37. Troy Dye, LB, Oregon
Height: 6’4″ Weight: 224
40-Yard Dash: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
60-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Bio: Troy Dye was a three-star safety recruit coming out of Norco High School in Norco, California. Only a handful of schools expressed interest in him, mostly Pac-12 schools like Colorado and Washington State. He decided to enroll early with Oregon in January 2016, and has been a force on the Ducks’ defense ever since. He has played over 700 defensive snaps in all four of his seasons in Oregon, notching 386 career tackles during his time on campus.
Stat to Know: Dye was a stud, plain and simple, in 2018. He played 926 snaps, a career-high, and tallied 92 total tackles.
Strengths: During each draft cycle there are players that you watch on tape, and at a point you know just who they are as a prospect. But yet you keep watching, because the experience of studying them and seeing what they can do is too enjoyable to end. That was my experience with Dye. His experience comes through on every single play. He is always patient and focused, and does not over-react to misdirection plays, play-action designs, or really anything. He led off his season by staying patient on a misdirection design from Auburn, stacking and shedding a pulling guard in space, and making a tackle on a misdirection jet sweep.
His entire season was like that.
Some might point to what he does against the run – at his size – and find problems. But I am of a different mindset. I think Dye can handle the run defense responsibilities just as well as any other linebacker in this group. He is solid with his run fits. He is strong enough to play lead blockers/pullers/trappers to a stalemate in the hole and then scrape off them at the right time to make the tackle. Dye has a great feel for navigating traffic at the line of scrimmage against the run, getting to the ball carrier and making tackles at or near the line of scrimmage.
I mean, are we really concerned about what he can do against the run when he makes plays like this:
As I wrote in my notes, “[a]re we really worried about him against the run when he can evade, seek and destroy like this working down the line of scrimmage?” He evades a pair of blockers and still gets to the football, stopping this for a minimal gain from the backside.
Dye does some of his best work in the coverage game. Again, his level of experience helps him a great deal in this aspect of the position. He has good feel for zone coverage situations, always peeling off at the right time and not getting baited by routes in front of his face when he knows there is likely something a bit deeper that is more of a threat. He had a great play against Hunter Bryant at the catch point, breaking back to help on a crossing route and raking up through the pocket like a cornerback taught by Matt Patricia. (You can watch Patricia’s clinic presentation on defense for a deeper understanding of this point). He gets jams on defenders if they come through his zone, and reads route concepts extremely well. Dye also has the athleticism to run with most routes and with most receivers and tight ends he is tasked with covering.
When tasked with blitzing, he does so without any care for his physical well-being. He will take on blockers and run through them, he will throw himself at the quarterback if he has to, but he is going to disrupt the pocket.
Weaknesses: Again, others view what he does against the run as a liability, but I am higher on him in that part of the game. He could be a better tackler in space, he gave up a touchdown on a speed option play against Washington when he missed the tackle on the running back. Simmons and others might have more athleticism, but he makes up for a lack of burst and explosiveness with how he reads and reacts to plays as they unfold.
Conclusion: Again, my thoughts on the future of the position were laid out at the start. With where offenses are trending, I value athleticism at the position more than how people traditionally view the linebacker position, and the rankings reflect that. That being said, Dye was one of the true joys I have had this draft cycle, studying him on film and seeing what he can do. He is a modern NFL linebacker, built for today’s game. But he also has the heart of an old school LB inside him, with the ability to seek and destroy against the run. I will gladly bang the table for him and think that today’s crop of defensive coordinators will do the same. He can be a three-down linebacker who handles what matters most in the modern game – defending the pass – extremely well.
Comparison: Given that I am high on him, the comparison is going to be to a solid player. But I see some Jaylon Smith in Dye. The athletic profile matches, and I believe that Dye has that three-down potential at the next level, including the ability to play down near the line of scrimmage.