Dallas
Turner.
Dallas
Turner.
Alabama· 6'3"· 247 lb· 4.46s 40
"Alabama's closer off the edge: a track-start first step that forced tackles to bail early, and the burst to make sure nothing got out of the pocket once he turned the corner."Pre-draft read
Turner was Alabama's designated closer off the edge: a stand-up rusher in Nick Saban's odd fronts who most often set up wide of the tackle and attacked the outside shoulder with a track-start get-off. His value came from speed-to-power conversion — he threatened the corner so quickly that tackles opened their hips early, and he cashed that in with a long-arm or an inside spin that arrived before the pocket had shape.
Against the run he was a willing but light edge-setter, better spilling and chasing than anchoring at the point. He was used off the ball and as a dropper, which showed up in his change of direction and range in space. The signature was the closing burst: once he cleared the tackle's edge, the quarterback was on the ground.
Multiple/hybrid front with heavy simulated pressure — 3-4 or odd-front looks where he can rush from a two-point stance and be moved across the formation.
Year 1: third rusher in a veteran rotation, 300-400 snaps of clear passing downs. Ceiling: full-time edge who plays 700+ snaps and delivers double-digit sacks with splash takeaways.
A two-gap, five-technique-heavy 3-4 that asks a 247-pound edge to hold up against down blocks on early downs and take away his run-and-hit space.
Best used by a coordinator willing to move him pre-snap; static wide alignment every snap wastes the versatility.
Dallas Turner 2023 Highlights | Alabama LB
Full 2023 reel: get-off, corner bend and finishes from his SEC Defensive Player of the Year season.
Film Room: Alabama Edge Dallas Turner vs Arkansas
Rep-by-rep breakdown of his rush plan, long-arm conversion and run-game limitations.
Dallas Turner Highlights | CFB on FOX
Broadcast cutups of his highest-leverage pressures and sacks in SEC play.
A junior-eligible edge with rare acceleration, Turner projected as a designed pass-rush weapon first and a full-time defender second. Everything in his profile pointed the same direction — bend, burst, twitch — and evaluators generally believed the strength and technique would arrive because the athletic base was so clean.
Production backed it: after rotational work as a freshman and a sophomore year where the sack total dipped, he broke out in 2023 with 53 tackles, 15.5 tackles for loss and 11 sacks, and was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus first-team All-American. He then ran 4.46 with a 40.5-inch vertical at 247 pounds. The flags were about mass and grip strength: he could be washed out on the back side against gap schemes, his hands weren't consistently violent, and he was younger and less physically finished than the other top rushers in the class.
The board had him as the class's top edge or a close second behind Verse, in the 8-to-15 range on most sheets. Minnesota traded back into the first round and took him at 17 to pair with two veterans they had just signed, which was the ideal setup: no pressure to play 700 snaps, and a defensive scheme that would move him around while he added weight.
- 01
Elite first step
one of the fastest get-offs in the class, with the acceleration to force tackles into a vertical set on the snap.
- 02
Speed-to-power
converted that burst into a long-arm bull that collapsed the edge on tackles who overset to protect the corner.
- 03
Bend and corner flexibility
could drop his inside shoulder and flatten to the quarterback without losing speed through the turn.
- 04
Closing burst
rarely missed once he cleared a blocker; his finish rate on pressures was among the best in the 2024 class.
- 05
Scheme versatility
dropped into coverage, rushed from a two-point stance and aligned inside on passing downs at Alabama.
- 01
Play strength at the point
could get rooted or displaced by heavy tackles and tight ends when asked to set a hard edge.
- 02
Hand usage
inconsistent violence and placement; too often let blockers into his frame and had to win with pure speed instead.
- 03
Rush plan
a burst-first rusher whose counters were still developing, so he stalled when the corner was taken away early.
- 04
Frame and mass
at 247 pounds he needed to add functional weight without giving back the explosiveness that defined him.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.46sp50
- Vertical
- 40.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 127inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Alabama | 15 | 30 | 8.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Alabama | 13 | 37 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Alabama | 14 | 53 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Career | — | 42 | 120 | 23.5 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
Verified vs cfbstats.com season pages (2021-2023); season totals sum to career totals.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Honors
- SEC Defensive Player of the Year (2023)
- Consensus first-team All-American (2023)
- First-team All-SEC (2023)
- CFP national champion (2021 season)
Undersized speed rusher who takes a year or two to settle, then produces high-end sack totals in a rotation that protects him.
The outcome if the burst and versatility scale into an every-down, game-wrecking rusher who can also play off the ball.
Athletic edge who wins on effort and burst but never builds the counters to be more than a solid complementary rusher.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Minnesota did not need Turner to start, and he didn't. Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel played roughly 81 percent of the defensive snaps in 2024 and both made the Pro Bowl, which left Turner as a situational rusher — a Week 1 sack of Daniel Jones, then long stretches of 15-to-25 snaps a game, finishing his rookie year with 20 tackles, three sacks and an interception. That was read as a disappointment for a top-20 pick, though the usage explained most of it.
Year two answered the question. In 2025 he played all 17 games and broke out with 66 tackles, eight sacks, four forced fumbles and three pass breakups, including a two-sack Week 18 against Green Bay, and he became a genuine third piece in Brian Flores's rotation rather than a package player. In hindsight the pick looks correct, just slower than the draft slot implied: the traits were real, the body needed a year in an NFL program, and the roster he landed on could afford to wait. Teams that expected an instant double-digit-sack rookie misread the fit, not the player.
Data note: Verified vs cfbstats.com season pages (2021-2023); season totals sum to career totals.