Film Room: Examining How Quickly Rookie DL Eyioma Uwazurike can Impact Broncos' Defense

How soon can Denver's fourth-round defensive lineman make an impact?

With the 116th pick in the 2022 NFL draft, the Denver Broncos selected interior defensive lineman Eyioma Uwazurike out of Iowa State. With a rare blend of size, length, strength, and athleticism, Uwazurike (pronounced E-yoh-mah Ooh-WHA-zah-REE-kay) figures to fill a rotational role along the defensive line for a reconfigured defense under new coordinator Ejiro Evero.

Uwazurike was a two-year full-time starter for the Cyclones' defense and also started and played in several games early in his college career. Lining up all over the defensive line front from the nose tackle to the 5-technique defensive end on both sides of the formation, Uwazurike was a very productive player at the collegiate level. 

Uwazurike's senior season saw him post nine total sacks and 12 tackles in the backfield in 13 total games. Those nine sacks were more than Travon Walker, the first overall selection in this year’s draft, had in his entire collegiate career at Georgia.

After using Shelby Harris as a piece to help acquire Russell Wilson, the Broncos desperately needed to add help to a D-line that struggled to stop the run and get after the quarterback. Adding in D.J. Jones and Randy Gregory in free agency was the first step to filling the holes with top-level talent. 

Landing Uwazurike in the draft was a way to bolster the depth of an incredibly versatile unit for Evero. Uwazurike may only be a depth piece to begin his career, but the tools and athleticism he has could turn him into a valuable asset on the D-line here in a couple of years.

In this episode of the film room, I went back and studied Uwazurike’s tape against Kansas State, Iowa, Oklahoma State, and Texas to get a better idea of what the former Cyclone brings to Denver as a prospect

Part of what makes Uwazurike a special player is his ability to create instantaneous pressure from the 0-technique as a nose tackle. His first-step quickness for a man his size is tremendous.

Here against Kansas State, Uwazurike does a great job on the front side of a twist to attack the A-gap. He dips his inside shoulder and bursts through the hole, fighting off the guard pinching down to block him. 

As contact is initiated, Uwazurike rips his right hand through the center, keeping his balance as he fights through the guard and roars towards the QB for a big hit on first down. If he gets home half a second sooner, this would have added to his sack total on his tremendous senior season.

When you watch Uwazurike’s tape, you can see the immense length of his frame on every snap. The problem is that he doesn’t use it to his advantage on a down-to-down basis. There are multiple plays I could highlight in which he either attacks with a shoulder with his hands down, allowing the lineman to control his upper body as he tries to get free, or doesn't extend his arms to create separation.

However, on this particular rep, Uwazurike does a great job using his length and hand fighting to get another tremendous pressure up the middle. Prior to engagement, he sets up the center using some tricky footwork to set up the angle of attack to the right shoulder. 

Uwazurike's initial punch lands firmly to the midsection, with several strikes punching towards the right shoulder and pushing the center off of his location. With a quick step back towards his right, Uwazurike blows by the center with ease and gets another hit on the quarterback. If not for a shifty left-handed throw to the running back, this play results in a sack..

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Coming out as a pass rusher with a multitude of different pass rush moves will always give you a boost in the rotation to start your career. Uwazurike has a great swim move to go along with a spin that he throws very well, but his best move goes back to the main point of the second play we highlighted: using his length to win as a pass rusher.

Notice on this rep against Iowa, where Uwazurike is squaring off against first-round pick Tyler Linderbaum, just how violent and active his upper body is while utilizing an amazing push-pull move to get to the quarterback.

Linderbaum is no slouch, yet Uwazurike throws him around like a rag doll twice in the same rep, manages to fight through a holding penalty to get a quarterback hit, and nearly gets another sack. The Iowa QB does a great job to escape the pressure but goes nowhere as Uwazurike has his leg wrapped up from behind. This is tremendous stuff we are looking at.

Play 4: Strength & Speed to Split Double Teams

This play does well to serve two purposes. First and foremost, it shows the positional versatility that Uwazurike possesses as he is lined up as a 5-technique defensive end on this rep. Secondly, it shows his lateral mobility and play strength to split a double team at the point of attack in the running game. While there is a major need to use those incredibly long arms more effectively to create separation, Uwazurike does a great job of not giving ground in the red zone.

With more technique advancement and proper coaching, Uwazurike should be able to make plays like these on a more consistent basis. There are several examples of him using that first-step explosiveness to split double teams with ease, but this one shows more of the upper body strength to drive through two blockers en route to the football.

For a 6-foot-6 man at 315 pounds, Uwazurike moves really well. Some players move better on tape than they do in their testing drills, which appears to be the case with Uwazurike. Our last play shows just how well he moves, those long arms in action once again, and a brute force sack against Texas.

Starting out as a 3-tech interior D-lineman here, the offensive line shifts to cover the double A-gap pressure the defense is showing, allowing Uwazurike to go one-on-one against a running back in the backfield. Advantage Uwazurike. 

Notice his first step explosion when the tackle crosses his face to crash down, followed by how stretched out Uwazurike is when he gets his left hand out to grab the QB. That’s just sheer determination to make a big play, and this spectacular display of athleticism is something that translates well to the next level.

What we Learned

I chose to show these plays because they are the best examples of Uwazurike using his length and upper body strength to his advantage in the best possible way, but I really want to highlight once again the need to be more consistent in that aspect of his game. 

While these plays are the highlights, there were dozens of examples where he allowed blockers to latch onto his chest plate and dictate the direction of the rep. That cannot happen at the next level.

However, when Uwazurike uses his best attribute in those 35-1/2-inch arms, the results speak for themselves. As a run defender, what I really liked was his instantaneous penetration to attack the gap, specifically as a 0- tech or 1- tech nose tackle. 

Uwazurike used that first step to take advantage of the fact that the center had to snap the ball prior to getting into his blocking technique, and he made a lot of plays in the backfield because of this. There are a lot of examples of him also setting a firm edge as a 5-technique defensive end, so there is some versatility to have him playing on early downs all across the formations early in his career.

Being able to line up all over the defensive formation makes it a little hard to project his true role in the Broncos' defense, but if the new scheme features more even-front alignments (four down linemen), Uwazurike ideally fits as a 2i-tech defensive tackle that can control the A-gap in the running game but still use his electric first step as a penetrator in the passing game.

As the tape suggests, Uwazurike should have an impact rather quickly if he figures out a way to play to his length more often than he did in college. He won’t start right away, but coming in as a rotational defender as the primary backup to D.J. Jones is probably more likely than not.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Uwazurike get 15-20 snaps per game as the season progresses, with eyes on an expanded role towards the latter part of the season. 

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