Among the most fun stories of the college football season was the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the best defensive line money could buy.
NIL money allowed Texas Tech to splurge in the trenches, putting together one of the most feared units in the sport and reaping the benefits of a College Football Playoff berth.
Edge rusher David Bailey will be a first-round pick in April, and nose tackle Lee Hunter is a draftnik favorite. Skyler Gill-Howard will hope to be an early Day 3 pick, and edge rusher Romello Height figures to land somewhere between Bailey and Gill-Howard.
Romello Height’s Senior Bowl speed bump
Bailey’s meteoric rise to the top 15 stole the headlines on a Texas Tech defense that saw linebacker Jacob Rodriguez head to New York as a Heisman finalist. Opposite Bailey, Height also helped his draft stock in 2025.
Height, in his age-24 season, finally broke out. That can be attributed both to physical maturation and the benefits of playing alongside multiple freak athletes. Height was put in position to succeed and capitalized on the opportunity, logging 11.5 tackles for loss and 10 sacks — both of which hit double-digits for the first time in his collegiate career.
The hype followed suit. Height found himself frequently in the first round of mock drafts and was largely viewed as a top-50 prospect. While Height’s body of work and elite athleticism give him staying power amid the pre-draft cycle, his projection took a hit at the Senior Bowl.
We know Height is small; he was listed at 240 pounds on the team website and had been speculated to be playing a bit lighter. At the Senior Bowl, Height officially measured in at 6023, 234 pounds — a negative outlier that thrusts his first-round validity into uncertainty.
Fortunately, his 32-inch arms are merely below-average, and not the profile-killing measurement that seems to pop up this time of year. But Height’s weight would rank ahead of just three edge rushers in Mockdraftable’s database, dating back to 1999.
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Some players make this small frame work. Haason Reddick and Nolan Smith have carved out fairly prominent roles; Arden Key has logged three seasons with at least six sacks. But Reddick didn’t return on his first-round investment while flip-flopping between linebacker and edge rusher, Smith ran a 4.39 40-yard dash and Key is more of a rotational piece than the foundation of anyone’s defense.
Height’s size and inconsistencies against the run must dampen his projection, rendering him a rotational pass rusher who can make an impact on passing downs. He’s never been the kind of hybrid defender (despite faring well in coverage) that gave Reddick enticing versatility, nor is he as special an athlete as Smith.
Furthermore, Height will play his entire rookie season at 25 years old, doesn’t have a bulletproof injury history and has just one season of significant production across six college seasons. There are holes in this profile, and while Height’s pass-rushing proclivity will likely earn him top-100 draft capital, the first-round buzz feels ambitious.
Height was never going to weigh in over 250 pounds and change everyone’s mental model for his body type. However, the Senior Bowl was an opportunity to take a step in the right direction, showing up at 245-250 pounds would have placed him in a more optimistic bucket of comparables.
There is still time for Height to add weight for Indianapolis, play with more strength as a rookie, or find a more creative role at the next level. But as things stand, Height’s profile is littered with a gradient of flags that resemble a sunset more than a garden, and I’m concerned about a lengthy fall come April.
