Some are picked in the first round of the NFL draft (Dee Ford), others in the seventh (Michael Sam), but NFL clubs can never be sure of what they will get from an undersized pass rusher until the draft investment is made and the Sunday whistle blows.
The evaluation of Clemson's Vic Beasley (6-foot-3, 235 pounds) is no different. And one NFL scout invoked two names on both ends of the production spectrum in making a comparison to the Tigers' all-time sacks leader (28): Denver Broncos star Von Miller, and former Buffalo Bills linebacker Corey Moore.
"Body-wise, he's probably closest to Von," the scout told Yahoo! Sports. "People forget, but [DeMarcus] Ware wasn't very big either [coming out of Troy]. But what a lot of them have -- Ware, the Jason Taylor types, Aldon Smith, all those -- is length. I'll want to see that number, those numbers, on his height and [arm length]."
Miller, of course, has been spectacular since becoming the No. 2 overall pick in the 2011 draft, averaging nearly a sack per game for the Denver Broncos over his career thus far. He's made four sacks in four games this season. But light-and-speedy edge rushers have their cautionary tales, as well.
"Years ago there was a kid at Virginia Tech named Corey Moore, [and Beasley] kind of reminds me of a juiced-up, jacked-up, bigger and better version of him," the scout told Yahoo. "And teams faced the same problem then: What do you do with him? [Moore] was, what, not even 6-foot and maybe 225 pounds? But every Saturday he's living in the backfield, just torching teams off the edge. What do you do with him? He played with his hair on fire, and that's kind of what I see with Beasley too."
Moore was a third-round pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2000, but was with the Dolphins just a year later and out of the league by 2002.
Beasley received a second-round grade from the NFL Draft Advisory Board last year, but opted to return to Clemson as a senior.
*Follow Chase Goodbread on Twitter **@ChaseGoodbread*.
