Scouting report: Broncos second-round pick Adam Gotsis

This sometimes is the hard part of being a draft analyst (or all least obsessed enough with watching film to be considered an analyst). No matter how good a pick is for the Broncos, it’s hard to overlook where a player is in my rankings. Gotsis was in my rankings (19th-ranked interior Defensive linemen and 112th-best player overall) it’s also true that he’s coming off an ACL injury, wasn’t able to participate in the combine or his pro day, has little tape out on the web and that all makes him a bit of an under the radar prospect.

I’d studied him earlier in the year when he was a hot name as a penetrating d-lineman with some versatility and tenacity, who was a name to watch in the ACC, I saw some footage was fairly impressed, put him in my rankings and haven’t really thought about him since. So, while he was in my mind he was getting surpassed by other players in an extremely deep class over the final part of the regular season and draft season. Keep that in mind when I talk about my rankings and you see other analysts rankings out there. He isn’t ranked low necessarily because he’s a bad prospect or is lacking high-end potential but rather because he was a bit out of sight out of mind the last few months and got buried in one of the deepest d-line classes in NFL Draft history.

Gotsis, much like Lynch, comes from an unconventional background, coming from Australia later in life, picking up football quickly and growing leaps and bounds. His mobility, toughness, and versatility are the skills that stick out most. When I watched his film in preparation for this article I see a player who plays with great leverage and seems to have natural ability to get low and create push. In studying his game

In studying his game against Clemson from this season, he shows the ability to penetrate the pocket, as an inside lineman, from several different gaps. He starts off playing over center, showing the ability to play as a nose guard in college and handling double teams well for a player under 300 pounds. He’s able to quickly shed his blocker often with a swim move and create penetration this way.

He was often used as a one-technique or nose tackle often at Georgia Tech and was very productive, but you have to wonder how much better he would have been if he’d have faced more single-blocks playing in the five-technique gap. Gotsis has impressive athletic ability and movement skills for a player with his build, one has to wonder if he would have gone significantly higher had he been able to test at the combine and show off his natural athletic ability.

Maybe the aspect of Gotsis game that’s most encouraging is his relentless and aggressive play. Even though he’s new to football he certainly looks like a natural born football player. He flights around guys like he’s trying to make a point and already has some advanced instincts for such a newcomer to the position.

His motor is relentless and combined with his skill set and on field attitude is reminiscent of Derek Wolfe. Gotsis is coming off a serious ACL injury and it’s unsure how long that’ll keep him out. He’s on record as saying, “In my head, I think I’ll be 100 percent by August. That’s in my head. As an ACL goes there are different phases for that injury. You just have to handle each phase and take it day by day.”

He isn’t the biggest linemen and will have issues against double teams or bigger linemen if he’s unable to penetrate at first and gets pushed back against the run, was knocked back on a couple moving blocks that I studied. Gotsis was off to his best season this year and got injured during his ninth game. He was ranked ahead of Jihad Ward in my rankings, who was rumored to be a possible Broncos pick and went much higher in the draft. However, he was lower than Andrew Billings, Jonathan Bullard, and Maliek Collins to name a few. Billings and Collins might not be an ideal fit as DEs in a 3-4 as Billings is more of a nose guard and Collins is more of a 4-3 DT or three-technique, Bullard is the one that’s a bit of a head scratcher. Bullard is more stout against the run right now but not as good of an athlete as Gotsis is, add the fact that the Australian might have a bit more room to grow, and you can understand why the Broncos made this pick.