Scouting Profile: Mike Green - EDGE - Marshall
Sales Pitch: Athletic bendy rusher with eye popping production. Is undersized and made most of his impact at a small school but showed at the Senior Bowl his traits translate versus NFL talent.
*Gold Numbers Indicate NCAA T-25 for 2024*
Scouting Report
Mike Green is a former 3-Star recruit from the state of Virginia, where he lettered in football and wrestling in high school. He spent his first two seasons at University of Virginia, before transferring to Marshall. In 2024 Green exploded onto the scene as a 2nd Team All-American, who clean swept the Sun Belt Conference awards after putting up 17 sacks on the season.
Green is an undersized rusher with tremendous athleticism. He has excellent first step burst to quickly get up field and create penetration. He has lighting fast hands that are easily able to discard and dip around blocks to get into the backfield. Green plays with an strong motor and shows the straight-line speed to consistently chase down plays from the backside. Despite his smaller frame, he is a willing run defender who doesn’t shy away from contact. He uses good leverage and flexibility to take on contact on the edge and hold his ground. He shows a good feel for the run game to spin off and make tackles in traffic. As evidenced by his 17 sacks, Green’s biggest calling card is his pass rush ability. He is a very good speed rusher with the upfield burst to win off the edge, and the agility to loop back inside. He displays a strong chop move to keep his frame clean to win the corner, and a good spin-move and speed to power to counter, when tackles jump set him. Green is a bendy athlete with the ankle flexion and balance to drop his weight and turn the corner. His low center of gravity and speed create a ton of clean wins that allow him convert pressures to sacks. Green’s athleticism gives him the ability to be used creativity on stunts as well as drop back into coverage.
The biggest concern with Green’s game is he possesses a small frame with short arms. For a player who’s production mostly comes versus non Power-4 competition, there will be questions about his ability to hold up at the NFL, even after a good Senior Bowl showing. Green’s size deficiencies mostly show up as a run defender, where despite his efforts, he can get pushed around at the point of attack . His inability to always hold up in the run game forces him to take risks which can open up rushing lanes. Green’s short arms also limit him as a tackler. He is not always in control closing down in space and lacks the tackle radius to secure ball carriers at a consistent clip. As a pass rusher Green relies on space to win. When he does not have a run way to use his speed, he fails to show much of a power rush profile. Lineman with accurate punches and good length are able to get first contact and ride his leaner frame up the field. It will be imperative for him to continue developing his rush moves because he will be at a deficit in terms of size and length in almost all his matchups.
Green profiles best as an on-ball 3-4 OLB in an single gap scheme. Despite being at a small school, it is apparent his burst and bend is legit. His lack of size and length won’t be for everyone, but Green is one of the best pure pass rushers in the class and should comfortably be selected on Day-1.