Rayshaun Benny

● A tad narrow but wide-hipped, with outstanding arm length ● Initial quickness forces blockers to be at their best ● Powerful; uses his full extension to stack and find the football ● Heavy rip/swipe hands to soften the edges and motor through gaps ● Active handwork prevents blockers from winning his chest and anchoring down ● Can operate in tight spaces — motor stays cranked ● Found more of a voice as a senior; interacts well with teammates ● NFL scout: “The Senior Bowl helped him. … Our D-line coach kept saying he couldn’t wait to watch more of that ‘Wolverine.’”

● Inconsistent anchor strength and can be moved by double teams ● Pad level gets away from him at contact ● Average agility and gets elongated with his lower-body movements ● Pass-rush instincts and counters aren’t polished ● Ball carriers can elude him at the line ● Only one season as a full-time starter ● Sidelined for the national championship game versus Washington (Jan. 2024) after suffering broken right fibula versus Alabama in Rose Bowl (the injury lingered into the 2024 season); offseason hernia surgery (May 2022) after first season in Ann Arbor; left knee injury that required surgery following a car accident in July 2020, which sidelined him for the first five games of his senior year at Oak Park

A one-year starter at Michigan, Benny played the 2i-, three- and four-technique positions in former defensive coordinator Wink Martindale’s four-man front. He found himself stuck behind Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant for much of his time as an underclassman, and he also struggled to stay healthy. He cracked the starting lineup as a senior and piqued the interest of NFL teams with his flashes, even though he didn’t light up the stat sheet. Benny is an easy player to like because of his power profile and active play style. He utilizes his long arms to engage and detach from blocks, along with the contact balance and revving motor to work his way through congestion. He can be inconsistent putting down roots, and his pass-rush flashes are too infrequent. Overall, Benny isn’t yet the sum of his parts, but he has athletic twitch with the size and arm length to be disruptive at the pro level. He has the talent to see the field as a rookie while an NFL staff coaches the rest out of him. 417 Back to table of contents -- 421 of 629 --