Akheem Mesidor is a prospect but an older one than we are used to seeing. Mesidor spent six years in college and will be 25 years old by the time the draft rolls around.
Born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Mesidor began his college career in 2020 at the University of West Virginia. He was an All American as a freshman and second team All Big 12 as a sophomore. In two seasons with the Mountaineers, Mesidor recorded 14.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks.
Then it was off to Miami and four years with the Hurricanes. Mesidor got playing time at both end and tackle in 2022 and was All ACC while leading the Canes in sacks.He redshirted in 2023 after just two games due to an injury.
Mesidor came back strong in 2024 with another All ACC season. He started every game and had 5.5 sacks. The 6'3" 265 pound Mesidor capped off his college career with All ACC and All American honors last season. He started all 15 games and led Miami in tackles for loss(17.5) and sacks(12.5).
He was also one of five finalists for the Ted Hendricks award which is given out to the top defensive end in the country.
Mesidor played in 65 games during his college career and totaled 35.5 sacks. He was also fortunate enough to be coached by former Miami Dolphin and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jason Taylor during his time with the Hurricanes.
Joe Marino provides draft analysis for WGR. You can check out his website, thejoemarino.com and subscribe to his Locked On Bills podcast.Joe shares his thoughts on Mesidor.
Positives:
Burst and ability to carry speed through turns. I'm really impressed with the size profile combined with the speed, and then when you're changing directions, how sudden are you? He's got all of that. I love his vision and you could tell he's coached well. JasonTaylor is his coach at Miami and just there's a very technical side to him.
He's got great vision to read an offensive lineman set and then know how to counter and attack it. He's got a really nice blend of power and speed as a lot of variety with how he beats blocks. His motor is always cranked up. He's a super urgent player. The run defense is really good as well, where if you need him to set the edge and be firm at the point of attack, he can do that. If you want him to slash and work inside and create disruption against a run in other ways, he can do it. There's a really all of the above profile here with size, power, athleticism, speed, processing. He's got a lot to offer.
Negatives:
He's going to turn 25 before the draft. He's a player with a really cool story as a guy that started off as a big nose tackle that eventually moved out to the edges and had six seasons in college. If you're going to invest a premium pick here, are you just going to have to resolve to that being a one contract player?
I think you do wish he was a little more disciplined on the backside of plays. When you're that edge player, and you have to handle boot counter reverse responsibilities, sometimes he's so aggressive to go pursue that ,he gets in trouble by not fulfilling those responsibilities. I think the one piece of his game that he's really got to improve on is maintaining a better base with consistency throughout the snap.
What happens is he narrows and that robs him of power and it leads to some balance issues in the backfield. So you see him get this nice rock back and in good position, and then he starts to narrow and get a little tall, and now all of a sudden he's got balance issues and he doesn't have as much power. So clean that up and I think he can be a heck of a player.
The NFL draft will be held April 23-25 in Pittsburgh.
Edge should be a priority for the Bills in the upcoming draft. Akheem Mesidor is an intriguing prospect.
