Joshua Josephs is a two-point rusher out of Tennessee whose profile is built almost entirely around speed, and that single dimension is both his calling card and the ceiling on his projection.

When he is working down into run fits on his own terms he can convert his speed into genuine power, and once he turns a corner his lateral range is a real weapon; he covers ground across the backfield quickly enough to make plays well outside his initial alignment. His coverage work in the flat is also a legitimate positive; he zone-matches with route stems as they develop, understands passing windows and disrupted quarterback reads multiple times against Oklahoma. For a two-point rusher that kind of coverage feel is worth noting.

The problems are significant and they run deeper than technique. His pass rush vocabulary is essentially two entries long; he either dips and rips or runs a bull rush with nothing connecting those two options. More concerning is that a closer look at his pressure production reveals most of it was not earned. Against Oklahoma the majority of his pressures came on unblocked plays through missed snaps, communication errors or failed hot reads, and he could not convert any of those free shots into sacks; against Alabama, missed assignments again provided his TFL opportunities rather than his own winning. That pattern suggests his production at Tennessee overstates his actual ability to beat a prepared blocker. He also never tested, and while speed is his primary selling point his tape does not obviously separate him from the rotation players behind him; teams drafting a speed rusher need the numbers to back the assertion.

His tackling is a genuine technical concern; he plays with an arched back and high hips which kills his power transfer, forces his eyes down and leads to lunging misses in space. That is not a polish issue, it is a functional problem on a player whose role will require him to make tackles at the second level. His reaction to gap scheme pullers is passive; he waits for contact rather than forcing the issue, a tendency that opposing coordinators will identify and attack. Mateer picked up on it and adjusted, which is a telling data point. He is chaotic in his pursuit decisions too, committing to angles on initial reads and then having to reverse course when the ball goes the other way; at the college level his athleticism bailed him out but that margin disappears quickly against professional athletes and coaches.