- Big-time concerns: The reasons why Mesidor isn't a first-round lock are his age (25 years old as a rookie) and worrisome injury history (two foot injuries).
- 2026 NFL Draft season is here: Try the best-in-class PFF Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2026's top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
NFL teams rarely gamble early draft capital on 25-year-old edge defenders. History suggests they shouldn’t. The hit rate is thin, and the precedent isn’t flattering.
Nonetheless, Akheem Mesidor isn’t a typical prospect.
The Miami edge defender enters the 2026 NFL Draft with one of the most complete and technically advanced skill sets in the class — a profile that challenges the conventional wisdom surrounding older rookies.
Rushing the passer
Mesidor possesses rare pass-rush ability for an NFL prospect, as his pass-rush artistry led to an impressive 92.5 PFF pass-rush grade (96th percentile), 71 total pressures, 21.3% pass-rush win (94th percentile) rate and 16.0% pressure rate.
Unlike most productive college edge defenders, the 6-foot-3, 265-pounder's success wasn't built on elite physical or athletic traits. Now, don't get twisted, he's not deficient in either category, as he possesses more than enough play strength, flexibility and athleticism to project well to the NFL; however, they weren't the primary reasons for his dominant 2025 season.
Mesidor's technical mastery was the foundation of his ability to beat opposing offensive tackles and attack opposing quarterbacks consistently.
Bain did have the benefit of playing with another projected 1st-round pick: Akheem Mesidor
— Ron Kopp Jr (@RonOnChiefs) February 4, 2026
Their impact together really pops at the finish of the season-opening W over Notre Dame pic.twitter.com/aiN07BcJyg
Mesidor's hand technique provides him with multiple avenues to break down and defeat offensive tackles on the edge. He can be the aggressor by initiating contact with stabs before sequencing into one of a variety of moves; he can be a bit more reactionary by using swipes and chops to parry the opposing tackles' swipes, enabling him to shorten the corner and attack the quarterback. He can use an old-fashioned bull rush to walk a blocker into the quarterback's lap, especially toward the end of the season, as he struggled a bit to generate pressure with power early on.
This gives Mesidor the most well-rounded pass-rush repertoire in the class, as it includes swipes, arm-overs, clubs, cross-chops, and rips to effectively defeat offensive tackles and capture the edge. He also flashes an effective inside spin off the edge.
I’m not evaluating college DL at the moment but this rush from Mesidor stopped me in my tracks. The fluidity and speed at which he clears the corner here is really impressive pic.twitter.com/JrljAyf9UI
— Brandon Thorn (@BrandonThornNFL) February 9, 2026
Making matters even tougher for opposing blockers is the fact that if a blocker stymies Mesidor's initial move, the Miami edge defender seamlessly sequences into his next move to win. Oftentimes, Mesidor's first move creates a reaction from the blocker that Mesidor can exploit to generate pressure. He displayed two excellent examples against top-notch competition. Against Notre Dame, he feinted a two-hand swipe to one side before transitioning into a chop/club arm-over to the other side to create pressure. Against Florida, he missed with an initial cross chop but immediately sequenced into a club-rip to still defeat the guard’s hands and apply pressure on the QB.
Oh my what a move by Akheem Mesidor to force the grounding pic.twitter.com/9Cx8fdzjix
— Billy M (@BillyM_91) December 20, 2025
Mesidor's well-rounded and fine-tuned hand technique gives him multiple avenues to defeat opposing blocks on every pass-rush snap. Not only does he use stutter and euro steps to manipulate offensive tackles up the arc, but he also understands how to manipulate his own foot frequency, cadence and stride length to give him access to create advantages and access to a blocker’s edge.
When you combine Mesidor's outstanding hand technique with his refined and creative footwork, offensive tackles have a tough time discerning how to properly block him on a given play.
✅ Crazy burst from the 3-tech
— Alex McComb (@alexmmccomb) January 1, 2026
✅ Gets “skinny” to reduce blocking surface area
✅ Reminds everyone why Miami has the most vicious D-Line
Canadian Akheem Mesidor is the real deal. 🇨🇦🎓🏈pic.twitter.com/gfMhqO5hFV
Mesidor's ability to reduce inside and still dominate as a pass-rusher only increases his value, as his pass-rush win rate jumps to 27.1% when he aligns as a traditional interior defender (inside the offensive tackle).In those situations, Mesidor's quickness and ability to change directions are huge advantages, as he can quickly cross an interior offensive lineman's face to generate pressure with consistency.
Most impressively, Mesidor's best results as a pass-rusher came against his top competition. Over Miami's last seven games, which included their three games in the College Football Playoff, Mesidor recorded a 20%-plus pass-rush win rate in every game except one (against Pittsburgh). When Miami needed Mesidor most, he stepped up in a huge way, which bodes well for his ability to transition quickly to the NFL.
In terms of rushing the passer, the only negative mark on Mesidor's scouting report is that he often attacks the pocket out of control, creating more fly-by missed tackles than you'd like to see from such a dominant pass-rusher. For example, against Florida, Mesidor should have had two more sacks if he attacked the pocket with a little bit more control and balance.
Luckily, it should be easier for Mesidor to rein in some of his aggressiveness when attacking the backfield than it would be to do the opposite.
Defending the run
Akheem Mesidor (@Akheem_Mes) sets the edge & plays with great leverage. RB bounces to Mesidor & he’s there for the TFL! #StopTheRun#GoCanespic.twitter.com/RIiRlYFdwO
— DLineVids (@dlinevids1) September 28, 2024
While his pass-rush ability gets most of the acclaim, Mesidor's ability to defend the run is also a feather in his cap heading into the 2026 NFL Draft, as evidenced by his outstanding 88.3 PFF run-defense grade (91st percentile) in 2025.
Akheem Mesidor | ED | 6-3 280 LBS
— Price Carter (@priceacarter) January 26, 2026
Versatile with edge/inside flexibility Powerful hands, strong run defender and advanced pass-rush plan w/speed-to-power and counters. Lacks elite first step and bend needing better run discipline. Age/health concerns.
Shades of: Boogie Basham pic.twitter.com/YouLJlbW4Y
Mesidor is a very disciplined and gap-sound run defender who can set a strong edge to thwart perimeter runs and penetrate his gap to become a chaos agent in the backfield, which is why he can fit well in any scheme, whether it employs single-gap or gap-and-a-half run fits. He identifies misdirection, including screens, zone reads and trap runs, exceedingly well, which highlights his awareness and eye discipline as a line of scrimmage defender.
Mesidor is completely comfortable with the physical side of trench play, never shying away from contact and capable of taking on pulling blockers with authority when necessary. In addition, he's technically sound when taking on blocks, playing with a strong base, good hand placement and arm extension to put himself in position to shed blocks.
Unfortunately, Mesidor's scouting report defending the run isn't quite as clean as it is when he's rushing the passer. Even though Mesidor possesses enough play strength to hold his ground, he doesn't have the type of power to consistently put blockers on their back foot on first contact; moreover, he tends to get stuck on blocks even with good initial positioning. Shedding blocks is one of the few areas of his game where he needs to broaden and refine his techniques, as this is a big reason Mesidor lacks a bit of run-defense production (a 4.9% run-stop rate is just a 22 percentile mark) despite grading well in the area.
Additionally, Mesidor's aggressive nature attacking the backfield rears its ugly head at times, just as it does when he attacks the pocket as a pass-rusher. Not only does he have a bad tendency to drop his head and take his eyes off his target when making a tackle, but when Mesidor fails to come to balance when attacking the backfield, elusive ball carriers can make him miss, which can lead to problematic results for the defense. In 2025, Mesidor missed 11 tackles for a disappointing 15.9% missed tackle rate (30th percentile).
Is Akheem Mesidor an exception to the rule?
Akheem Mesidor Cut Ups https://t.co/fVOo89MtUWpic.twitter.com/AR56RFWjxe
— jeremiah🐦⬛ (@NewEraMiah) February 22, 2026
The fact of the matter is that few 25-year-old rookie edge defenders produce at a high level. And when you factor in the fact that he's already had procedures on both of his feet, it muddies the water on his projection even more.
Luckily for Mesidor, it does appear that he has found at least a temporary solution to his foot issues, as custom cleats appear to alleviate much of the pain and re-injury risk he had been dealing with in previous seasons, stating, “My feet are no longer an issue. I've been working all winter and spring to getting fitted by Adidas, and I got custom shoes now, and I feel great. I'm just trying to play to my full potential. Basically, we just wanted to get different cleats. I got my feet scanned countless times just to look at the width of my feet, how long my feet are, and then we just made cleats based off the results they got off the testing.”
Unfortunately, Mesidor can't make himself any younger — and if he could, he'd be a no-doubt-about-it top-15 pick in this year's draft — and the list of edge defenders who were 24-plus years old and drafted in the first two rounds isn't pretty:
If Akheem Mesidor gets drafted in round 1 = he's an outlier
— Nick Whalen (@_NickWhalen) February 21, 2026
-He'd be the 1st DL drafted in round 1 at age 25 or older since Peria Jerry(DT) in 2009
-He'd be the 1st DE drafted in round 1 at age 25 or older since Max Bumgardner in 1948
(Used Pro Football Reference)
If he's very… pic.twitter.com/w2FgdER1np
Now, the one thing working in Mesidor's favor is that he's much more technically refined than anyone on that list, so if a general manager is looking for a reason to take a risk on Mesidor within the first two rounds of the 2026 NFL Draft, then his technical mastery is more than enough reason to do so.
It certainly is for me.