Taylor Wein

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Aged well, like a good Wein

Oklahoma EDGE defender Taylor Wein is a "yeah, but" prospect. On paper, he shouldn't be any good in the NFL. He's not athletic and he's too small. The reason I think he has a chance to succeed despite those limitations is there's an obvious NFL comparison for Wein that immediately came to mind when I watched his games.

My NFL comp for Wein is a player who was deemed by the team that drafted him to be so terrible that they thought he was a lost cause even as a backup candidate. They tried to use him exclusively as a special teams player, but he failed at that job too, so they waived him. After 4 NFL seasons and on his 3rd team, this player had a grand total of 1 career sack. If the Rams drafted Wein and over his 4-year rookie contract he only produced one sack, would you call it a good pick?

I haven't told you the rest of the story. After the lousy start to his pro career, this player became a good starter for the next 7 seasons. That's why I'm still intrigued by Wein.

No matter what you might say to try to convince me that Wein is a bad draft prospect, my response is always going to be, "Yeah, but he reminds me of Rob Ninkovich."

 

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Part 1: Background

Name, School: Taylor Wein. 4th year redshirt junior. Oklahoma. Studying organizational leadership.

Size, estimated speed: Listed as 6'4'' tall, 265 pounds. DraftBuzz 4.65 seconds in 40. Draftscout 4.79 seconds in 40, 6'4'' tall and 266 pounds. As recruit, was listed as 6'4'' tall and 235 pounds. Another recruiting profile had him as 6'5'' and 245 pounds. SO year profile listed him as 220 pounds.

3-star and 4-star recruit from TN. Played at small school south of Nashville. Also did basketball and track, 400 meters and discus. Listed as a basketball recruit. Originally from OK, less than an hour drive away from OU's campus, before moving to TN. HS coach tried hard to sell him to schools as a recruit but at first didn't garner much interest. Wein credits his HS coach for getting him noticed. I bet that if it hadn't been for those efforts, Wein wouldn't be playing at a power conference school today and we wouldn't be talking about him as an NFL draft prospect. Small things like that can change the trajectory of a person's life. OU was his first offer, then other schools followed suit, causing him to be a late riser in the process with 25 reported offers. Wein said he had 22 offers and when OU offered, the other schools interested in him were mid-majors or FCS schools, with OU the first power conference school to show interest. Basically, his recruitment on a national level all happened at the very end of his SR season in HS, with OU offering on November 9, 2022. He's not one of those 5-star recruits who got offers while in middle school and were committed prior to the start of their SR seasons. His SR season, Wein had 63.5 tackles, 30 TFLs and 8 sacks (some sources list it as 31 TFLs and 13 sacks). From family of OU fans and he was an OU fan as a kid.

HC describes him as very focused and a gym rat. In interviews, has natural leadership traits, supportive teammate.

Enrolled in summer of 2023. Redshirted in 2023. Almost no playing time prior to 2025 season. In other words, just as he was a late bloomer in HS, he's a late bloomer Sooner in college. If he manages to get to the NFL, my prediction is that he'll be a late bloomer as a pro.

2024 (12 games) 2 tackles.
2025 (13 games, 8 starts) 39 tackles (22 solo) 15 TFLs, 7 sacks, INT, 2 PD, FF, blocked FG.

In 2025, PFN Impact score of 79.1 (41st EDGE in nation). 451 snaps, 13.3% pressure rate, 30 pressures, 6 sacks, 8 TFLs, 8 splash plays, 11 QB hits. [The EDGE defenders who played the most snaps in the country had between 700 and 750 snaps. Wein only played about 60% of that maximum. In addition, OU frequently used him in shallow zone coverage or as a spy, so when looking at his season total of QB pressures, I think it is important to keep in mind that he didn't have a high volume of PR opportunities. I wouldn't characterize him as a true starter, because the way OU rotated their players, he was like a rotational player in a platoon system.]

Sam Teets preliminary board 3rd round tier. [Teets ranked Wein higher than much bigger named EDGE prospects such as John Henry Daley, Teitum Tuioti, Clev Lubin, Matayo Uiagalelei and Damon Wilson. As usual, I'd respectfully suggest that Teets's opinion be given more weight than the average expert.]
PFN simulator 77 [3rd round].
PFN board 109 [4th round]. (+) Impressive upper body mass, nimble, quick and strong, stacks run blocks, impressive pass rush combos. (-) Pressure rate only about half as good on true dropbacks, average length, not an elite athlete, lacks raw power, bend and flexibility, average ceiling.
DraftBuzz 4th round projection, 133. (+) Explosive get-off, one of the quickest 1st steps in draft class, 36 pressures and 7 sacks, disruptive. (-) Gives ground vs run, anchor at POA, counters, 5 missed tackles.
Drafttek board 134, mock draft compensatory 4th round, 134.
Shane Hallam mock late 6th round, 168.
SticktotheModel 168, late 6th round, listed as a 5-tech DL.
FirstandTen board Day 3 projection, 199 [6th round].
Draftscout projected Day 3 for the 2028 NFL draft. I assume that means they think he's such a bad prospect that he won't enter the 2027 draft and will wait for next year.
PFF big board not ranked in top 75.
Tankathon board not ranked in top 101.
Travis May mock not selected in first 3 rounds.

 

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Part 2: Strengths

Wein has some warts that I consider to be almost rejection level for the NFL but he has 2 key positive traits that help to salvage his draft grade.

First, he has elite on-field football IQ. Do you remember Zach Thomas the Miami Dolphins middle linebacker? Thomas was supposed to be way too small and too slow to play in the NFL and was a 5th round pick. Miami drafted him, because he had good special teams ability. Instead of being just a ST guy, Thomas became a Hall of Fame player and one of the main reasons he was so good was his incredible IQ and ability to read and anticipate plays. Many DEs aren't particularly aware or are even asked to make complex reads. Just go get the QB. Wein is abnormal. He reads the game as if he's a middle linebacker. He has an excellent understanding of how and when to sacrifice himself to take out lead blockers in order to keep other defenders clean and force the RB into tackles. He knows how to position himself in zone coverage. He tracks the QB very well and has instincts for redirecting himself to stop QB scrambles or to get second effort pressures and sacks. Designed QB draw up the middle. Wein is on a twist and instead of just charging upfield, he diagnoses what is about to happen, slows down and adjusts his angle towards the middle, constricting the hole at the POA and as he tries to go for the tackle he draws a holding penalty on the RG. That penalty is just as good as getting a sack. Timely, smooth and quick acceleration on read-to-pass rush transitions. Patient vs read options. Scrapes down the LOS with good technique and low COG. Changes his stride length inside of the rush. Trusted to drop into zone coverage and be a spy on the QB despite not being overly athletic. Sets up OTs with well-planned out pass rushes, saving some of his best rushes for key situations. Clutch factor late in games or on big plays where he showed excellent anticipation and creased run blocks or beat pass blocks to get into the backfield. Adaptive defender who reads the play development and positions himself well in relationship with the ball; doesn't get pulled out of position. Plays chess on the field and knows the correct next move.

The second critical trait is Wein has phenomenal first strike timing and accuracy with his hands. He regularly gains an advantage at the very beginning of the play, whether at the apex of his pass rush or against run blocks. Too often, he can't capitalize on that advantage due to size and athletic limitations, but his hand skills are rare. Unimpressive at the beginning and the end of pass rushes, but excellent at the very top of the rush to defeat OT's hands. Good slaps, swipes and pull downs to defeat or disengage from blocks. Can shock move TEs with initial strike, keeping him free to hunt the RB or shock OTs with power if he catches them off balance in pass pro. Crafty plan, bull rush paired with inside swim beats the LT, hits the QB, causing an INT. Stab, rip move to beat LT.

Plays very hard, consistent effort.

NFL OTs typically are taller than college OTs and have better length. In most cases, this makes it difficult for successful college pass rushers to get as many sacks in the pros. In Wein's case, it might actually help him, because Wein plays with very low pad level. Similar to how Aaron Donald's size worked to his advantage, it isn't easy for tall OTs to get down low enough to maintain leverage against Wein, particularly when he's slanting against their edges. Despite being 6'4'' tall, Wein plays as if he's about 6'1'' tall. Fired out low and creased the OT for a TFL on a GL running play. Sets the edge with good leverage, getting under the pads of the OT or TE, able to anchor despite not having optimal length or body mass for a base DE. On twists, he runs with forward lean, low body posture, maintaining downhill forward momentum. Can make himself small to pry through interior gaps. Good against wide zone runs, has good leverage and contact balance to stay on his feet and flow laterally. Able to convert speed to power and generate some initial push by getting under the OT.

Good upper body strength. Strong extensions vs TEs.

For his size, can move in space. Solid diagonal drop into zone coverage. Moves with low COG in space, solid COD. Redirects himself well to the QB. Has special teams value. Athletic leap over LOS to block FG. Good awareness on fake punt led to INT. Great adjustments and timing of hands to beat pull blockers.

I was unable to find any info about major injuries with Wein. For a brief stretch in 2025, he was wearing a padded brace on his arm that he didn't wear at the beginning or end of the season, so presumably he had some type of arm injury in the middle of the year.

Went up against some of the best OTs in the country in 2025. Didn't play against weak competition. Played against both the LT and the RT. Pass rushed from 2-point, 3-point and 4-point stances. Flashed very good ability to pass rush against OG from the interior, but OU rarely used him in that fashion. One play, he was standing up like a LB and pass rushed from the middle, looked like some type of green dog. I liked this rep, because he could read the blocks. It ended up being a 3-man loop when Wein went to the outside, but I couldn't tell if this was planned or just his instincts and he beat the OT, forcing errant throw. In a complex NFL-style zone blitzing type scheme, I think there are creative ways to use Wein besides just having him be on the edge going against the LT every snap, where you can manufacture situations where he'll get to the QB, similar to how you'd use a stacked LB who was a talented pass rusher.

Ty Simpson felt the pain from Wein. So did LaNorris Sellers.

 

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Part 3: Weaknesses

There are some draft outlets who make cut-up videos of both highlights and lowlights for prospects, but for the most part, nobody makes lowlight videos about players, they only make highlight videos. If we made a lowlight video about Wein, he'd look like a "no hope" NFL prospect. There are times in games where he's outclassed, where he looks like a walk-on OU put on the field after other DEs got injured. Wein was listed at 248 pounds as a FR. Do you know many 4-3 DEs who are under 250 pounds? In a way, he's miscast and playing out of position for OU. Wein isn't really a DE; he's a hybrid player, just like Ninkovich. Wein is too small to be a 4-3 DE and he's too slow and unathletic to be a 3-4 OLB. He has no natural position in the NFL or a clear scheme fit. He's not a great pass rusher. He's not a great run defender. He's not great in pass coverage. He doesn't fit the mold for any particular role in the pros. The same reason that Nincovich's career nearly was over after 3 years is the same reason Wein easily could be out of the NFL and his pro career over after 2 to 3 years. His HC and DC might simply decide "This guy is terrible. He can't do anything out there. Why is he even in training camp with us? Why did our stupid GM draft this guy?" Wein is as much of an underdog as the main character in the movie Rudy. Odd duck or ugly duckling prospect.

Not a lead dog who wrecks games. He "annoys" the opponent with his dogged tenacity more than he scares them. He's complementary soldier who can play a supporting role and feed off other defensive superstars but isn't talented enough to be a core pillar of an NFL defense.

Likely to be a "Combine loser", so even if his draft stock climbed in 2026, it likely would fall back down during the draft process. He's not going to test well due to his size and athletic limitations.

Too light and not enough length. Overwhelmed and bullied at the POA by bigger OTs. Buried by double teams. Can be clubbed and knocked sideways. Pinballed around off double teams. Too small for short yardage run and goalline defense. Not enough length to get PDs at the LOS. Mashed up, chewed up and spit out by some double teams. Got buried into the ground by Keagan Trost trying to redirect on run towards the RB. Locked up and manhandled by Trost on multiple other plays. He did get Trost one time on a pass rush, because as usual Wein has good hands at the apex, but Trost had RB help, preventing a QB pressure.

Not enough explosion. An effort player more than he is an athlete. Even when his get-off is okay, he doesn't continue to accelerate to threaten the OT, making him relatively easy to block. Insufficient speed-to-power on twists. No short area burst, even if a teammate makes an INT, so can't offer much help as a blocker on the return. On pass rushes, OTs recover and shove him even if he gets a half step on them, not enough speed to get around the corner. His speed-to-power rushes stall out, not able to sustain momentum all the way into the pocket. Unable to bend the edge and flatten to the QB. Below average closing burst to the QB. There are "missing sacks" from his stats where he could have gotten home but couldn't run fast enough to get all the way to the QB. He's never going to get many sacks in the NFL, because he's too poor of an athlete.

Too slow for the NFL. Poor pursuit range. Struggles to close down WR screens in space, not quick enough to cover the necessary ground to close seams in the defense. Poor long pursuit speed. On WR screen pass, DE coming from opposite side of the formation is too slow, unable to prevent long TD on play where I bet any DE who runs 4.5 to 4.6 seconds would have made that stop. Kudos to Wein for trying and having the motor to run so far, but he's too slow and never caught up to the WR. He can't carry TE routes vertically in coverage, too slow.

Limited lateral agility, hampering his pass coverage and ability to tackle 1 vs 1 in space. Needs to be tethered closer to the box, better in confined areas. Will get exposed and missed tackles of required to range too far out. No sudden COD in space or when retracing back to the front of the pocket to get the QB, which can result in him missing scrambling QBs.

Not twitchy. Spin move is too slow and not fluid or sudden.

Small effective tackling radius. Poor 1 to 2 step burst to get to the runner. His lunging position chasing runners is like a parent chasing around a misbehaving child the house who stole the car keys and now the mom is late for work, the RB always just beyond his grasp and he can't catch up.

Got some cheap pressures and sacks. Not a consistently dangerous pass rusher. Unblocked for QB hit. Got sacks as the "2nd guy" after a different defender initially pressured the QB. Got sack when he was unblocked and the QB dropped the snap. The INT he had was on a fake punt, so it didn't come off of the QB on a conventional pass play.

Not quick to counter and get off of blocks.

Average sack numbers and overall metrics in 2025. Production not too impressive. Michael Sam had similar size and was more productive his final year at Mizzou. Sam was essentially an UDFA level prospect, fringe 7th rounder, so Wein is arguably not as good a prospect as Sam. I wouldn't be surprised if by the time we get to his actual draft, whether it is 2027 or 2028, we're unsure whether Wein will even get drafted. On paper, he's simply not a very good prospect.

 

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Part 4: Draft Grade and Pro Comp

5th round grade. Rob Ninkovich (Early 5th round 2006, New Orleans Saints, Purdue).

Nincovich was taken near the very top of the 5th round. The player selected right before him, Kyle Williams, also turned out to be an excellent NFL player. Not all 5th round picks are worthless.

Ninkovich played 2 years in JUCO. His first season at Purdue, he was listed as 6'3'' tall and 251 pounds and was a backup. He had 23 tackles, 9.5 TFLs and 8 sacks that year. He had 8 sacks as a SR.

In the draft, Ninkovich measured 6' 3 1/8'' tall, 260 pounds, short 31 1/4'' arms, and ran a very slow 4.93 seconds in the 40. He injured his knee early his rookie season, then suffered another knee injury in camp his 2nd year. The Saints waived him at the end of the preseason, so effectively he only played one year for them the first time he got cut. At that point, he had barely played for them, rarely getting on the field. Asshole Face became the HC for the Saints in 2006, so this was at the very start of his tenure.

Ninkovich spent the next 2 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. Bill Parcells, one of the best roster constructors in NFL history, was in charge of Miami's team during this period. The Fins moved him from DE to OLB, but Ninkovich rarely played for Miami and often was inactive. They released him.

The Saints briefly signed him again, but only to audition him as a long snapper. They didn't think he could play defense, so his last resort to make an NFL team was to try to be a LS. He lost the competition, so they waived him a 2nd time. He had 1 career sack at that point of his career. You'd think this would be the end of the story and his career would have ended after the Saints dumped him. Instead, it was just the beginning.

The Pats signed him in August of 2009 to a very cheap one-year contract. Before the end of the end of that 2009 season, the Pats were so pleased with his play that they locked him up with a long-term deal. Signing Ninkovich became one of the most brilliant moves of Bill Belichick's career. Asshole Face has called the Ninkovich fiasco one of the biggest regrets of his coaching career. Ninkovich became a long-term starter for the Patriots, though he never had more than 8 sacks in any season of his pro career. In other words, if we combine his 2 years at Purdue with his NFL career, Ninkovich never had more than 8 sacks in any season of his entire football career. He played both as a 3-4 OLB and as a 4-3 DE for the Pats. They even used him at LS at one point.

The Pats drafted pass rushing EDGE defenders in the 3rd rounds of both the 2008 and 2009 drafts. Both of those players were busts. Indeed, if you added up 9 players that the Pats drafted in either the 2nd or 3rd rounds of the 2008 through 2010 drafts, Ninkovich's value far eclipses the production of all of those players combined. Signing Ninkovich off the trash heap covered up some horrendously bad draft mistakes by Belichick. Not everything is about the draft. Some roster moves that at first might look like "complete nothing" transactions can ultimately turn out to be just as valuable as 1st round draft selections.

Taylor Wein is a gamer. On the surface, he might not look like much, but I think there is more to this player than meets the eye. My biggest reservation is I don't know if he can long snap.