Notre Dame defensive lineman and NFL draft prospect Jerry Tillery underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum and will be sidelined for three-to-four months, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (Twitter link).
Given his recovery timeline, Tillery should be ready for training camp, so it’s unclear just how much this news will affect his draft stock. Still, in a draft loaded with defensive line talent, it’s fair to wonder if Tillery’s operation will push him ever so slightly down draft boards.
Tillery, who stands 6’7″, 305 pounds, just wrapped up his Notre Dame career after appearing in 42 games during a four-year run. Last season, he posted seven sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss in 12 contests. Most draft rankings have Tillery as a borderline first-round pick, but his stock had been rising after an excellent combine. Notably, Tillery ranked first among draft-eligible defensive linemen in SPARQ score, a measurement of overall athleticism.
In his scouting report on Tillery, Lance Zierlein of NFL.com compared the Notre Dame product to the Steelers’ Stephon Tuitt, noting the former’s “scary natural power.” Joe Marino of The Draft Network is also a fan of Tillery, but noted he must improve his leverage.
If he’s available in the early to middle part of the 2nd round, someone would be getting a heck of a steal!! This kid reminds me a lot of Fletcher Cox and Dontari Poe, before his career was sidelined due to injuries..Just an absolute crazy combination of size, power, and speed, and that’s what you can’t teach. Technique and leverage are skills that can be taught and worked on to improve, you can’t teach Tillery’s size, his speed, and his power combination..
If I was a team, with one of the first couple of picks in the 2nd round that needed DL line help, and Tillery is stI’ll available, I wouldn’t be able to turn my pick in fast enough!! Like I said, if he falls, one team is going to get extremely lucky..He might not be as polished as Q.Williams right now, from a technique standpoint, but in two years, there’s a good chance Tillery could be just as good as QW. His a bit more risky of a pick, because he needs some time to develop, but his ceiling is right there with QW’s.
torn labrum’s 3x worse than acl knee tear. having had both surgeries the range of movement’s minimal and requires a full year of rehab
100% accurate.
So, with that information, where would you draft Tillery, if you’re a team that’s needs a disruptive interior d-lineman?
For me, I don’t really think it would affect how I felt about Tillery. That’s just because, I see Tillery as a guy that’s really going to need a year to work on his technique anyways. However, Tillery is a top DL talent in this draft, and he possesses a very rare blend of speed and power at the 3 or 5 tech spot. So, I’d feel pretty lucky to get him as an early to mid 2nd rounder…
Are you saying a team should reconsider drafting him that early, or do you feel that’s about right for Tillery, given the injury??
Just curious on your thoughts, since clearly I’m a little biased cause I love his upside as an interior lineman..
Yeah but like the first comment said it’s a deep DLINE class. So he could potentially drop to the 3rd day. Maybe high 4th round pick.
At most it will slide him from late first/early second. To mid/late second. Which isn’t a huge slide. I don’t c a team like the Steelers or Browns passing him up mid second