Murphy set to be one of the top picks in the 2023 NFL draft

Myles Murphy has a number of likely landing spots within the top draft picks.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Tue Jan 03 07:00:05 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON - As of right now, Clemson has five players who have declared for the NFL Draft, those being defensive end Myles Murphy, tight end Davis Allen, linebacker Trenton Simpson, offensive lineman Jordan McFadden, and most recently defensive lineman Bryan Bresee. Of these six players, Murphy is the highest-rated prospect of them all.

According to NFL Draft Buzz, Murphy is the second-best edge rusher in the draft as well as the second-best defensive linemen. Only Jalen Carter out of George ranks higher as a defensive lineman and Will Anderson out of Alabama as an edge rusher. However, Murphy ran the fastest 40-yard dash out of all three of them and is the tallest. These three players are all seen as top-10 draft picks with high potential in the draft.

Specifically for Murphy, his biggest attributes are his spin move and his lower leg drive. He is an incredibly strong player who can deadlift over 500 pounds. At the same time, he is an incredibly fast player and can get to the quarterback. He finished his three-year career at Clemson with 17.5 sacks with a total of 37 tackles for loss. In addition, he has six forced fumbles in his career. The one weakness for Murphy is that he still has some growing to do in regard to using his arms more to gain leverage against offensive linemen. That is something that is very coachable, however, and isn’t much of a concern for NFL coaches.

He also received a number of awards during his time with Clemson. As a freshman in 2020, he was a freshman All-American according to The Athletic, ESPN, and the Football Writers Association of America. Further, he was named an ACC Co-Newcomer of the Year by AP. His sophomore year, he was a second-team All-ACC player and was a first-team All-ACC player this past season.

For the 2023 NFL Draft, the top 10 teams are currently projected as the Houston Texans, Chicago Bears, Seattle Seahawks (via Denver Broncos from their trade for Russell Wilson), Arizona Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, Detroit Lions (via Los Angeles Rams from their trade for Matthews Stafford), Atlanta Falcons, Las Vegas Raiders, Carolina Panthers, and Philadelphia Eagles (via New Orleans Saints from their draft pick trades from the 2022 NFL Draft). For five of these teams (Chicago, Seattle, Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia), an edge rusher is the top position that they need in the draft. Outside of Anderson and Murphy, there are not any edge rushers that are probably getting drafted in the first round. So, this really serves to help Murphy since he will be in high demand. Of course, the draft order could always change as teams try to make the playoffs and with offseason trades.

Chicago is a top contender for a trade since there is also a need for quarterbacks among other teams, which would allow the Bears to trade down with teams such as Detroit who do need a quarterback. This would actually make the Bears a contender as a team that might draft Murphy. Other teams that could draft Murphy would be the Seahawks, since they are not in need of a quarterback as much and could satisfy some of their other needs in the offseason with their high salary cap, and the Raiders who are looking to trade their quarterback Derek Carr and would then be able to satisfy some of their other needs since elite edge rushers are not readily available in the free agency market and they are not cheap to sign. While trading Carr would take pressure off of the salary cap, they still do not have a lot of room to work with and are most likely in rebuilding mode (which is rather unfortunate for Clemson alumni Hunter Renfrow).

One other possibility is the Arizona Cardinals, who Ryan Wilson of CBS Sports has drafting Murphy with their No. 4 overall pick. An edge rusher is their second-biggest need and this need became even larger with future Hall-of-Famer JJ Watt announcing his retirement following the end of this season. The Cardinals also just used their first round pick on linebacker Isaiah Simmons back in 2020, so they may already have their eye on Clemson talent. While Murphy never got the chance to play with Simmons, having two players who were part of the same system in college would probably serve to benefit the Cardinals, as well as give Murphy an easier NFL adjustment since he would have a mentor coming from the same system.