Tommy
Togiai.
Tommy
Togiai.
Ohio St.· 6'1"· 296 lb· 4.97s 40
"A 6-1, 296-pound Ohio State nose with just three career sacks — all in one Halloween night at Penn State — and a 40-rep pro-day bench: a Round 4 two-gap run-plugger with rotational NFL ceiling."Pre-draft read
He aligns as a two-gap nose tackle, primarily in 0/1-techniques in even fronts, occasionally shifting to a heavy 3-tech on run downs. He leverages lower-body strength and hip sink at contact, which allows him to reset the line of scrimmage against down blocks and hold ground. He uses a strong outside arm against combo blocks. His compact, jolting bench-press punch walks single blocks back. His motor runs hot in short bursts. He is best utilized on early downs in a rotation.
His first step is average, and a high pad-tilt when converting speed to power flattens his rush arc. He is heavy in change of direction, often losing screens and second-level reach blocks. His pass-rush plan is limited to bull rushes, long-arms, and occasional short-area push-pulls, lacking counters or bend.
This prospect fits best in a one-gap 3-4 or a two-gap 4-3 run defense that emphasizes stopping the run and occupying blockers along the interior.
Rotational 1-tech/Nose tackle in Year 1 with a ceiling as an early-down starter who can anchor against the run.
A pass-rushing 4-3 defense that prioritizes speed and penetration from its interior defensive linemen.
A powerful and stout interior lineman, his value is almost exclusively in his ability to anchor and stop the run, limiting his scheme versatility.
Top 14 Plays of Ohio State DT Tommy Togiai | Big Ten Football in the 2021 NFL Draft
Game film cut-up of Tommy Togiai's Ohio St. tape.
Tommy Togiai | 2020 Highlights
Game film cut-up of Tommy Togiai's Ohio St. tape.
Tommy Togiai Ultimate Highlights
Game film cut-up of Tommy Togiai's Ohio St. tape.
Togiai projects as a two-gap nose tackle, offering a stout run-stopper designed to anchor against interior offensive linemen. His pre-draft case rested on his Ohio State pedigree, flashes as a run defender across a rotational career, and a single-game three-sack performance. His 40 bench reps at his pro day confirmed his profile as a heavy-handed interior player, not a nickel-friendly pass rusher. This makes him a clear early-down asset.
He entered the draft as a one-year producer with a three-year backup pedigree, seeing his role expand as a junior. While he played in 33 games, he logged only 12 starts. Most of his collegiate production, including all three career sacks, occurred in his final season in limited snaps. His overall usage emphasized his role primarily as a run defender, with his target type reflecting this.
Evaluators generally slotted Togiai in the fourth-to-fifth-round range as a rotational nose tackle. Concerns about his short arms and a one-note rush plan capped his upside. The Cleveland Browns selected him at pick 132 in the fourth round, aligning with market expectations for a player valued for his strength, football character, and defined two-gap role.
- 01
Elite play strength
Functional strength allows him to walk single blocks back into the pocket and stack combo blocks without losing his frame.
- 02
Two-gap anchor
Effectively sits down at the point of attack and holds ground against center-guard combos, preventing movement in the run game.
- 03
Compact hand strike
Delivers a short, violent independent-hand punch on initial contact, stopping drive blocks quickly when his pads are down.
- 04
Penn State breakout tape
Demonstrated ability to convert push-pull and long-arm techniques into sacks with a three-sack, five-pressure performance in 2020.
- 05
Football character and pedigree
A three-year backup who earned starting reps as a junior, highlighted by coaches for professional prep and locker-room fit.
- 01
One-year producer
Limited sample size of production with only 12 career starts and three sacks, all occurring in a single game.
- 02
Length limitations
Sub-32-inch arms allow NFL centers to get inside his pads and steer him off the spot if his strike doesn't land first.
- 03
Limited pass-rush plan
Relies primarily on bull rush and long-arm; lacks counters or moves to consistently threaten the edges of the guard.
- 04
High pad level on rush attempts
Tends to pop up out of his stance when attempting to convert speed to power, presenting an easy target for blockers.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.97sp50
- Vertical
- 32inp50
- Broad jump
- 105inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.20sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.49sp50
- Bench
- 40repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Ohio State | 12 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | Ohio State | 14 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2020 | Ohio State | 7 | 23 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Career | — | 33 | 49 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Rotational nose who cycles through 2-3 rosters carving out 200-350 snap seasons as a run-down interior body with limited third-down utility. Realistic career path.
Bigger frame but the same functional archetype — heavy-handed two-gap NT who anchors early downs and never becomes a pass-rush factor, and quietly earns a second contract as a base-down mainstay.
Undersized, arm-length-limited interior body who bounces between practice squads and end-of-roster spots without ever locking down a real rotational role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Bust. 30 defensive snaps as a rookie, cut before Year 3. Signed with the Bengals in 2023, played 12 games as a depth NT, out of the league by 2025.
Pre-draft context. Togiai arrived in Columbus as a four-star Idaho recruit and spent three seasons rotating behind future NFL tackles before finally getting turned loose as a junior in 2020. Through 32 games he had zero career sacks. Then, on Halloween night at Penn State, he detonated for three sacks in a single game and won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week — the only real pass-rush production of his college career. He measured 6-1, 296 with a legitimately elite lower body, opted into the pre-draft process after Ohio State's CFP loss to Alabama, and stamped his workout with 40 bench-press reps at the Buckeyes' pro day (2021 combine was cancelled). Boards had him as a Day 3 nose in a class with better-known interior names.
NFL fit — Cleveland Browns. The team selected him #132 to add rotational nose-tackle muscle behind Malik Jackson, Jordan Elliott and Sheldon Richardson. Fit was clean: a two-gap 1-technique on early downs in an attacking four-man front, sub-package rest on obvious passing situations. Rookie year he played 143 defensive snaps across six games, exclusively as run-down rotation.
Retrospective. Togiai has settled in as a bottom-of-the-roster interior body, cycling from Cleveland (2021-22) to Philadelphia's practice squad and then onto Houston's active roster, where he's stuck as a rotational nose. He's appeared in NFL games in every season since being drafted but has never been a full-time starter. The book on him from 2020 has held: he can eat a double team on a run-down, but the three-sack Penn State tape never scaled into an NFL pass-rush profile, which caps him below the average starting 3-tech and keeps him in the 2-down help role scouts projected.