NFL Draft 2015 Scouting Report: ILB Ben Heeney, Kansas

*Our LB grades can and will change as more information comes in from Pro Day workouts, leaked Wonderlic test results, etc. We will update ratings as new info becomes available.

The following is going to be incredibly insulting statement, but it’s meant as a compliment to Ben Heeney (but it is arrogant nonetheless)…

If any football analyst or scout has really studied this draft for a while, and has looked over all the ILB prospects in this draft and does not recognize Ben Heeney as arguably the top ILB prospects in this draft…and in the argument as one of the top-32 players overall in this draft…then I have no idea what happens when they look at prospects and make evaluations. The fact that no one is even close to proclaiming this is completely insane, and shows how flawed football talent evaluation is.

I’ll allow Eric Kendricks as the one debate to Heeney, but I’m going to explain why Kendricks falls a touch short on our actual scouting report of Kendricks.

I have no idea why the bias or blind eye here against Heeney. There are so many positive scouting items to note, and they jump off the computer screen. The fact that all the top analysts are not even remotely discussing this is a pox on all their houses.

I’ll say what needs to be said, and see if I can get some kind of ball rolling: Ben Heeney is a potential franchise ILB prospect. He’s not only a top-32 overall prospect for this draft, but is probably one of the best 25 players in the draft.

ESPN says Heeney is the 20th best. Not the 20th best player overall…the 20th best ILB prospect in the draft. He’s ESPN’s 249th ranked player as of this writing. CBS Sports is a little more rational, I guess, with Heeney as the 5th-best ILB prospect for them, a 4th-round projection.

Let me tell you why they are so short of the mark…

1) I just finished watching game tape of all the top ILB together (Kendricks, Dawson, McKinney, Anthony), and Heeney is so obviously superior of a middle/inside linebacker than them it’s comical…and that’s not an insult to the other guys either.

No one in this ILB class has a first/instinctive step like Heeney…his instincts on the field are jaw-dropping, and obvious.

None of them hit a ballcarrier like Heeney. He hits like an old-school, throwback linebacker—full-force, waist-level, with impunity.

None of the ILB prospects can move side-to-side like Heeney. He can cover underneath receivers better than any of them either.

It was so obvious when I watched this tape. I just kept asking myself, and anyone who would listen—“How is everyone missing this?”

2) In case you worry that my scouting eyeballs can’t be trusted, perhaps you’d like him more ‘on paper’ as well. At the NFL Combine, Heeney recorded the 2nd-fastest 40-time among the ILB prospects (4.59) and was beyond the best/fastest in the agility drills. His agility measurements are ‘special’—not ‘good'; they are special’ for an ILB.

On the downside, his bench press was below average, but right with Eric Kendricks among others. He has below average hand size and arm length, but not any crisis level.

Heeney is the premier speed-agility combo ILB in this draft, and needs to spend the summer adding 5+ reps to his bench press…which he can do. The other top ILBs cannot ‘get agile’ like Heeney if they spent a lifetime trying.

3) There are no off-field flaws, only great résumé enhancers…

He was a two-time captain of the Kansas Jayhawks, and has been a Big-12 and Athletic Director Honor Roll award winner. He is smart, well-spoken in interviews, and is a hard-nosed player.

With Heeney, you are getting a player who has high-end speed-agility on paper, but plays even faster. He snuffs out proper running lanes and screens, etc. without having to pre-guess. He has a unique ability to observe and then move in an instant to the right place. Many top guys with high-end speed, guess a spot ahead and race blindly at the backfield, etc. and are sometimes right, and sometimes wrong. Heeney floats along for a moment then explodes as if he knew what the play was in advance.

Heeney is a fairly ‘special’ prospect for the 2015 NFL Draft, and is going totally unnoticed by top analysts.

Ben Heeney, Through the Lens of Our ILB Scouting Algorithm:

Heeney faced eight bowl teams in 2014, and averaged 10.1 total tackles per game with 1.25 TFLs per game.

In his last 31 games, Heeney has registered double-digit tackles 18-times. He’s posted 12 or more total tackles in a game 10-times in that span.

There are no flaws with Heeney as a tackler/stat producer…especially when you consider he played on a weak Kansas team that would allow opposing offenses to be able to focus on keeping him away from plays. Heeney was the only real defensive threat for Kansas opponents to worry about, whereas Eric Kendricks played on a mini-All-Star team at UCLA on defense.

Looking at speed-agility times, Heeney is one of the ten-best measured in the past decade+. He needs to add about 10-pounds of muscle, but other than that there is nary a flaw here.

The Historical ILB Prospects to Whom Ben Heeney Most Compares Within Our System:

A.J. Hawk posted back-to-back 100+ tackle seasons right out of the gates in the NFL, and has been a solid linebacker who always produces around 90-110 tackles per season throughout his career. Hawk was a very gifted athlete as measured at his NFL Combine as well. Heeney as the next A.J. Hawk makes a lot of sense. You could play him inside, or he works on the outside on a 4-3 scheme just fine as well.

*A score of 8.00+ is where we see a stronger correlation of LBs going on to become NFL good/great/elite. A score of 10.00+ is more rarefied air in our system, and indicates a greater probability of becoming an NFL elite LB.

All of the LB ratings are based on a 0–10 scale, but a player can score negative, or above a 10.0 in certain instances.

Tackle-Strength Metrics = A combination of several physical and performance measurements. An attempt to classify the LB prospect's ability to stop the run, as well as to gauge how physical the player is, and the likelihood of higher tackle counts in the NFL. All based on profiles of LBs historically.

Speed-Agility Metrics = A combination of several speed, agility, and size measurements...as well as game performance data to profile a LB for speed/agility based on LBs historically. A unique measuring system to look for LBs that profile for quickness, pass-coverage ability, and general ability to cover more ground.

2015 NFL Draft Outlook:

The draft world sees Heeney being selected between the 4th and 7th round, and as much as I think that is a crime, I also know that’s probably the reality. There are no events left that will change this between now and draft day…unless someone takes my report and starts proclaiming him as their own in the media (without giving me credit), and it pushes him up the ladder a little. I’ve seen it happen on certain websites the past two years, so it’s not improbable that there will be a late surge, but he’s not likely to go higher than 3rd-round.

If I were an NFL GM, I’m planning on taking Heeney later in the 3rd-round, unless I catch wind of a move otherwise. Getting a top-20 player around pick #75-100+ is stellar draft value.

NFL Outlook:   

If Chris Borland (who I didn’t think was special) and Paul Worrilow (who I was the only one who thought could be special) can walk into the NFL and start posting 15+ tackles games like nothing…so can Heeney. All he needs is a shot. He’ll be pretty evident to coaches right away. I wouldn’t be shocked if becomes a starter opening day, and lands 100+ tackles in his rookie season…easily. IF he gets a chance to start. He may slide enough in the draft that teams without a great need just stash him for a year, and let him develop.

4/2/2015