Green Bay Packers: 3 First Round EDGE Draft Prospects

Green Bay Packers Draft Prospect #2 – Boye Mafe

Boye Mafe is an absolute athletic freak. His Relative Athletic Score (RAS) as a linebacker was a 10 and was the second-best for any linebacker since 1987 and if he were classified as a defensive end, it would be 9.91. The biggest place this shows up on film is when he flashes an extremely quick reaction off the ball and gets in the backfield in a blink. The athleticism puts his potential absolutely through the roof, but the reason he could fall to the Green Bay Packers is because of his lack of polish and production in college.

His junior year, he had 4.5 sacks in just six games, and followed that up with seven sacks and 10 tackles for loss in 2021. These numbers aren’t bad, but he’s been far short of dominant. A lot of this lack of production as a pass rusher is due to the fact that he doesn’t have much of a developed package of moves. He really just tries to fly upfield past the tackle and doesn’t usually turn that corner to get to the quarterback. Sometimes he’s successful at keeping hands off him, but when an offensive lineman engages him, he’s not strong or savvy enough to extend his arms or rip under it, so he’s basically out of the play.

Mafe is by no means a small guy on the edge at 6’4″ 265 pounds, which helps him in the run game. When the ball is run to his side, he’s not usually a huge factor, but not a negative either. He usually mostly holds his ground, but has the same issue of not getting off a block once he’s engaged in it. He does take on pulling guards very well and tight ends trying to kick him out on the backside as well. When there is a run away from him, he excels at not letting it cutback and coming flat down the line of scrimmage. There’s a lot of technical work to be done with Mafe, especially with his pass rush package and he might not be a big factor his rookie year, but that hasn’t deterred the Packers from other extremely athletic draft prospects in the past.