Darius Alexander is a player who long remained *under the radar*, having played for the modest Toledo Rockets. His stock skyrocketed following a standout performance at the Senior Bowl, where he clearly made the most of his opportunity to shine. But what’s the real story here? Do the tapes back up the impressive flashes seen during the Senior Bowl, or is the hype—like so often these days—far too exaggerated compared to what the player is actually capable of doing?
Let's dive into his scouting to get a clearer idea of who Darius Alexander is.

The first quality to highlight with Darius—and one that trickles down into several of his other strengths—is his impressive athleticism. Whether we're talking about mobility, raw strength, or overall power, Darius stands out. For his size, Alexander is fast, explosive, fairly agile, and capable of generating the kind of force and power that allows him to truly dominate his matchups.
In terms of explosiveness, as always, it’s most evident on his takeoff. Darius comes out of his stance with power and violence that immediately puts his opponents in trouble. This explosiveness also shows up in his punch, which is genuinely high quality.
In terms of power, it’s both what allows him to generate significant force in his punch and what helps him stay low and take advantage of good leverage. Now that we’ve established that Darius has impressive athletic potential, it’s time to dive into the details of his other strengths, which directly benefit from those physical attributes.

First of all, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, Darius has a powerful punch in his arsenal that he uses in all game situations. Both explosive and strong, this punch allows him to jolt opposing offensive linemen while creating excellent separation—especially when he remembers to keep his arms extended, thanks to his solid wingspan.
This punch is clearly his primary weapon, no matter the situation he finds himself in. He very rarely engages blockers with his shoulder or head first—which is a good thing, as it allows him to keep his eyes up, read the play, and react when the ball carrier enters his range. As mentioned above, when Darius remembers to fully extend his arms, he creates impressive separation thanks to his strong upper body. On top of that, when he combines this with what I’d describe as very solid hand placement, he further amplifies the power of his punch by targeting leverage points and taking advantage of even the slightest imbalance in his opponent.
This solid hand placement allows him to truly manipulate the transfer of force between himself and the offensive lineman trying to block him. When he spots an opportunity, his strength, good leverage, and clean footwork enable him to shoot through the gap and apply significant pressure in the opponent’s backfield.

Now it’s time to talk about his leverage ability, which is truly solid. Darius constantly strives to play lower than his opponent to maximize leverage, and he often succeeds. Whether it’s by getting as close to the line of scrimmage as possible to engage the offensive line immediately at the snap, launching forward at the snap for the same reason, or deliberately adjusting his power angle to ensure he's lower at the point of contact, Alexander consistently works to stay low—and that’s something you love to see.
His leverage and the power he’s able to generate from his lower body are clearly among the key reasons why he can dominate his opponents in certain situations.

Another point that allows him to shine is his excellent footwork. Although Darius sometimes stops his legs once the block with his opposite number has begun, his footwork is generally solid.
It's rare to see him lose his balance, even during bull rush situations. He almost never gets tangled up on his first steps, usually keeps his feet active, and rarely narrows his base too much. It's solid stuff.
In the end, the situations where Darius seems least in control are when he's passed his opponent and is in a position to make a tackle in open space. In these situations, Darius tends to lunge for a big hit and can end up completely whiffing on the tackle.

Now, beyond his physical abilities, which can indeed be impressive, the biggest strength of Darius Alexander is unquestionably his strong run-stopping ability. Whether it's as a gap shooter or in gap control situations, Darius is excellent.
As we've seen throughout this section on strengths, all the qualities I've mentioned about Darius allow him to shine when he's in a run defense situation. His power, explosiveness, punch, leverage, and footwork—all of these qualities come into play when he's in position. Just throw on any tape or highlight, and you'll see him in action.
Thanks to all these qualities, Alexander is sometimes even capable of lining up in a Tech-1, which is typically a position for a Nose Tackle. To go even further, if you check his highlights, Darius can even stuff his gap like a true Nose Tackle, thanks to his solid base, wide stance, and powerful punch.
Still on his ability to defend the run, he is also pretty good when facing double-team situations. Of course, he's not able to win 100% of his reps against a double team, and honestly, who can? You will sometimes see him get moved on certain reps, but overall, it's really solid. He's occasionally capable of disrupting the point of contact in a double team thanks to his explosive power and very good hand placement. At other times, he can fight back with his good leverage, strong base, and wide stance to contain the double team, allowing his linebackers or fellow defensive linemen to make plays.
In certain racing situations, Darius seems to be a much heavier player than he is and that's a very good point, I sometimes see players with 30lbs more being unable to do what he does.

To conclude, Darius Alexander profiles as a Defensive Tackle best suited to play as a 3-tech in a 4-3 front, with real strengths as a Run Stopper and the potential to make occasional splash plays as a pass rusher thanks to his impressive physical and athletic tools—especially if he’s left in one-on-one situations. Having seen him at Toledo, he also appears capable of transitioning to a Defensive End role in a 3-4 front, again thanks to his athleticism, ideally on the strong side to help set the edge in run situations and take advantage of one-on-one matchups on passing downs.
However, whatever his use or the scheme in which he evolves, Darius will have to make enormous progress on his abilities as a pass rusher and in particular on his ability to learn techniques in order to expand his arsenal and above all to succeed in using them in a match in order to waste as little time as possible. For the moment, he's extremely Raw on this point, and if he wants to earn a place on an NFL roster, he absolutely must make progress on this point. The physical and athletic Tools he possesses will enable him to gain access to a roster, but the progress he makes as a pass rusher will surely decide his future in the big league.

But while most teams would quickly dismiss this kind of thinking in a 21-, 22- or even 23-year-old player, Darius Alexander will be 25 when he arrives in the league.
Not only do most teams at this age risk devaluing the player enormously in view of the project he represents, or worse still, labelling him a specialized Run Stopper role player and automatically relegating him to a rotation position, but his age also raises the question of his physical dominance. Did Darius dominate his opponents because he's a physical and athletic monster, or because with his adult body he played in an average conference against “kids”?
Personally, his performances at the Senior Bowl against players who aren't necessarily older but who represent the best in the country make me think that the reality lies somewhere between the two extremes I've mentioned, but as a GM or coach, you could very well say that Darius won't be able to dominate as much once he faces players of the same age, who are more experienced and vicious, and at least as physically monstrous, if not more so, than Darius.
Here again, it's a point that's likely to really knock him down in a draft packed with talent, potential and projects at this very position.

So here we are on the reasons for the Tier 5 I've decided to apply to Darius Alexander, who is nonetheless a really nice player to see play, I hope he falls into the best environment for him and that he makes me feel like an idiot for having seen him so low, but as it stands I can't see him as anything other than a Day 3 pick. While I can understand really liking the player I'd have a hard time seeing him and understanding him being selected earlier given his age and not-so-important value position on a really stacked talent position.
Darius Alexander is therefore Tier 5 and with a projection to Day 3 for me.