Film room: Pegues, the run defender, pass-rusher, short-yardage back

Diving into the sixth-round pick’s game

The Las Vegas Raiders got a unique player in the sixth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, selecting Ole Miss defensive lineman JJ Pegues with the 180th overall pick.

Pegues is a versatile defender who took 866 snaps at defensive tackle, 359 snaps as a defensive end and 426 at nose tackle during his college career, according to Pro Football Focus.

Last season, he stood out against the run with an 81.8 PFF run defense grade that ranked eighth among interior defenders in the SEC, and he tied for 11th with 17 defensive stops. On top of that, he recorded the fourth-most pressures within the position group, logging 31 in 2024.

But pigeonholing the former Rebel as a defensive lineman isn’t an accurate description of what he brings to the table. Pegues also contributed offensively as a short-yardage running back and scored seven rushing touchdowns, tied for 15th in the SEC.

So, let’s dive into the tape and see what the Swiss-army knife can bring to the Raiders.

Here, Pegues is lined up as a 3-technique defensive tackle and takes on a base block from Miles Frazier, who was drafted in the fifth round by the Detroit Lions.

Pegues wins the rep by taking on the block with good pad level and uses his strength to win at the point of attack, resetting the line of scrimmage and getting extension on the block. That allows him to not only do his job by taking away the B-gap but also make the tackle in the adjacent gap for a short gain while Frazier is hanging onto him.

The Ole Miss product is playing the same alignment against Florida in the clip above, but faces a combo block from the left guard and center this time.

Post-snap, he does a good job of attacking the man he’s lined up across from (the guard) and keeping his pads down. Then, once the pressure from the center comes, Pegues turns his body to get skinny and help split the two offensive linemen. As a result, he’s able to stay in his gap and get involved in the tackle.

The Raiders could use a defensive tackle who’s effective against double teams, so this is an encouraging rep.

This time, Pegues lines up at defensive end and takes on a puller against a counter run from Oklahoma.

Now, his technique here isn’t good as he should use a ‘wrong-arm’ to get underneath the puller’s block and spill the running back to the outside. However, the Ole Miss product has the strength and power to still defeat the block and make the tackle for a short gain.

The sixth-round pick may not get away with this in the NFL, but he clearly has some impressive strength to work with.

Pegues has some work to do as a pass-rusher, especially on the interior, but he does have an impressive cross-chop move like the one seen above. He lines up as a wide-9-technique and has perfect timing with his chop to knock Emery Jones’ (Baltimore Ravens’ third-round pick) hands down and win around the edge.

Then, the defender shows off some impressive bend and closing speed on the quarterback for a 310-pounder to interfere with the quarterback’s throwing motion. This was ruled an incomplete pass instead of a strip sack, but regardless, it’s a great example of the movement skills the former Rebel has.

This time, Pegues is shaded inside of Jones as a 4i-technique. Post-snap, the defender works wide or attacks the tackle’s outside shoulder to help create an inside rushing lane. He capitalizes by pivoting inside and working Jones’ hands to “defeat the hands, defeat the man” and win with an arm-over move.

Unfortunately, Ole Miss only rushed three defenders, so the guard was able to help and nothing came of it, but this is a nice move by the defensive tackle.

Of course, a Pegues breakdown wouldn’t be complete without at least one rushing attempt!

The Rebels used him as a wildcat quarterback in short-yardage situations like the clip above on the goal line. He’s a former tight end, which gives him some impressive athleticism as this rep shows. He starts the run by attacking downhill before bouncing outside and putting a move on the defender to make a defensive back miss, en route to finding the endzone.

As one can imagine, the 310-pounder is tough to bring down as well, so showing off some movement skills to force a missed tackle makes him even more effective as a change-of-pace ball carrier.

Overall, Pegues is still pretty raw as a defensive lineman. His technique needs work, and most of his pass-rush production came on the edge, but he will be an interior defender in the pros. That means the sixth-round pick will need some time to develop, however, he has a high ceiling, and anything he contributes offensively is a bonus.