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According to Josh Norris of Rotoworld.com, former Utah defensive end/outside linebacker Kylie Fitts was in the building visiting with the Chargers following his performance at the team’s local pro day on Thursday.
Utah edge rusher Kylie Fitts is visiting the #Chargers today
— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) April 12, 2018
The 6-foot-4, 264-pound edge rusher is a phenomenal athlete that saw his playing time in college take a major hit due to lingering injuries. After transferring from UCLA prior to the 2014 season, Fitts redshirted his first year on campus before earning the start in 11 of 13 games in 2015. He accumulated 41 tackles, eight tackles-for-loss, seven sacks, and four forced fumbles.
In 2016, the pass rusher looked to springboard into another productive year but was held back by a foot injury which caused him to only play in two games that year. He was still able to collect four tackles, three for loss, and 1.5 sacks. In 2017, it was much more of the same for Fitts. He was able to start just 10 games, making just 23 tackles and three sacks.
Even after missing extensive time over the years at Utah, Fitts was still invited to the Reese’s Senior Bowl where he performed well against some of the top competition in the country, including wins in 1-on-1’s against some of the top offensive line prospects in this year’s draft.
Fitts had himself a very solid combine where he performed extremely well across the board. At 265 pounds, here are the numbers he posted while in Indianapolis:
- 4.69-second forty-yard dash
- 32.5-inch vertical jump
- 117-inch broad jump
- 6.88-second 3-cone drill
- 4.19-second 20-yard shuttle
- 11.82-second 60-yard shuttle
Lance Zierlein has Fitts as a projected day 3 pick and I believe that is just the right prediction. There are a plethora of edge rushers in this year’s class and a good handful are more complete defenders than Fitts. It’s also hard to argue away his injury history.
Regardless, I still believe Fitts will be one of the bigger steals in this year’s draft. Even with a pass-rushing trio consisting of Joey Bosa, Melvin Ingram, and Chris McCain, you can never have enough players who can effectively get to the quarterback.