Does Jermaine Johnson’s game film match the hype?
The New York Jets having the ability to land one of the premiere edge rushers—either Aidan Hutchinson or Kayvon Thibodeaux—is the current NFL draft dream at No. 4.
Although many fans have already written that possibility off, the mindset of the day should be to assume the worst and hope for the best. And this leads us to the next tier of pass rushers, George Karlaftis and Jermaine Johnson.
We recently covered Karlaftis’s college tape, and it became clear that his hypothetical selection at No. 10 would be no consolation prize for Joe Douglas and company. But what about the other guy, the Florida State edge rusher?
The full Jermaine Johnson film breakdown is available to all readers at the bottom of this article.
Jermaine Johnson helped his cause in a major way at the 2022 Reese’s Senior Bowl. He seemingly raised his stock from a late first-round or early second-round selection to a possible top-10 pick, while turning an incredible number of heads in the process.
Although Senior Bowl performances are a tricky thing—as those narratives have hurt teams in prior years—Johnson’s collegiate tape is worth the hype.
Johnson’s film tells a particular story worth sharing, as this is especially the case for edge rushers and wide receivers. The way the Senior Bowl practices are formatted, those position groups are poised to dominate.
Nevertheless, answers were found when analyzing the kid’s game film.
Is Jermaine Johnson worth the 10th overall pick? Is he getting too much hype? How does he stack up against the other top edge rushers?
All of this, including much more, is discussed in the latest edition of Blewett’s Blitz (over an hour of film breakdown).
Jermaine Johnson YouTube Clip and Podcast Episode
Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
- Length
- Burst off the line
- Stacks blockers well in the run game
- Pop in hands
- Effort
- Smart against the run, reads and misdirection
- Sets strong edge
- Lateral agility
- Active hands
- Uses his length against the rushing attack
- Rush moves include swipes, chops, bull-jerk, spins, long arms, leaping chop/swipes
- Tackle radius
- Snap timing/coil
- Quick
- Power in hand control of o-lineman
- Bring some thump behind hits
- Ankle flexion
- Motor
- Change of direction
Weaknesses
- Inconsistent leverage
- Needs more direct bull rush angles
- Lacks consistent pass rush plan
- Needs to eat up more ground while trying to soften rush angles
- Good but not great athlete (bend/twitch)
- Not sure what his calling card is
- Raw in many pass rush aspects
- Needs to be more forceful with hands as a pass rusher
- Rarely saw him take the inside as rusher
- Needs to use an array of pass rush moves more often
- Can force spin moves
- Can struggle to disengage once engaged
- Hand placement can be high and wide
- Too often relies on short strides/crossovers as he approaches offensive lineman
- Bullrush cut short because of leverage
- Little tight as he corners
- Can read tackles set more consistently
- Average flexibility
