NFL Draft
1/22/25
6 min read
Omarr Norman-Lott 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Tennessee Volunteers DT
Height: 6030 (unofficial)
Weight: 315lbs (unofficial)
Year: Redshirt Senior
Pro Comparison: TBD
Scouting Overview
Tennessee Volunteers defensive tackle Omarr Norman-Lott projects as an interior pass rusher at the NFL level. There’s developmental upside present to tap into as a potential long-term starter, but Norman-Lott’s first step quickness, immediate power, and heavy hands all combine for a challenging profile to stay in front of in protection.
He’s a player with significant growth potential despite his status as a 23-year old rookie. He logged less than 1,000 defensive snaps across five seasons of college play between Arizona State and Tennessee. His anchor and point of attack skills aren’t where you’d prefer them as a run defender, but he has the physical tools at his disposal to make positive strides if he lands in an environment that can nurture his potential.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Very quick get-off and first-step quickness on passing downs
- Showcases easy power with both his pads and hands; short area explosion is a hallmark trait of his game
- Plays with intense edge and urgency when pressing gaps or attacking hands in his pass rush
Negatives
- Block diagnosis skills are underdeveloped as a run defender; he lacks feel for leverage and pressure to fight across
- Contact balance is irregular as a tackler and when playing along the LOS
- Lacks discipline — had 2023 ejection and subsequent suspension for punch vs. Florida in 2023 and averaged a penalty every 38 snaps in two seasons at Tennessee
Background
Norman-Lott is from North Highlands, CA, and played high school football for Grant Union HS. There, he was ranked as a top-40 recruit from the state and earned a 3-star ranking (247 Sports) coming out. Norman-Lott enrolled at Arizona State as a member of the team’s 2020 recruiting class. He played in one game as a true freshman in 2020 while maintaining his fourth year of NCAA eligibility.
Norman-Lott would go on to play in 20 games in the next two seasons with three starts for the Sun Devils. He was a well-regarded pass rusher but played rotationally before going on to transfer before the 2023 season with two years of eligibility remaining. As a 3-star transfer (247 Sports), Norman-Lott committed to Tennessee and played 23 games for the program.
Tale Of The Tape
This is a fairly unorthodox draft profile. Norman-Lott has played the last two years as a member of the Volunteers pass rush rotation along the defensive line, totalling just 461 total defensive snaps in his 23 games with the program in 2023 and 2024.
For his entire career, he’s played 977 snaps across five seasons. The playing time and role create some disconnect between his ceiling and floor and are challenging to reconcile.
He is clearly a gifted pass rusher and has the potential to be a difference-making talent on passing downs. Norman-Lott shows good burst off the line and seamlessly transitions from speed to power to long-arm or bull blockers and collapse the pocket.
This power provides him with soft angles to pursue to the quarterback and modest angles to have to turn — although he shows capable body control and flexibility to turn corners with grace and contort his frame to get skinny and slip first punches with his counters.
There’s a variety of disengagement skills that he shows, and it is quite frankly startling to see when you consider his opportunities. He’s flashed a nasty cross chop, shows a powerful long arm, seamlessly transitions into a lift maneuver if he catches a lineman’s wrist, and has illustrated double swipes, scissors, and a rip/dip combination to turn the corner.
DL coaches will love the foundational ability and instinct he shows in this regard of the game. Norman-Lott is one of the most efficient interior pass rushers eligible, and it’s easy to see why when you crossreference the film. He can win the B-gap in a lot of different ways, particularly when everyone has a committed rush lane and things aren’t mushed around him.
The floor and ceiling are thrilling, but the rest of the resume is a frustrating foil. Norman-Lott’s lack of play on run downs is understandable when you see the opportunities he’s afforded, as he appears to lack a feel of consistency stacking the point of attack and can lose leverage or be washed out of valuable real estate when trying to locate the football.
He is a one-direction player — forward. In theory, he could be harnessed as a 3T and be asked in an aggressive-front scheme to simply attack the mesh point. But even in instances where he does get penetration, he felt out of control and less instinctive to moving landmarks as compared to a set point to rush the pocket.
He flashes good punch power but control of blocks before feeling where to flow to anticipate meeting the ball carrier in the gap is modest. He can certainly flourish with more development, but why didn’t any of this happen between three years at ASU and the last two at Tennessee?
Norman-Lott is a fiery competitor. It’s easy to appreciate the attitude he puts into a defensive front, but it has gotten him in trouble at times. Be it reckless tackle challenges that catch the facemask or extracirriculars for unsportsman like conduct, he’s been flagged at a disproportionate amount and will need to avoid these issues in the pro game, particularly as a rotational player who will need to earn his way up to more opportunities.
In all, this is a powerful and explosive athlete with brutal finishing ability and a nose for rushing the passer. That is always at a premium, but his incomplete profile will likely impact his draft stock. Whichever team drafts him will need to be at peace with his floor and have a plan to try to develop a more complete player.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Norman-Lott projects as a developmental pass rush specialist at the NFL level. His physical ability is evident, but his body of work possesses significant holes that need to be filled in before he is a viable every-down player.
However, the raw physical ability will make him a tempting Day 2 option for a defense with a well-established player development pipeline on the defensive line. He’ll be best as a versatile alignment pass rusher on the inside — be that for an organic four down rush team or for a more calculated rush scheme.
Grade: 77.00/100.00, Second Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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