New York Jets rookie cornerback Jason Pinnock offers a ton of experience in one particular area, but struggled mightily in a key statistic.
Athletic profile
Jason Pinnock is a tall, lengthy cornerback with solid athleticism for his size. Here is a look at his 2020 pro day numbers and how they compare against all cornerbacks who have data on record since 2000:
- Height: 6′ 0½” (69th percentile)
- Weight: 204 pounds (88th)
- Wingspan: 78¼” (87th)
- Arm length: 32⅜” (82nd)
- Hand size: 9⅛” (48th)
- 10-yard split: 1.46 seconds (98th)
- 20-yard split: 2.61 seconds (39th)
- 40-yard dash: 4.49 seconds (50th)
- Vertical jump: 39½” (87th)
- Broad jump: 128″ (85th)
- 3-cone drill: 6.90 seconds (60th)
- 20-yard shuttle: 4.10 seconds (64th)
- Bench press: 15 reps (55th)
Pinnock recorded a Relative Athletic Score (0-to-10 scale) of 9.78, fourth-best in the 2021 draft class behind only Marco Wilson, Jaycee Horn, and Patrick Surtain.
Role/usage
Jason Pinnock was almost strictly an outside cornerback for the Pittsburgh Panthers defense. He played 82.1% of his career defensive snaps at outside cornerback.
Here is a look at Pinnock’s snap distribution in 2020:
- Outside cornerback: 84.0%
- Inside linebacker: 9.2%
- Slot cornerback: 5.9%
- Outside linebacker: 0.5%
- Free safety: 0.2%
- Strong safety: 0.2%
Pinnock played a ton of press coverage at Pittsburgh. In 2020, he played 260 press coverage snaps, the third-most in the country behind Alabama’s Patrick Surtain and Josh Jobe. Pinnock pressed the line on 74.9% of his cover snaps, the highest portion in the nation among cornerbacks with at least 100 cover snaps.
Making him a great fit for the Jets’ defense, the majority of Pinnock’s press coverage snaps involved him using a press-bail technique, as he played in an extremely zone-heavy defense. In 2020, Pinnock had an 85%/15% split between zone and man coverage reps.
Pittsburgh did blitz Pinnock a decent amount in 2020, sending him after the quarterback 10 times across nine games, but those attempts weren’t successful as he picked up zero sacks, zero hits, and one hurry.