With their final pick in the third round, the Denver Broncos selected Arkansas defensive linemen McTelvin Agim with the 95th overall selection in the 2020 NFL Draft. If he is able to translate his game to the NFL level, Denver may have found a solid interior pass rusher to pair their dynamic duo on the outside in Von Miller and Bradley Chubb.
#94 McTelvin Agim, DL
Age 22. 6’3”, 309 lbs.
College: Arkansas
He will join what appears to be a pretty stacked defensive line in Denver. On the inside, they already have Shelby Harris back for another year along with second-year player Dre’Mont Jones. The biggest move they move was trading a measly seventh-round pick for perennial Pro Bowler Jurrell Casey.
The Good
In college, on a terrible Arkansas team, Agim piled up 18.5 tackles for a loss and 9.5 sacks in his final two seasons.
Agim has tremendous athleticism for his size and has solid pass rush moves for someone coming out of college. He has great quickness off the snap and in the NFL that counts for something. As a rookie, we should expect his role to be focused around snaps in obvious passing situations. He could give Denver some added pressure inside on those downs. With properly development at the NFL level, we could see him as the next “Malik Jackson” type player for Denver.
He is also a high character guy who has learned some hard lessons along his way to the NFL. I’d expect him to have a pro’s mentality early on in his NFL career given his incredible journey from young teenager to young adult. It’s hard not to be personally excited for Agim.
7 years ago around this time i was sitting in a juvenile detention center not knowing how life would end up. now i see my name being called in the draft. God is great and his timing is perfect . #BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/vDlmzGo6wC
— McTelvin Agim (@So_Splash) April 25, 2020
The Bad
Every analyst I looked at for Agim noted he needs to work on his hand usage. That is an area he will absolutely need to work on to advance from here. The Draft Network’s Joe Marino went even further and noted Agim would need to get stronger to become an every down kind of lineman in the NFL.
Arkansas defensive tackle McTelvin Agim has plenty of experience in college but only one came playing on the interior where he projects best to the next level. His first step quickness, flexibility and urgency is perfect for a penetration-style role in an even front defense. With that said, he has to get strong so that he can be more stout at the point of attack and win with power as opposed to relying on so much finesse. Agim is far from maxed out and is a high-end developmental prospect as a three-technique.
Final Word
I think Agim will be more of a one-gap interior rusher in his rookie season. Denver will obviously be focused on putting more pressure inside, so their talented edge rushers can collapse the pocket from the outside. In the long run, Agim needs to work on some of the issues noted above in order to get more playing time.
He has all of the athletic tools to develop, so Denver may have truly gotten a steal here in Agim with the 95th overall selection. I look forward to seeing him play this year and beyond.