NFL Draft
3/28/25
5 min read
Fadil Diggs 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Syracuse Orange EDGE
Height: 6041 (verified)
Weight: 258lbs (verified)
Year: Redshirt Senior
Pro Comparison: Dominique Robinson
Scouting Overview
Syracuse Orange edge defender Fadil Diggs projects as a developmental talent at the NFL level. Diggs has good glimpses of pass-rush versatility and play strength but must play with more reflexive quickness and fluidity in order to maximize his potential.
Diggs pops with his rush counters at first contact but must win early in the rep to claim clean wins around sustainable angles. He’s missing the bend and acceleration around the corner to threaten consistently with speed despite his good athletic testing at the NFL Combine. As a run defender, Diggs has the necessary length to play the point but must play with more force in neutral reps to discard blocks cleanly.
2025 NFL Combine Results
| Position | Name | School | 40-Yard Dash | 10-Yard Split | Broad Jump | Vertical Jump | 3-Cone Drill | 20-Yard Shuttle | Bench Press |
| EDGE | Fadil Diggs | Syracuse | 4.57 | 1.6 | 121 | 30.5 |
Positives
- Good testing burst and speed for a player pushing 260lbs
- Offers enough pass rush counters to keep tackles off balance and shows enough play strength to collapse soft-setting tackles
- Good length to play with extension when properly fitting blocks
Negatives
- Appears tight with his lean and bend around the corner when forced to play through contact
- Does not feel and fight pressure with consistency as a defender on the edge
- Despite good testing speed, he lacks ideal functional burst and juice
Background
Diggs is from East Camden, NJ, and played high school football for Woodrow Wilson HS. There, he was a two-way talent: a pass rusher and a pass catcher who logged 19 sacks and more than 1,000 career receiving yards. Diggs was rated as a consensus 4-star recruit and enrolled at Texas A&M as a member of their 2020 recruiting class.
Diggs redshirted in 2020 but did make his A&M debut that season against South Carolina. He played in 12 games in 2021 as a redshirt freshman before assuming a starting role in 2022. Diggs was named a team captain that season amid missing a month’s worth of games due to injury. Diggs returned full-time as a captain and a starter in 2023, starting all 12 games while finishing second on the team in tackles for loss (11).
Diggs entered the transfer portal after the end of the regular season as a 4-star transfer and enrolled at Syracuse for his final season of eligibility. He earned Honorable Mention All-ACC honors while leading the Orange in sacks (7.5) and tackles for loss (14) as a team captain.
He accepted an invitation to the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl to culminate his college career.
Tale Of The Tape
Diggs is a developmental talent who offers some raw, foundational skills that could allow him to make a leap and be a productive NFL pass rusher. He illustrated explosive qualities with his speed testing at the NFL Combine, boasting good natural power through contact and the necessary length to win and succeed at the point of attack.
His instincts as a pass rusher are further along than his run game profile, which sets the stage for him to potentially be a designated pass rusher in time if he can fill in the gaps of his play style.
At his best, Diggs has sufficient get-off and good strength to play down the middle of tackles and enough rush counters with an inside spin move and first-contact strikes to keep opposing tackles off balance. His ability to transition from an initial rush move to secondary rushes can be more seamless, potentially winning him more reps testing the outside track.
As is, Diggs can either hit the first counter or is then too often relegated to trying to lean through the tackle and compress the exit angle at the top of the arc. This then requires second-effort and third-effort reps if coverage allows or will result in him getting pushed past the top of the arc.
As a run defender, Diggs is rough around the edges and still developing his feel for block diagnosis. He’s stout enough at first contact but does not maximize his length at times, which puts him chest-to-chest with blockers, and he will eventually lose control of the block.
In other instances, Diggs would benefit from getting off the block quicker to uncover and challenge along the line of scrimmage. His hands' precision in these instances lacks the same crispness and efficiency as his first contact strikes as a pass rusher.
As a potential special teams asset and depth player, Diggs has more than 300 snaps of special teams experience, but more than a third of them have come on field goal block assignments. So there’s not necessarily the kind of hidden value that could keep him active on game days, either.
This could hurt Diggs’ profile for teams on draft weekend, as he’s a developmental rusher who feels unlikely to master early down opportunities quickly and doesn’t consistently offer something in the third phase of the game.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Diggs projects best as a developmental pass rusher. His most direct pathway to playing time appears to lie in continuing to build out his pass-rush plan and becoming a technical striker with his hands to win at first contact. He’s likely a fit to serve as a depth player throughout his rookie contract.
Grade: 69.00/100.00, Sixth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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