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Russell has a great deal of experience at defensive end as he was a four-year starter at Purdue. For more background on Russell, we turn to CBSSports.com:
A two-star athlete recruit out of high school, Russell received moderate interest from schools like UTEP and Louisiana Tech, but decided to head north, committing to Purdue as a defensive end and redshirting in 2010.
He started 11 games as a true freshman in 2011 and posted 44 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack, three forced fumbles and three recovered fumbles. Russell started all 13 games in 2012 as a sophomore, finishing with a career-best 8.5 tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks, adding 37 tackles. He started 11 games as a junior in 2013 and recorded 35 tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.0 sacks.
Russell started all 12 games as a senior in 2014 and recorded 44 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks and one forced fumble. He earned an invitation to the 2015 East-West Shrine Game.
Russell is an athletic player as he tested into the 66th percentile among edge-rushers in the NFL, per 3SigmaAthlete.com's Zach Whitman.
That athleticism shows up on tape as he has a quick get off to stress an offensive tackle's pass set. Furthermore, Russell has the innate ability to dip his shoulder, drop his weight, flip his hips, sharpen his angle to the quarterback and the burst to finish the play.
The negative aspect of Russell is that despite having a lot of experience, he is still raw as a football player. He doesn't use his hands and length well, which leads to him getting dominated at the point of attack in a lot of instances.
Moreover, he doesn't seem to have a plan as a rusher, which leads to him being reactive and not proactive in his pass rush. This allows offensive tackles to initiate contact and put themselves in a favorable position to win that particular play. If Russell can just become more proactive with his rush, he will do a lot better than he did while at Purdue.
The most troubling part of Russell is that he doesn't play with any type of consistency and he doesn't always play as hard as he can. There are a lot of times where you see him not giving full effort on tape.
Russell is basically a big ball of clay for defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli and the other defensive coaches to mold in hopes that he can develop into a fearsome pass-rusher.
Russell will improve the depth of the defensive line and give Marinelli yet another option in his defensive line platoons. He will have to carve out a niche on special teams if he wants to make the 53-man roster, but Russell is an intriguing developmental prospect for the Cowboys.
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