While nose tackle is very much a niche role in the NFL, good ones are always in high demand — and with his 2024 NFL Draft scouting report, Texas’ T’Vondre Sweat has the tools to be an impactful presence at nose tackle for one NFL team.
But does his composite profile hold up against enhanced scrutiny?
T’Vondre Sweat Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’4 1/2″
- Weight: 366 pounds
- Length: 33 1/4″
- Wingspan: 81 1/4″
- Hand: 10 1/8″
- Position: Defensive Tackle
- School: Texas
- Current Year: Redshirt Senior
He’s a first-team All-Big 12 honoree. He was the 2023 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. And in the Big 12 Championship Game, he caught a touchdown pass as a tight end.
Sweat is where interesting and impactful converge in the 2024 NFL Draft. Nicknamed “Loaf” — short for “Meatloaf” — he played over 60 games for the Texas Longhorns. Over that stretch, he’s been referred to as an infectious personality off the field by his teammates and a dominating presence on it.
“His college tape is far better than Jordan Davis was…”@GregCosell breaking down Texas DT T’Vondre Sweat on the @RossTuckerPod: pic.twitter.com/NGU5b3Pztd
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) April 25, 2024
Fittingly, Sweat ended his Longhorns career with his best season in 2023, amassing 42 tackles, eight total tackles for loss, including two sacks, and four pass breakups — and somehow, those stats didn’t do justice to the attention he drew from defenses every week.
At this point, Sweat has just as much attention from NFL scouts, and he accepted an invite to play at the Reese’s Senior Bowl as a result. Later, he logged a 5.26 40-yard dash, a 26″ vertical, and an 8’2″ broad jump at the NFL Combine.
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For a nose tackle, Sweat has alluring traits and impressive tape. But his personality can be a double-edged sword. There have been reports about a lack of discipline off the field, and Sweat’s arrest for a DWI just weeks before the 2024 NFL Draft doesn’t quell those concerns.
Here, we’ll look at everything — what’s visible on the field and what might be concerning off of it — and make a determination about where Sweat’s stock should lie.
Sweat’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Absolutely massive interior defender whose size renders him almost immovable.
- Has very good initial burst for his size, hinting at unrevealed disruptive potential.
- For his size, is incredibly natural at acquiring leverage and loading his base off the snap.
- Can violently latch and anchor with suffocating grip strength, preventing movement.
- With his frame density, mass, leverage, and strength, can function as a brick wall.
- Swallows up double-teams and stalls out displacement at a high level as a nose tackle.
- Effortless one-gapper who can use his strength to stack, peek, and engulf running lanes.
- Is very hard to knock off course once he rips below extensions and surges into gaps.
- Loads impressive power in his base and can stack and shed with brutal quickness.
- Can stack chop-swim combos and generate overwhelming torque on his punches.
- Flashes the ability to stack powerful long-arms and bull rushes off initial chops.
- Employs his strength and heavy hands to demolish blocks 1-on-1 with quick swims.
- Has shown he can bat extensions from combo blocks to keep himself clean inside gaps.
- Demands double-team blocks when working downhill with power and energy, plowing ahead.
- Has an unrelenting and size-defying playmaking motor, which enables him to finish.
Weaknesses
- Can be a tick late off the snap as a pass rusher and doesn’t gear up instantly.
- Visibly lacks elite explosiveness and lateral quickness, a natural trade-off for his size.
- Has some wasted motion with hands as a pass rusher and can more efficiently load.
- Still improving at channeling power from his initial momentum as a pass rusher.
- Can be more consistent at sustaining power rushes with leg drive after extending.
- Lacks a consistent counter plan as a pass rusher and needs raw strength to break free.
- Struggles to keep his hips loaded when rushing with space and drifts upright easily.
- Doesn’t have elite change-of-direction or range and can be nullified out by rollouts.
- Doesn’t have the quickness to break off anchors and enter outer gap pursuit.
- Has the hip fluidity to roll into pass-rushing lanes but isn’t the most flexible.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Sweat’s raw film grade places him as a top-100 prospect in the 2024 NFL Draft, but character concerns complicate his evaluation.
Pure nose tackles with pass-rushing utility are scarce, so Sweat could still go late on Day 2 if teams are willing to take a chance on him — but the off-field issues are pressing on the surface and could push him down the board.
There are multiple corroborating reports that call into question Sweat’s off-field habits and discipline, and his DWI arrest during the pre-draft process directly aligns with those reports.
Those issues, if they persist in the NFL, could not only sap at Sweat’s development as a football player but also impact his weight management and conditioning.
When he’s on his game, Sweat is a near-immovable mass, and he plays up to his size in run defense. He can absorb double-teams effortlessly with his elite raw strength and leveraging ability. He also has the power to work through blocks and the closing burst and motor to finish plays.
As a pass rusher, Sweat gives glimpses of excellence, too. When working 1-on-1, he can generate impressive torque on his punches, and he’s flashed the ability to stack combos violently and channel power late in reps. And if he doesn’t get home, he’s very proactive using his length to clog passing lanes.
Sweat is still very much a projection as a pass rusher, however. He doesn’t have great lateral mobility or flexibility and is more of a straight-line power lineman who shouldn’t take reps outside of 3-tech. His hands can still be more efficient, and he can more consistently channel his burst off the snap.
Sweat has a high floor as a run defender and playmaker when the ball is inside his wheelhouse. With his skill set and motor, he naturally draws double-team blocks in both phases. That gravity can make him a valuable presence from the start.
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Nevertheless, Sweat’s true draft stock hinges almost entirely on how teams assess his character.
If concerns persist, he could fall into the Day 3 range. There’s still a good chance he’ll be drafted regardless due to his talent and valuable prototype, and at his maximum, he can be a starting 0-tech and 1-tech in odd-man fronts. But the path to get there is very uncertain.
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