Welcome to Purple & Gold Prospects!

This will be an ongoing series to get Vikings fans familiar with upcoming draft prospects. The focus of this series will be to cover prominent prospects entering the upcoming NFL Draft. The series will center on the position groups of highest need on the current Vikings roster, but will also cover stand out players across the spectrum. I hope you will join me on this continuing journey to learn more about upcoming draft classes.

With that let’s discover the possible future of your Minnesota Vikings!

Background

Height: 6040

Weight: 252 lbs.

Dallas Turner was a 5-star recruit out of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. One of the premiere prospects out of high school earned Turner offers from many major programs. He eventually committed to Alabama in 2020. Turner quickly made an impact as a freshman earning both Freshman All-American Honors and was an All-SEC Freshman Team selection. Through 50 games at Alabama, Turner has amassed 109 tackles, including 28.5 TFLs, 1 defended pass, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, and a defensive TD. Turner has become one of the top EDGE defenders in the country and a top defensive prospect for the 2024 NFL Draft.

Games watched: LSU 2022, Tennessee 2022, Texas 2022, Ole Miss 2023, Texas 2023, Texas A&M 2023

Strengths

Dallas Turner has ideal length for the position. His long arms are able to keep opposing OL at bay and do not allow them to get into his chest. He utilizes powerful punches to keep OL off-balance. His burst and quickness off of the snap are excellent. He gets up-field in a hurry and really stresses OTs in pass protection. His footwork and approach are good at setting up blockers. Turner converts that speed into impressive power and is constantly crashing the pocket with bull rushes. He also has outstanding dip and bend around the edge and forces QBs off of their spot. Turner has improved his arsenal of counters this season including a nasty spin move that I would like him to showcase more often. His run defense has also improved this year and is usually able to effectively set the edge forcing runners back inside. He plays with good pad level and displays good awareness in keeping his head up and his eyes on the backfield. Often gets his hands up to disrupt passing lanes. Turner anchors well and has good timing in shedding blocks to make plays on the rusher in his lane. He has a great motor and pursuit speed, tracking down ball carriers across the back side of the line or from behind. Turner also displays a good ability to drop back into coverage. Although it hasn’t led to much production he understands his zone and shows good instincts following receivers.

Weaknesses

Turner needs to continue to improve on his pass-rush moves and counters. Although his arsenal has improved this season he does not showcase them often enough and needs to develop the confidence on when to execute them. If he is locked up by opposing OL he still does not have a secondary plan too often. In the run game he still struggles to shed blocks and actually make the tackle. He was a big liability in run defense on the edge in 2022. This has improved in 2023 but when lined up as the last defender on the edge he often sacrifices any pass rush to make sure the edge is set. Turner will often be seen hesitating to initiate any pass rush until the play has committed. Needs to get comfortable setting the edge while rushing the passer. I’m worried that if he goes back to immediately rushing off the snap every play that he will again become a liability in run defense. But his strength lies in his ability to quickly burst around the edge or immediately produce a bull rush that closes the pocket. This is his biggest weakness heading into the 2024 NFL Draft.

Conclusion

Turner exploded onto the scene as a freshman. Although his production dipped a bit in 2022 he has improved again in 2023 and has been a force on that Alabama defense. He is a bit of a raw prospect with areas he needs to improve on at the next level but the skillset and tools he currently displays are highly coveted by NFL defenses. His burst and explosiveness are some of the best in the entire class, and how he translates that into pass rush moves is already very impressive. He has positioned himself as one of the top EDGE defenders in the entire class and should be a lock in the first round of the draft next April.

Grade

Quickness/Burst: 14.2 / 15

Size/Length: 13.5 / 15

Awareness: 8 / 10

Counters: 7.9 / 10

Coverage: 8 / 10

Dip/Bend: 9.2 / 10

Power: 9 / 10

Run Defense: 7.5 / 10

Tackling: 7.8 / 10

OVERALL: 85.1 – Late First Round