Fifth-year Cardinal edge rusher Casey Toohill was selected with the Philadelphia Eagles’ final pick in this year’s NFL Draft on Saturday; the Eagles used the 233rd overall pick, the 19th of the seventh round, to select the San Diego native.
Toohill started all 12 games for the first time in his career last season as a fifth-year senior, earning second-team All-Pac-12 honors with 11.5 tackles for a loss and eight sacks among his 60 stops on the year. He was projected to be picked on Day 3 of this year’s draft by NFL analyst Lance Zierlein, who characterized Toohill as a bit of a tweener, offering versatility but no true top-end skills coming out of college.
“He’s currently caught between a 3-4 OLB and 4-3 DE,” Zierlein wrote. “If he can become bigger, stronger and more polished as a rusher, he might make sense as a backup edge with sub-package talent as a wide-9 technique.
Though Toohill flashed potential during his time at Stanford, his chances to be drafted were far from certain at the beginning of the pre-draft process. But a strong showing at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis last month boosted his prospects; he posted a 7.08-second three-cone drill that ranked second among all participating linebackers and a 39.0-inch broad jump that ranked third. The latter mark was tied with Clemson linebacker Isaiah Simmons, who was picked eighth overall in the first round of the draft on Thursday.
Toohill is the second and likely the last Stanford player to land a spot in the NFL through this year’s draft, joining tight end Colby Parkinson, who was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks with the No. 133 pick in the fifth round.
“During his fifth year we all called him Grandpa Casey,” Parkinson said of Toohill.
Earlier this year, the Cathedral Catholic alumnus was selected as one of 12 finalists for the William V. Campbell Trophy awarded annually to the college football player with the best combination of academics, community service and on-field performance.
Toohill joins a deep edge room in Philadelphia that includes former first-round picks Brandon Graham and Derek Barnett, as well as recent additions in Josh Sweat and Genard Avery, the latter of whom arrived in Philly via trade from the Cleveland Browns back in October 2019. Toohill may have a chance to take snaps as a developmental situational edge rusher in Year 1.
Contact Shan Reddy at rsreddy ‘at’ stanford.edu.