Mike
Hall Jr..
Mike
Hall Jr..
Ohio State· 6'3"· 290 lb
"A one-season flash of genuine interior disruption at Ohio State, Hall was drafted for the first step and nothing else was settled — not the weight, not the availability, not whether the 2022 tape was the player or the peak."Pre-draft read
Hall plays the interior like a sprinter in a phone booth. His get-off is his calling card: he beats guards to the spot before they can set their hands, slips through the B-gap on angle rushes, and creates penetration that wrecks a run play before it reaches the line of scrimmage. At 6-3, 290 he is built to shoot gaps rather than absorb them, and his best reps come when he is allowed to attack a single gap and run.
Against down blocks and doubles the picture changes. He can be moved when he is late off the ball, and his anchor is functional rather than stout, so a heavy guard-center combination gets movement on him. His rush plan is still mostly quickness and effort; the counters after the first move is absorbed have not arrived.
The Browns typically run a 4-2-5 nickel defense with an attacking front, emphasizing disruption and penetration.
He can immediately contribute as a rotational 3-technique with disruptive upside, eventually developing into a starting interior force.
He would struggle in a traditional 3-4 two-gap scheme that demands him to anchor against double teams consistently.
His athletic profile and pass-rushing ability are a strong fit for Cleveland's desire for interior defensive line disruption.
Mike Hall JR highlights Vs Arkansas State! Elite Ohio State DT (2022)
Mike Hall JR 2.5 Sacks highlights Vs MSU! Ohio State DT (2022)
Mike Hall Jr 2022 Ohio State Highlights
Hall projected as a rotational three-technique whose value came entirely from disruption. He is a gap-shooting interior lineman at 6-3, 290 whose first step is legitimately rare, and the evaluation was always about whether that trait could be turned into a full-time role rather than a package of pass-rush snaps.
The production tells a jagged story. His 2022 sophomore season was the tape teams bought: 19 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in 12 games with the kind of penetration that changes a front. The 2023 follow-up did not build on it — 24 tackles but only 2 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks across 12 games, with an injury interrupting the season and a role that never fully reopened. Across three years in Columbus he played 28 games with 45 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 6 sacks, a career line that reads more like a role player than a second-round pick.
Cleveland took him at 54 because the ceiling is real and the price was reasonable for a front that wants to attack rather than two-gap. The bet was that a professional strength program and a defined single-gap job would turn the flashes into snaps. The risk was equally obvious: a modest career sample, a body that had already missed time, and no counter package to fall back on.
- 01
Elite first step
His get-off is the trait that made him a second-round pick, beating guards to the spot before their hands are set.
- 02
Gap penetration
He wrecks run plays behind the line when allowed to attack a single gap rather than read and react.
- 03
Peak tape
His 2022 season produced 7.5 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks in 12 games, the kind of disruption that changes a front.
- 04
Frame for the role
At 6-3, 290 he is built to shoot gaps in an attacking scheme rather than absorb doubles in a two-gap front.
- 05
Power-conference reps
Three seasons in Ohio State's rotation against Big Ten interior blocking gave him a legitimate baseline.
- 01
Availability
Injuries interrupted his college career and limited his 2023 role, leaving evaluators with a small usable sample.
- 02
Functional anchor
His anchor holds against single blocks but a heavy guard-center combination can move him off the spot.
- 03
No counter package
When the first quickness move is absorbed, he has little to fall back on beyond effort and re-rush.
- 04
Regression year
His 2023 line of 2 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks did not build on the sophomore tape teams were buying.
| Yr | Team | G | Tkl | Sk | Int | PD | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Ohio State | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2022 | Ohio State | 12 | 19 | 4.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | Ohio State | 12 | 24 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | — | 28 | 45 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
A productive interior rusher whose value is real but whose snap counts are managed and whose availability fluctuates.
The version where the first step plus a developed counter package turns him into a full-time disruptive starter.
A rotational interior body who plays 300 snaps a year and never converts flashes into a defined role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Hall's NFL start has been a study in interrupted development. He appeared in eight games as a rookie in 2024 after an offseason legal matter cost him time and availability, finishing with 11 tackles and a sack in a rotational role. In 2025 he played nine games with 11 tackles and 1.5 sacks, and he entered his third season in Cleveland in 2026 still on the roster but still without a full, uninterrupted year of professional football behind him. The snaps he has played look like the college tape in miniature: real penetration on the good reps, movement against him on the bad ones.
The honest retrospective is that nothing about the evaluation has been disproven and nothing has been confirmed. Second-round interior linemen are expected to be starters by year three, and Hall is not there. But the reason is availability more than ability, and the flashes that made him a top-60 pick still show up when he is on the field. He remains the same player he was in April 2024 — an explosive gap shooter who needs a full healthy season to find out whether that is a role or a career. The clock on answering that is now short.
Data note: Imported from Wikipedia 2024 NFL draft player selections table.