Packers Hosting Fastest Defensive Lineman in NFL Draft

Northwestern defensive lineman Adetomiwa Adebawore would bring record-setting speed as a potential second-round pick.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will be hosting cat-quick Northwestern defensive lineman Adetomiwa Adebawore on a predraft visit on Friday, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero.

Adebawore is one of the more fascinating prospects in the draft class. At 6-foot-1 5/8 and 282 pounds, he ran his 40 in 4.48 seconds with a 37.5 inch vertical at the Scouting Combine. He’s not tall but he is long, with those 33 7/8-inch arms putting up 27 reps on the 225-pound bench press.

Among defensive tackles, Adebawore posted a Relative Athletic Score of 9.72 on a 0-to-10 scale.

Just how fast was that 40? Not only was it the fastest of this year’s defensive linemen, it was the fastest by any defensive lineman since at least 1999 and the fastest by any player weighing 270-plus pounds since 2003.

Moreover, he would have ranked eighth among running backs at this year’s Scouting Combine. It was faster than Aaron Jones at the 2017 Scouting Combine, and as fast as Packers receiver Samori Toure at his 2022 pro day.

Sure, but he can he play football? Yes – and certainly at a high enough level to be a second-round target at a huge position of need, with only Kenny Clark, Devonte Wyatt and TJ Slaton having ever played an NFL snap.

Adebawore had team highs of 4.5 sacks and 8.5 tackles for losses in 2021 and career highs of five sacks and nine tackles for losses in 2022.

Adebawore could be a moving piece in coordinator Joe Barry’s defense. He played mostly on the edge in 2021 before about a 50-50 split between interior defensive lineman and edge defender in 2022.

His focus at the Senior Bowl was playing on the interior but he could be viewed a player who can align from edge to edge.

“I feel comfortable playing defensive line,” he said at the Scouting Combine. “So, wherever a team needs me, I'll be very comfortable because I've done it for four years and another four years in high school. I've just done it kind of my whole football career.”

Of Sports Info Solutions’ top 16 interior defensive line prospects, he ranked second in pressures per game and fourth in true pressure rate, which measures a player’s pass-rushing impact on dropback passes.

“What stands out most is his motor,” reads a snippet of his Athlon Sports scouting report. “He never stops battling and runs down a lot of plays in pursuit. Northwestern aligned him on the edge and on the interior as a 3-technique, and he showed the initial quickness to cause immediate problems in the pass rush.”

Adebawore’s younger brother plays at Oklahoma.

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