New York Jets defensive end John Franklin-Myers looks back on pre-draft scouting report
Winless after the first two weeks of the 2021 season, anyone representing the New York Jets could use a laugh at this point in time.
John Franklin-Myers found one and then some through his pre-draft scouting report. The New York defensive lineman, who has earned a sack in each of the team’s first two games, read off the professional forecast formed shortly before the 2018 draft in a video released by the Jets.
.@J_FranklinMyers looking at his pre-draft scouting report like 🤔 pic.twitter.com/wfSeMuDPxm
— New York Jets (@nyjets) September 25, 2021
Franklin-Myers finds most of the comedy through reading his supposed weaknesses, which include “doesn’t wow with his athleticism or length” and “lacks bend as a rusher.” As he speaks, footage of Franklin-Myers defying those weaknesses throughout the 2021 preseason and regular season is shown.
The scouts aren’t all mean to Franklin-Myers, who reads that his game film is “full of him bludgeoning blockers across from him” and that he carries “bang behind his pads that can knock opponents off-balance when his leverage is right.” Despite the early comedy, he refers to the scouting report as a “fair assessment,” giving its author(s) a B.
Franklin-Myers was eventually chosen by the Los Angeles Rams out of Stephen F. Austin in the fourth round of the 2018 draft. He partook in the Rams’ run to Super Bowl LIII where he recorded a strip-sack on Tom Brady before the Jets claimed him off waivers in Sept. 2019.
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Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich offered a unanimously optimistic scouting report prior to the Jets’ home opener against the New England Patriots last week.
“There have been times in his career where he majored as an outside rusher, there’s times in his career where he was primarily an inside rusher. I think the best way to utilize his skillset is a little bit of both, and that’s what we’re trying to feature with him,” Ulbrich said per notes from the Jets.
“When he has an opportunity to do a little bit of both, he’s very dynamic in that way, because he’s got maybe a little bit more power than a traditional edge guy, so he can overwhelm a tackle in some ways. But then he’s got more speed and quickness, change of direction than some of the insiders, so he can be a mismatch for guards too.”
Ulbrich concludes, “I think the more we can utilize and the more we can take advantage of his versatility, the better. I would anticipate him having a really good year for us, a career year for himself.”
Franklin-Myers and the Jets (0-2) will go for their first win of the season on Sunday afternoon in Denver (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags