Tyler
Lacy.
Tyler
Lacy.
Oklahoma St.· 6'4"· 279 lb· 5.11s 40
"A long, toolsy Big 12 edge taken on Day 3 as a developmental bet, Lacy has been exactly that — a rotational body still fighting to turn traits into a role, with the roster clock running."Pre-draft read
Lacy was Oklahoma State's five-technique of record, a 279-pound base end who lined up head-up on the tackle on early downs and slid to three-technique in nickel. His game started with length and hand placement: he stacked, extended, found the ball and shed late rather than running around blocks, and he was trusted to hold the C-gap on every zone-read look.
The rush was a power plan, not a speed plan. He converted a long first step into a bull, worked a heavy long-arm and used a club-swim when tackles overset, but he never had the ankle flexion to turn a corner. That is why the interior reps mattered: aligned inside, his 33-inch arms and pad-level control produced push his 5.11 speed never produced off the edge.
Multiple even fronts that ask a base end to two-gap and set edges on early downs and then kick him inside to three-technique in nickel; his hands and leverage fit a read-and-react front, not an attack-and-penetrate one.
Year 1: early-down rotational end and sub-package interior body on roughly 25-35% of snaps. Ceiling: a full-time base end who plays 500-plus snaps a year and holds up as a run-down starter.
Wide-9 or stand-up 3-4 outside linebacker duty that asks him to win the corner off the edge or drop into coverage in space.
Every good rep comes from leverage and hands; the further from the tackle he aligns, the worse the projection.
Tyler Lacy II Oklahoma State DL II 2021 Highlights
His best season: the long-arm bull rush, the C-gap discipline against zone read and the 11.5-TFL pursuit reps.
Tyler Lacy II 2020 Highlights II Oklahoma State
The breakout year as a full-time base end — 8.0 TFL and 4.0 sacks built on hand placement and extension.
Tyler Lacy vs Tulsa | Oklahoma State DE
Full-game look at the five-technique job: stack, shed and the inside kick on obvious passing downs.
A four-year contributor in Stillwater who grew into a base end with true interior flex, Lacy is the kind of defensive lineman a coordinator builds a rotation around rather than a plan around. He is a run defender first, a rusher second, and the value is in the fact that he can do both jobs from two different alignments without a substitution package.
The production curve is honest: 20 tackles as a redshirt freshman in 2019, then 32 and 8.0 tackles for loss in 2020, then a career-best 34 tackles with 11.5 TFL and 3.5 sacks in 2021, then 27 tackles and 8.5 TFL in only nine games as a senior. That last season is the flag — he missed time, the sack total stayed modest, and 11.5 career sacks across four years reads like a player who wins with leverage and effort rather than a defined pass-rush arsenal. The Combine confirmed it: 5.11 in the forty, a 28.5-inch vertical, no explosive trait to bail him out.
Boards had him as a fourth-to-fifth-round developmental lineman with a role-player ceiling, and Jacksonville treated him exactly that way at 130. It was not a swing at upside; it was a bet that a tough, positionally flexible body would survive an NFL front's attrition.
- 01
Hand placement
Lands inside the tackle's frame with consistent placement, extends to create separation and keeps his chest clean against down blocks.
- 02
Gap discipline
Holds the C-gap against zone read and misdirection without chasing, which is why Oklahoma State never had to substitute him on early downs.
- 03
Alignment flex
Plays a true five-technique on base downs and slides to three-technique in nickel, giving a coordinator two roles from one roster spot.
- 04
Long-arm power
Converts his first step into a bull rush and a heavy long-arm that walks guards and slower tackles back into the pocket.
- 05
Motor and finish
Plays through the whistle in pursuit and cleans up plays down the line, which is where a real chunk of his 30 career TFL came from.
- 01
No bend
Cannot flatten the corner or turn speed into a rush angle; the 5.11 forty and 28.5-inch vertical show up the moment he has to win in the arc.
- 02
Thin rush plan
Wins with power and effort but lacks a reliable counter off the first move, which capped him at 11.5 sacks across four college seasons.
- 03
Senior-year availability
Played only nine games in 2022, so the most important evaluation year is also the smallest sample on the resume.
- 04
Ceiling as a difference-maker
The traits point to a rotation piece; there is no projection here where he becomes a defense's primary problem for an offense.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 5.11sp50
- Vertical
- 28.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 116inp50
- Three-cone
- 7.60sp50
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- 30repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Oklahoma State | 10 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2020 | Oklahoma State | 11 | 32 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2021 | Oklahoma State | 14 | 34 | 3.5 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 2022 | Oklahoma State | 9 | 27 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Career | — | 44 | 113 | 11.5 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
2020-2022 verified season-by-season on cfbstats.com; 2019 taken from the CFBD season file because cfbstats has no 2019 Oklahoma State player page (10 games with recorded defensive stat lines). Season sums reconcile to 113 tackles, 30.0 TFL and 11.5 sacks, and the 11.5 career sacks match the widely published career line. Redshirted in 2018 — no phantom season row. Forced fumbles in 2019 and fumble recoveries in every year are unverified and left null, not zero.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Rotational lineman with alignment flex who stays employed for years on run defense and effort snaps.
Leverage-and-hands interior defender who turned a modest athletic profile into a long run-down starting career.
Big-bodied lineman whose lack of a rush plan leaves him as a two-down body who bounces between rosters.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Jacksonville used him as advertised and no more. He was active in 15 games as a rookie in 2023, mostly on the early-down rotation and special teams, and finished with 11 tackles. In 2024 the snaps grew — 13 games, 24 tackles — but the pass rush never showed up on the stat sheet, and the Jaguars' 2025 roster turnover put him on the wrong side of the math. He was cut at final cuts in August 2025 and claimed on waivers by Detroit, where he played 10 games, put up 21 tackles and recorded his first NFL sack. He entered 2026 on the Lions' active roster as a 300-pound interior body in a rotation that values exactly that.
The evaluation held up. Lacy was drafted as a rotational lineman and he has been a rotational lineman for four seasons, which at 130th overall is a fair return even without a single splash year. What kept him employed is the thing the tape promised — he can two-gap a five-technique, kick inside in sub packages and play a full game without being a liability against the run. What has capped him is also what the tape promised: no bend, no counter-heavy rush plan, no season where an offense had to account for him.