{"id":607750,"date":"2026-04-26T16:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T16:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/607750\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T16:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T16:43:09","slug":"2026-nfl-draft-scouting-report-pittsburgh-steelers-dl-gabriel-rubio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/607750\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 NFL Draft Scouting Report: Pittsburgh Steelers DL Gabriel Rubio"},"content":{"rendered":"

A scouting report on Pittsburgh Steelers sixth-round selection,<\/a> Notre Dame defensive lineman Gabriel Rubio.<\/p>\n

N0. 97 Gabriel Rubio\/DL Notre Dame \u2013 6051, 321 pounds (Senior)
\nMEASUREMENTS<\/p>\n

Player
\nHt\/Wt
\nHand Size
\nArm Length
\nWingspan<\/p>\n

Gabriel Rubio
\n6051\/321
\n10
\n33 5\/8
\n81 1\/4<\/p>\n

40-Yard Dash
\n10-Yard Dash
\nShort Shuttle
\n3-Cone<\/p>\n

5.26
\n1.86
\n4.87
\n7.62<\/p>\n

Broad Jump
\nVertical
\nBench Press<\/p>\n

8\u20199\u2033
\n26
\n26<\/p>\n

*All results from Pro Day<\/p>\n

THE GOOD<\/p>\n

\u2013 NFL frame with broad shoulders, thick lower half, and good length
\u2013 Strong at point of attack
\u2013 Holds his gap and hard to move, flashing high-caliber run-defense reps
\u2013 Able to two-gap, stacking blockers and keying ball to close running lanes
\u2013 Plays with effort and gusto, working hard to finish plays and be involved
\u2013 Aware enough to get hands up in throwing lanes
\u2013 Doesn\u2019t quit as a rusher and creates pressure through his effort<\/p>\n

The Bad<\/p>\n

\u2013 Limited athlete with poor testing
\u2013 Lacks foot speed to close gap on zone\/perimeter runs
\u2013 Energetic pass rusher but too often \u201cdances\u201d with blockers and has trouble consistently slipping past them
\u2013 Struggles to change direction and often loses balance and footing when he needs to versus zone schemes
\u2013 Wasn\u2019t used on passing downs
\u2013 Injuries limited his reps the past two seasons and he\u2019s already had two lower-body surgeries with multiple elbow injuries
\u2013 Ceiling appears limited and low
\u2013 Meager college production and underwhelming amount of career snaps<\/p>\n

Stats<\/p>\n

\u2013 Career: 66 tackles (7 TFL) with 3 PDs, 1.5 sacks, and 1 FF across 39 games (8 starts)
\u2013 2025: 13 tackles (0.5 TFL) with 1 PD, 0.5 sacks across 6 games (5 starts)
\u2013 Career: 799 defensive snaps (700 B-gap, 54 A-gap, 42 over tackle)
\u2013 173 defensive snaps in 2025 (149 B-gap, 13 A-gap, 10 over tackle)
\u2013 Pro Football Focus\u2019 No. 51 DL in 2025 among 2026 draft-eligible players (259 total); No. 38 run defender, No. 146 pass rusher
\u2013 117 tackles (46 TFL), 18 sacks during junior season of HS (40 tackles, 2 sacks senior year)<\/p>\n

Injury History<\/p>\n

\u2013 2020: possible nagging knee injury<\/a> as HS senior
\u2013 2021: missed spring game<\/a> with hyperextended elbow
\u2013 2023: arthroscopic knee surgery<\/a> after being hurt in season opener against Navy; returned one month later against Ohio State
\u2013 2024: fractured foot July 31<\/a> (second metatarsal) and had surgery, returning to the lineup Oct. 12
\u2013 2025: missed final six games of 2025 due to left elbow injury sustained versus NC State<\/p>\n

Bio<\/p>\n

\u2013 Turns 23 in July 2026
\u2013 Four-star recruit from St. Louis, Missouri
\u2013 Chose Notre Dame over Georgia, Iowa, Ohio State, Missouri, and several other major programs
\u2013 Father, Angel, was drafted by Steelers in seventh round of 1998 NFL Draft as star player at SE Missouri (330 tackles, 21.5 sacks, inducted into school\u2019s HOF in 2014) and later traded to 49ers; played in two games for Cardinals in 1999, making six tackles
\u2013 Father became a fireman after his football career (currently fire captain<\/a> in Wentzville, Missouri) and served as Gabriel\u2019s high school d-line coach, saying he coached his son since he first began playing football (\u201cI told him his freshman year that he was better than I was at his age and he uses that as motivation to continue to work hard for his dreams,\u201d he once said<\/a>)
\u2013 Gabriel wants to become fireman after his football career, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father
\u2013 Mother, Theresa, was a middle hitter volleyball for SE Missouri (over 1,000 career kills) and now runs highly successful cookie shop<\/a> started by her grandmother
\u2013 High school HC was Arlen Harris, who had 34-carry, 81-yard, 3-TD game against Steelers in 2003
\u2013 Played LT and DL in high school
\u2013 Regarded for high work ethic and toughness, Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman once calling him \u201chigh motor, high energy\u201d<\/a>
\u2013 Earned first start in 2024 College Football Playoffs, replacing the injured Rylie Mills
\u2013 Has several siblings who play(ed) sports; sister in soccer, brother who is a DT at Southwest Baptist, another brother who wrestled in high school<\/p>\n

Tape Breakdown<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s selection of Notre Dame DL Gabriel Rubio in the sixth round, No. 210 overall, of Saturday\u2019s draft came as a surprise. Few had him on their draft radar and candidly I didn\u2019t have any information on him. It\u2019s rare for a Steelers pick to surprise in such a way, but Rubio did.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s not hard to understand why Pittsburgh thought highly of him. On profile, he has a build that\u2019s increasingly difficult for the Steelers to find. A defensive lineman who is at least 6-5, 300 pounds, with 33-plus inch arms. Just not many of those dudes, and those who meet those benchmarks stand out.<\/p>\n

Rubio doesn\u2019t just look the part. He plays the role well, too. He\u2019s a run-stuffing defensive lineman who holds the point of attack and is hard to move off his spot. I was eager to watch his 2024 matchup against Penn State OG Vega Ioane, a 2026 first round pick, and Rubio held his own in their reps (Ioane is the LG below).<\/p>\n

He showed it in 2025, too. More clips of him stopping the run. Watch the last one of him decleating fourth-round RB Mike Washington Jr. against Arkansas.<\/p>\n

Rubio plays with energy and a good motor. He chases hard after the ball, though his poor foot speed means he often can\u2019t make the play. Still, his demeanor and attitude, instilled in him by a hard-working family who takes pride in their last name, is easy to feel on tape.<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t offer much as a rusher, but his motor allows him to clean up reps and finish, like this sack against Purdue (going against No. 55). I added a second clip of the game that shows a Rubio swipe to get A-gap pressure.<\/p>\n

He was effective on stunts and can generate pressure up the middle.<\/p>\n

Still, Rubio was taken off the field on passing downs for good reason. He fights hard to win but doesn\u2019t do so quickly enough and too often \u201cdances\u201d with his blocker, unable to slip past them. He\u2019s stiff-hipped and struggles to change directions or close gaps on zone\/perimeter runs. Some of these holes were open and it would\u2019ve been tough for anyone to make the play, but Rubio\u2019s lack of closing speed is still clear.<\/p>\n

Example of an unsuccessful pass rush rep. Good effort but not a lot of productivity.<\/p>\n

His medical history is checkered, and it\u2019s one reason why he feels so unknown. A left elbow injury knocked him out of the last six games of 2025. He missed the first half of the 2024 season after breaking his foot in camp. He missed a month in 2023 with a knee injury.<\/p>\n

One report even cited knee trouble as a high school senior, which would explain the massive drop in production from having more tackles for a loss as a junior than he had total tackles as a senior (I assume he also started receiving much more attention from opponents, but the contrast is sharp).<\/p>\n

Rubio had less than 800 defensive snaps in five years at Notre Dame. That\u2019s underwhelming.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/p>\n

Overall, Gabriel Rubio is a strong and throwback defensive lineman who is hard to find these days. Stout against the run, he works hard and showed consistently plus-level run defense reps. His pass rush is minimal though his motor gives him a little bit of value on extended plays.<\/p>\n

Like several other of Pittsburgh\u2019s Day 3 selections, his floor is higher than his ceiling. He could become a rotational base defensive end in the Steelers\u2019 3-4 system. If anything, the most notable part of this pick is recognition that despite a new coaching staff, the organization has the same profile it wants in its defensive linemen.<\/p>\n

Rubio\u2019s game reminds me a little bit of Lawrence Guy\u2019s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A scouting report on Pittsburgh Steelers sixth-round selection, Notre Dame defensive lineman Gabriel Rubio. N0. 97 Gabriel Rubio\/DL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":607751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,263820,398,396,397,1321,99,3795,15241],"class_list":{"0":"post-607750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-gabriel-rubio","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-trending","16":"tag-weekly"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/607751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}