The Las Vegas Raiders were looking to add depth to their defensive line during the fourth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, selecting South Carolina’s Tonka Hemingway.
At nearly 6-foot-3 and 285 pounds, Hemingway has a bit of a tweener body type but has some versatility to contribute at either defensive end or tackle. He’s also an impressive athlete, recording a 9.46 RAS with his testing numbers at the NFL Combine, which can help him immediately contribute as a pass-rusher.
The former Gamecock’s quickness and movement skills helped him record 29 pressures (on 269 opportunities) and a 10.6 percent pass-rush win rate last season, according to Pro Football Focus. Those figures ranked tied for fifth and ninth among SEC interior defenders (minimum 89 pass-rush snaps), respectively.
Additionally, Hemingway has flashed impressive strength at the point of attack to grow as a run defender. So, let’s flip on the tape and see what he could bring to the Raiders’ defense.
We’ll start with a good example of Hemingway’s quickness and movement skills as a pass-rusher.
He’s lined up as a 3-technique defensive tackle and sets up his move well by working up the field initially, baiting the guard to overset. With the inside lane open, he quickly changes direction and uses a club move to beat the guard across the guard’s face. That forces the quarterback to get rid of the ball and throw under pressure, helping cause the slight underthrow for the defensive back to get a PBU and create an incompletion.
This next rep is similar to the last one, where the South Carolina product uses his quickness and athleticism to win across the guard’s face. However, he lines up as a shade nose tackle (1-technique) and works wide to win around the other edge this time.
Also, Hemingway uses a different pass-rush move, going with a hand-swipe to arm over. What’s encouraging about that is he could afford to be more consistent with his use of hands, in my opinion, but he has at least flashed the ability to be effective with his hands when rushing the passer.
Finally, Hemingway also shows off an impressive motor to fight through three blockers (two offensive linemen and the running back) to get after the quarterback. That’s something defensive line coach Rob Leonard will certainly be happy to work with.
While athleticism is the primary way Hemingway wins as a pass-rusher, he’s shown the ability to occasionally use power as a change of pace, and that can help him be effective on line games.
South Carolina runs a T/E stunt here where he’s the penetrator and the outside linebacker is the looper. Meanwhile, Ole Miss has the center turn right, giving the offense a three-on-two advantage which, in theory, should stop the line game.
However, Hemingway attacks the offensive tackle’s inside shoulder and brings the guard with him, giving the outside backer a one-on-one matchup with the center. The defensive tackle also splits the two offensive linemen and gets penetration, helping flush the quarterback out of the pocket.
So, when the backer beats the center, he’s able to get the sack as Hemingway gets what I like to call a ‘pass-rush assist’.
While the fourth-round pick needs to become more consistent against the run, he has shown some impressive strength at the point of attack to help gain control of blocks.
Ole Miss runs iso in the clip above, where the center combo blocks with the guard before picking up the blitzing linebacker. That means Hemingway has to hold his ground against contact from two offensive linemen.
The best way to defend against that is to defeat the man he’s lined up across from (the guard, in this case), and Hemingway uses good pad level and his upper body strength to stand up the guard. That allows him to control the block and absorb contact from the center, before winning across the guard’s face to make the tackle in the adjacent gap.
Again, the former Gamecock has room for improvement as a run defender, but a rep like this one is encouraging.
This time, the Gamecocks call a DT twist where Hemingway gets to be the looper. He gets some help from the play call here as the other defensive tackle gets penetration to force the running back to cut backside on the zone run.
What Hemingway does well is that he steps up the field and engages the center initially, before shedding the block and working laterally into the other A-gap. That frees him up to wait in the hole for the running back and make the tackle at the line of scrimmage, coming up with the defensive stop.
We’ll wrap up with a clip that’s similar to the ones we started with, only against the run this time.
Pre-snap, Hemingway lines up in the A-gap but slants into the B-gap post-snap, using his agility to throw off the guard’s angle and catch the guard leaning. Additionally, the defensive tackle uses a nice rip move to defeat the block and get penetration, making the goal line stop in the backfield.
Overall, the 135th needs to become more consistent play-to-play and game-to-game, as he tends to string together a few highlight-worthy reps and then disappear or struggle to make an impact. But he certainly has the traits to work with and become a quality contributor.