Yes, But Can He Play the Run? subject logo: PROSPORTS
2006-04-18
Posted by: badanov

On Yahoo! Sports there's a fawning article about Penn State defensive end Tamba Hali, who escaped great hardship to play college football.

We sympathize, but a nagging question remains: Hali is, in our most humble opinion, the NFL's number one prospect for defensive end, so can he play the run if he starts as a rookie?

Being a pass specialist at the DE position is a great boon for any team, but we are talking about a full four down starter, Mr. Reliable, with quickness and smarts to react to draws and traps, penetrate to catch end runs. If Hali goes early in the first, as we suspect he may, he will likely be going into a rebuilding program and will be required to become Mr. Reliable. If he shows promise in the exhibition season that will be his position.

According to current NFL scouting reports and as with many college prospects, Hali has his problems, and one of them is his problem is reading keys, a significant issue as a starter he will have to resolve.

We would like to congratulate Hali for escaping the mindless violence of Africa's mobocracies, we just hope for the sake of his new employers, he can escape a solid mindless block to get at runners. He will need to learn to do that quickly.

According to the article, the NY Giants are looking to take Hali early.

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