NFL Draft
4/14/25
4 min read
RJ Oben 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Notre Dame Fighting Irish EDGE
Height: 6033 (verified)
Weight: 255lbs (verified)
Year: Sixth-Year Senior
Pro Comparison: Daelin Hayes
Scouting Overview
Notre Dame Fighting Irish edge defender RJ Oben projects as a developmental pass rusher at the NFL level. He’s a bit in-between skill sets as a modest speed player who also has sufficient but not standout power.
Oben plays with great effort, flashes hand usage to set edges, and attacks offensive tackles with a number of rush counters. However, his regression in production at Notre Dame is hard to ignore, and he will need to refine his general approach to be ready for the NFL competition.
2025 NFL Combine Results
DNP
Positives
- High-effort and strain defender who plays with a likable frenzy to attack the quarterback
- Offers a sufficient effort to set the edge and turn runs back inside
- Possesses enough hand power and speed to power ability to attack soft-setting tackles and collapse the edge of the pocket
Negatives
- Does not possess top-end physical tools to win as a pass rusher
- Has posted a disproportionate amount of missed tackle challenges (21% career missed tackle rate)
- Has struggled to convert pressure opportunities into sacks despite effort
Background
Oben is from Montclair, NJ, and played high school football at St. Peter’s Prep. He is the son of former NFL offensive tackle Roman Oben. At St. Peter’s Prep, he was rated as a 3-star recruit (247 Sports) and committed to Duke as a member of the program’s 2019 recruiting class.
Oben played in four games as a true freshman in 2019 before redshirting due to a season-ending shoulder injury. He would retain an additional year of eligibility for the COVID-19 pandemic season in 2020. Oben logged a career-high for defensive snaps in a season in 2021 with Duke, posting nearly 550 snaps across 10 starts. He would start all but one game in each of the next two seasons with Duke, playing a total of 50 games (33 starts) during his time with the Blue Devils.
After the 2023 season, Oben entered the transfer portal and committed to Notre Dame. There, he was a 14-game starter across 16 games and a prominent rotational piece for the Irish front.
Tale Of The Tape
Oben is a challenging tweener who offers the play demeanor and urgency you can get behind. He is not the biggest of defenders on the edge, and he’s missing explosive athletic qualities. That leaves him in a realm where he must become a profound technician to latch on at the pro level.
He’s got good pass-rush intentions and showcases an understanding of counters and how to attack tackles, but having enough burst to stress pro tackles with enough of an upfield threat is the question.
Without it, he projects as an early down player who can help apply his sufficient length and hand placement to set edges and turn runs back inside. In these instances, Oben can be a productive member of the front and can use his strain and effort to serve as a chase down player off the backside.
His football IQ and family bloodlines make it difficult to fade him completely. He is a smart player with good diagnosis ability in addition to his technical flashes as a rusher. However, without a notable special teams resume (he’s served just a handful of reps on the punt team across his college career to go along with field goal block opportunities), he will have a tough time warranting dressing on game day early.
This combination of variables makes him a true developmental player who is likely headed for a practice squad designation as a rookie. But Oben does have enough of a frame and eye for the game to warrant some investment to see if he can specialize his skill set into a niche role.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Oben projects as a developmental rotational rusher. He projects best as a rush linebacker who plays from wider angles, but his lack of raw twitch to lean on will test his ability to serve as a designated pass rusher.
Grade: 69.50/100.00, Sixth Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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