Ochaun Mathis Combine Review

After a disappointing single season in Lincoln, Ochaun Mathis was looking to have a strong Pre-Draft Process in hopes of using that to elevate his draft stock for the 2023 NFL Draft. Mathis had some stand out moments at the Shrine Game, but really needed to blow away the Combine. Here is how it went.

Weigh In

Mathis is clearly one of the players you want to get off the bus first as he has the ideal height and length that you want out of an NFL pass rusher. His 35 1/4” length is the third longest of any edge rusher in this class. The only negative was that he weighed in at 250lbs which is a little light for the position, but still not horrible.

Athletic Testing

Personally I thought that Mathis would shine in the Combine testing as he always seemed to have good burst and lateral agility on tape. Instead Mathis numbers were average at best as he finished around the 15th to 20th best edge rusher in nearly every test.

The one exception was the short shuttle where Mathis’ 4.38 time was fourth best of all the edge rushers. Here we got to see Mathis use that burst and agility to change directions within those 20 yards.

On Field Workouts

In an interesting twist they had Mathis grouped up with the linebackers rather than the defensive lineman. Mathis did alright showing some agility in the weave drill but nothing really stood out one way or the other. He didn’t look out of place but he really did wow either. Likely not a good sign for a player looking to get noticed.

Overall

While I wouldn’t say that Mathis had a horrible Combine, but he didn’t really blow it out of the ball park to get teams to really notice him. That being said Mathis has been able to show of some versatility as he mainly played as a edge defender at Nebraska, worked inside at the Shrine Game and then did linebacker drills at the Combine.

I still believe Ochaun Mathis will be drafted in late April, but I do think it will be later in the draft likely in the 6th or 7th rounds. Teams love to take players like Mathis that late as he has the raw traits and they’ll take a flyer on him developing with their team.