Eric O'Neill DE/EDGE Rutgers |
NFL Draft Profile & Scouting Report
| Jersey: #99 SUB-POSITION: VERSATILE DL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Updated: 02/25/2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Draft Year: 2026 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| FORTY time: 4.81 seconds (53%*) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Jersey: #99 | |
| SUB-POSITION: VERSATILE DL | |
| Last Updated: 02/25/2026 | |
| Draft Year: 2026 | |
| Forty time: 4.81 seconds (53%*) | |
| Overall Rating: | 78.7 / 100 | |
|---|---|---|
| Average rating of opposition Offense player has faced | ||
| Offense Rating: |
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74% |
| Click the links below to view how player ranks vs other prospects. | ||
| Tackling: |
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51% |
| Pass Rush: |
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81% |
| Run Defense: |
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81% |
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DRAFT PROJECTION:
UDFA
Overall Rank:
#271
Position rank:
#56 (DL)
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| College Games: 49 College Snaps: 2408 | ||
247 RATING: 78/100
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| Player Comparison* (Similarity level) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Daelin Hayes - Notre Dame |
|
92% |
| Dayon Hayes - Texas A&M |
|
90% |
| Adetokunbo Ogundeji - Notre Dame |
|
85% |
Draft Profile: Bio
Eric O'Neill grew up on Staten Island, where he starred at Tottenville High School as a two-sport athlete in football and basketball. Born on the island with a chip on his shoulder and barely a blip on the recruiting radar as a two-star prospect, O'Neill began his college career at Long Island University in 2021. He saw just three games as a true freshman before things clicked in a major way. By his sophomore year, the 6'3", 261-pound defensive end had become the most disruptive player in the Northeast Conference, piling up 51 tackles, 21 tackles-for-loss, and 10 sacks to earn FCS Freshman All-America honors and the NEC Defensive Rookie of the Year award. He was also a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, given to the top freshman in FCS football.His junior year at LIU cemented him as one of the best defenders at the FCS level. O'Neill racked up 80 tackles and a staggering 23.5 tackles-for-loss while finishing as a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award, which goes to the top defensive player in the FCS. He earned NEC Defensive Player of the Year and multiple All-America selections, and was the type of player opponents had to scheme around every single week. That kind of dominance at a smaller school naturally raised questions about what he could do at higher levels of competition, and O'Neill answered by transferring to James Madison for the 2024 season. In Harrisonburg, he was nothing short of spectacular: 52 tackles, 18.5 tackles-for-loss, and 13 sacks in 13 games. He collected First Team All-Sun Belt honors, was named a Group of Five All-American by HERO Sports, and ranked fifth nationally in sacks per game. A 27-yard pick-six against Ball State and a career-high 2.5-sack performance against Marshall were just a few of the highlights from a breakout FBS campaign.
For his final college season, O'Neill transferred once more, this time to Rutgers, bringing his act to the Big Ten. The homecoming put him just miles from where he played high school ball. The step up in competition was apparent in the box score, as his numbers dipped to 37 tackles, 9.5 tackles-for-loss, and 2.5 sacks across 12 starts. But he still flashed at times, recording a career-high 10 tackles in a win over Maryland and notching a sack against Iowa. Over four full seasons of production, O'Neill compiled 222 career tackles, 72.5 tackles-for-loss, and 31 sacks across 50 games, adding nine pass breakups, three forced fumbles, and two interceptions. He was a three-time First Team All-Conference selection, earned invitations to the Senior Bowl Top 300 and Shrine Bowl 1000, and was named to the Lott IMPACT Trophy watch list heading into his final campaign.
Scouting Report: Strengths
- First-step quickness off the snap is his bread and butter, firing out of his stance with a violence that forces tackles into panic mode immediately.
- Owns a legitimate counter game that he pulls out at the right moments, particularly a cross-chop that works well after he establishes speed upfield early in drives.
- Run defense grading consistently strong throughout his career, showing he sets edges with discipline and does not get washed out of his gap despite undersized frame.
- Accumulated over 90 career quarterback hurries, suggesting his pressure rate stays high even when sack totals fluctuate from season to season.
- His transfer history from LIU to JMU to Rutgers demonstrates unusual self-awareness and drive; he kept chasing better competition rather than staying comfortable.
- Alignment versatility is real, having taken meaningful snaps everywhere from a wide-nine look to kicked inside as a 4i-technique on passing downs.
- Shows genuine feel for timing the snap count, getting off the ball a half-beat before blockers set their hands, which compensates for physical limitations at the point of attack.
- Backside pursuit is tireless and he takes honest angles to the ball carrier; the Maryland game in 2025 showed ten tackles worth of that effort against Big Ten competition.
Scouting Report: Weaknesses
- Tackling has been a persistent problem throughout college, with missed tackle rates that stayed stubbornly high across every level of competition he played at.
- The Rutgers season told a sobering story about what happens against premier offensive lines: his pass rush production fell off a cliff in the Big Ten.
- Undersized at both height and weight for the position, sitting in the bottom third of the EDGE class in both measurements, which limits his ability to stack and shed NFL blockers.
- Relies too heavily on effort and quickness, because when his initial rush gets stonewalled, he lacks the anchor strength to win late in the rep at the point of attack.
- At 13 sacks during his JMU year but just 2.5 at Rutgers, there is a legitimate question about whether his production was inflated by weaker Sun Belt and FCS competition.
Scouting Report: Summary
There is a lot to wrestle with on O'Neill's tape. On one hand, you see a player who has produced at every single stop in his college career and who clearly lives in the film room. His understanding of pass rush sequences goes beyond what you typically see from small-school transfers. That JMU season, where he was getting to the quarterback from every angle imaginable and even took one back for a pick-six, was one of the most fun single-season EDGE performances in the Group of Five. The question is how much of that translates when tackles actually have the feet and length to handle his rushes.The answer, at least partially, came at Rutgers. His 2025 tape against Big Ten offensive lines showed a player who could still create disruption through effort and technique, but the finishing ability dropped off significantly. He was still getting pressure, still bothering quarterbacks, but the sack totals vanished. That is the profile of a situational pass rusher at the NFL level, someone who can win enough reps to justify a roster spot in sub-packages but who will struggle to hold up as an every-down player against starting-caliber tackles. He fits best in a defensive scheme that deploys its edge rushers in waves, allowing him to attack fresh tackles in the fourth quarter when his conditioning and relentless motor become advantages.
O'Neill's NFL ceiling sits at a quality rotational rusher who earns snaps on third down and contributes on special teams. That is a perfectly viable career, and his work ethic suggests he will squeeze every drop out of whatever opportunity he gets. But the combination of undersized measurables, an average athletic profile, and that significant production dip against top-tier competition caps how high this can go. He is the kind of player who keeps a coaching staff honest in camp with his preparation and compete level, and sometimes those guys stick for a long time. The floor is a practice squad stint that never quite materializes into consistent game-day work, but I would not bet against a player with this track record of proving people wrong at every level.
Eric O'Neill percentiles vs other Defensive Ends (NFL Combine historically - higher value represents better perfomance)
How other scouting services rate Eric O'Neill (Overall Rank)
All Scouts AverageOverall Rank
322.8
All Scouts AveragePosition Rank
76.0
*Percentile Ranking in Player's Position Group (NFL Combine Historical Data): This percentile reflects how a player's specific statistics rank
in comparison to historical performances at the NFL Combine, specifically within their position group. A higher percentile indicates a better performance.
For instance, being in the 90th percentile for a particular stat means the player outperformed 90% of their peers in that category.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.
*Similarity Percentage: This percentage is calculated based on a comprehensive analysis of various factors, including height, weight, 40-yard dash times, on-field performance statistics, and overall player rating. The analysis is conducted against our database of draft prospects from 2021 to 2023. This similarity score helps in evaluating how closely a current prospect aligns with past prospects. It is important to note, however, that this score reflects similarities based on college production and attributes, and does not account for eventual success or performance in the NFL.