As we do every offseason, we'll be comparing each of the Philadelphia Eagles' rookies to current or former NFL players. Today we'll find a comp for sixth-round edge defender Antwaun Powell-Ryland.
ROOKIE COMP SERIES
Jihaad Campbell | Cameron Williams | Andrew Mukuba | Kyle McCord
Powell-Ryland finished with 16 sacks in 2024, third-most in the nation. He is a speed rusher with a nice repertoire of pass rush moves who finishes violently at the quarterback. In addition to his 16 sacks in 2024, Powell-Ryland had 9.5 sacks in 2023. That is impressive production.
Powell-Ryland's downside is that he was not blessed with impressive physical measurables. He has above average athleticism, but a severe lack of length at 6'2 5'8" and 31 1/4" arms. His arms are longer than just 2% of players competing at the Combine since 1999.
With that lack of length, it is going to be challenging for Powell-Ryland to set the edge in the run game against much bigger offensive tackles, and he may be limited to situational pass rusher duty.
Powell-Ryland does seem to know what he is as a pass rusher, because he works around his lack of length. If you watch his highlight reels, you'll see that he does a great job of knocking down linemen's arms and then getting around them with speed and twitchy counters. He also savvy at picking his spots with bull rushes. A highlight reel:
This is going to be an unpopular comp, but watching Powell-Ryland's highlight reel reminded me of when I cut up Bryce Huff's 2023 sacks with the Jets. Watch both and tell me they don't look like the same guy.
Obviously, Eagles fans didn't see much of that 👆 in 2024, but Huff was an effective situational pass rusher with the Jets — for one season, anyway — despite his lack of size:
Measurable Antwaun Powell-Ryland Bryce Huff
Height 6'2 5/8" 6'1 5/8"
Weight 258 254
Arm length 31 1/4" 31 3/4"
Hand size 9 5/8" 9 1/2"
One big difference is that Powell-Ryland plays hard, while Huff seemed disinterested for most of the 2024 season.