The Bucs added to the front seven on Day 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft, drafting talented Miami edge rusher Rueben Bain Jr. At defensive tackle, Tampa Bay could stand to add one more reinforcement. With star nose tackle Vita Vea entering a contract year, the recent departures of fellow defensive tackles/ends Greg Gaines and Logan Hall, and their replacements – Rakeem Nuñez-Roches and A’Shawn Robinson – signing just one-year deals, the team could be looking for young talent at defensive tackle this draft weekend.

Chris McClellan may be a defensive tackle the team targets.

He has been featured on several draft profiles here at Pewter Report, including our Final 7-Round Mock Draft. During this draft cycle, I have provided in-depth scouting reports for dozens of NFL prospects, focusing primarily on inside linebacker and edge defender. But McClellan is the second defensive tackle I am profiling. Lee Hunter, of Texas Tech, was the first.

Chris McClellan Background And College Career

Chris McClellan arrived at Florida as a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class out of Owasso, Oklahoma, and spent two seasons with the Gators collecting modest production numbers. He played in 25 games, collecting 46 tackles and 1.5 sacks. Following the 2023 season McClellan transferred to Missouri and his play and production really took off.

In two seasons with the Tigers, McClellan played 26 games and produced 87 tackles, 13.5 tackles for loss, and 8.5 sacks against SEC competition. And he saved his best season for last, setting career highs almost across the board with 48 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss and 8.0 sacks in 2025.

McClellan has an impressive 2025 production profile when compared to his peers. Via PFF Data:

• Tackle Rate – 80^th percentile
• Batted Pass Rate – 80^th percentile
• TFL Rate – 70^th percentile
• Stop Rate – 93^rd percentile
• Nose Rate – 29^th percentile
• Pass Rush Win Rate – 86^th percentile
• Pressure Rate – 70^th percentile
• Sack Rate – 88^th percentile
• Hit rate – 84^th percentile
• TPS Pressure Rate – 62^nd percentile
• Finishing Rate – 83^rd percentile

Measurables

Per Mockdraftable:

• Height – 6’4 (72^nd percentile)
• Weight – 313 lbs (70^th percentile)
• Arm length – 34” (78^th percentile)
• Hand size – 11” (97^th percentile)
• 40-yard dash – 5.05 seconds (60^th percentile)
• 10-yard split – 1.8 seconds (21^st percentile)
• Vert – 29.5” (50^th percentile)
• Broad – 117” (96^th percentile)
• Bench Press – 25 reps (33^rd percentile)

Chris McClellan Scouting Report

Games watched: 2025 South Carolina, 2025 Arkansas, 2025 Texas A&M

Athleticism

Chris McClellan moves well not just for his size, but for the position overall.

Missouri DT Chris McClellan – Photo by: IMAGN Images- Vasha Hunt

Watch him track wide zone pitches and you see a 313-pound man doing things that most defensive tackles, even smaller ones, aren’t even attempting. McClellan’s broad jump (96th percentile) confirms what the film shows — there’s real initial pop in his lower half, and a genuine burst at the snap that lets him get into position before blockers can set.

His hips are functionally loose, working well when he’s asked to move horizontally against lateral run concepts, but struggling when he has to redirect in space against mis direction or trying to read, react and chase a bootleg. But he makes up for some of that with his 34-inch arms (78th percentile), which are legitimate weapons. He locks out, keeps blockers off his chest, and uses his reach to maintain gap integrity in ways that smaller-armed DTs simply can’t. That’s a trait that translates independent of scheme.

Run Defense

This is the foundation of his NFL case, and it’s a real one.

The trait that jumps off the film is his eyes. Chris McClellan keeps his head in the backfield, processes misdirection quickly, and adjusts faster than most big men you’ll watch. He doesn’t get caught staring at the first fake. He doesn’t over-pursue the jet motion and leave his gap exposed. His football IQ at the point of attack is a real plus.

Strong hands help him displace blockers, and when he gets those long arms working correctly, he’s winning the rep clean — lockout, keep the blocker off his frame, play through to the ball. The 93rd percentile stop rate isn’t a fluke. He finds the ball and he finishes.

Where the run defense grade takes a hit is in the consistency column, particularly against elite competition. The Texas A&M game was a real interesting watch for me. Against pro-level OL talent, the technique breakdowns become more frequent. McClellan had bad losses near the goal line, pad level climbing too high, getting caught leaning. It wasn’t a terrible game overall, but it had a wide band of variance. And those reps raise legitimate questions about how his tools will translate against the best interior blockers in the NFL every Sunday.

Pass Rush

McClellan is more of a disruptor rather than a finisher. Despite his healthy sack numbers in 2025, I project him to be more of a pressure player than a sack securer at the next level. His best pass rush attribute is his cross-face quickness. He gets into position quickly because he rarely stops moving his feet. And when he’s operating as a stunter, looping on a twist or shooting a gap created by a teammate, he’s effective. He sells out for the team concept, which is both a coaching endorsement and an honest self-assessment of where his individual rush skills currently stand.

Missouri DT Chris McClellan – Photo by: IMAGN Images

His go to technique for clearing blockers at the end of a rep is a rip move that is average at best. He throws it with enough intent but not enough conviction. Blockers feel it coming and absorb it before he can get clear. The pad level issue that shows up in run defense becomes amplified in pass rush because when it gets high on an extended rep, he can be redirected away from the quarterback and taken completely out of the play. That’s how competent tackles handle him when the initial burst doesn’t get him a free lane.

What the film doesn’t adequately capture, but the 86th percentile pass rush win rate does, is how often McClellan creates for other people. Pockets collapse when he’s on the field. Quarterbacks feel him even when he doesn’t finish. That’s legitimate value in a Tampa Bay front where rotational DTs are asked to be chaos agents, not individual sack producers.

IQ & Processing

McClellan is the kind of player who makes coaches happy and stats pages incomplete. He sets up his rushes with a pre-snap side-step that creates a lane to work back into. He recognizes screens early. He adjusts to backfield motion at a speed that doesn’t match his size. Whatever his ceiling is as an NFL player, it isn’t being held down by football intelligence.

The processing limitation is in the pass rush sequencing. He has a plan, but the plan is limited. If the first move doesn’t work, he recycles back to power and hopes the QB holds the ball. There are no second-act counters in the rush toolbox right now. Whether that develops depends on coaching and how seriously he takes the technical work at the next level.

Best Role And How He Fits With The Bucs

I could see Chris McClellan being a late Day 2 to early Day 3 pick. In Todd Bowles’ system, McClellan could work as one of the more versatile defensive linemen in the room right away, playing some nose/shade, three-technique, 4i and five-technique next to Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey. But he should log the most snaps for the Bucs splitting between 4i and three-technique.

Bucs DTs Calijah Kancey and Vita Vea – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The combination of lateral quickness, long arms, and an ability to read the backfield makes him a legitimate every-down run defender at the next level — not a two-down space-eater who comes off the field in nickel situations, but a player who can hold up structurally in a variety of run fits.

The Bucs use movement fronts and stunts more than most defenses in the league. McClellan’s willingness to be a stunter — and his cross-face quickness when executing those games — is directly applicable. He won’t post the sack totals that dominate draft boards, but the disruption will be there, and in a front that schematically creates play-making opportunities for linebackers, a player who occupies two blockers and clears gaps for those linebackers has real value.

I have McClellan ahead of Lee Hunter on my big board as DT1 (of just those two). He’s a tier-four player in my evaluation system as someone who shouldn’t start his rookie year, but by year two or three he can move into a solid starting role.