Giants Country

2022 NFL Draft Prospect Profile: DL Neil Farrell Jr, LSU

The Giants might be looking to beef up their defensive line's interior this year. LSU's Neil Farrell is a guy that could give them that big body they need in the middle. Let's see what he has to offer.

Nick Falato

Neil Farrell Jr., DL

Height: 6’4
Weight: 330 lbs.
Class: Senior
School: LSU
Arm length: 32 ¼”
Hands: 10 ⅛”

A former three-star recruit out of Murphy High School in Mobile, Alabama. Farrell was the 25th defensive tackle, and the 17th Alabama recruit, in the 2017 recruiting cycle. The 23-year-old had offers from Michigan, Alabama, Florida, Florida State, USC, and South Carolina, but attended LSU.

Notables

ary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports

Farrell played five seasons at LSU. 2019 and 2021 were his best seasons; he recorded 46 tackles, 7 for a loss, three sacks, 15 pressures, and 26 STOPS in 2019.

In 2021, he recorded 45 tackles, 9.5 for a loss, two sacks, two passes defended, 24 pressures, and 26 STOPS. Farrell ended his college career with 62 pressures on 747 pass-rushing snaps and he had 78 STOPs.

Farrell also had 143 tackles, 22 for a loss, 7.5 sacks, four passes defended, and one forced fumble.

Farrell attended the Reese’s Senior Bowl and the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine. Farrell had a great week in Mobile and showed his disruptiveness. His arms did grow from 31 ⅝” at the Senior Bowl to 32¼” at the Combine; either way, he’s a solid day three option who is quicker than I originally anticipated heading into his film.

  • 40-yard-dash: 5.41
  • Vertical jump: 21.5
  • 3-Cone: 8.41

Strengths

farrell
  • Good size, thick player who takes up space
  • Deceptive quickness off the snap
  • Moves well laterally in a phone booth
  • Does well to work to OL shoulders to shed (Q2, 1st&10 5:23, UCLA)
  • Very good overall run defender
  • Plays with firm base when anchoring and uses disruptive hands and strength to disallow OL from gaining his chest
  • Great leverage as a run defender
  • Active hands helps with disengagement
  • Showed exceptional upper body strength to shed when he keeps his hips low (Q4, 2nd&10 14:21, Florida)
  • Possesses quick swat/swim move to get around blockers (Q3, 1st&10, 6:17, Texas A&M)
  • Can penetrate and dip/bend through contact in the A-Gap to take advantage of centers (Q2, 1:01, 1st&8, Alabama)
  • Does a great job splitting double team blocks and getting skinny through tight gaps
  • Does a very good job turning his shoulders vertically to get skinny while using his hands to separate
  • Has ability to counter move, spun off double team block to pressure Bryce Young (Q1, 5:03, 2nd&11, Alabama)
  • Insanely impressive inside spin move against Florida that was a counter (Q2, 14:23, 2nd&10, Florida)
  • A balanced player when evading contact
  • Solid overall power as a pass rusher
  • Has some pass rushing upside as a 1-gap penetrator with solid upfield burst
  • Smart player who consistently positioned himself in an optimal position

Can Improve

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
  • Isn’t a great athlete, albeit his burst off the snap is solid when he doesn’t shoot directly upward
  • Does fire off the snap high at times, when attacking laterally - if the rush is read by the OL, he can get washed
  • Hand pop isn’t great - has finesse element to his pass rushing attack
  • Bull-rush is only adequate
  • Could trim up a bit, some sloppy weight

Summary

Vasha Hunt-USA TODAY Sports

Overall, Neil Farrell Jr., is deceptively quick with pass rushing upside due to his ability to counter and his quick/active hands. Farrell uses good leverage at the point of attack as a run defender, and does a good job taking on base/reach blocks. He does very well working to the half-man and positioning himself well in gaps.

He’s also a smart player, diagnosing runs and leveraging his gap well when he takes contact straight on. Farrell isn’t overly powerful as a rusher -- he’s more finesse than power. He showed the ability to anchor against double teams in college.

However, his propensity to pop out of his stance when attempting to leverage his quickness gets him washed completely out of plays at times; sometimes he would jump out of his gap responsibility, leading to continuity issues on the defense, and his hands don’t have a ton of pop to them. Nevertheless, he’s undervalued and should be a good addition on Day 3.

GRADE: 6.25

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Nick Falato
NICK FALATO

Nick Falato is co-host of the Big Blue Banter podcast. In addition to Giants Country, his work has appeared on SB Nation.

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