Stephen Paea Scouting Report

Scouts started looking at Stephen Paea last year after he had his second consecutive productive season with Oregon State after spending one year at the junior college level. However, Paea only played one year of football in high school and still needed to learn some things, so returning for his senior season was certainly a good thing for multiple reasons. The Beavers usually do not ask their defensive tackles to get sacks, but Paea tallied 5.0 during his first season with the program. He added 41 tackles and 11.0 tackles-for-loss. The following year Paea totaled 43 tackles, 8.5 tackles-for-loss and 3.0 sacks.

So far during the 2010 campaign, Paea is not putting up quite as solid numbers, but he does get constantly double teamed. Yet even double teaming Paea usually does not work. He will get consistent pressure on most quarterbacks by collapsing the pocket and forcing the action. Paea may not end up with a tackle, but few defensive tackles are as disruptive as he has been this season.

Scouts like Paea's quickness and athleticism. He has some good moves to beat opposing linemen and plays surprisingly well from a technical stand point considering his lack of football experience. What may keep Paea out of the first round is his size. Paea is 6-1 and does not have the longest arms around and that occasionally makes it difficult to shed blocks. On many draft boards Paea is the top defensive tackle and that will make him a first round selection if he can hold onto that spot.

3/15 Update: Paea, in part due to his short arms, had one of the most memorable performances at the NFL combine. Paea benched 49 reps of 225 pounds, smashing the combine record. A knee injury suffered during the Senior Bowl has some teams concerned, but Paea did what he needed to do at the NFL combine and should be a late first round or early second round selection.