The Kansas City Chiefs used the 59th pick in the 2017 draft to select DE Tanoh Kpassagnon from Villanova. Mike Mayock describes Tanoh Kpassagnon as a freak, “You wanna talk about genetic freaks, folks. Step right up. I had a DC tell me when he’s the first guy off the bus, he looks so good, he should be pick No. 0. But he’s gonna be about a year away.” At 6-foot-7 and 289 lbs. with great quickness and twitch as well as superior agility, Tanoh may only need to familiarize himself mentally with the NFL game to be ready to compete. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com says that Tanoh Kpassagnon (pronounced: Tawn-oh pass-N-yo) has “average explosiveness getting upfield” but none of his tape will confirm that because he’s as explosive as anyone I’ve seen who goes 6-foot-7 and 289. However, Zierlein also says he,
“Has plus athleticism with explosive hip thrust that can jolt blockers at point-of-attack. Has lateral quickness to beat reach blocks and slice into the backfield. Has the tools to be a one- or two-gap player.”
At the NFL Combine Kpassagnon ran the 40-yard draft in 4.83 seconds, benched 225 lbs. 23 times and broad jumped 10-foot-8-inches, the same as the first pick in the draft, Myles Garrett. Also, Kpassagnon ran a 4.74 at a Villanova one-day camp last June.
Tanoh Kpassagnon received a lot of attention from his excellent performances during practice Senior Bowl week. Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated covered Kpassagnon and noticed,
“… the size of a scouting crowd quizzing a prospect can often be an indicator of the buzz a player is accumulating. And there’s likely no prospect in Mobile with more intrigue than Kpassagnon, a defensive end who is 6’7”, 289 pounds and has arms long enough to dominate the backline of the Syracuse basketball team’s 2–3 zone.”
Tanoh Kpassagnon comes from a small school so the attention he received there is probably what attracted John Dorsey to the phenom. There’s always a question about whether or not a small school player can handle big time competition. Kapassgnon answered that question and more. Thamel goes on about Kpassagnon at the Senior bowl and the reaction of team scouts at weigh-in,
“…there was a moment when a darling of the scouting community went mainstream, it happened at the Senior Bowl’s official weigh-in. During the awkward annual exercise, players are trotted out shirtless and wearing tights in front of executives. Kpassagnon has just 4% body fat, and his abs appear to have abs. So when he appeared before the masses, multiple NFL personnel men reported an audible gasp amid the crowd.”
Delaware’s head coach Danny Rocco calls Tanoh Kpassagnon “a game wrecker.” The Towson coach, Rob Ambrose, refers to Kpassagnon as “a game breaker.” Kpassagnon wasn’t initially offered a football scholarship. Villanova basketball coach was interested and when they sent their staff to evaluate him, they rated him as a Division-I talent and he was soon thereafter offered a football scholarship. His mother agreed and the rest is history.
Tanoh had 21.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks last year and you can likely expect to see Kpassagnon to get some snaps beginning mid-season. Here’s one of his highlight reels.
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