A physical specimen who has never come close to matching his blue-chip recruiting pedigree with college production. Silver has the frame NFL scouts dream about at 6-4, 330-plus with a 7-foot-plus wingspan, but five college seasons across three programs produced just one career sack and a deeply underwhelming 2025 campaign where beat writers called him a 'massive flop' who couldn't control A-gaps against Big Ten competition. The PFF tackling grades from Kentucky flash competence as a gap-eater, and his hand power and anchor show up in flashes, but the pass rush is functionally non-existent at this stage. He's a developmental lottery ticket — the body is there, the football never has been, and at 23 years old the developmental runway is uncomfortably short.
- Elite physical dimensions — 6-4, 330+ lbs with a verified 7-1 wingspan creates a massive frame at the point of attack
- Heavy hands and anchor ability that flash in run defense reps, with the power to hold his gap assignment when engaged
- Solid tackling fundamentals as validated by PFF's top-20 national tackling grade among DL in 2024
- Multi-sport athleticism (basketball, track) suggests a physical toolkit beyond what his production suggests
- Negligible pass rush production — 1 career sack across 5 college seasons despite starting 23+ games
- Failed to win a starting job out of camp at USC in 2025 despite being the No. 2 ranked DL transfer in the portal
- Described as unable to control A-gaps against Big Ten offensive lines — major functional strength concern at the NFL level
- 23 years old entering the draft with minimal growth trajectory left compared to younger developmental DTs
Big-bodied space-eater with limited pass rush upside whose value is primarily as a run-stuffing rotational interior lineman. Like Nnadi, Silver's best path to the NFL is as a two-down gap-plugger in a scheme that doesn't ask him to generate pressure.