Explosiveness: Mesidor has a good first step off the snap that allows him to get into the face of his opponents. Due to his first-step quickness, he’s found great success as a gap penetrator in run defense. During his pass rush reps, he’s able to maintain explosiveness throughout his arc and can challenge the feet of his opponents to leverage pressure on the quarterback.
Pad Level/Leverage: Mesidor’s stockier frame allows him to stay pretty low against his opponents. He can sometimes lose discipline in regards to pad level when in pass-rushing reps. He does a good job creating natural leverage due to his pad level and good hand extension.
Pass Rush Plan: Mesidor is a more than capable pass rusher but lacks a nuanced counter arsenal to offset his opponents. His first step explosiveness and lateral agility skills allow him to gain depth early on but can struggle to create pressure after that. He’s flashed the arm over move, converting speed to power, and has a solid spin move but lacks any sort of defined counter outside of those moves. Despite this, Mesidor can be a steady asset in the stunt/twist game due to his athletic traits.
Run Defense: Mesidor proves to be an above-average run defender due to his gap penetration skills and leverage at the point of attack. He displays modest length for the position so he can struggle to disengage despite showing good urgency with his hands. He can hold his own at the point of attack with good hand placement, stacking blocks, and work his way into the backfield. He struggles with false reads, falling prey to biting on misdirection plays.
Versatility: Mesidor plays as an attacking three-technique for West Virginia but is also deployed as a nose tackle and as a two-technique. On obvious passing downs, Mesidor was used as a five-technique and showed good rushing ability due to his athleticism.
Strength/Power: Mesidor shows good but not elite strength for the defensive tackle position despite a tightly packed frame. He can hold his own in one-on-one drive blocks but can struggle to maintain consistent leverage versus double teams.
Block Shedding: Mesidor has good urgency as a block shedder but lacks elite hand punch with his hits. He can get good placement on potential blockers and rip through them with quickness.
Hand Usage: Mesidor has above average hand usage as a run defender. He can get into good situations with body positioning that allows him to set his hands and turn that into plays in the backfield.
Flexibility: Mesidor was surprisingly flexible at the point of attack. As a pass rusher, he can dip his shoulder and create great ankle flexion that allows him to slip past opponents for pressure on the QB.
Gap Shooting: Mesidor is a great gap shooter, showing even better lateral mobility in the process of running the stunt/twist. He plays low enough with great leverage and uses his quick hands to push away the hands of the offensive lineman in front of him.
