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The Post breaks down linebackers and defensive linemen in Part 3 of our five-part NFL Draft preview. Next week: running backs and offensive linemen.
The land of fussball is starting to produce some very good football players.
Bjoern Werner is just the latest German import to make a name for himself playing American football, and scouts say the Florida State defensive end could end up being the best of the bunch.
Patriots offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer and Giants defensive tackle Markus Kuhn have made their mark here ahead of him, but neither German prompted the buzz among coaches and scouts that currently surrounds Werner ahead of the April 25-27 NFL Draft.
Several prominent analysts rate the 6-foot-3, 266-pound Werner the best pass-rushing end available, with some comparing him favorably with Vikings sackmaster Jared Allen.
At least one prominent draft expert — former Cowboys personnel chief Gil Brandt — went so far as to rank Werner the second-best prospect in the draft behind Texas A&M offensive tackle Luke Joeckel.
All of which is a mind-blowing to the 23-year-old Werner, a Berlin native who didn’t take up American football until age 12 and has been playing the tackle version of the sport for a mere eight years.
“Just being here right now and all my friends watching me right now is just amazing,” Werner recently said at the scouting combine in Indianapolis. “It’s amazing to be here and go through all this.”
Equally amazing has been Werner’s ascent on the football field since signing with the Seminoles after an up-and-down stint at a prep school in Connecticut.
Blessed with exceptionally quick feet (which Werner credits to playing soccer growing up) to go with his long arms and tenacious style, Werner turned himself into the ACC Defensive Player of the Year with 13 sacks by his junior season.
Already married and figuring he had nothing else to accomplish in college, Werner declared for the draft and is aiming to unseat Vollmer (taken 58th overall in 2009) as the highest-drafted German native ever.
Unfortunately for NFL teams, Werner also is by far the best of an otherwise weak crop of conventional, hand-on-the-ground players capable of playing both defensive end spots this year.
There are top-notch pass rushers available, to be sure, led by Oregon’s Dion Jordan and Barkevious Mingo of LSU, but they are viewed as strictly right (rush) ends or outside linebackers depending on the defensive scheme of the team that drafts them.
Defensive-line depth in the draft this year is considered much greater inside. Explosive tackles capable of holding their own (or more) in the 4-3 or as the nose in a 3-4 are plentiful, led by extremely athletic Florida run-stuffer Sharrif Floyd.
Utah tackle Star Lotulelei had been rated even higher than Floyd, but has seen his stock fluctuate this offseason because of concerns about a heart condition that might (or might not) have been answered by a clean bill of health from a school physician this week.
If teams are scared off by Lotulelei, there’s plenty
of talent still available for teams needing interior help. The most intriguing tackle is SMU’s Margus Hunt, a former soldier from Estonia who is very raw but stands 6-foot-8 and has impressed scouts with his work ethic.
Linebacker, meanwhile, is considered extremely weak when 3-4 pass rushers are excluded.
The bizarre fake-girlfriend controversy combined with a terrible bowl performance and poor-to-mediocre workouts appear to have sent Notre Dame star Manti Te’o’s stock plummeting, and scouts seem almost as down on Georgia’s Jarvis Jones after a rocky offseason.
bhubbuch@nypost.com