Aeneas Peebles, IDL, Virginia Tech
Size:
Height: 6004
Weight: 282
Arm: 31 ⅜”
Hand: 9 ⅝”
Accomplishments:
Third-Team AP All-American (2024) • First-Team All-ACC (2024)
“Violent, tenacious, and technically savvy, Aeneas Peebles is your favorite team's favorite IDL.”
Strengths:
Wildly disruptive
Plays with an elite center of gravity
Violent/physical
Feels opposing momentum well
Great technique
Concerns:
Short, stocky frame
Limited versatility
Limited ceiling as a pass rusher
Film Analysis:
Aeneas Peebles is the kind of defensive lineman I want on my team. A career rotational starter at Duke, he racked up 47 games played before transferring to Virginia Tech for his last season. In 2024, he was a 12-game starter, and finished with 6.5 TFLs and 3.0 sacks, all while earning All-ACC First-Team and Third-Team All-American honors. Peebles, albeit undersized by NFL standards, is destined to be a force multiplier at the next level. His tenacity, violence, and technique more than makeup for his physical shortcomings.
Peebles is a game-wrecker. He possesses a compact, stocky frame with a heavy mid-body and tree-trunk legs. He doesn’t fit the mold of your stereotypical defensive tackles, but he more than makes up for it with unparalleled want-to.
Peebles is the ideal penetrating disrupter. His get-off is downright elite, but his ability to get his feet in the ground before contact is special. His natural leverage allows him to play with a lower center of gravity than anyone he’s going against, giving him an upper hand on double teams or single blocks. When faced with those blocks, his ability to hold his ground and hold the line of scrimmage is impressive. He is an immovable object in vertical running schemes. Complementing his leverage and technique is an insane motor and love for violence. He will beat up and spit out your opponent's linemen. He’ll occasionally throw his head into these blocks, but regardless, his physicality is off the charts.
When he’s faced with single or double-team blocks, Peebles senses the momentum of opposing linemen really well and always finds a way to exploit it. He had a high number of reps where he beat his man off the snap with a snatch or swim move. He’s got multiple answers for bigger linemen who try to lean on him.
As a pass rusher, Peebles’ tenacity and effort take him a long way. He’s a capable three-down player, but likely best used in stunts as a pick-setter. His ceiling in that area isn’t high, but the baseline is there. He’s never going to be your team's sack leader, but he’s capable of taking advantage of one-on-one matchups.
All in all, Aeneas is one of those guys every team is going to hope falls to them. Despite being undersized, he’s a safe prospect who’s a force multiplier for an IDL room. He projects as an early-to-mid-round prospect but will far outplay where he gets drafted.
Prospect Projection: Day 2 — Winning Starter
Exposures: Rutgers (2024), Miami (2024), Syracuse (2024), Clemson (2024)
