Welcome back for the latest in my ongoing series on possible defensive tackle fits for the Bucs in the 2023 NFL draft class. After initially looking back at linemen head coach Todd Bowles has been involved in drafting since first becoming a defensive coordinator, I identified four players that best matched the physical profile Bowles has drafted previously. Since then, I have profiled two of the four in Mazi Smith out of Michigan and Zacch Pickens from South Carolina. Today I will look at the third of those four in Dante Stills from West Virginia.

Dante Stills’ Background

Stills was originally a four-star recruit out of Fairmont, West Virginia and West Virginia’s number one prospect after his senior year according to ESPN, rivals and 247sports. He had 22 scholarship offers and visited Oklahoma before committing closer to home with West Virginia as a 265-pound defensive tackle in 2018. Since then, Stills has logged significant action. Over the course of five seasons with the Mountaineers Stills has appeared in 55 games and logged almost 2,400 snaps. And at 23 years old you don’t have to worry about Stills being a raw prospect.

Stills ticks a lot of the production boxes you would want to see out of a player who is a redshirt senior. He has 137 career tackles, 53 tackles for loss and 24.5 sacks in his career. And while 2022 wasn’t his best statistical season (that would be 2021 when he posted career highs in all three of the aforementioned statistical categories at 36, 15, and seven, respectively), he still posted solid numbers in all three areas. All told, Stills finished his career at West Virginia ranking fourth in program history in career sacks, just 1.5 shy of his father Gary, who went on to play in the NFL for 10 years.

Dante Stills’ Profile

West Virginia DL Dante Stills – Photo by: USA Today

Looking at the parameters I set from Bowles’ previous interior defensive lineman draft choices. Stills hits eight of the 11 metrics. At 6-foot-3 and 1/2 inches tall and with nearly 32.5-inch arms, Stills has the requisite length based on the parameters I identified. His 4.82 40-yard dash time and 1.66 10-yard split shows that he has the short and long speed that the Bucs are looking for.

And while his vertical jump was one inch less than the number I identified, his broad jump cleared the threshold by a full eight inches. And of his agility times (short shuttle and 3-cone) were both faster than the parameters I estimated.

All in all, Stills’ 8.56 RAS score is just over the 8.50 score shows he meets the athleticism Bowles and the Bucs are looking for.

While he makes the cut in many of the measurable areas, he did miss the mark in weight (286 pounds), bench press (only 20 reps) and the aforementioned vertical jump. While I think the bench press is the least correlated, the weight and vertical jump numbers are a bit concerning as it relates to the likelihood the Bucs select him. Mainly I am not confident Stills can put on weight to get up to 300 pounds without sacrificing a lot of the athleticism that highlights his ability to win currently.

Dante Stills’ College Tape

It doesn’t take long while watching Stills to see how he wins. Relying on a quick first step and a high degree of agility for the inside of the line, Stills is a gap shooter through and through. This makes him an ideal fit for third and long situations where he can pin his ears back and rely on his athleticism, combined with his relentless mentality to seek and destroy quarterbacks.

Stills excels at finding soft spots in offensive line spacing and exploiting them by using a high degree of body control and hip flexion to create advantageous angles. He loops well on stunt and twists that give him additional opportunities to wreak havoc in the backfield.

Where I worry about Stills stems from his lack of mass. He weighed in at 286 pounds at the NFL Scouting Combine and I would be surprised if he played at that weight in college. What’s more, as I mentioned earlier, I don’t think he will ever be able to mass up to 300 pounds.

West Virginia DL Dante Stills – Photo by: USA Today

Without that added weight I don’t think Stills can survive as a three-down lineman at the next level. He lacks the anchor and leg drive to hold up at the point of attack in the run game. And while he had a lot of success at creating plays for loss (as evidenced by his obscene tackle for loss numbers) I don’t believe he will be able to slip blocks and shoot gaps to find ball carriers in the backfield with anywhere near the same consistency at the NFL level.

And while Still’s arm length meets the criterion Bowles may be looking for, it is still in the 22nd percentile for all defensive tackles. This means that NFL guards and centers should be able to easily reach block Stills and I didn’t observe him showing a high level of being able to stack and shed. All of this adds up to a limited rotational player best used in a long and late role.

How Dante Stills Can Fit In With The Bucs

Last year the Bucs struggled to create consistent pressure with their front four. While nose tackle Vita Vea was able to generate pressure on over 10% of his pass rushes, the balance of the Bucs interior rushers (Logan Hall, Akiem Hicks, Will Gholston, Rakeem Nunez-Roches and Deadrin Senat) combined to only create 51 pressures on over 1,100 pass rush snaps. That’s a paltry pressure rate of just 4.5%.

If added to the D-line mix, even as a rotational specialist, Stills should be able to add some juice to that number. Over his final two seasons at West Virginia, Stills was able to rack up 59 pressures on 678 pass rush snaps. If deployed correctly he shouldn’t see much of a drop off from that rate and could help create a nice change of pace.

With an interior defensive line class that lacks a wide breadth of Bucs fits at the top, Stills presents a potential Day 3 option should the team fail to secure one of the few top players. And while he should not be expected to be a long-term starting solution for the team, he can represent a highly coveted, very defined skill set that can provide value in depth at the next level for the Bucs.