Karl Brooks' College Dominance Translates to NFL Training Camp

It’s far too early to declare victory on an NFL Draft take, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised to see people acting, well, surprised about Karl Brooks during training camp. A sixth-round pick in this spring’s draft, Brooks was one of a handful of players who really stood out during our pre-draft prep process, and I was very happy to see him land in Green Bay.

Brooks had a long and distinguished career at Bowling Green State University, piling up sacks and pressures at a fairly ridiculous rate. However, it’s the fact that he was piling up those sacks and pressures against MAC competition that dropped him down more than a few draft boards.

And to be fair, there’s reason to be skeptical about anyone playing in the MAC. Schools like Toledo, BGSU, Ball State, and Western Michigan aren’t exactly traditional powers, nor do they typically land the kind of players that make an impact in the NFL. Some doubt on his numbers is warranted.

However, Brooks was pretty dominant across the length and breadth of his college career. He recorded more than, 1,100 pass rush snaps over 49 college games, producing a pressure (a sack, hit, or hurry) on 13.79% of those plays. By way of comparison, only three other defensive linemen in the sample we looked at had a career pressure rate above 12%: Mike Morris of Michigan, Calijah Kancey of Pittsburgh, and Keondre Coburn of Texas. Michigan and Texas certainly play in prestigious conferences, but other than Clemson and Florida State, the ACC isn’t overly powerful.

In terms of pure production, Brooks recorded 27.5 sacks and 46 tackles for loss in his 49 career games, giving him a career production ratio of exactly 1.5. Only Tuli Tuipolotu, now an edge rusher, and the aforementioned Kancey posted a career production ratio better. 

My point is that few people really put up the kind of pressure numbers that we saw from Brooks. Even if he was doing it against subpar competition, that’s not a good enough reason to discount him as a prospect, and I’m happy to see that our production-based scouting seems to have pointed us toward a promising prospect.