Nixon's a long and lean interior defensive lineman that wins with speed and explosiveness off the line. He's able to explode out of his stance and jump through the gap on zone runs and blow the play up. Able to get up quickly, but needs to learn to play with leverage to best utilize his explosiveness and knock the interior player off his platform. Solid lateral agility and able to jump multiple gaps at the line of scrimmage, if needed. Needs refinement on pass rush technique and leverage. Tends to try and win up high rather than planting his base and driving the lineman back with strength. Can sometimes get inside positioning, but then fails to capitalize on it. Needs to learn how to drive his legs and win in those situations. Tends to rely on his quickness and speed rather than power. Can be seen being driven backwards frequently on tape and very rarely moving offensive lineman off their spot. Can drop his eyes and fail to recognize where the running back is heading often. Plays with a decent motor and will often attempt to chase down a play, but does tend to stop when his first pass rush attempt didn't succeed. Fails to anchor in the run game and can tend to lose his placement on where the RB is, which leads to very little involvement in the run game. Will need to be viewed as a developmental pass rush 4-3 DT that could be a liability in the run game. Most likely a Day 3 pick. Has the tools and traits, but needs a lot of refinement.
