Atlanta Falcons select Penn State defensive end Arnold Ebiketie in 2022 NFL Draft
After one season with the Penn State Nittany Lions and four with the Temple Owls, defensive end Arnold Ebiketie is off to the NFL. The Atlanta Falcons drafted Ebiketie with the No. 38 overall pick in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft.
The 6-foot-2, 250-pound edge rusher gives the Atlanta Falcons a defender on the rise with a lot of good years of football ahead of him.
Ebiketie redshirted his first season with Temple before becoming a major contributor in 2019. He posted 42 tackles with four sacks and three forced fumbles in 2020, which put him on the path to transferring to a top-25 program. He chose Penn State and in his one Big Ten season, racked up 9.5 sacks and 62 tackles with 18 tackles for loss over 12 games.
Coming out of high school in Kensington, Maryland, Ebiketie was a three-star prospect, according to the On3. Consensus. Temple was one of just eight D-I programs to offer the defensive end.
Ahead of the NFL Draft, Ebiketie was a late first-round, early second-round projection.
What NFL draft analysts are saying about Arnold Ebiketie
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein broke down what Ebiketie can bring to the NFL in his recent scout of the defensive end’s draft profile.
The prospect analyst credited the Penn State mauler for his consistent pressure, however, he knocked him for his size.
“Purposeful rusher with good length,” Zierlein wrote. “Ebiketie is quiet to the edge with accurate, active hands and a pressure percentage worthy of projection. He’s not bendy and loose but uses body lean and skilled hands to grease the edge and access the pocket. He will need to keep adding to his bag of tricks as a pocket hunter, as he lacks the base and body type to hold his ground and plug up run games on a consistent basis. Ebiketie could see action as a sub-package pass rusher early in his career. He has the potential to find starting reps as a 3-4 rush linebacker in the future.”
The former Temple Owl has been a favorite of NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper.
“I liked him at Temple, loved him once he got to Penn State,” Kiper said. “He put it all together as a sack artist coming off the edge. He’s got speed, he’s got power and he’s got a relentless approach flying off the edge. Plays the run better than people give him credit for.”