long arms up, he is definitely someone who can deflect a kick.  And this is another situation where is intimidating size may get in a kicker’s head and cause him to adjust his kick to avoid McCullers and ends up missing the field goal as a result.

System Fit

McCullers’ best fit is as a traditional nose tackle in the middle of a 3 man front, but he might be too tempting to pass up for some teams running the 4-3 as well.  He is a tremendous run clogger that wreaks havoc in the middle of the line and disrupts running plays and protects his linebackers to enable them to run around and make plays.  He is a better fit in the 3-4 because his lack of pass rush ability is less of a problem there, but there will be 4-3 teams that look at him as the ideal 2-down run stopper and not care that he is not a great pass rush threat.  Some of the teams that would be a great fit for McCullers would include Pittsburgh, Cleveland, San Francisco, Baltimore, Green Bay, and San Diego, but again, teams running a 4-3 in on McCullers will certainly outnumber those who are not.

Schedule

Notable Games

The first game that jumps out is the game against Oregon in Eugene, but their style of play and tempo makes it difficult for a player like McCullers to make an impact, but it could be a good test for his stamina and if he can have a good game there, it could provide a boost to his stock.  The game the next week in Gainesville against Florida is the first marquee matchup where McCullers is going to need to have a huge game if Tennessee is going to win.  The Gators are a team who loves to run the ball downhill and right at him.  After that, both Georgia is the next big matchup for McCullers and matching up against their running game.  Lastly, going to Tuscaloosa and playing Alabama at the end of a tough three game stretch is an enormous opportunity for McCullers against the Tide’s running game.

NFL Comparison

McCullers incredible size and strength makes him reminiscent of Vince Wilfork, formerly of the Miami Hurricanes and is still playing at a high level for the New England Patriots.  In many ways, Wilfork has been the standard at the nose tackle position for the past several years as Casey Hampton’s play has begun to decline.  Both Wilfork and McCullers stand out as an ideal 3-4 nose with more athleticism than people expect.

If McCullers drops weight and gets to around 340lbs and his quickness improves to where he is a more viable passing rushing threat, he could end up being more similar to Kris Jenkins.  The former Maryland Terrapin was as dominant a defensive tackle as there was in the league while he played for the Carolina Panthers as a 4-3 nose guard and was a major reason they got to the Super Bowl.  Unfortunately, knee injuries really had a negative impact on his athletic ability and forced him to transition to being nose tackle in the middle of the Jets 3-4, where he was still great, but not the player he was at the peak of his powers.

Draft Projection

McCullers looks ready to contribute right now and would likely be a top 50 pick if the draft were held today.  He is simply overpowering in what he can do in the middle of the line and he has done it against extremely highly rated players who were drafted in the top half of the first round in the NFL Draft, so there is little reason to expect he will not be able to translate to the next level.  In addition to simply continuing to work on his game, he should really consider dropping weight, not only for the benefits to his stamina, quickness, and balance, but for the sake of his health and his heart.  Football is an incredibly difficult game to play as it is, but doing it approaching 400lbs puts significant strain on the body and specifically the heart.  McCullers has the chance to work his draft stock into the first round and likely the top 20.  He could end up going even earlier and potentially fight his way into the Top 10.