I might have preferred an offensive tackle or receiver here, but McDonald is a highly underrated speed end whose true potential won’t show up on his college tape. A 6-foot-4, 240-pound speed end shouldn’t be inside the tackles in three-man fronts, but that’s where McDonald was far too often for Iowa State last season. You put him in four- and five-man fronts, and you just have to love what he can do with his bend, spin moves, and surprising power.
Height: 6′ 3⅝” (46th percentile) Weight: 239 (3rd)
40-Yard Dash: N/A
10-Yard Split: N/A
Bench Press: N/A
Vertical Jump: 36″ (79th)
Broad Jump: 132″ (98th)
3-Cone Drill: N/A
20-Yard Shuttle: N/A
Wingspan: 82¼” (80th)
Arm Length: 34⅞” (90th)
Hand Size: 9½” (26th)
Bio: McDonald was also a baseball, basketball and track star at Waukesha North High in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and the three-star recruit chose Iowa State over Minnesota and Baylor. Over five seasons with the Cyclones, McDonald put up 35 sacks, 20 quarterback hits, 72 quarterback hurries, eight batted passes, 11 forced fumbles, 56 tackles, and 73 stops. McDonald had 981 snaps outside the tackles, 396 over the tackles, and 101 in the B-gaps. He also spent 21 of his snaps in the box, and four in the slot.
Stat to Know: In 2022, McDonald spent just 80% of his time designated as an edge defender, and not always to his best benefit. We’ll get into this right away.
Strengths: So, here’s the problem. Iowa State plays a ton of three-man fronts in which McDonald was either inside or outside the tackles. This forced him to work outside, or outside to inside, without the help you’d get in more populated fronts, and he also had to deal with the inside shoulder of the tackle and the outside shoulder of the guard far more than anybody his size should have to.
When he was outside the tackle, McDonald did get to show off his inside counters, which are pretty nice. He’ll put some NFL tackles off-center pretty quickly with moves like these from shoulder to shoulder.
McDonald did develop some cool hacks when he had to work inside. On this run stop against Kansas, he had to deal with the slide from the offensive line, and he beat the left tackle by out-running him to the gap. Not that you’d want your 6-foot-4, 240-pound edge rusher in this position, but hey — points to McDonald for making it work.
The more I watched McDonald, the more I was impressed with his technical palette. Here against Texas Tech, he was actually the EDGE in a four-man front (progress!), and he did a nice job of disengaging from his first spin move with a second to unravel and present pressure.
McDonald also has some speed-to-power skills.
Weaknesses: Setting the schematic schisms aside, McDonald isn’t going to bust up a lot of double teams or be a power run defender, but you don’t really want him on that wall, anyway.
Conclusion: The NFL team that takes Will McDonald IV might wind up with one of the best surprises and biggest bargains in this draft class. His speed, bend, play strength (at times) and advanced technical bag should have him becoming a problem as a rusher outside the tackles with more help than he had in college. There are times as a draft evaluator when you have to remind yourself that college coaches don’t always put their players in ideal positions to succeed, and you then have to take the traits to the pros with that in mind. McDonald has enough good tape in enough ways to make that a pleasant experience.
NFL Comparison: Robert Quinn. I’m not going to compare McDonald to Dwight Freeney, though there are similarities in the spin techniques and the ability to create turnovers. So, I’ll go with Quinn, selected with the 14th pick of the 2011 draft by the Rams. Quinn has parlayed a smooth, quick, athletic took box to 106 sacks, 505 total pressures, and 26 forced fumbles in his NFL career so far. It’s hard to give an accurate comp for McDonald right now because he’ll be used so differently in the NFL, and to his great advantage. I can’t wait to see what he does at the next level.
