New York Jets statistical scouting report: Jonathan Marshall

New York Jets DT Jonathan Marshall boasts a historically great athletic profile to go along with excellent production, but his late breakout is a concern. Athletic profile Jonathan Marshall is a world-class athlete for a defensive tackle. He carries a slightly larger than average frame for the position (6-foot-3 and 310 pounds) and posted elite marks in every drill he participated in at his pro day. Here are Marshall's pro day measurements and how they stack up against all defensive tackles who have data on record since 2000: Height: 6' 3⅛" (62nd percentile) Weight: 310 pounds (65th) Wingspan: 76¾" (17th) Arm length: 32¼" (20th) Hand size: 9½" (23rd) 10-yard split: 1.67 seconds (89th) 20-yard split: 2.70 seconds (91st) 40-yard dash: 4.88 seconds (92nd) Vertical jump: 32" (80th) Broad jump: 114" (93rd) Bench press: 36 reps (93rd) Marshall earned a Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 9.99 out of 10, the second-best score ever recorded by a defensive tackle out of 1,309 qualifiers since 1987. https://twitter.com/MathBomb/status/1388594605705383937 Role/usage Marshall handled a heavy workload in the Arkansas defense. He ranked third in the country among interior defensive linemen with 633 total defensive snaps and fourth with 63.3 defensive snaps per game, taking the field for 79.2% of Arkansas' defensive snaps on the season. For comparison's sake, Washington's Daron Payne led NFL interior defensive linemen with 55.1 snaps per game in 2020. The nose tackle position was Marshall's primary home. He lined up over the center on 54.2% of his snaps in 2020. He played 1-technique (over the center's shoulder) on 10.9% of his plays and either the 3 or 4i-technique (guard's outside shoulder or tackle's inside shoulder) on 34.8% of his plays. On the 290 snaps in which he did not play nose tackle, Marshall lined up on the left side of the defensive line more frequently than the right, posting a 66%/34% left-right split on his non-nose tackle snaps. Positives Underrated pass rushing ability The "1.0" listed under "Sacks" on Marshall's stats page is an eyesore, but it's completely misleading. Despite managing to collect only one sack in 2020, he was actually an impressive pass rusher. Marshall picked up 29 pressures, which ranked sixth among FBS interior defensive linemen and second at the position in the SEC behind only second-round pick Christian Barmore. It's worth noting that Marshall did benefit greatly from a high volume of opportunities, as he ranked fourth in pass-rush snaps (337), but his pressure rate of 8.6% still placed at the position's 80th percentile, which is solid. His Pro Football Focus pass rushing grade of 71.2 ranked at the 82nd percentile. Run defense Showcasing two-way capability, Marshall was also active in the run game. He ranked 12th among FBS interior defensive linemen with 20 run stops. However, similar to the passing game, he was able to rack up high-volume totals thanks to his substantial amount of playing time, but his efficiency wasn't as elite. His run stop rate of 6.9% ranked at the 73rd percentile among qualifiers at the position; solid for a college player, but not so much for a redshirt senior who is headed to the NFL. On the contrary, Marshall posted an elite run defense grade at PFF, as his 80.4 grade against the run ranked at the position's 93rd percentile. The primary reason for Marshall's top-notch grade at PFF was the fact that his run stops were typically destructive. His average depth-of-tackle against the run was 1.26 yards downfield, ranking at the position's 83rd percentile. That tells us he did a great job making stops close to or behind the line of scrimmage. Marshall was one of only 15 qualified Power-5 interior defensive linemen to post a run stop rate above 6.5% and an average depth-of-tackle against the run of under 1.5 yards. 2019 flashes Marshall did not become a full-time starter until 2020, but in 2019, he flashed promise in a limited role, specifically as a pass rusher. He posted a superb pressure rate of 14.2% (18 pressures on 127 pass-rush snaps), which ranked second-best among FBS defensive tackles. Negatives Performance against top competition While Marshall thrived against an SEC schedule, he did his best work against the lesser offensive lines that he faced and did not stand out against the stronger ones. Over four games in 2020 against offenses that ranked top-50 (out of 130 FBS teams) in PFF's pass blocking grade, Marshall averaged only 1.5 pressures per game. He averaged 3.8 pressures per game in his other six contests. Across six games against offenses that ranked top-50 in PFF's run blocking grade, Marshall posted an average PFF run defense grade of 68.1, compared to 73.6 in his other four games. Each of Marshall's four worst-graded performances against the run came against top-50 run blocking teams. However, it's worth noting that Marshall's highest-graded performance as a run defender (89.4) in 2020 came against Alabama's 15th-ranked run blocking offense, featuring future Eagles second-round pick Landon Dickerson at center. This was Marshall's final game of the season, so it was a nice showing of progress after he struggled in each of his previous games against great run blocking units. Age/Late breakout Coming into the NFL off of his redshirt senior season, Marshall is going to turn 24 years old on September 16. He is 80 days older than Quinnen Williams. It took Marshall a while to find his footing. Already entering college with an extra year under his belt (he came to Arkansas in the year he turned 19, rather than the typical 18) Marshall redshirted his freshman season and then did little as a rotational player in his redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons. From 2017-18, he had measly numbers of a 5.1% pressure rate and a 3.1% run stop rate, collecting grand totals of just 11 pressures and seven run stops over 14 games and 446 snaps across the two seasons. As a 22-year-old redshirt junior in 2019, Marshall played career-highs of 10 games and 311 snaps while showing some intriguing potential as we noted earlier, but he was still only a rotational player despite being the same age as many NFL defensive tackles. It's worth noting that Marshall was playing behind future Broncos third-round pick McTelvin Agim, but it is concerning that Marshall was still a backup at 22 years old. Marshall finally broke out at 23 years old in 2020. Breaking out late is not an end-all-be-all, but players of this ilk tend to succeed less often than those who burst onto the scene much earlier in their collegiate careers. With picks at the end of the draft being so unlikely to succeed, Day 3 is the perfect time to roll the dice on high-ceiling, low-floor prospects. Marshall may be elderly for an NFL draft pick and has question marks on tape about his overall technique (specifically his ability to hold his ground against double teams), but his all-time great athletic profile makes him a worthy gamble with the 207th overall pick. Joe Douglas' decision to draft a defensive tackle despite his team's high level of talent at the position should not be seen as questionable to any extent. Even if the Jets are loaded along the defensive line right now, there's no telling how the unit will look in the future with numerous contracts set to expire soon. Folorunso Fatukasi, John Franklin-Myers, and Nathan Shepherd are all going to hit free agency after the 2021 season, while the Jets can easily escape Sheldon Rankins' contract. Drafting solely to fill present-day needs isn't the way to go - you have to consider long-term needs as well, and defensive tackle could very well be a need in a year's time. Additionally, it doesn't make a ton of sense to overvalue needs at a point of the draft where the odds of a pick panning out are so astronomically low anyway. Marshall's explosiveness should make him a good fit in a defense where Robert Saleh and Jeff Ulbrich are placing a premium on defensive linemen who can get off the ball in a hurry and make things happen in the passing game, while devaluing their ability to eat up space and clog up gaps against the run. This is a scheme where one-gappers (penetrators) are valued over two-gappers (ground-holders), and Marshall is certainly the former. Looking at the Jets' depth chart up front, there is room for competition behind the top dogs. Marshall should have the opportunity to compete with Nathan Shepherd and Tanzel Smart for the fourth spot in the Jets' interior defensive line rotation behind Williams, Rankins, and Fatukasi (fifth spot if you consider Franklin-Myers as an IDL rather than an EDGE). Specifically, Marshall could establish himself as the backup nose tackle to Fatukasi. Marshall is going to be an interesting player to watch develop. The finer points of his game need work and it may be a longshot for him to iron them out after taking such a long time to break out in college, but he is quite simply one of the most athletic defensive tackles in NFL history. Can he do what needs to be done to maximize those tools?