NFL Analysis
4/23/24
4 min read
Bralen Trice 2024 NFL Draft: Combine Results, Scouting Report For Washington Edge
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 Bralen Trice.
Bralen Trice's 2024 NFL COMBINE RESULTS
- Height: 6-foot-3
- Weight: 245
- 40-yard dash: 4.72
- 10-yard dash: 1.65
- Vertical jump: DNP
- Broad jump: DNP
- Arm: 32 1/2"
- Wingspan: 77 5/8"
Bralen Trice 2024 NFL DRAFT SCOUTING REPORT
STRENGTHS
- Aggressive, intense personality with high-level competitiveness and relentless energy and urgency.
- Natural quickness off the ball and through pass rush. Some suddenness to his movement/active hands.
- Burst and velocity off the ball to attack the high side and immediately challenge OT pass protection technique.
- Showed strong speed-to-power pass rush from wide-9 alignment with runway generating velocity and power.
- Featured one-arm stab as part of a speed-to-power repertoire. He drove back OTs with his power and leg drive.
- Flashed strong inside counter off initial high-side challenge. He has an effective arm-over move to work underneath OT.
- Urgent and explosive off the ball from wide-9 alignment. He powered through OTs with velocity and subtle hands.
- Speed-to-power conversion is the foundational strength of his pass rush. Generated explosive power through contact.
- 2023 – Effective as a looper in T/E stunt game with good burst off the ball and enough bend and closing speed.
- The one-arm stab continued to be a go-to move. It's part of his speed-to-power arsenal, which must be a strength of pass rush.
- Showed effective hand usage as a pass rusher with a finishing rip move to play off contact and win off the edge.
- The inside counter off initial high-side steps became a staple pass-rush move as the season progressed.
- Run game snaps he was effective slanting inside and beating OT across their face. Good quickness off the ball.
- Can physically handle TEs in run game. Control and displace with strong hands and be in a position to make plays.
- Outstanding playing personality. He is a high-level competitor who brings it snap after snap.
WEAKNESSES
- Lacks the length you want in an edge pass rusher. Lacks elite short-area explosiveness to compensate.
- Must become stronger in the run game, especially as the play-side edge defender, taking on base and drive blocks.
- More straight-line explosive and powerful than sudden and twitchy in his movement. Not a true edge bender.
- Does not possess higher-end hip and core flexibility to clear the arc with motorcycle lean and flatten rush path.
- Pass rush snaps in which his speed-to-power pass rush was stopped by OTs, and he got stuck with no counters.
- Left leg dominant, resulting in an inability to push off with his right leg, which negatively impacted bend and flexibility.
NFL TRANSITION
Trice is one of the more intriguing edge defenders in the 2024 draft class. His physical and athletic traits are not ideally what you would want them to be (length, explosiveness). Yet, there are enough flashes of quickness, speed-to-power, high-level competitiveness and play urgency that you believe there is a place for him in the NFL.
Trice is not a flexible, twitchy pass rusher who will clear the arc and then flatten his rush path with a higher-level closing burst to the QB. He does possess first-step explosiveness off the ball with some natural power and active calculated hand usage to play off contact effectively and generate pressure.
Trice’s game is built on power and calculated hand usage to play off contact to beat OTs to the inside and off the high side. There were flashes of lateral quickness, especially with inside counters off the initial high-side challenge, that lead you to believe there are more tools to cultivate. Trice will have a Joker dimension, having shown at Washington the quickness to win inside vs. OGs from 3-technique and 1-technique. It is not a stretch to see him as a standup Joker in sub-fronts.
Overall, there is a lot to like about Trice with his power-hand usage and highly charged competitive playing personality. Still, there will be questions regarding his lack of length, flexibility and bend as an edge pass rusher. Trice must continue to work on pass rush counters since it is not known if his speed-to-power conversion will have the same impact in the NFL, given his weight and short arm length.
OTHER NOTES
In 2019, Trice went to Washington as a three-star recruit and did not play until the 2021 season. In 2022, he was named first-team All-Pac 12 and made some second and third-team All-America lists.
In 2022, Trice occasionally lined up at 3-technique in obvious passing situations. There were some base defense snaps in which Trice aligned off the ball in a stacked alignment.
In 2023, he lined up as a standup joker on third downs. He also lined up as a 3-technique and 4i on third down and was featured as the looper on inside-stunt concepts. There were also third-down snaps when he aligned at 1-technique.
Trice had some speed-to-power pass rush snaps vs. Oregon State in which he got inside RT Taliese Fuaga and drove him back into the pocket. Trice's sack vs. Arizona is a perfect snapshot of what he is as an edge pass rusher. It showed his first-step explosiveness to challenge LT Jordan Morgan with speed-to-power, breaking down Morgan’s technique. Trice got Morgan to open to the inside and then worked underneath to close with burst to the QB.
His sack vs. Texas RT Christian Jones in the national semi-final was Trice at his best. He challenged the high side with his first two steps then countered inside with a club-arm over move. Trice had some strong pass-rush reps vs. highly regarded Texas LT Kelvin Banks, usually beating him to the high side.
