Carter's Classroom draft profile: Takkarist McKinley, edge rusher

Now that it's the month of the NFL draft, we'll be pushing out more profiles on the various candidates the Steelers should have their eyes on.

We've emphasized the dire need for the Steelers to find an edge rusher in the early rounds of this draft class, so over the next two weeks we will fill out the rest of the players you can expect them to consider selecting on either Thursday or Friday of draft weekend.

We've already gone over two of the primary 'trade-up' targets in Tennessee's Derek Barnett, and a player they might be able to steal later in Alabama's Tim Williams.

Today will be looking at UCLA's edge rusher Takkarist McKinley:



McKinley is a speed rusher that fires off the ball quickly looking to get after the quarterback. He racked up 10 sacks and three forced fumbles for UCLA in 2016 and was a tone setter at times with his ability to sack the quarterback and deliver big hits.

McKinley stands at 6-foot-2, packing 250 pounds. He boasted he would run a 4.40 time in the 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine. He ended up falling way short of that with a 4.59, but he still ranked among the top of his position.

QUICK OFF THE BALL

What jumps out at every scout when they watch McKinley has to be how quick he is off the edge. He explodes out of his stance and made his reputation by being too fast for offensive tackles in the Pac 10 to catch up.

Watch here how the guard tries to pick him up, but he's already parallel to the quarterback by the time he's touched and he easily fights through the block for the strip sack:



McKinley is looking to get straight from Point A to Point B when he rushes into the backfield. If his ears are pinned back for a pass play, offensive tackles have to take a decent anchor step to get in position if they want to fend him off.

When McKinley finds a clear path through the line he is quick to be disruptive. Watch this inside stunt and how he forces this early pass:



McKinley accelerates quickly even in the tightest of spaces, a trait that is extremely useful for pass rushers. That's what makes him a problem on this twist to the inside.

Combining both is what made him a nightmare for quarterbacks at times. Offensive tackles would often sell out with cut blocks, an attempt to dive at the knees and tie up pass rushers, in order to negate McKinley's speed on the edge.

McKinley showed multiple instances which he dealt with cut blocks beautifully, either shoving the diving player to the ground or using a stutter step to back up and foul off their attempt.

Watch how he uses that stutter step in the below play, and then breaks out from that stutter step to explode through the quarterback and be the cause of the turnover:



This is the pass rushing essence of McKinley: He will look to run around his opponent almost every time. He was very good at it in his NCAA career, as his athleticism put him a cut above his opponents.

GOOD IN OPEN SPACE

That athleticism also helped him be effective in open space as well. Teams will often try to leave the defense's edge rusher clean when setting up an option play as they set up the rest of the defense and put pressure on the defensive end/outside linebacker to read the option and commit to the play.

Against edge rushers that excel while engaged and aren't as fast as McKinley, that strategy can put them at a disadvantage. Derek Barnett struggled with that problem with Tennessee, but McKinley is one who excels in said situations.

Because he's so quick off the ball, he can get further into the backfield and be able to jump all over options like he does here:



McKinley is able to get two yards into the backfield, break down into a defensive stance and comfortable read what Utah's quarterback is going to do with the option play. That burst he has in short spaces makes for problems if he's left clean by opponents and makes him even more disruptive.

That quick burst also applies to when he isn't rushing into the backfield. Watch here how he starts of the play in a quarterback spy, then realizes he has a clear path to the quarterback and grabs the sack:



Put McKinley in space and he is fast enough to chase down quarterbacks and cover more ground than most of the other edge rushers in this draft class.

NOT ENOUGH MOVES

The biggest problem with McKinley is that if an offensive tackle does display solid footwork in that they don't allow him to simply beat them off the edge, he has very little to counter them once they're engaged.

Every sack I saw from McKinley in 2016 came from either him having a clear path to the quarterback, offensive tackles being too slow to get in their spot, or him reading their attempt at a cut block and then him accelerating to the quarterback.

Watch how he approaches this rush and ends up retreating against the USC right tackle:



McKinley is too dependent on his speed to get the job done and he does not display effective fundamentals with his hands. He also does not show a great deal of upper-body strength as most of his big hits and moments come from the burst he gets from his lower body.

That won't fly in the NFL, as most professional tackles are able to put on the fundamentals with their feet that will force McKinley to engage with them.

NOT AN EDGE SETTER

That weakness stems to his ability to defend against the run as well. McKinley is not an edge setter by NFL standards, and it would be a stretch consider him a good one by NCAA standards.

Once McKinley's speed is neutralized, he goes from an asset to the liability for a defense. Watch how he gets completely controlled at the point of attack on this touchdown run by USC:



McKinley is the most outside man in the box on this play, making him the man responsible for turning an off-tackle run back to the inside. Typically that responsibility requires you to get your outside shoulder free and fight to make the running back turn to the inside where the rest of your defense can provide help.

McKinley gets dominated and turned back inside himself here. When he's called upon to get physical, he is not a reliable player.

STEELERS STOCK

So now the crucial question as to how McKinley would fit in on the Steelers' defense.

Keith Butler's defense requires two primary skills for the outside linebackers to excel at: Being an excellent edge rusher and setting the edge against the run.

McKinley's speed would be welcomed onto the Steelers' roster, but a lot of work would be needed before he became the full-time starter. The Steelers need a player that can take on the edge and fight off the big bodies that will try to seal the outside linebacker in a 3-4 defense.

McKinley is not that at the moment, and that will certainly count against him. Some may feel he's a mid-first-round talent, but his tape does not show the talent of a player that the Steelers should consider trading up for. If drafted, McKinley will have to add some muscle to his upper body and progress very quickly with his hand techniques in engaging on the edge.

Bud Dupree already occupies the faster style of outside linebacker that the Steelers would need for their scheme, so it makes sense that they might look for a player that favors strength over speed for the other outside linebacker position.

Kevin Colbert could pull the trigger and try to go for a second faster linebacker in an attempt to adjust with the ever-increasing speed of the NFL's game. However there are other candidates that exhibit better fundamentals with beating people on the edge and have decent speed like McKinley.

I don't see the Steelers going after McKinley unless they go for inside linebacker in the first round and McKinley somehow slips to the late second round. Even then, there still might be candidates that would better fit the Steelers' scheme.