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Pros- Has great size, good quickness off the ball, good burst to get the edge and good edge speed. He is a very rare athlete for the position. He also flashes the flexibility to bend and get underneath the blocker’s arms to get around the edge. He has the size and strength to be effective versus the run, and with his pass rushing ability he could be an elite LE. He has also flashed pass rush moves such as an effective spin move along with a speed rush, bull rush and swim move. Knows his assignments and will keep contain.

Cons- He is not nearly as dominant as his elite combination of size, athleticism and talent would indicate. He has a questionable motor, does not play with good leverage consistently and does not always drive his feet and will lean into blockers as he loses leverage and seemingly give up on the play at times. He does not look comfortable in space either so he has to have his hand on the ground in the NFL. Needs work on his fundamentals to play with better leverage, improve his hand usage to shed blocks and still needs development to improve his pass rush moves. I also don’t think he is very comfortable breaking down and tackling a faster player in space because he is not a very fluid athlete in the open field.

Overall: Dunlap is the classic boom-bust prospect that some will salivate over because of his sky-high potential and others will avoid like the plague because he has so much potential to be a bust. His ceiling is an elite LE that can get 10 sacks in a season and still defend the run well. But a LE with that kind of pass rush potential is enough to make talent evaluators go ga-ga over him. But his ceiling is a situational pass rusher who gets 5 sacks a season and never really develops into a starter. He has top 5 potential, athletic ability and talent but mid-round effort level and polish which makes him incredibly hard to project to the NFL. If he gets someone to light a fire under him and work towards meeting that sky-high potential he could be scary good, but if the light never goes on he may be worth no more than a mid-round pick in hindsight. That is scary for a team considering picking him in the 1st round.

Projection: Late 1st-Early 2nd: He has far too much talent and potential to slide past this point, and the fact is that he had pretty good production despite his average motor and effort level. Someone will roll the dice on him in this range and it will be interesting to see if he is motivated to improve in response to sliding far farther in the draft than a player of his talent ever should or whether he will continue to coast on his ability without working to improve and reach his potential.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

STRENGTH: 4.0
QUICKNESS: 4.0
PASS RUSH: 4.0
POINT OF ATTACK: 3.0
RECOGNITION: 3.0
MOTOR: 2.5

CARLOS DUNLAP
6-6/277
Florida Junior
40: 4.68

PROS: Is a smooth athlete with tall, long-armed frame. Has good strength and speed. Has the power to be a matchup problem. Has the strength to toss aside a blocker and make play at the point of attack. Can hold the point of attack. Shows a decent spin move.
CONS: Lacks the first step and burst upfield to challenge the corner. Lacks any pass rush moves and needs to learn how to disengage from blocker. Has poor hand placement when bull rushing, negating his strength. Lacks awareness and loses sight of the quarterback at times. Not natural moving in space and less effective when rushing with his hand off the ground.
OVERVIEW: Dunlap has the physical tools to be a dominant player at the next level. But questions of his motor along with being very raw with his technique means that his learning curve is fairly high. Was productive the past two seasons with 18.5 combined sacks and 23.5 tackles for loss. Blocked 3 punts and had 7 passes defended.
NFL FORECAST: Dunlap has potential to be a very good NFL player, but only if he can be coached up. I don't think he's an instinctual football player, so I'm not confident with his ability to be developed. He doesn't know how to place his hands squarely on a blocker's chest to get a proper bull rush. That's something that should be taught in the course of a summer by an NFL coach, but one wonders why he hasn't learned it to date. That's just a basic technique and the fact he doesn't know that (or at least doesn't use it) concerns me. So I fully expect him to be an underachiever on the next level. But with his athletic potential, he could be an underachiever and still be better than a lot of ends in the league. I think you're better off trying to bulk him up some more and playing him in a 3-4 scheme. He just doesn't have the motor or burst that I like his chances in the 4-3. In that scheme, I dont' see him being any better an NFL player than Jamaal Anderson. I think you can draw a lot of comparisons to him and Anderson, and I think he will not be an impact player in a 4-3 scheme. He may not be one in a 3-4 scheme, but I think he can be better there with some coaching. But I wouldn't expect Dunlap to really make significant contributions until his third or fourth season. I think it's going to take that long to coach him up and teach him technique. And this says nothing about whether he has the drive to do it. There is a buyer's beware with him. If he can be coached up he can be a guy that can give you 6-8 sacks a year and be a solid two-way defender. If not, then he's going to be labeled a bust and shipped off to a new place after three or four years, and then eventually fades into obscurity.
ATL FORECAST: It would be deja vu in Atlanta if they took Dunlap since he is just like Anderson. More athletically gifted? Probably. And while I do think our coaching staff is a good one, I don't think they would get a lot out of Dunlap. He is a guy that will probably get 3-5 sacks in a 4-3 scheme as a starter, and is not going to be an impact pass rusher. Many a Falcon fan will spend several years waiting for that to happen, and it probably never will. And given his issues, I'm not sure he would be handed the starting job like Anderson was. And if he was forced to earn it, I'm not sure he would.
VALUE: For a 3-4 team that wants to bring him along slowly, I would say he's worth a late second or third round pick. For a 4-3 team, he's nothing more than a fourth round value.


SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

STRENGTH: 4.0
QUICKNESS: 3.0
PASS RUSH: 3.0
POINT OF ATTACK: 2.5
RECOGNITION: 2.0
MOTOR: 2.0