Michigan football: NFL Draft scouting report on Chris Hinton

Where will Michigan football’s Chris Hinton land in the 2022 NFL draft? We take a look at his scouting report. 

Former Michigan football defensive tackle Christopher Hinton has NFL bloodlines. His father was the fourth overall pick in 1983, with seven pro bowls and one All-Pro under his belt during his career. Can Chris follow in his father’s footsteps and be successful in the NFL too?

Profile

Position: Defensive Tackle

School: Michigan

Current Year: Junior (entered the 2022 NFL Draft)

Height: 6’4

Weight: 305 pounds

Positives

Although Chris never lived up to his five-star high school status, he still brings interesting traits to the NFL. First off is his size. 6’4 and 305 pounds are good measurements for an NFL defensive tackle.

Hinton doesn’t have insane girth, but he has great width, density, and a strong base. He’s almost built like an offensive lineman, which shouldn’t be too surprising given his bloodlines. He has a very strong lower body, and he uses his length and size to take on double-teams.

Chris isn’t the most athletic defensive lineman in the draft, but he definitely has the potential to be very solid. He might want to shed just a little weight to make himself quicker and get a little more athletic.

He has a solid get-off when the ball is snapped as a pass rusher, and he is a good lateral mover for his size and weight on stunts. He is able to contort his body every which way to best impact a play, knocking down anchors by opposing offensive lineman, and getting around it, using that to increase his momentum.

He definitely knows how to switch back and forth between explosiveness and power. He knows how to use his hands to extend to the torso to knock opposing offensive lineman off-balance. He also has a good motor, allowing him to keep his legs churning.

In run defense, Chris is good at disengaging from blockers and wrapping up the ball carrier. He is good at reading screens, and getting out in front of the opposing blockers to be in the right place (even if the play ends up still working for the opposing team).

Lastly, his positional versatility is another thing he can boast about when teams are on the clock deciding if they want to draft him. He played in two different schemes with Michigan football, one under former DC Don Brown, and one under former DC Mike MacDonald. He can line up in the 0-technique (right over the center) or the 3-technique (between the guard and the tackle).

Negatives

Chris Hinton has a lot of untapped potential, but he is still quite raw. When a team drafts him, they are drafting him for upside and potential, as he will have to be coached up quite a bit in certain areas.

Chris Hinton is not very light on his feet and sometimes moves like a statue when power-rushing the opposing offensive lineman. Almost like a lumberjack.

Hinton doesn’t have elite length, and he can sacrifice some of his balance by lurching to try to counteract his lack of length.

In run defense, Chris isn’t the most flexible defensive tackle, and this sometimes causes him to be unable to disengage from his blocker, instead of being locked by the opposing blocker, stonewalling him off. If he doesn’t disengage from his blocker quickly, he’s pretty easy to move out of the play, making him ineffective.

As a pass rusher, his hands aren’t super fast. His hand placement definitely needs work as well, because if he loses leverage, he can be fairly easy to block when pass rushing.

He doesn’t have a lot of pass-rushing moves and doesn’t really sustain his rushes super well, as once he gets tired, his effort noticeably decreases, and that allows him to be moved easily as well.

Lastly, he gets easily fooled by misdirections and bootlegs, and when he rushes the wrong way, he gets out of position and is taken out of the play.

Overview

Overall, Christopher Hinton is an intriguing prospect. He is a bigger-bodied prospect that played at a big-time school so he has that going for him. His father was a 7-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle, so he will always have that hanging over his head when he gets drafted.

Chris has untapped potential, but is very raw, as he probably should have stayed in college at least one more year to try to improve some of his weaknesses.

Right now, he’s looking like a mid-round pick (Day 3) with the potential to be drafted as high as Day 2 (Round 3) based on his college Pro Day, NFL Scouting Combine, and any other little workouts he does before the draft to improve his stock.