Name: Boye Mafe
School: Minnesota
Year: RSr
Position: Edge rusher
Measurables: 6’3 ½ 255
Stats:
General Info:
Mafe’s parents emigrated to the US in the ’70s from Nigeria. He spent one year in middle school at a boarding school in Nigeria. Mafe attended Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minnesota. He lettered in basketball and track. In his final year of high school, he collected 78 tackles, 10 TFLs, and four sacks. Mafe was ranked a 3-star prospect by 247, a 2-star by Rivals, and unranked by ESPN. The former Gopher redshirted his first season in Minneapolis. For his redshirt freshman campaign, he collected 12 tackles, 11 pressures, 1/2 TFL, and 1/2 sack. In 2019 Mafe amassed 14 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, 17 pressures, and three sacks. In his Junior season that was shortened due to COVID, he collected 27 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, 4.5 sacks, 15 pressures, and two forced fumbles all in six games. For his final season, Mafe finally showed the potential he had been teasing. Playing in a rotation he collected 34 tackles, 10 TFLs, 42 pressures, seven sacks, and one forced fumble. Mafe also played in the Senior Bowl and was the player of the game.
Positional Skills:
Strengths
First and foremost, he is a freaky athlete. Mafe possesses an explosive first step. He has a filled-out muscular frame and his strength shows on film. Mafe has even thrown some blockers to the ground with his strength. He is a good tackler. Mafe has shown to have excellent agility. He has experience lining up on both sides and in a two-point and three-point stance. On film, he has shown the ability to be a good backside pursuit player. The former Gopher has shown on film to have a swipe, two-hand shuck, chop, and push-pull-swim pass rush moves. Mafe has good length at 33 3/8th arms. He has shown an occasional bull rush. Holds his ground well in the run game. He sets a good edge. Surprisingly he did drop into coverage a lot and showed good awareness in zone and showed he was able to cover some running backs and even tight ends. He is a hard worker whose motor runs 110% and is not afraid to get physical.
Weaknesses
His long speed on film looks somewhat average. The ability to shed blockers is still something he has trouble with. Mafe has not yet shown the ability to string moves together outside of the push-pull-swim that he has used sparingly. Even though he spent five years at Minnesota and played four he is still inexperienced. Mostly due to him not becoming a starter until his senior year, but also what Minnesota called a ‘hockey line’ that they ran with their DL they rotated them a lot. He only has 1,086 career snaps whereas some players have over 2,000. It does not seem he would be able to cover tight ends or running backs down the seam. He doesn’t use his strength enough and needs to work on converting speed to power. Mafe has not shown on film a rip move which is one of the early moves taught. The redshirt senior mostly tried to rush outside around the arc. He has not shown any counter moves either.
Fit with the Packers:
Mafe would be an amazing fit for the Packers. He has the size, strength, and athleticism that they desire in an edge rusher. If he could just develop his moves a bit more, learn to string moves together, speed to power, and work on shedding blockers. He could develop into one of the best edge rushers in the league. He could sit for a year behind Preston while he learns and develops. He could probably help out on special teams as well. The fact that he can drop in coverage and offers some cover skills is a major bonus. At the very least he should be a solid 3rd down pass rusher. He has a workers’ attitude in him and will continue to hone his craft and will get better. It will probably take him at least a year to get there, but once he does…. watch out.