NFL Analysis
4/26/24
4 min read
Braden Fiske 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Washington Commanders DT
The 2024 NFL Draft is getting close, making it an excellent time to highlight some of the class' best players with scouting reports. Each report will include strengths, weaknesses and background information.
Here's our report on Braden Fiske.
Braden Fiske'S 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS
- Height: 6-foot-3 5/8
- Weight: 292
- Arm length: 31"
- 40-yard dash: 4.78
- 10-yard split: 1.68
- Vertical jump: 33.5"
- Broad jump: 9'9"
- 20-yard shuttle: 4.37
Braden Fiske 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
STRENGTHS
- Showed 2-gap ability in the run game with core and upper body strength to lock out his arms and control OL.
- Understood how to use his hands and arms to lock out OL and create space to play off contact and make plays.
- Played with good functional length despite short arms. Ability to lock out his arms was the strength of his game.
- Confined space strength to stalemate and defeat double teams in the run game and make plays at the POA.
- Consistently played low with excellent leverage to get underneath OL and win the leverage game at the POA.
- Made plays outside the tackle box with plus athleticism, movement, hustle and competitive desire.
- Athleticism to re-direct off initial pass rush and make plays versus mobile QBs. Showed good short-area burst.
- Explosive strength on contact to jar and move OL, then short-area burst and quickness. Naturally explosive.
- Showed the ability to rush the QB with a mix of lateral quickness, quick active hands and short-area quickness.
- Flashed explosive club arm over move as inside pass rusher to clear outside shoulder of OG. Great quickness.
- Strong speed-to-power element to inside pass rush. Short stroke strength to drive back OL into the pocket.
- Effective as the looper in inside stunt and E/T stunt concepts, showing the burst and speed to close to the QB.
- Outstanding playing personality. Played with a constantly revved-up motor and high level competitiveness.
WEAKNESSES
- Some evaluators and coaches will see his arm length as a weakness. 31-inch arms will be viewed by many as an issue.
- Has some stiffness through his hips and core, which negatively impacts bend and flexibility. More straight line.
- Run game and pass rush snaps where confined space strength was nullified off the snap, and he was shut down.
NFL TRANSITION
Fiske is one of the better DT prospects in the 2024 draft class with his desirable combination of strength, balance and explosiveness with light athletic feet. Fiske showed the ability to 2-gap with anchor strength and excellent functional arm length to lock out, keeping his lower body clean with space to work and move, followed by explosive short-area quickness to make plays in the run game.
As an inside pass rusher, he uses his functional arm length and initial vertical quickness to torque OLs off their feet and out of balance and get the edge on them. Fiske is a complete DT prospect who will likely begin his NFL career as a base defense DT, who could play in even and odd fronts without any limitations in his game.
My sense is he will become a three-down DT with experience since he has the kind of sudden explosive movement to win as a pass rusher with strength-power hand usage, and quickness to clear half a man. What consistently stood out watching Fiske’s tape was his confined space and short stroke strength to initiate and then play off contact.
He is country strong, and there were many dominant snaps throughout his tape in which his contact strength put the interior OL in a reactive recovery position. Fiske may lack the ideal measurables and mass you want to see from DT position, but his 2023 tape was strong overall, and he has a chance to develop into an impact inside defender in the NFL, with the question being how teams and coaches will see him best deployed in a base front.
My belief that he can be an effective 3-technique in a four-man front or a 4i in a five-man front, but there is no question that he is scheme and position versatile.
OTHER NOTES
Fiske played one season at Florida State after five seasons at Western Michigan, where he had 30 starts in 45 career games. At Florida State, he started 13 games, recording six QB sacks and nine TFL.
Fiske lined up in multiple DT positions depending on the defensive front. He was a 1-gap and 2-gap player and showed the athletic and physical traits to play both techniques effectively.
