Arvell Reese came into Ohio State’s Pro Day as one of the most hyped prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft class. He left with people questioning whether the hype has gotten ahead of reality.
A video from Wednesday’s workout in Columbus is making the rounds on social media, and the fan reaction has been brutal.
One user wrote, “idk about you but that looked slow”. “Not a first round pick,” commented another.
The Micah Parsons comparisons that have followed Reese all pre-draft season were quickly weaponized. “They said Micah Parsons…,” said Matt Lane of KC Sports Network.
And honestly? It’s hard to argue with what people saw.
ARVELL REESE 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/Ob06gjEWx3
— Ohio State Football (@OhioStateFB) March 25, 2026
Fast in a Straight Line. But Is That Enough?
Yes, Reese ran a 4.46 40-yard dash at the Combine. Nobody is taking that away from him. At 6-foot-4 and 241 pounds, that’s legitimately impressive straight-line speed, and it’s why the Parsons comp exists in the first place.
But football isn’t played in a straight line, especially on the edge.
What the Pro Day video exposed was something scouts obsess over beyond the 40 — burst and bend. On the agility drills, Reese looked labored getting in and out of his breaks. The explosiveness that defines elite pass rushers and ability to bend around the edge wasn’t jumping off the tape.
He looked stiff coming off the edge, more like a man going through the motions than a player who’s going to make NFL tackles look foolish on Sunday afternoons.
One fan put it more bluntly: “Brother is moving like Angel Reese.”
The comment may have drawn a few laughs, but it also got a lot of likes. Because people knew exactly what they were looking at.
The “Micah Parsons” Problem
When a prospect gets a Micah Parsons comp, it sets an unfair but unavoidable standard. Parsons didn’t just test well. He played with a relentless motor, elite twitch, and the kind of get-off that made offensive linemen look foolish from Day 1.
That’s not a size-speed profile. That’s a different kind of athlete entirely, one who plays like the game is moving slower than everyone else.
What we saw from Reese on Wednesday didn’t scream any of that. The burst wasn’t there. The looseness in his hips that you need to truly operate in the Parsons role wasn’t on display.
Calling him the next Micah Parsons based on his 40 time and highlight-reel plays in the Big Ten is a stretch. NFL franchises have handed out massive draft capital for less, and regretted it for years.
All 32 Teams Were Watching
Every team in the league had a presence in Columbus on Wednesday — that’s the uncomfortable part. GMs, coordinators, scouts all saw exactly what the fans saw on that video.
The question now is whether teams talk themselves into the athleticism ceiling and overlook the stiffness, or whether this workout quietly moves Reese down a few boards before anyone in the media catches on.
Currently projected to be drafted No. 2 overall to the New York Jets, it might take more than one bad Pro Day workout to knock Reese off of his spot.
The buzz hasn’t turned publicly negative yet. But fan reaction to viral workout clips has a funny way of reflecting what scouts are already whispering about in private.
Reese Is Still An Elite Prospect
Arvell Reese will still hear his name called early on draft night. The size-speed combination is too rare, and one Pro Day workout rarely destroys a prospect who’s been building hype since August.
But here’s the thing about NFL draft busts, nobody sees them coming. They all had the measurables, comparisons, and highlights.
What they didn’t have was the one thing you can’t fake on a football field: that snap-of-the-fingers explosiveness that separates the players who live up to the hype from the ones who become a cautionary tale on a future episode of a football podcast.
The fans clocked it in real time on a Wednesday afternoon in March. The only question left is whether teams sitting at the top of the draft saw the same thing on video.
