13d ago football Edit

Thoughts on Olu Fashanu and Chop Robinson's landing spots

Dylan Callaghan-Croley • Happy Valley Insider

Editor

On Thursday night, a pair of Penn State Nittany Lions were selected in the first round as Olu Fashanu was drafted 11th overall by the New York Jets and Chop Robinson was selected 10 picks later at No. 21 by the Miami Dolphins.

Together, they became the fifth and sixth Nittany Lions to be developed into first round picks under head coach James Franklin joining Micah Parsons, Saquon Barkley, Jahan Dotson, and Odafe Oweh.

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Dylan Callagahn-Croley

I personally loved this landing spot for Fashanu. I know Jets fans wanted Brock Bowers but I believe Fashanu is the safer and smarter draft pick. The Jets needed a tackle in this draft badly and went out and got one of the best tackles in the draft. He'll get to continue to develop his game while learning from one of the best of his generation in Tyron Smith. Ultimately, Fashanu is a blue chip talent and was arguably a top five prospect in the entire draft. Even though No. 11 is still a pretty darn high, I think we could look back in five years or so and call Fashanu a big steal for the Jets. He may be thrown into the fire in his first season and there will be struggles but once Fashanu hits his stride in his career, he should be one of the best pass protection tackles in the NFL.

RICHIE O'LEARY

"Fashanu to the Jets makes a lot of sense as the Jets are going to do just about anything they can to protect their start QB Aaron Rodgers from ever getting hurt again and that starts with getting better protection up front.

Fashanu landed in a nice situation because he likely won’t have to start as a rookie and will be working behind a future Hall of Famer in Left Tackle Tyron Smith. However he might have to play some significant snaps still since Smith hasn’t been healthy for a full season since 2015 and the Jets just seem to have bad luck with injuries. This could set up to slide right into that left tackle spot in 2025 after a whole year of learning, which not many first rounders get the chance to do."

DUB JELLISON

"Fashanu is going to have the opportunity to learn from an all-time great in Tyron Smith, who has dealt with injury troubles in recent years. If those continue, it could open the door for Fashanu to play a significant amount during his rookie year and turn into the long time starter that many, myself included, expect him to be in the NFL."

MARTY LEAP

I'll repeat what my colleagues have said, this is a tremendous landing spot for Olu. He'll be able to be mentored by one of the best left tackles of this era in Tyrone Smith, as well as being able to protect a future Hall of Fame quarterback. Fashanu's floor may be the highest of any tackle in this draft class due to his pass blocking ability. If the run blocking improves, he could quickly become one of the best offensive tackles in football.

Dylan Callaghan-Croley

"Chop is going to be eating with the Dolphins that's for sure. Perhaps the best pure pass rusher in the draft, Robinson has an opportunity to make an instant impact on that Dolphins as he works opposite of Bradley Chubb and once Jaelan Phillips returns, the Dolphins are going to have one of the scariest pass rush in the league.I think there's a chance that Robinson develops into a star on the edge for the Dolphins and has the potential of being a consistent 10+ sack type edge rusher but even if he doesn't hit that ceiling, he should be a really good pass rushing specialist."

RICHIE O'LEARY

"Similar to Fashanu, don’t expect to see a whole lot of Chop Robinson in year one with the Dolphins as they already have two solid pass rushers in Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips, but he should at a minimum get some third down pass rush work as I think he can emerge into a very good pro player.

Robinson will work behind those two, who have proven that can’t stay healthy and should get some time to learn the game a bit more over the next year or so. However I think once they see what Chop is capable of, it’s going to be hard to keep him off the field. Right now ESPN is projecting him to get slightly over 21 sacks through his first five NFL seasons, but I’ll say he tops that number by a good amount."

DUB JELLISON

"Chop landed in a great spot with the Dolphins in terms of current personnel and recent history with their pass rushers. Miami has the trio of Jaelan Phillips, Bradley Chubb and Shaq Barrett right now, which makes for somewhat of a crowded room.

That could however give Robinson the ability to learn from some of the best pass rushers in the game and get some snaps with the uncertainty of Phillips after his Achilles injury last November. A group that had the third most sacks in the NFL last year just got another weapon, and a very good one at that."

MARTY LEAP

From a pure pass rushing stand point there's an argument to be made that Chop Robinson was the best EDGE player in this draft. Now, he gets to go to Miami where he will be a great fit in Anthony Weaver's defense. Robinson will also join Bradley Chubb and Jaelan Phillips to create one of the most formidable pass rush trios in the NFL, it also allowed Robinson to learn from two of the best in the league. It would not be a surprise to see see Chop have a big rookie season.