Simms' DT draft rankings: Peter Woods
Chris Simms breaks down the pros and cons with Peter Woods as an NFL draft prospect, explaining why the Clemson defensive tackle is an impressive athlete but lacks some of the key traits he looks for in the trenches.
Video Transcript
All right, we're back.
Some honorable mentions after Monday's defensive tackle rankings, which were Caden McDonald in a tier of his own at tier r- player number one on the D tackle rankings.
Tier two, a big group, Kristen Miller from Georgia, Caleb Banks from Florida, and Big Citrus, Dom Orange at number four.
I love that name.
It's, it's instantly one of the best nicknames in the entire NFL.
tier three, a player of his own at number five, that is the country strong Lee Hunter, The Fridge.
But Chris, we didn't get to- Yeah a guy that is maybe discussed more than any of these players- Right 'cause he's polarizing.
It's Peter Woods from Clemson.
Coming into the year, h- honestly, a lot of projections as a top 10 to 15 pick.
The only guy I can say that I honestly heard of before the year- Sure though I was like, "Oh, okay, so he's supposed to be a top D tackle off the board."
And- Before the year, that was the only guy I knew of.
That's not happening anymore.
No.
like a lot of players at Clemson this year, unfortunately- Yeah the 2025 tape didn't match 2024.
But I think it's a little deeper than that.
What did you see on tape?
Yeah.
I think, you know, o- one, I mean, he's an undersized guy, right?
I think that's- Sub 300.
Right.
It's And 6'2" and a half, it's 298, it's sh- shorter arms at 31 and a quarter, so there's that aspect.
Now, you love the body.
I mean, his body speaks to just like, holy crap, incredible muscles, unreal looking legs.
He looks right away like the disruption guy, not the I'm gonna stop the run, hold my ground versus, you know, a double team guy, right?
That, that's not what he is.
That's not.
So you see the, the athleticism, a good explosion, right?
He has great get off, he can stun blockers.
I mean, you see the twitchiness in the athlete right away to just go, whoa, I mean, this guy really moves at an elite level for his size.
There's no doubt that you're most impressed with all movement skills.
That's the biggest one.
Can shoot gaps, can make blockers miss, can do all that, right?
Can win with quicks in the pass rush and do all that.
I write, you know, he's a total three technique, but a total three technique disruptor, you want him to do that because I got serious questions about everything else.
Right.
That's what I write, right?
Taking on double teams, not great at all.
I mean, he fights hard for it.
It's not like he's not playing hard and trying.
He's just not a big enough man at times to handle that.
So I think that's where you compare that to some of the other guys we talked about yesterday.
You go, "Well, that's, that's not really even on the same level."
You, you can't put him in the category of some of the guys we talked about yesterday.
So you have that.
Now, he can get off blocks pretty good one-on-one.
Definitely can do that.
I mean, he's got the strength and all of that as well.
But there are times where you even see one-on-one where guys get ahold of him and you kind of go, damn, he's, he's stuck.
He's not going anywhere here.
He can't quite get out of it because, again, the lack of size, the lack of length and arms.
He's not gonna be able to two gap.
That's definitely not what he can do.
No.
He's not made for that.
I know.
And then as I wrote And you know, again, as I go, I write little inklings of like comparing him to the other top guys, 'cause I know he's gonna be in that conversation.
But I just wrote, as compared to the other top guys, he definitely loses more.
I mean, that's not even questionable.
He can even lose one-on-ones from time to time, where I'd go, the other guys almost never lose one-on-ones.
They might trip and fall maybe once every 90 snaps, but like, they don't lose.
His lack of arm length is definitely an issue.
He can't just hold linemen at bay.
The kid is a good player, but there is also some worry of how it will translate to the NFL against good guards who are not gonna be overwhelmed by his athleticism.
'Cause I Even though he's a great athlete, I don't know if it's such a great athlete that I go, it just overcomes some of these other things that I worry about, right?
Sure.
Where like Aaron Donald, you're worried about some of those things, and then you just went, oh my gosh, but like, gosh, it feels like he's so elite and explosive to a different level than even Peter Woods where you go, well, that can Maybe he can make up for it.
Kalija Canty.
Kalija Canty, same thing.
Exactly right.
Great call there.
So that's what I worry about, that like, yeah, when he's gotta play NFL guards who've got a little bit more of a foot movement over there, you know, is And they're not gonna be overwhelmed by his quickness, is he gonna be able to win in those scenarios?
And so those are some of the deficiencies, again, that I like the player, but it scares me a little bit.
There is a downside to the player, and I think that's what ultimately, in my mind, keeps him out of the first round.
He's a second round pick.
I, I have no doubt about that.
But yeah, to go off the board in the first round, I don't see that.
I think it's somewhere in the mid-second ultimately with, with Peter Woods.
So one of the more interesting testing situations- Yeah he ran a 10-yard split instead of a 40-yard dash.
Oh yeah, I remember you telling me that the other day.
Yeah.
So he said, "The hell with the whole race.
All you need to do is see me here for 10 yards."
What'd he do?
I think a 1.67.
Let me look up the official.
That's phenomenal.
I mean, that's- I mean, that's what I would expect.
I mean, he's- That's- He has that kind of get off.
Maybe he knew like, "Hey, this 10-yard split..." Yeah, 1.67, was the official 10-yard split.
So as we look at his relative athletic score, I mean, the three cone just okay at 7.7, you know, the vertical 29 inches.
So there, there's I think you're right, Chris.
I think he's a good athlete.
Yes.
I- Is it elite enough to overcome the power deficiencies like we're talking about?
I'd say no.
I would agree.
Right?
That, that would be the problem.
Now, defenses that like chaos will like him.
The one- Houston?
Houston, maybe.
They could.
That'd be one.
Just win this gap.
Get off the ball.
That's what I was thinking.
Win the gap.
Win the gap.
Yeah.
You know, even like a team like, not the, this, the Rams, right?
To me it's a little bit- Oh, yeah like the Braden Fisk ca- a little here with this, right?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Where you go, man, if you just ask him to line up over a tackle or a guard all game, it's not gonna always look good.
But if you want him to slant here and slant there and shoot in the backfield and kind of just mess things up all the time, you know, those defenses I think will like Peter Woods.
And so that's where it's gonna come down to.
But yeah, ultimately he's a 4-3-3 technique, right?
That's how you look at it with, yeah, some ability to maybe play the four, the five, but it's more about movement base.
He's never I would never want him head up on Trenton Williams or some awesome- Right left tackle because you just go, no, no.
Washed out.
He's not, he's not made for that.
Exactly right.
He'll get washed out.
Here's the other thing that I'll say also bothered me.As compared to the other guys, got to see them against a lot of elite offensive linemen.
He did not play very many elite offensive line or offensive linemen, and still didn't feel like he dominated to the capacity that I would've liked.
And so that jumped out to me, too, and I always put a little value in that as well.
I think that matters a lot.
Yeah.
I mean, especially in the trenches where your match-ups like that are a good indicator of what the NFL might- Exactly look like.
Exactly.
Those other guys we talked about yesterday, I went, "Oh, no, I saw him against an NFL guard.
I saw him against an NFL tackle.
I saw him against two NFL, interior O-linemen in this game," right?
So you, you get to see that.
And to where here, yeah, I, I just worry about that.
It's as again, this player could be really good.
I, I know that, but there's just the worry aspect of it and the low floor scares me, a lot more than some of the other guys we talked about yesterday.
I think, you know, one thing that really bothered me with him this year is the I didn't think he had the physical aggression against the run.
Uh-huh.
Where, and this is what happens when you watch guys in clusters.
I watched Kaden McDonald.
Yeah.
Kerson Miller.
Right.
Even Lee Hunter, who's not half the athlete Peter Woods is.
No, but- Like, the physical aggression against the run was like, "Oh, it's a run play.
Time for me to- Dominate own my area."
Exactly right.
That- Woods, I felt like he, he wanted to shoot the gap, and if he couldn't successfully shoot the gap- Yeah, it was, it was kind of over probably over.
Yeah, exactly right.
I don't love that.
No, I don't love that either.
'Cause that's not the NFL.
Agreed.
Could be in, like, two schemes- Agreed in a rotational role.
Yep.
Yeah.
So- It's, it's, it's You gotta take that you know, what do the losses look like?
I'm big into that.
Yeah.
And, you know, too many of his losses are stalemates.
I just wanna go, "Wait, the guys we talked about yesterday never would've lost like this, or never would've had a stalemate like that.
Like, no way."
So that's where he's a little in between.
I'd be shocked if he goes first round.
like I said, I think he's a mid-second round guy.
