Category: 2021 Player Profiles

STRENGTHS
Jaylen is an impact receiver with the ability to make an impact play every time he touches the ball. He has good size and excellent quickness and along with his speed, this makes him dangerous up against single coverage. Jaylen can be physical and can catch the contested pass. His quickness gives him the ability to get open inside the red zone. His quickness also allows him to be an impact returner on punts and kicks. Jaylen is the type of player who doesn’t have to touch the ball many times in a game to impact that game. He’s a home run threat any down or distance and anyplace on the field. Jaylen reminds me a lot of Sammy Watkins.

CONCERNS
Jaylen has to be more physical when running his routes. He is not an aggressive or passionate blocker so using him in the slot is not a great idea unless you want to give away that the play you are about to run is not a running play to his side. He runs his deep routes with excellent passion but he doesn’t run all of his routes with that same attention to detail and passion. Of course, his injured ankle and how well it has healed, and how much that might affect him in the future, is also an issue. Some teams might think it will be a chronic situation affecting his ability to stay on the field. Jaylen is most cases, is lined up off the line of scrimmage or is put on the move or lined up in a cluster of 3 receivers, off the line. In most cases that means at the next level if not used the same way, he will struggle getting off the line against physical corners until he learns the tricks of the trade.

BOTTOM LINE 1.83
Right now, Jaylen projects as an impact receiver and special teams player, but not as a franchise receiver and that is a big difference for me. That’s doesn’t mean he won’t and should not, be selected early but it does affect (for me and some teams) at what point in the draft do you select him. I believe if you’re a playoff team needing an impact player he is a perfect fit. If you’re a team that doesn’t have a franchise receiver now, selecting Jaylen to fit that bill might be asking too much of him. Sammy Watkins was the 4th pick of the 2014 draft and has played for 3 different teams. Nevertheless, Sammy has still made a lot of money so when comes down to it, maybe being an impact receiver instead of a franchise receiver is enough for Jaylen to be selected just as early. I wouldn’t do it but then again I’m not picking, I’m just talking to myself.

STRENGTHS
Rashawn is a quick-twitch athlete who happens to play offensive line. He is also a technically sound offensive lineman with the ability to play multiple positions on a team’s offensive line. He is quick out of his stance and shows the foot speed to go to the second level with ease to make blocks. He also has the athleticism and fluidness to be used on screens and sweeps but is stout enough to handle bull rushes too. Rashawn uses excellent techniques when pass blocking and excellent leverage when run blocking and because of his quickness and high football IQ should be able to play ANY position on the offensive line. When you watch Rashawn on film you can’t help comparing him to former Notre Dame tackle Zack Martin who was drafted and moved inside to guard because of his size, athleticism and quickness out of his stance. It’s very likely that the same thing will happen to Rashawn but don’t be mistaken, Rashawn can easily play the tackle position at the next level and at a high level, and that should make him a targeted early selection in this draft.

CONCERNS
That’s it, size…that’s the only issue teams might get hung up on in selecting Rashawn early in this draft. Of course, you must know by now those are the teams who are selecting early in the draft every year.

BOTTOM LINE 1.42
In my opinion Rashawn should be a top fifteen pick but, I’m not drafting, I’m just giving you my opinion. I’m sure if you gave him some time to learn he could play center as well as either guard or either tackle position. I really don’t care where he plays on a team’s offensive line, all I would care about (if I was a GM or Head Coach) is making sure I had a shot at selecting him as early as I could. You build your, team, from the lines out. The exception being the QB position. As I have stated in other profiles, my skill positions on offense are different than most others. I feel QB, LT, OC is the skill positions, and if you don’t select those positions as early as the talent suggests then you will not have a playoff offense. Rashawn is a Left Tackle and he can play Left Tackle in spite of his size because of his athleticism, high football IQ and character and, excellent techniques. If you want your team to pass on selecting all of that because he is only 6’ 3”… all I can say is I’m sure I’ll be watching you pick in the top ten next year once again.

STRENGTHS
Caleb is a smart, athletic corner, with outstanding overall athletic talent. He has the length and strength to outduel any size opponent when the ball is in the air to intercept the ball. He has very good speed and the change of direction agility to run back punts and kicks on special teams. He is a good tackler and comes up quickly to support the run. Caleb has the leadership skills and tackling skills to play the free safety position. He is also an outstanding zone coverage defensive back, who has excellent instincts and special awareness to make impact plays. Caleb shows leadership skills through his play on the field and in zone coverage communicates well with his teammates. His coverage skills make Caleb the type of corner that will cover the opponent’s top receiver in single coverages making Caleb, a complete defensive back, the kind all 32 teams will want to select early in this draft.

CONCERNS
As I always say, you can nit-pick any player into not selecting them but as I also always say…when you see the obvious, draft the obvious, and don’t look back.

BOTTOM LINE 1.40
Caleb is a pure cover corner with the zone skills and tackling skills to allow him to play other positions but why bother. Let him play on the outside and do the job he was made to do. Don’t overthink the process, let Caleb cover the best receiver on the opponent’s team and worry about the other players on defense. Caleb will do his job and do it to the best of his abilities and trust me, you want those abilities on your defense and you want those abilities to impact, and they will. In single coverage or in zone coverage Caleb will impact and be the type of corner you can build your passing defense around. He is a cornerstone type of player. So be smart, set your cornerstone, and start to build.

STRENGTHS
Landon is a quality football player who can play any one of the interior line positions and possibly even the tackle position, in certain situations. That being said, his impact position is at center. He is stout against the bull rush with quick feet to go out to the second level and make his blocks. Landon possesses just enough lateral agility and quickness to stop those pesky one gap attack defensive tackles. Add to that, his excellent overall strength and leverage to control his opponent at the line of scrimmage and you have a top offensive lineman who can play multiple positions on the offensive line. Landon has the athletic talent to be used on sweeps, screens, and as a pulling center or guard inside the hash marks or outside the hash marks. He has excellent leadership skills and his enthusiasm is infectious. He reminds me a lot of the Cowboys Zack Martin.

CONCERNS
As with most offensive lineman, injury history will be the biggest concern for most teams but in this case, although he has some injures I don’t believe there is anything that might turn any team off to selecting him early in this draft.

BOTTOM LINE 1.41
My three skill positions on offense are QB, LT, OC, in that order. I wouldn’t hesitate to take potentially great players at those three positions in the top ten of any draft. Others, value the WR and RB positions along with the QB position but for me, if you don’t have excellent players at the QB, LT, OC position you will not have a good offense or be able to build an offense. I also value players who can play multiple positions in multiple styles of systems. Landon can play multiple positions on your offensive line with the athletic talent, leadership, and character that every team needs to be successful. Zack Martin was the 16th pick of the 1st round of the 2014 draft. In that draft, I told you Zack has top ten talent. In this draft, I’m telling you Landon has top ten talent. Now I know, teams selecting in the first round might not value the offensive center position as high as I do but, as I stated before if you don’t have excellent talent at the QB, LT, OC positions (IMO) you haven’t got a chance in hell of reaching the playoffs. Now I know, some of you are thinking that you can get a great offensive center in free agency. But the truth is, you don’t find excellent players at those three positions in free agency very often. They may fall in your lap out of dumb luck because of cap situations but it’s not very likely. So, selecting them early in the draft seems like a no brainer to me.

STRENGTHS
Jamie has the size and arm strength teams are looking for in a quarterback to compete at the next level. He shows on film the ability to make the difficult pass and the ability to move in the pocket and move the chains on third down when it’s required of him. Jamie works well in the shotgun and in a spread offense. That being said, Jamie needs a very good senior bowl week to prove and answer a lot of questions teams will have of him.

CONCERNS
What I see on film of the 2019 season, is a player who has slow feet to set up and struggles to make decisions coming off his first read. Jamie must show (in his year of working out) that he has improved his ability to set up from under center without it affecting his mechanics and accuracy. He also has to prove that he can go more than one progression, not eyeball his target, and have quicker feet in and out of the pocket.

BOTTOM LINE 4.00
What I saw from his 2019 Wake Forest film is a player who has good enough athletic talent to play at the next level but lacks the attention to detail, to compete at the next level. Maybe a year of working out with a QB coach will help him but I don’t care how well he does in senior bowl week under a controlled situation, until he gets on an NFL team and start to work with that type of talent, it is very hard for me to think of him as anything more than developmental and long-range player at that. For me personally, I would let someone else do all the developmental work and wait until his first contract is up to see where he is, at that point of his career. But that’s just me personally. Senior Bowl week will be big for Jamie and if he shines he good attract some teams to select him because he does have the talent teams are looking for at that position and… he has been working out for a whole year to improve. Nevertheless, the Senior Bowl is a controlled Quarterback situation and the NFL is not.

STRENGTHS
Hamsah has the potential to play multiple positions on your defense. He also has the athletic talent to play on the offensive side of the ball. He is a tackling machine with the hands to intercept the ball like a receiver. Hamsah has the change of direction agility to intercept the ball and return it all the way. Because of his ability to catch the ball and change of direction agility, I have no doubt he could return punts on special teams, and certainly, because he is a tackling machine… could be on your cover units. Hamsah has the size, length, mental strength, work ethic, tackling mentality, and potential cover skills of a cornerback, to become the type of defensive player teams can build their defense around. You just have to figure out where you’re going to play him.

CONCERNS
I’m not sure if Hamsah has recovered fully from his leg injury but I am sure that he has the work ethic to recover for sure. His combine workouts will be a big part of his evaluations. Hamsah is a developmental player until you get him on the field and then he seems to be an impact player with developmental skills…big difference.

BOTTOM LINE 1.86
I think the biggest issue with selecting Hamsah is what position in your defense to develop him at? Do you bulk him up and he plays linebacker like Bills Tremaine Edwards or is he a Safety like Jordan Poyer or will he be a cover corner like Miami CB Xavien Howard? That is the type of potential Hamsah has athletically and football IQ wise. He has first-round talent but his workouts will be the key to his draft status. Linebacker Tremaine Edwards ran a 4.5, 10 yards was 1.60 and was a 1st round selection. Safety Jordan Poyer ran 4.5, 10-yard split was 1.51 and was a 7th round selection and Cornerback Xavien Howard ran 4.5, 10 yard split 1.61 and was a 2nd Round Selection. So, what am I suggesting? I’m suggesting that position, will dictate his value to most teams that are struggling to fill positions but teams in the playoffs looking to just add talent might value him differently. For me, I’m looking at him as a weakside linebacker in a 4-2-5 defense, with the talent to cover those big, pass-catching Tight Ends and big receivers on the outside, in the red zone (if necessary). I see untapped cover skills that will surprise a lot of teams and a tackling machine who creates fumbles and interceptions because of his instincts to anticipate at the snap of the ball, to be around the ball on every play.

STRENGTHS
Travis is that “one cut I’m faster than you”, running back that teams seem to like in this league of passing offenses. He does a good job running outside the tackles and does a good job when used as a check-down receiver. Travis should impact in a spread offense because of his pure speed and ability to outrun opponents to the next level. He reminds me a lot of another Clemson running back select as the 9th pick in the 1st round of the 2010 draft, by the Buffalo Bills.

CONCERNS
Travis lacks a few skills and qualities needed to be a franchise back like most “media” are suggesting. He lacks vision, lateral explosion to make players miss him and the mental strength to take the pounding at the next level. He also can be “upended” with arm tackles and that is another issue that will bother some teams enough not to select him early in this draft.

BOTTOM LINE 2.72
C J Spiller played for 5 different teams in his career and had one season where he rushed for a thousand yards. These days, I think NFL offenses run a lot of the same offenses plays as colleges so, Travis may be able to impact more than Spiller did. Nevertheless, his impact will depend on play calling and the right offensive system because of his lack of any lateral agility to make opponents miss him in the open field and between the tackles. It’s hard to say what round Travis could be selected in so watching Rob’s board is the way to go if you are a team that believes that Travis is the man for your team. I would guess because he comes from a big program with production and speed he will be a first-day pick for some teams but there will be others who might feel different and that means he could slide into the 2nd or even the 3rd round of this draft. Remember Travis in a spread offense could be a top back at the next level and in fairness to C J Spiller, spread offenses were not the norm for the NFL teams in 2010, as they are today. For me personally…I like players with a little more multi-positional skill set and athletic talent. But that’s just me.

STRENGTHS
Najee is a multi-talented, multi-faceted, multi-position type of football player that every team needs to have a threatening offense on every down and distance. Now you see Najee in the backfield, now you don’t…now you see him in the slot, now you don’t…now you see him lined up outside, now you don’t. It’s like trying to find Waldo in that team’s offense. Najee shows on film, excellent running back skills with the visual balance and strength to break tackles. He has good lateral agility and burst to make opponents miss him in the hole and that is why he is the type of back who can run between the tackles or take it outside and beat you around the corner. He also has this unique ability and skill to hurdle opponents like a gazelle in the open field and gain yardage when it looks like there is no yardage to gain. Najee reminds me a lot, in his style of play and high football IQ, of the Saints Alvin Kamara. I call him “Waldo” because defenses will have to try and find him on every down and distance and account for him or he will disappear into the end zone for six points.

CONCERNS
There’s not much in the concern department except to question, his ability to pick up the blitz and pass block? The truth is, I don’t think with his receiving skills that the ability to block or not to block in the backfield, is really an issue for teams to be concerned with.

BOTTOM LINE 1.61
Najee, like Alvin Kamara, is a weapon to be used all over your offense. You don’t keep him in the backfield to block. You either hand the ball off to him, throw the ball to him or, use him on play-action as a decoy. Nevertheless, if your offensive coordinator is not very good and decides to use him for blocking, I have no doubt that Najee could block just as well as anything else he does on the field. There is this ridiculous theory out there that you don’t select RB’s in the 1st round. In a lot of cases, I tend to agree because most running backs are one positional players and not complete players but, that is not the case with Najee. He is a weapon and a complete back with receiving skills and the ability to run routes like a wide receiver. Najee is a weapon who has played and dominated one of the best divisions in college football, in bowl games and championship games. So, if you think your offense doesn’t want to add that type of weapon to it then go ahead…follow your stupid rule. Don’t select a player who can hurdle others on the field like a gazelle. Go ahead, pass on selecting a player you can’t find where he is line up in the offense, on the game film from down to down, as you try to game plan…I dare you…stupid rule!

STRENGTHS
Carlos is a size/ speed defensive lineman with excellent talent to play at a high level for the team that selects him. He is the prototypical 4/3 defensive end with those long arms and legs that make it easy for him to get into the backfield and be disruptive. Carlos has the flexibility and change of direction skills to be an impact pass rusher. He is smart and shows good leadership skills through his play on the field. Carlos has excellent developmental potential to be a complete defensive end for the team that selects him.

CONCERNS
Carlos has excellent potential but it might take some time for him to reach it. Part of it is the defense he has been playing in, and part of it is techniques that he needs to develop, and part of it is strength and conditioning issues. He thinks too much, doesn’t explode off the line of scrimmage and change the line in his favor, loses leverage when double-teamed, and can be easily handled on running plays because he gets up too high too quickly, he also doesn’t use consistent hand skills when pass rushing.

BOTTOM LINE 1.73
If Carlos has a good week at the Senior Bowl his stock will fly up the boards quicker than you can blink. I personally think he will have a good week in fact, I think he will have such a good week that he might not play much in the game itself because coaches do not need any more information on him and will want to look at others in-game situation. Carlos in that week will have to prove that the style of defense (more than anything else) is the reason for him, not being able to show all of his skills and ability to impact consistently. He has all the tools its just, he left a lot of them in the toolbox and didn’t finish the job. I’m sure he feels he has developed into a pretty good player but I’m here to tell him and the others that Carlos is not even scratching the surface of his ability to become an impact player. On film, he gives effort on every play but still, he is too easily blocked and gives more effort after he is blocked, than before he is blocked. I don’t know if I see Carlos ever developing into a double-digit sack guy but I do see a player who should be an excellent complete defensive lineman who can stop the run as well as make the big play in the big game at the big moment, and isn’t that what the draft is all about? Remember, for Carlos the senior bowl week is big for him to be able to move up into the top 15 of this draft, otherwise, he could slip into the 2nd round.

STRENGTHS
Patrick has the size, length, athletic talent, and high football IQ every team is looking for in a defensive back. Because of his high football IQ and ability to form tackle he can be used all over your defensive backfield at any position and in any down and distance situation. He has good cover skills and is an excellent zone defensive back. He is quick to come up and support the run and seems to take more pride when he makes a tackle behind the line of scrimmage than when he makes a pass breakup…and he does both very well. He runs with a smooth gate when running side by side with his opponent, but still has the ability to change directions quickly and explode to make a play. Patrick has excellent talent but what he truly brings to the next level that only the great ones possess, is the instincts and high football IQ to decipher opponents’ plays a second before the snap of the ball. That ability is what separates him from all others in this draft. I call him Patrick (The Professor) Surtain.

CONCERNS
He is handsy for sure, and penalties early will be an issue until he learns how to better influence the officials. I liked to see him take a more leadership role. He seems to be a bit of a loner just wanting to do his job and not wanting to be responsible for others. To take advantage of his high football IQ and instincts instead of just his talent he needs to become more of a leader and be willing to play more than just one position.

BOTTOM LINE 1.40
The potential for Patrick to be more than an excellent cornerback will be in a coach’s ability to convince him to become more of a leader on the field. Patrick’s talent can be matched at the next level but his instincts, football IQ and ability to know where a play is going and what play is most likely to happen BEFORE it happens can only be matched by a few. Right now, Patrick seems to want to keep to himself on the field and although he is still an excellent player, he is not reaching all of his potential and can be even more impacting if he will allow himself to be moved all over the defensive backfield and starts to become more of a coach on the field. Either way, you can’t lose selecting Patrick early in this draft. If he never becomes the leader I think that is in him, you still will have selected one of the best corners in this draft.

STRENGTHS
Kwity has what I would call scary talent and size to play at a high level in multiple styles of defense and at multiple positions in that defense. There is quality written all over this kid. Quality in his effort, quality in his pass-rushing talent, and quality in his play as a teammate. He has excellent overall size, speed, and strength and when he is unleashed to rush the passer there is no one in this group of defensive linemen that is better. He has the speed to chase down quarterbacks and running backs all over the field like a linebacker. He also has the strength and quickness on obvious passing downs to be used over the center and in the blink of an eye, get into the backfield to be disruptive or make a play. Kwity on passing downs, is a defensive playmaker and when you see a pass-rushing defensive playmaker with his size and talent, it’s not smart to let another team select him especially, if it’s a team in your division.

CONCERNS
Kwity thinks too much and it affects his ability to be explosive and dominating consistently. He also has a bad habit (on running plays) of, dropping his head when he engages losing sight of the running back. Losing sight of a running back doesn’t allow Kwity to anticipate where the play is going allowing him to be able to shed his opponent quicker and make tackles at the line of scrimmage and or, in the backfield. It makes it look like he is hiding behind the blocker and allows the blocker to manipulate him. Technique issues are correctable issues and I’m convinced Kwity will develop and correct this at the next level.

BOTTOM LINE 1.42
Kwity just has to stop thinking so much when defending against the run. This will allow him to be more explosive off the line and cause defenders to make mistakes that he can take advantage of. Right now, he is being handled because he lacks confidence in that part of his game. As soon as Kwity gets with a linebacker who has his back in the running game and allows Kwity to just fly into the backfield and make plays, Kwity can become as destructive a defensive lineman as Hall of Fame Buffalo Bills Defensive lineman, Bruce Smith.