Ruke Orhorhoro

Falcons traded up with the Cardinals to select Clemson DT Ruke Orhorhoro with the No. 35 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.

Atlanta gave up picks 43 and 79. They gained a sixth-round pick on top of No. 35. An immigrant from Nigeria at age 8, Orhorhoro was a standout basketball player who didn’t start playing football until his junior season in high school. Despite being relatively inexperienced, he played in nine games as a freshman in 2019 before an injury sapped most of the pandemic-shortened season. An early-season injury to Bryan Bresee thrust Orhorhoro into a starting role in 2021 where he would stay for the next three years accumulating 47 stops and 24.0 tackles for loss in that span. He only needed 2.66s per snap to create his 27 pressures last year, which along with his 2.3% sack rate led all Clemson defensive linemen. Orhorhoro owned the Combine, performing every test on the board while excelling at each and every one. He flashed elite acceleration with a 1.67s 10-yard split (96th%) and 4.89s 40 (94th%), while also recording 89th% agility scores and the second-most bench reps (29) from the DL group. Throw in a 97th percentile 9’08” broad jump with 34” arms, and Orhorhoro performed a near perfect 9.92 Relative Athletic Score. While Orhorhoro’s frenetic, tenacious approach is tough for OLs to deal with, he will misdiagnose plays at times and needs to fine tune his overall rush plan and technique in order to reach his lofty athletic potential in the NFL. His toolsy physical profile suggests a ceiling of Robert Nkemdiche.