Name: Isaiah McGuire          

School:  Missouri

Year:  Sr.

Position: Edge rusher

Measurements: 6’4 3/8th 268, 33 7/8th arm, 8 5/8th hand

Combine: 4.76 40, 7.39 3-cone, 36.5 vertical, 10’02” broad jump

STATS:

Courtesy of Sports-reference.com

General Info:

Originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, McGuire was a three-star recruit from Union High School. He came in and play six games as a true freshman, but just totaled 65 snaps on defense, collecting just two pressures and six tackles on the season. Coming back in 2020 he started eight of ten games as a true sophomore, collecting just 10 tackles; but 12 pressures, 4 tackles for a loss, and three sacks. Having a semi break out season in 2021, McGuire collected 40 tackles, 14 tackles for a loss, 37 pressures, six sacks and even batted 2 balls. For his final season the former Tiger started all 12 games and put up 28 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss, 35 pressures, and 7.5 sacks. McGuire was voted All-SEC second team, was invited to play in the senior bowl and also participated at the NFL Combine.

Positional Skills:

Strengths:

The first thing that stands out about McGuire is his size, he is 6’4 almost 270 with almost 34” arms and a well-developed muscular body. He has played in a two-point stance (standing up) and a three-point stance (hand in the dirt). The Tulsa native shows a very good closing burst on film, where he is able to track down quarterbacks and running backs from behind. He is explosive and flies off the snap. McGuire sets a good edge in the run game and uses his long arms to stack and shed blockers. He also stays low and maintains good leverage out of his stance, rarely letting the offensive lineman get under his pads. The former Tiger will use a dip-rip move, a club move, arm over/swim, and just a plain rip. He has also shown a good two-hand bull rush that really puts his blocker back on his skates. McGuire has flashed speed to power on film. When on the backside of a play he shows great patience in not giving the back a cut back lane and keeping his feet moving. He has shown he can handle a lot of snaps, averaging about 43 snaps a game in 2022 and 48 in 2021. The former three-star recruit shows good power and quickness on T/E stunts. He shows good vision and is very alert, he rarely gets fooled by any misdirection.

Weaknesses:

While a very good athlete, McGuire’s bend is pretty average, so he can get pushed around the pocket at times when he tries to bend the edge. When McGuire tries to rip on the outside of the tackle he gets too high sometimes and ends up in a stalemate. There have been a few instances where it didn’t seem like he was playing as hard as he could. He has yet to show any counters on film when his initial move is stopped. The former Tiger hasn’t shown on film yet an ability to play half-man. He doesn’t use his speed to power enough, he tries to bend the edge too much. His ability to play in coverage is unknown since he was never asked to do it. He also has yet to show he can string moves together. Almost exclusively lined up on the defenses right side.

Fit with the Packers:

For the type of edge rusher, the Packers prefer McGuire is a great fit. He’s big, strong, explosive, long arms, and plays the run well. He even gave expected 1st round pick Broderick Jones a lot of trouble this past season. Despite the instances of him not giving his all, it wasn’t enough to register as a concern, it could just be from him playing so many snaps. Due to his average bend he probably will never be an elite sack artist, but if he develops, he should provide a lot of pressures and get 7-10 sacks a season. He just needs further development on counters, stringing moves together, refining the ones he already has, and of course further developing a pass rush plan. At the very least you are getting a good run defender and a guy who can get some pressures and chip in with a few sacks here and there. The former Missouri Tiger should go somewhere in the 2nd-3rd round range and is definitely on the Packers board.