Why? What about his skillset makes him an interior guy? He's 6'7 without a Calais Campbell lower body.
The only criticism I've ever heard about his edge work is that he doesn't have elite twitch. OK. He's also the longest player in the draft and plays with the fluidity of a high school DB. That allows him to cover the ground he needs to cover.
The year off allowed people to overthink Rousseau. If he played this season and stayed healthy, he'd be a no-brainer Top 5 guy like Chase Young (the only player who got more sacks than him).
Just to continue the discussion. Here is his four sack game versus FSU. The sorriest OL you'll ever see.
I don't believe this is every snap of his, bu its over 4m of film. I had started to chop up some gifs, but why waste my time...its pretty clear cut, there isn't much, if at all disruption from the outside. Whenever the tackle got his hands on Rousseau, he was stood up and wasn't involved in the play. All of his disruption comes from the interior where he uses his athleticism and motor to get through trash (where he uses his impressive wingspan to get a sack and trip up ballcarriers) and around guards.
Here is Virginia Tech 2019
Hustle tackles look good here. Gets a sack when being blocked by a TE.
Virginia 2019
Nice bullrush against RT and ultimately trips up Perkins for a 1 yard gain. Nice unblocked TFL. Watch the one-on-one at the 3m mark...prime opportunity to showcase the bend and he's stood up. Garvin breaks down the pocket and Rousseau cleans it up in the 4th - again, in garbage (where I think Rousseau excels). Low key, I thought 72 did pretty well against Rousseau throughout the game.
Thats just a three game sample...but idk if I see one real deal, first round pass rusher from the EDGE rep there. I see some really good reps on the interior, in garbage, stopping the run or getting high effort sacks or just beating ****ty interior play.
I still like Rousseau, and think he's a R1 type, but you and I clearly vastly disagree with his future role. I think he's got a big leap to make as a pass rusher from the EDGE spot. I think he's a farther along as a run defender from the edge than a pass rusher. He's got a bullrush, but there isn't a lot of film where he's showing good hand work, good bend, etc.
Jaelan Phillips in 2020 v. Virginia Tech
First play of the clip, beats a tackle for sack. Goes in with a plan, sets the tackle up with a little inside before accelerating, bending and generating speed to power through any contact and getting a sack. Second play, doing what Rousseau does well (disrupt the run) but finishing the play himself. While many times Rousseau could get flushed from a play because he plays high, a few plays later you see Phillips hold his own on the edge forcing the QB to go up the middle for a TFL. Shows the ability to disengage from a tackle a few plays after that 1:45 mark, again beats a tackle, this time to the inside for a sack. Uses his hands, doesn't let the OT get on him and boom. Done. I don't want to go through the whole 10m, you can for yourself, but I see two R1 reps getting sacks on an ACC tackle in the first 1m45s of that clip and struggled to find any for Rousseau in three games. Again, I think our evaluations on Rousseau vary dramatically. We just think he's two different players.