The Kansas City Chiefs added a big man to their defensive front on Saturday with the selection of former University of Texas defensive tackle Keondre Coburn.
Here are five things to know about the Chiefs' newest defensive tackle.
1. Coburn is a big man with some impressive strength and power.
The 22-year-old Coburn checks in at 6-foot-2 and 332 pounds to go along with immense size and power throughout his frame. Here's more from The Athletic's Dane Brugler:
"With his low, leveraged position, Coburn creates power at contact to walk blockers backward or reestablish the line of scrimmage. He's strong, stout and athletic to hold the point or create pressure. He projects as a sawed-off, early down nose tackle in the NFL."
The folks at Pro Football Focus compiled a similar assessment, writing the following about how Coburn coverts his strength into leverage.
"Coburn is built low to the Earth and uses that to his advantage. It doesn't take too much for him to get underneath a center's pads."
Lastly, NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein wrote that Coburn's skillset will allow him to be a successful nose tackle at the next level.
"Coburn is a stout but athletic nose tackle with nimble feet. He can sit down and muddy run lanes or create difficulties for pin-and-pull blocking schemes with his interior agility. Coburn's blend of girth, power and agility could be coveted by teams looking for help along the interior."
He also appears to be pretty excited that he's joining the defending Super Bowl champions.
2. He rarely came off the field despite his immense size.
It's often a reality that players of Coburn's size can only play a handful of snaps, but he bucked that trend during his career with the Longhorns. In fact, Coburn played in all 48 of Texas' games over the last four seasons and averaged 34.8 defensive snaps in those contests.
That motor will be a major benefit as Coburn aims to earn a role on Kansas City's defensive line.
3. Coburn is coming off his most productive season at Texas.
A five-year player for the Longhorns, Coburn tallied 96 tackles, 14 tackles-for-loss, 5.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and two passes defensed in 51 games (45 starts) from 2018-22. He saved his best work for last, too, recording 31 pressures in 13 games (12 starts) this past season. Those 31 pressures exceeded his totals from the previous three seasons combined (28), according to Pro Football Focus.
4. He possesses some versatility along the interior of the defensive line.
Coburn logged significant snaps at left defensive tackle (152 snaps), right defensive tackle (123 snaps) and nose tackle (104) in 2022 as an interchangeable piece inside the Longhorns' defensive front.
Here's what he had to say about his versatile skillset on Saturday:
"For me, it's all about wherever the team needs me to play at the time," Coburn said. "I can play nose, three-[technique], '2i,' 'one-shade' – those are all positions that I feel that I can play well. I think nose [tackle] is a little better because I started there when I got to college. I think I can help the Chiefs at nose right now, and if they need to move me, I'm going to go out there and play [well]."
Coburn was referencing a series of similar – but different – alignments on the interior of the defensive line. His familiarity with a variety of fronts is certainly a positive.
5. Coburn is a native of Houston, Texas.
A standout at Spring Westfield High School, Coburn played alongside current Buffalo Bills' defensive tackle Ed Oliver as a sophomore. He improved every year of his high school career, culminating in "Houston Defensive Player of the Year" honors in 2018.
He had his choice of offers from numerous schools across the nation before choosing the Longhorns, and all these years later, Coburn is now headed to Kansas City.
The Kansas City Chiefs selected Texas DL Keondre Coburn in the 6th Round (Pick 194) of the third day of 2023 NFL Draft.