As a two-time team captain for college football’s greatest powerhouse and one of the SEC’s most elite cover men in 2024, Malachi Moore is not your ordinary fourth-round pick.
Moore joins a New York Jets safety unit that is poised to feature heavy competition in training camp. Despite being the 130th overall pick in this year’s draft, Moore has a golden opportunity to push for a starting job.
Can he pull it off?
Let’s dive into the Alabama product’s profile.
Measurables
At 5-foot-11 and 196 pounds, Moore is a tad undersized for the position, but not to a significant degree. His height ranks in the 40th percentile among defensive back prospects, while his weight places in the 43rd percentile.
Moore’s arm length is a deficiency worth noting. His arms measured at just 29⅝”, which ranks in the 3rd percentile among defensive backs. As we will break down later, this shows up on his film in certain ways.
According to MathBomb, Moore registered a Relative Athletic Score (RAS) of 5.78 when profiled against all safeties (both SS and FS). This is poor for an NFL player; the median for drafted players typically hovers around 7.5.
(The RAS system includes every player who participates in a pro day, including many players who never play in the NFL, so it drags the system-wide averages way down. This is why the average for NFL-caliber players is actually in the 7.5 range rather than around 5.0.)
The main knock on Moore’s athletic profile is his performance in the 40-yard dash, especially for a player who carries a smaller frame. He ran an unofficial 4.57 (per MathBomb), including a 20-yard split of 2.71 and a 10-yard split of 1.61.
Based on RAS, Moore is the lowest-rated athlete in the Jets’ 2025 draft class. He is the only prospect drafted by New York who had an RAS below 8.0. The Jets ranked second in the NFL with six 8.0+ RAS players drafted, making Moore a noticeable outlier amidst the Jets’ overarching draft philosophy.
Production
Major improvement after converting to safety
Over his first four seasons at Alabama, Moore was primarily utilized as a slot corner. For the most part, his production in this role was unimpressive.
From 2020-23, Moore allowed a passer rating of 94.5 on throws into his coverage. This includes three consecutive seasons in which he allowed a passer rating of 109+ from 2021-23.
Moore also struggled as a tackler, recording a missed tackle rate of 14.2% from 2020-23.
Alabama moved Moore to safety in 2024, and he responded with a breakout year.
Across 423 snaps in coverage, Moore allowed 13-of-30 passes in his direction to be completed for 132 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. He coughed up a career-low 51.0 passer rating and earned a career-best 89.4 coverage grade from Pro Football Focus, ranking second-best among SEC safeties (min. 500 snaps). Moore trailed only Texas’ Andrew Mukuba in the category, who went on to be taken in the second round by Philadelphia.
Moore also displayed significant improvement as a tackler. He missed just five tackles in 12 games and posted a career-low 6.8% missed tackle rate.
Versatility
Moore moved all over the Crimson Tide defense in 2024. Based on PFF’s tracking, Moore played 44% of his snaps as a deep safety, 33% in the box, and 23% in the slot.
On top of handling deep coverage assignments, Moore would line up at linebacker, on the edge, or in the slot. He was a true Swiss Army knife in his final college season, and he thrived in the role.
Experience
Moore was immediately trusted by Alabama’s coaching staff when he walked onto campus as a true freshman in 2020. At 19 years old, he played 707 defensive snaps (sixth on the team) across 11 games. This is always a bright green flag; coaches usually want to make young players earn their keep, so if you’re playing a starting role as a freshman, it means you really wowed the coaches.
Over five seasons, Moore finished his college career with 3,121 defensive snaps. He started all of his games from 2023-24 and was named a team captain ahead of both seasons.
This is a player who saw a lot of football under the brightest lights in the nation.
Strengths
Tackling
Despite the missed tackle issues from earlier in his career, it is clear that Moore put in the work to become an excellent tackler in 2024. He has fundamentally sound form, and he shows a good feel for the situation, consistently using the ideal technique to give himself the best shot. Whether it’s going low, making a head-up tackle, or dropping the shoulder, Moore can get it done. He is also tenacious and embraces physicality.
Moore reads this screen pass in a hurry and closes ground for the stop.
Watch him dip beneath the lineman to evade the block. Then, the ball carrier lowers his head and tries to truck Moore, but Moore gets way low to the ground to match his physicality. Low man wins.
After the play, you see Moore’s intensity and passion, which are palpable aspects of his game.
Lined up at strong-side linebacker in a 4-3 alignment, Moore stays disciplined and protects his edge responsibility against the read option, giving the QB nowhere to go. After the play, you can see the jolt of energy that he infuses in his teammates.
Ball skills
You can see Moore’s background as a cornerback show up in coverage. With seven pass breakups and two interceptions on just 30 targets, Moore has a great feel for locating and playing the ball.
Playing man-to-man about 10 yards off the line of scrimmage, Moore recognizes the vertical route and does a good job of getting over the top of it. Reading the receivers’ eyes to recognize that the ball is coming, Moore gets physical to squeeze the receiver toward the sideline, putting himself between the ball and the receiver. He then displays impressive wherewithal by getting his head turned around to minimize the chances of a penalty flag. Moore is in perfect position to deflect the pass.
This is an example of how Moore’s lackluster 40 speed does not affect him very much when he is playing as a deep safety. He is solid at reading routes and anticipating angles, which allows him to beat defenders to the spot on vertical routes when he is already lined up 10+ yards off the ball. His lack of speed could be a larger factor if he is asked to play man coverage or pursue plays from the back side as a box defender, but as a deep safety, he has the fundamentals to overcome it.
Weaknesses
Taking on blocks
The most noticeable weakness in Moore’s game is how he takes on blocks. He is passive when taking them on, struggles to shed once engaged, and often gets moved easily. This is where his slightly undersized frame and very short arms come into play.
Moore is double-teamed at the goal line and gets plowed into the back of the end zone. It is a difficult spot for a safety, but that’s a lot of ground to give up on the football field, no matter the situation.
Moore is responsible for the edge, and Vanderbilt accounts for him with a pulling left guard. Moore does the right thing by lowering his shoulder and trying to “squeeze” the play, looking to halt the blocker in his tracks and muddy up the gap. However, Moore does not get low enough to out-leverage the guard, and with his lack of size thrown in, he gets moved off his spot, yielding a big gap that the RB stomps through unimpeded.
Moore is out in front of a QB keeper off the read-option, and he is controlled by the tight end, allowing a big chunk for a first down. The arm length really pops out here.
From the first angle, you can see that Moore actually does a nice job of engaging first and shooting his hands aggressively. He lands his hands in the TE’s chest well before the TE makes contact. However, because Moore is leaning into the punch so heavily (his weight is shifted far out in front), he does not generate much power. This is where it would help to have long arms so he can at least create extension and keep the opponent at a distance, protecting himself from the opponent recovering and getting his hands into the chest.
But since Moore’s arms are so short, he cannot create much extension. It allows the TE, who has much longer arms, to recover and fire his hands into Moore’s chest, where he establishes control by generating extension to get Moore off of him.
This rep shows that Moore’s short arms make him a mismatch for lengthy blockers. While the TE’s arm length is unknown, he (Cole Spence) is listed at 6-foot-7 and does appear to have lengthy arms. If Moore was struggling against these guys in college as a 23-year-old fifth-year player, he will have a hard time against NFL competition. It is a physical deficiency that places a cap on his ceiling, particularly as a box player.
Coverage busts
For the most part, Moore displays good instincts in zone coverage. He understands his assignments, is active in communication, and reacts to things fairly quickly.
However, Moore had an odd proneness to the occasional major blunder. He yielded two touchdowns in 2024, and while that is not a bad number in itself, they were each wide-open 36-yard touchdowns as the result of a busted coverage. He was lucky not to give up more of those.
As illustrated on the telestrator, Moore was responsible for the outside third, but got caught carrying the post route inside, losing track of the wheel route that ended up in his zone after initially looking like a non-threat. Funny enough, the commentator called this out as a “really nice design and play call by [South Carolina OC] Dowell Loggains,” a name that is all too familiar to Jets fans.
The Alabama defense is scrambling ahead of this fourth-and-1 play. When the ball is snapped, Moore is not even looking at the offense; he is still trying to direct traffic in the back end.
Moore and the Crimson Tide are obviously out of sorts on this play, and Vanderbilt takes advantage. The Commodores call play action, and the intent is to hit a quick pass in the flat for a first down, but those are covered, so the QB goes to his last resort: the deep post.
Since Moore was distracted initially, he is very late to recognize the receiver and pick him up, which puts him a step behind the receiver in coverage. The receiver takes advantage by improvising off of his post route and breaking free from Moore toward the sideline. It’s a great throw and a wide-open touchdown, with Moore yielding three-plus yards of separation.
It appears that Alabama is playing an inverted Cover 2. The Crimson Tide show Cover 1 pre-snap, but Moore, the single-high safety, is asked to drop down and play the hole, while the two outside defenders drop and split the deep halves.
Moore ranges to his left to start the rep. There are two potential threats on that side of the field, but neither ends up threatening Moore’s zone. The inside receiver runs a quick stop route while the outside receiver stays vertical along the sideline.
Moore eventually recognizes this and turns his attention to the other side of the field to scan for more threats. However, he is a tad slow to get through this process. Moore hangs onto the first two threats a beat too long and is late to pivot toward the other side. By the time he gets his eyes to the right, the receiver in his zone is already running past him. This was an opportunity to chuck the ball over Moore’s head for a potential touchdown, but luckily, the quarterback was flushed out of the pocket.
Where does Moore fit in the Jets’ safety room?
The Jets’ safety room currently appears as follows:
- Andre Cisco
- Tony Adams
- Isaiah Oliver
- Malachi Moore
- Jarius Monroe
- Jaylin Simpson
- Dean Clark (UDFA)
It’s wide-open. Nothing is stopping Moore from skyrocketing up this depth chart if he proves himself worthy.
Before he gets there, Moore has some questions to answer. Moore is a fourth-round pick with some clear weaknesses that pushed him down to that part of the draft. He is an older prospect (will turn 24 in September), is undersized, ran a lackluster 40, struggles to take on blocks, and is somewhat prone to busted coverages.
In terms of his ceiling, Moore seems fairly limited. As a 24-year-old fourth-round pick without elite size or speed, his chances of achieving stardom are low.
However, Moore’s floor is enticing for a fourth-round pick. He is a two-time team captain with obvious passion for the game, who shows solid instincts, fundamentals, and football IQ on the field. All of these things will translate smoothly to the NFL. There is always a place for someone who plays the game the right way.
Furthering the case for Moore’s floor is his track record of production. He was an instant starter at Alabama as a true freshman and logged over 3,000 defensive snaps in five seasons, notching seven interceptions and 214 tackles. In his only season as a college safety, he provided elite coverage production against SEC competition.
It is also worth noting that, while Moore’s ceiling seems limited in some ways, he only played one season at safety in college. His massive leap in just one season at safety suggests he could have long-term growth potential as he gains more experience at the position.
The Jets mostly leaned toward high-ceiling players with their moves in free agency and the draft. Moore is one of the rare exceptions. He is a bona fide high-floor prospect who you take in the early fourth round because he appears much likelier to last in the league than most other players in that part of the draft – even if his hypothetical ceiling is lower. Moore offers a high chance of becoming a valuable contributor in some capacity. His “bust” odds seem low.
At the very least, Moore’s intangibiles should make him a useful backup in his rookie season. Moore also projects as an excellent special teams player thanks to his tackling and intensity. He played well on special teams earlier in his college career, finishing with seven special teams tackles (and just one missed tackle) at Alabama.
As a ceiling, Moore could turn into a solid NFL starter if he cleans up his proneness to coverage busts and works on his technique in taking on blocks. His odds of reaching this ceiling feel very realistic.
The question is, can Moore start as a rookie? If so, which safety role should he play?
Which safety position?
In my opinion, Moore’s best role in the NFL is free safety. In this role, his weaknesses in speed and block-engagement would be minimized.
Moore’s route recognition and coverage technique help him cover deep routes effectively despite his lack of speed. Playing in a deep alignment also helps him make up ground naturally (he is already on top of the route instead of having to stay in stride from the line of scrimmage). If he were asked to take on the press coverage assignments that box safeties occasionally have to, his lack of catch-up speed would be more apparent.
Additionally, playing free safety would minimize the number of occasions in which Moore has to engage with blocks near the line of scrimmage. Until he improves that aspect of his game, the Jets should not view him as a viable option near the line of scrimmage.
The problem is that New York appears to have a wider opening at strong safety.
Free agent pickup Andre Cisco is a pure free safety, and he projects as a near-lock starter after inking a one-year, $8.5 million deal with $7.5 million guaranteed. It is the other projected starter, Tony Adams, whose spot appears more attainable, and Adams was New York’s primary strong safety in 2024.
Adams and fellow starter Chuck Clark were very interchangeable in Robert Saleh and Jeff Ulbrich’s defense, but Adams ended up leading the Jets with 387 box snaps in 2024. Adams played 51% of his snaps in the box compared to Clark’s 40%.
While Adams had a decent year (outside of a Woody Johnson-induced benching), he did not command much interest in free agency. The Jets placed a right-of-first-refusal tender on Adams, who was a restricted free agent. This meant that any team could have negotiated with Adams and potentially signed him without giving up a draft pick; the only catch was that New York could match any offer sheet that he signed.
Adams did not sign any offer sheets. He ultimately returned to New York on the tender, which is a one-year, $3.26 million contract.
With Adams coming on the cheap after a ho-hum season, his starting spot appears to be up for grabs, especially with a new regime and scheme coming in. Moore is the top candidate to give him a run for his money, but if Adams is to reprise his role as the primary box safety, Moore might not be an ideal fit to fill Adams’ shoes. That could leave Moore as a backup in 2025 until Cisco’s free safety spot opens up after the season.
Of course, this is just one man’s opinion. New York might love Moore’s potential as a box safety. I would disagree based on what I have seen from his measurables, analytics, and film, but there is a reason I am writing this article instead of running an NFL front office.
Wherever Moore ends up in the Jets’ plans, he is a player who will be easy for Jets fans to root for. He is a natural-born football player who loves the game and excels at many of its finer details. It is difficult to imagine that he will not last in the league for a long time, which is a compliment you cannot give to every fourth-round pick.
