New York Giants select Darius Alexander in 3rd round of 2025 NFL Draft

The New York Giants selected Toledo defensive tackle Darius Alexander in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Alexander is now in the NFL after spending six seasons at Toledo.

Alexander began his college football career in 2019 but did not see any action that season as he redshirted. In 2020, the Indiana native played in six games as a reserve and notched nine tackles and one tackle for loss. The following season, Alexander played in 13 games with three starts and recorded 21 tackles, a tackle for loss and three passes defended.

In 2022, Alexander played in 13 games with one start and tallied 21 tackles, seven tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks with three passes defended. He played in 14 games with 11 starts in 2023 and made the All-MAC Third Team after posting 36 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, four sacks and three pass breakups. Last year, Alexander made the All-MAC Second Team after recording 40 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and four passes defended.

“I’m a three-down defender at the next level,” Darius Alexander told Justin Melo of The Draft Network this month. “I love doing the dirty work on early run-stopping downs. That gives me a chance to showcase my motor and physicality. I can uphold my gap and impact the other gaps as well.”

Alexander played high school football at Wayne in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was ranked as the No. 2,347 overall prospect and the No. 214 edge rusher in the Class of 2019, according to the On3 Industry Rankings, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

What NFL Draft analysts are saying about Darius Alexander

Lance Zierlein of NFL.com gave an analysis of Alexander for his draft profile. Ahead of the draft, Zierlein projected that Alexander was going to be selected in the second round.

“Interior lineman with the size, length and physicality for consideration in odd or even fronts,” Zierlein wrote. “Alexander is capable of destroying blocks, but he needs to do a better job of balancing his force to control the action at the point of attack.

“He can hold his ground when he’s staying low, but the pad level is inconsistent and causes his gap constriction to be hit-or-miss. Alexander has above-average rush acumen. He does a nice job of utilizing his traits and crafting a plan of attack. His best football could be ahead of him, but for now, he projects as an average rotational player or backup.”