Home Steelers Draft Steelers Prospect Spotlight: Andrew Billings

Steelers Prospect Spotlight: Andrew Billings

by Steelbydesign
Andrew Billings, Nose Tackle
Baylor University
6’2″ 310 lbs.

Strengths

  • Powerful Bull Rush
  • Sheds Blocks Well
  • Quickness
  • Beats Double Teams
  • Some Pass Rush Ability
  • Good Motor
  • Athletic
  • Young

Weaknesses

  • Inconsistent Pad Level
  • Awareness – Needs to find the ball
  • Often Over-Pursues

Summary
Billings is an unusually athletic tackle that has a lot of good parts of his game, but to me looks like he hasn’t figured out how to use all of his tools yet to equal great production. The big man is very powerful, and comes off the snap quickly and uses his hands very well to get blockers off of him, often even in double team situations. What more could you want, right? What was frustrating is that on tape, Billings often shoots off the ball, beats his man, and then looks up and has no idea where the ball carrier is. He is still just 19 years old, so with good coaching, the ceiling is very high.

While he is big, at a glance he looks a little top heavy. While already very powerful, part of me wonders if he could get bigger and be even harder to move. If he ends up in a 4-3 scheme he’s probably fine, but in a 3-4 he could afford to bulk up a little bit.

Billings moves well for his size. He’s able to run down ball carriers toward the sideline, and could be more than just a space eater at the next level. In fact, Baylor even dropped him into short zone coverage occasionally. He also has a good motor, but does tend to play a little high later in games when he’s getting tired.

How he Fits (or doesn’t) with the Steelers
I’ll admit, when I heard athletic nose tackle I thought maybe we had the next Casey Hampton. Watching the tape, that’s not what I see but maybe those days are gone anyway. Billings might be the new-age nose tackle. In the Steelers’ scheme, he’s able to clog up running lanes but could likely also stay on the field in some passing situations with his ability to get after the quarterback. I’m not sure he has the length to be an every down 5-technique, but could play there as well in some situations as well.

I’ll admit I wasn’t as excited after the tape as I was before, but Billings would still be a nice pick at 25. I do think however, that a team looking to get a nice interior rusher in a 4-3 would value Billings more before the Steelers’ pick at 25.

Draft Range Prediction
Mid-1st Round

You may also like

3 comments

Steelers Prospect Spotlight: Jarran Reed - Steel City Blitz February 19, 2016 - 1:02 pm

[…] occupy blockers well, and disrupts plenty of runs that way alone, he is more than a space eater. In my breakdown of Andrew Billings, I was disappointed how often he seemed to blow in with his head down and fail to make a play. This […]

Steel City Blitz Mock 3.0: Post-Free Agency - Steel City Blitz March 22, 2016 - 12:26 pm

[…] Andrew Billings, DL, Baylor – Prospect Profile Personally I’m still holding out hope for William Jackson III in the first round, but I think […]

Steel City Blitz Mock 3.0: Post-Free Agency March 23, 2016 - 4:59 am

[…] Andrew Billings, DL, Baylor – Prospect Profile Personally I’m still holding out hope for William Jackson III in the first round, but I think […]

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.