NFL Draft
2/20/25
6 min read
JJ Pegues 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Ole Miss Rebels DT
Height: 6021 (verified)
Weight: 323lbs (verified)
Year: Redshirt Senior
Pro Comparison: Bilal Nichols
Scouting Overview
Ole Miss Rebels defensive tackle JJ Pegues is a gifted athletic talent on the defensive line. After starting his college career at tight end, Pegues is understandably still a bit underdeveloped with his technique, but the flashes of athleticism he provides at his stature are enough to perk up any defensive coach and generate buy-in as a developmental prospect.
Moonlighting as a short-yardage back, Pegues is a rare blend of gifts and traits — although it is difficult to see him often commanding touches of the football at the NFL level. Instead, he’ll be better served working on the consistency of his hand usage to properly control blocks and further develop his pass-rush capabilities.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Hilariously hot motor and urgent play style for a man of his stature
- Boasts surprising short-area agility and quickness to win on the edges of blocks
- Illustrates a diverse pass-rush counter bag to defeat pass sets at first contact when properly called upon
Negatives
- Can play tall in the run game and get bubbled off the point of attack without an ideal anchor despite his size
- Has played in a front-loaded with talent and a penetration ideology — which may be difficult to replicate
- Will be a 24-year-old rookie in 2025
Background
Pegues is from Oxford, MS, and played high school football at Oxford HS. There, Pegues was a standout talent as a 4-star recruit (247 Sports) athlete who also played basketball. He’s credited with running a 4.79s 40-yard dash with a 34-inch vertical at 280 pounds at The Opening Regional — a testament to how dynamic of an athlete he has been going all the way back to high school.
Pegues received attention from major programs like LSU, Alabama, and Ole Miss but ultimately enrolled at Auburn. He would play for the Tigers for two seasons as a member of their 2020 recruiting class. He played in 24 games across two seasons, his true freshman season in 2020 at tight end and then converting to the defensive line in the spring of 2021.
Pegues entered the transfer portal after his 2021 redshirt freshman season (thanks to the bonus eligibility of the COVID-19 pandemic) and was rated as a 4-star transfer. This time, he landed with Ole Miss. In his first season with the Rebels in 2022, he logged 12 games as a reserve defensive lineman. 2023 was his first year as a starter. He is credited with 12 starts in 13 total game appearances. He’d start another 11 games in 13 appearances as a redshirt senior in 2024 and was named Third Team All-SEC for his play.
Pegues accepted an invitation to the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl to culminate his college career.
Tale Of The Tape
What a trip Pegues is to watch on film. He’s not fully developed as a defender just yet — understandably so given his transition to the defensive side of the football after his freshman season of college. The flashes of athleticism are undeniable, though.
And while some of his usage may not be valuable reps to an NFL projection, it is still easy to appreciate the foundation he offers as a football player at more than 320 pounds. As a pass rusher, you see the first step quickness that allows Pegues to test the edges of blockers with burst and speed. In the opportunities he catches to shoot a gap, he’s capable of pushing through a shoulder and playing into the backfield where he can bend and lean through corners to create disruption.
He also offers some rush counters, as well. He’s hit an inside spin move, an inside chop from wide alignment, and he boasts the upper-body ability to rip through contact. He was an ancillary piece of a pass rush group that featured Princely Umanmielen, Jared Ivey, and Walter Nolen, so he saw a number of 1-on-1 opportunities rushing the passer. In rushes that got him in isolation with guards, he was usually able to test their edges and create havoc as a penetration player. This will be a key part of his early success as he further develops his rush plan and his hand precision: how well can you get him into 1-on-1 opportunities where his raw athleticism can take over?
The good news is he appears to be alignment versatile and actually plays less impactfully in the A-gaps despite his size. He can serve as a base end in an odd front or line up as a 3T or a 4i in the B-gap. As a run defender, there are opportunities when drawing a clear burst into the backfield against down blocks or late hands and heavy feet. He has the athleticism and the change-of-direction skills to flash and react to mirror ball carriers coming out of the mesh point.
However, his skills as a point-of-attack defender and block processor are still raw. He can offer a ton of upside and rapid development on this front, but the assumption of development is where his projection carries the most risk and puts him in danger of being a rotational pass rusher only without growth.
His hand usage lingers as the primary area for improvement. His punch placement and timing can leave him vulnerable to giving up his chest, and in these instances, Pegues gets his pads rocked back, and he’ll play upright. This robs him of his leverage and ability to anchor and he can get washed too easily. This includes double teams and solo blocks.
As fun as the direct snap rushing attack is, it feels unlikely that Pegues will be afforded a similar opportunity in the NFL. Perhaps in a perfect world, behind a powerhouse OL with a creative play-caller, he can collect a few cracks at it. He’s a nimble yet powerful runner with the ball who understands how to lower his pads and punish tackles in short-yardage situations.
However, NFL defenders will likely bog up the pile around his feet and get him stuck in the mud before he can boulder his way through gaps with consistency.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Pegues projects as a rotational talent at the NFL level. In a perfect storm of personnel moves around him, he could potentially be a starter, but he’ll be best optimized in a rotation that helps keep him fresh — as his combination of size and urgent play style will test his endurance.
Pegues projects best to a penetration front as a B-gap defender.
Grade: 71.50/100.00, Fifth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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