Viliami
Fehoko.
Viliami
Fehoko.
San Jose St.
"A Mountain West wrecking ball who lived in the backfield through relentless hands and effort, sold as a scheme-versatile disruptor whose burst and length would decide whether the production traveled."Pre-draft read
A heavy-handed base end who aligned everywhere from a 4i to a wide 5 and kicked inside on passing downs, Fehoko won with hand violence, leverage, and a motor that never let a rep die. He set edges with a flat, square base, stacked and shed tight ends, and beat blockers with long-arm and swim counters rather than pure get-off.
The second trait was interior rush value: he collapsed pockets from the B-gap with power and hand-fighting, which is where much of his backfield production came from. He was a stout run defender first and a rush-by-attrition threat second — the athletic ceiling was ordinary, but the signature was a five-year climb from 235-pound freshman to conference defensive player of the year.
Even-front 4-3 defenses that ask the strong-side end to set edges on early downs and kick inside to rush on third down; his hands fit a two-gap-and-react front better than a wide-9 attack front.
Year 1 as a run-down rotational end and core special-teamer; ceiling is a 500-snap base starter who kicks inside on passing downs.
Wide-9 or stand-up 3-4 outside linebacker roles that require a first-step win and the flexibility to flatten the corner in space.
His value is leverage, hands and inside rush flex — the further he is asked to play in space, the less the college production translates.
Viliami Fehoko 2022 Highlights | EDGE | SJSU
His conference defensive player of the year season: hand violence at the point of attack and the inside rush wins that produced 18 TFL.
Viliami Fehoko Highlights (San Jose State)
Multi-year Spartans reel showing edge-setting leverage, long-arm technique, and the motor that finished plays late.
Cowboys draft Viliami Fehoko with the 129th pick
Draft-night breakdown of the pick and how Dallas planned to use him as a developmental base end with inside flex.
Fehoko was the most productive defender in the Mountain West and one of the most experienced linemen in the class, a five-year San Jose State starter who added roughly 30 pounds without losing the leverage that made him disruptive as a freshman. He evaluated as a base end with inside flex: tough, technically clean, and physically mature after 45 games of live reps.
The production was real and it built every year. He posted 12.5 tackles for loss in the shortened 2020 season, matched that total in 2021, and then broke out in 2022 with 69 tackles, 18 tackles for loss and nine sacks, earning conference defensive player of the year. He finished as one of the most disruptive linemen in school history. The flags were the ones Group of Five power players usually carry: average first-step quickness, a rush plan that leaned on effort over bend, and questions about whether the hands would win against Power Five length at 267 pounds.
Boards had him as a Day 3 rotational piece with a floor as a base end in an even front. Dallas, always drawn to hand-and-motor linemen, took him at 129 as a developmental five-technique behind a crowded veteran room, expecting special-teams value first and rotational snaps by year two.
- 01
Hand violence
Struck first with heavy, accurate punches, controlled the blocker's frame, and shed late to finish plays in the backfield rather than riding blocks.
- 02
Run-defense leverage
Set flat, square edges against tight ends and tackles, holding the point at 267 pounds without giving ground on down blocks.
- 03
Backfield production
Finished with 46 tackles for loss and 23 sacks at San Jose State, second in program history in TFL and fifth in career sacks.
- 04
Inside rush value
Collapsed pockets from the B-gap on passing downs, giving a defense a legitimate three-technique option on obvious rush snaps.
- 05
Motor and experience
Five seasons of starter reps and a relentless second effort; plays rarely ended before he had made a second attempt at the ball.
- 01
First-step burst
Average get-off that let Power Five tackles beat him to the spot, forcing him to win late with hands instead of early with quickness.
- 02
Bend and corner
Tight through the hips and ankles, so he flattened around the arc slowly and rarely threatened the edge as a pure speed rusher.
- 03
Level of competition
Most of the disruption came against Mountain West blocking, and the Power Five sample was thin and far less productive.
- 04
Rush plan variety
Leaned heavily on long-arm and power; counters were slow to arrive when the first move was neutralized by a set blocker.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | San Jose State | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | San Jose State | 10 | 44 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 2020 | San Jose State | 8 | 36 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2021 | San Jose State | 12 | 37 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 3 |
| 2022 | San Jose State | 12 | 69 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Career | — | 45 | 191 | 23 | 0 | 14 | 5 |
2020-2022 verified on cfbstats.com season pages; 2018-2019 taken from SJSU official career totals since cfbstats has no player page for those years. Season sums reconcile exactly with the school career line of 191 tackles, 46 TFL, 23 sacks and 14 pass breakups. SJSU credits 48 career games (cfbstats-listed games total 45). Unverified fields are null, not zero.
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
Heavy-handed rotational lineman who survives on run-down leverage and special-teams value.
Small-school base end whose hands and motor turned into a durable starting role in an even front.
Productive small-school edge whose draft capital never converted into regular-season defensive snaps.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Dallas never got a look at him. Fehoko spent his rookie 2023 season buried in a deep line room, landed on injured reserve in November, was designated for return and activated in January without producing a defensive stat line. He was waived with an injury designation in August 2024 before ever establishing a role, reverted to injured reserve and then settled. Washington signed him to the practice squad late in 2024 and brought him back for 2025, but he was waived/injured again in August and settled a second time. Indianapolis added him to its practice squad in November 2025, kept him through the offseason, and released him in April 2026. San Francisco signed him to a one-year deal in August 2026 — his fourth organization, still without a meaningful regular-season snap.
In hindsight the pick was defensible and the outcome was decided by availability, not evaluation. The concerns scouts wrote down — ordinary burst, a Group of Five sample, a power-based rush plan — would have capped him as a rotational base end, but he never got far enough to test them. Two consecutive August injuries erased the exact window a Day 3 lineman needs. This is what a fourth-round miss usually looks like: not a talent misread, just a body that could not stay on the field long enough to build a role.