Mel Kiper Jr. compares Dallas Turner, Laiatu Latu

With the college football season coming to a close, the focus at the college level now shifts to the 2024 NFL Draft in April.

The EDGE position has become one of the most premier positions in the NFL in recent history, with skilled pass rushers possessing the ability to wreak havoc on the most important player on the field, the quarterback.

Alabama‘s Dallas Turner and UCLA‘s Laiatu Latu are two of the top EDGE prospects ahead of this year’s NFL Draft. On the ‘First Draft’ show, ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. compared the two pass rushers with Field Yates.

“I wanted to really see Dallas Turner this year without Will Anderson Jr. where he was the guy,” Kiper said. “Chris Braswell stepped up, another local kid from my area, and Braswell had eight sacks. But Turner went from four sacks to nine sacks, he was more consistent getting off the edge.”

“He was more of a fear factor player, guys that you know going in as a coordinator, offense or defense, we got to be careful of this guy. Because what that does is open up opportunities for other people and these guys can still beat the chip (block).”

Turner had a career season in 2023 with 53 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss, and 11 sacks. All career highs that were accomplished without the presence of two-time Nagurski Award winner Will Anderson on the field taking some offensive attention.

Turner checks all the boxes physically and has impressed in his three seasons with the Crimson Tide, with Latu having much difference circumstances ahead of the 2024 NFL Draft.

Latu started his career off at Washington in 2019 before medically retiring from the game after suffering a neck injury. Three years later he returned to college football at UCLA and was dominant, recording 34 tackles for loss and 23.5 sacks in his two seasons with the Bruins.

“So to me for Turner, I like him. But to Latu, to the point, you have to factor in that (medical history) because you have to evaluate players in totality Field,” Kiper said. “It’s everything, it’s medical, character, all the things. Consistency, one year wonders versus guys that did it for two or three years, there’s a lot of factors that go into this and we’re never gonna be perfect. But you have to have a formula and a philosophy you believe in.”

“Better player, better pure pass rusher for me is Latu. Now when you go through the testing and the medical, Dallas Turner may get the edge and Dallas Turner did have a very productive year,” Kiper concluded.

It appears that Kiper prefers Latu as an NFL prospect, but it will definitely be interesting to see how Latu’s medical history impacts his draft stock as the draft evaluation process carries on to start the year.