EDGE, Wake Forest
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 285 lbs
Class: rs-Senior
Strengths
Basham is one of those rare edge prospects who has the combination of size and athletic ability. At the start of the season Bruce Feldman ranked him second on his Freaks List and it’s easy to see why. Despite his enormous size he is seriously explosive and agile, with great burst off the line. He’s recorded a vertical jump of more than 36 inches and a 4.21 second short shuttle. Both of these would have been the best for any player his size at the 2020 Combine.
Basham put together one of the best pass-rushing campaigns of 2019. He finished with 11 sacks and 60 total pressures and his 90.6 PFF pass-rushing grade ranked fifth amongst Power Five edge rushers. He finished the year as a First Team All-ACC member.
His start to the 2020 season has been good too, with five sacks and 18 total pressures through five games. What makes Basham such an effective pass-rusher is his wide variety of pass-rushing moves, in particular his spin move and his club/swim combo. With immense power at the point of attack he consistently overwhelms tackles and his high motor makes him a threat on every single down.
He has improved every single season of his career and his performance levels are on the right sort of trajectory that you want to see from a college prospect. There aren’t many players who can compare with his consistent pass-rushing productivity and he looks like one of the most sure-fire edge rushers in this year’s draft.
Weaknesses
There aren’t any major weaknesses to Basham’s game but there are definitely areas where he can improve. Whilst he has a versatile set of pass-rushing moves he struggles to string them together and counter effectively. If his first move doesn’t work he can get stuck on his blocker and this has to be something he works on this season.
As a result of his relentless playstyle he can get a bit too over-aggressive and a little out of control. In attempting to make big plays he can sometimes forget his assignments and some more restraint on this front would help improve his overall game. Given his size you would expect that he can be kicked inside as a 3-tech but he has only limited experience in the role and hasn’t been anywhere near as effective from that alignment.
Bottom Line
Basham is easily one of the more complete edge rushers in this class and is not far behind Gregory Rousseau at the top of this group. He could certainly improve on his pass-rushing combos but there is no denying the consistent success he has had at the college level. With 145 career pressures to date and the ideal combo of size and strength, he won’t last long in the first round.
Big Board Rank: #20
Positional Rank: #3
