Drake Jackson 2022 NFL Draft Profile
If college players could declare after their freshman year, Drake Jackson would’ve been a top-10 pick. His freshman year at USC was outstanding, and things kind of went downhill from there. While there are some traits that will intrigue scouts and GMs, there is quite a bit that has some worried, including myself. Trying to project where Jackson could end up is anyone’s guess. Here is our 2022 NFL Draft Profile on Drake Jackson.
The only number I could find on Jackson from the combine is his vertical, which in it itself is impressive at 36.5″. I don’t see any 40 times or anything like that.
A fun story I want to add here quickly, is apparently Jackson’s father asked the hospital to put “Drake Jackson from the University of Southern California, starting linebacker at 260 lbs” on his birth certificate. Maybe his father is a time traveler.
Drake Jackson was a freshman All-American at USC, and his stats continued to fall after that year. He has nice bend to get around tackles as an edge rusher. He stays low on speed moves and has quick feet to help him out. Jackson has long arms and is very loose-limbed and uses his frame well. When asked to drop into coverage, he actually doesn’t look bad. He just wasn’t asked to do it a whole lot. It will be interesting to see if any team asks him to do it more.
Jackson lacks strength. Plain and simple. A guy his size and frame should be at least somewhat powerful. From what I have seen, Jackson lacks power moves, and being a one-trick pony in the NFL won’t cut it. This goes into his base as well, because once he starts getting redirected by a tackle, he isn’t getting off that block. He is not someone you want at the point of attack. He can tackle….alright. But he relies on arm tackling too much, which means he is likely to have a lot of broken tackles at the next level.
The tape tells me that Drake Jackson is a late Day 2, early Day 3 prospect. I don’t see a whole lot that I like. As I said, if players could declare after their freshman year, he gets picked in the top-10. Easy. Now? I wouldn’t touch Jackson in the top 75 picks, at minimum. There are much better players to select with those picks. Sorry about it.
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