Scouting Report: Laiatu Latu Has Some Work to Do at the Senior Bowl

The tools and potential are certainly there for UCLA DL/OLB Laiatu Latu. He just has to show that he can put it all together before we can safely assume he's a blue chip prospect.

I swore that after I blew hot air out of my ass for 2,700+ words on Jayden Daniels last week that I would keep my enthusiasm in check for the sake of brevity when discussing Laiatu Latu. I lied. I’m sorry. I made a liar out of me by promising that to myself. These are the conversations that go on inside of my head each and every day. Nonetheless, the discussion around Latu raises a couple of important talking points that I at least wanted to touch on before we got into the nitty gritty with the UCLA defensive lineman/edge defender/pass rusher/linebacker.

For one, picking the right games to really study and evaluate is crucial. I can at least get through the cliffs notes version of every game broadcast that you can find on YouTube and in shady Reddit streams. But, I’m talking about the games that you zero in on and really dive into - the all-22, slowly rewinding and replaying every single snap eight times to get a feel for the technique and timing issues in 1:1 match-ups that you don’t get from broadcast angles. It takes a little bit of homework, but for me, it’s about identifying match-ups against guys that will be future NFL players too.