DraftTracker
Round | Team | Pos. | School | Name
Chris Canty
DE (6-7, 286, 4.93)
Virginia
Grade: 88
Comments
Has an exceptional combination of size, strength and athleticism. Was a playmaker as a 3-4 DE in college. Has a lot of versatility as a prospect that projects as being able to play inside and outside in the NFL. He is strong and powerful. Has long arms and does an excellent job with his hands. Will consistently keep separation, find the football and pursue. He disengages quickly and pursues hard to the football. Is a very reliable tackler for such a big player. He lacks ideal speed but is quicker than fast. Is very fluid and relentless as a pass rusher when he gets into the backfield. He also bats down a lot of passes at the LOS. His anticipation skills are good and he has adequate to good initial quickness for an interior player. He has excellent run/pass recognition skills. Is a disciplined player that knows his assignments and executes at an extremely high level. Plays too high at times and lets blockers get into his body. Has trouble splitting the double-team and gets frustrated by it. Lacks ideal top-end speed. He lacks the explosive first step of a productive NFL edge rusher. He has decent interior penetrating skills and shows a little bit, but not great closing burst. He lacks acceleration to consistently turn the corner as an edge rusher in the NFL and might be best suited to play inside on obvious passing downs. Injuries really limited Canty's potential as a collegiate player and will wind up costing him dearly on draft day. He missed time early in his career because of shoulder problems and he also blew out his knee four games into his senior season. However, when Canty was healthy as a fulltime starter in 2003 and for the first four games of the 2004 season he was one of the most impressive end prospects in this class. Canty finished his junior season with 104 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss and four sacks. He also led his team with 30 total tackles, including seven TFL and one sack after just four games as a senior prior to his knee injury. Canty also did not help his cause when he suffered an eye injury during a bar brawl in Scottsdale, AZ, where he was training during the post-season. He showed up late for the combine because he was unable to travel via airplane and, as of the date of this report (March 19, 2005), he had not yet worked out in Charlottesville. Canty has terrific size, agility and power when healthy. He also has the potential to play either inside or outside in a 4-3 and/or 3-4 scheme at the next level. However, the former first round prospect will slip on draft day due to his inability to stay healthy and recent concerns regarding his character. If Canty can stay healthy and out of trouble he has a chance to become an impact starter in the NFL. But he has too many alerts right now to consider paying him first round money.
* Player biographies are provided by Scouts Inc.