How former Penn State players Ebiketie and Brisker will fit with their NFL teams
Penn State football had two former players selected on the second day of the 2022 NFL Draft with EDGE Arnold Ebiketie going No. 38 overall to the Atlanta Falcons and safety Jaquan Brisker going No. 48 to the Chicago Bears.
This comes after the Washington Commanders took Jahan Dotson with the No. 16 overall pick in the first round Thursday night.
Let’s take a look at how Brisker and Ebiketie will fit with their new teams.
EDGE Arnold Ebiketie to the Atlanta Falcons
Ebiketie was a big winner Friday night, going to a team that will use him at his best position. He played defensive end at Penn State and primarily rushed the passer, but struggled in the running game. With Atlanta, he goes to a team that runs primarily out of the 3-4, allowing him to play outside linebacker and focus on his ability to rush the passer.
That’ll be big for Ebiketie, who will be maximized early on in his career. He’s elite at using his quickness and bend to get around opposing offensive tackles and chase the quarterback. Combine that with a relentless motor and he should be able to finish plenty of sacks early and often during his NFL career.
He’s going to pin his ears back and get after it in a division that doesn’t feature the most mobile quarterbacks in the NFL. It’s obviously very early, but Ebiketie will have a chance to put up the kind of numbers that could put him in the defensive rookie of the year discussion.
That is aided, of course, by the fact that Atlanta doesn’t have anyone else who can rush the passer. That may seem hyperbolic, but they have some of the worst pass-rushing personnel in the NFL, and it showed last year. They finished with 18 sacks, 11 fewer than any other team in the league in 2021.
Ebiketie can immediately rectify that in Dean Pees’ defense. He should be a cornerstone player as long as he continues to improve as much as he has over the last few seasons. It helps that, while he isn’t good against the run, his high effort and willingness to compete help him out. He can get washed away in running situations, but always fights his way back and tries to involve himself in the play, even if his technique isn’t perfect.
All things considered, Atlanta filled one of its biggest needs by taking Ebiketie, and did it with a player that should be able to reach his maximum potential with the Falcons.
S Jaquan Brisker to the Chicago Bears
Chicago is undergoing a major overhaul this offseason on defense with new head coach Matt Eberflus joining after he was the defensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts. That led to the team trading star EDGE Khalil Mack and turning the roster over on that side of the ball to the youth on the team.
Starting linebacker Roquan Smith should fill any leadership void left behind, but one of the newest Bears can help in that regard as well. Brisker should step in as a contributor right away at safety and could be a long-term leader for the Chicago defense.
On the field, he’ll fit in as well as a rookie safety can. Brisker can come up in the box and play the run, he can turn and run with slot receivers, running backs and tight ends, and he can play the deep middle of the field as a roaming safety. He’s physical with the athleticism and speed it takes to play in the secondary in the pass-happy modern NFL.
His versatility means he could be used all over the place by Eberflus, but the safe bet is that he’ll play closer to the line of scrimmage, unless the Bears decide to use two deep safeties.
Chicago currently has Eddie Jackson at one safety spot, and he’s best utilized roaming in the middle of the field. That frees up Eberflus to use Brisker wherever he needs to early on. It wouldn’t be a major surprise to see him starting alongside Jackson pretty quickly, just as it wouldn’t be a shock if he became the team’s best safety in the near future.
The added plus for Chicago, if the Bears decide they need him to, is that Brisker can play special teams. He’s a maximum-effort player who frequently mentions how much football means to him. That relentlessness translates well to special teams, where effort and speed can be the most important factors.
Brisker is a high-upside, high-floor safety who reasonably could’ve gone in the back half of the first round. Landing him in the second should prove to be a positive value pick for Chicago in the long run.
This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 11:45 PM.
