2020 NFL Draft: Nebraska cornerback Lamar Jackson scouting report

Film Review

While watching Jackson’s film during his senior year, the first impression you get is how big he is. At 6-foot-3, Jackson typically overshadows most receivers on the edge.

This may be a problem for Jackson in the 2020 NFL Draft, as he is almost too big to play the outside cornerback position in the NFL. While his size is a service to him in the contact zone around the line of scrimmage, receivers in the NFL will have a much easier time giving him the slip and passing by the young Cornhusker.

It may be more preferable in the NFL if Jackson was stationed as either a zone-slot cornerback that can hand off downfield responsibilities to a safety or as a linebacker.

For this scouting report, I used the 2019 Nebraska vs. Minnesota game in October. Video posted below.

Jackson is an incredibly physical cornerback and he uses his size to disrupt receiver routes. While this will help him in the early part of a route, pass interference rules work very differently in the NFL compared to college. Several times in this game, I watched Jackson push and pull receivers up to and sometimes past the contact zone around the line of scrimmage.

This is a common trope among college defensive backs and is an issue that can be resolved at the next level, through proper coaching. It certainly isn’t a deal-breaker for most teams, but it is an issue that will need to be addressed.

Besides his overly aggressive tendencies at the line of scrimmage, Jackson has great form as a cornerback. His strength and size at the line of scrimmage helps him knock receivers off their routes and move them to where he is better equipped to cover them.

He back peddles nicely off the snap and can flip his hips properly with very little disruption of speed. Jackson is not a burner down the field, but he has above-average speed.

In the NFL, his speed may be sub-par compared to the receivers he will have to line up against. But in a zone-heavy scheme, where he wouldn’t be solely responsible for a receiver all the way downfield, he could act as a solid disruptor of passes in the mid-section of the field, along with being a solid run defender outside the box.

He has great hands and can disrupt the pass easily with his larger than average frame. His hands are long and big, making pass disruption one of his signature selling points. When he is burned on a pass, he is usually still in the same area as the receiver and can usually get a grip on them easily enough.

His reach is outstanding and with his jump ball skills, Jackson can easily bring the ball down when he is prepared for it.

The major issue that I saw on Jackson’s film is he will sometimes take a very long time to look back and see where the action is at.

Several times in the Minnesota game, Jackson took off with his receiver down the field, only for a runner to hit the same area a few seconds afterward. You’d like to see Jackson keep a closer eye on the action, so he might help the defense if the ball is clearly not headed to his receiver.

Another issue I saw was with Jackson’s pass-rush. When he was asked to blitz he appears to stop short and not commit to rushing the ball handler once the quarterback has handed it off. In the Minnesota game, both times he rushed the passer the ball ended up being a hand off, with Jackson stopping short and backtracking to stop the runner on the other side of the line.

I understand trying to get to the other side of the defensive line to be available, should the runner make it past there. But he would be much more useful continuing the blitz and attempting to shut down the runner while still maneuvering through the offensive/defensive line.

The issues with Jackson’s game mechanics, however, are far outweighed by his overall physicality and athletic ability. Jackson is faster than you would expect for a player his size and can knock receivers off routes at the line of scrimmage.

Any issues that may have arisen from his college tape are not deal-breakers, as far as I am concerned. These are issues that can be easily coached out of him at the next level when he gets there.

Quarterbacks are clearly reluctant to throw his way, as I watched several times in this game the opposing quarterback settle for a check down and not attempt to overthrow Jackson. According to PFF, he has one of the highest forced incompletion percentages of any cornerback in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Overall in the 2020 NFL Draft, Jackson has shown to be a solid option for teams to draft at the cornerback position. It is understandable that he is not being mentioned in the first round of this year’s draft. He still has some technique issues that will have to be settled once he makes an NFL roster.

But several teams in the NFL have dealt with poor cornerback play in 2019. In all aspects of the game, old stalwart corners that several NFL teams relied for several seasons suddenly proved inefficient against the pass.

Drafting a player like Jackson in the 2020 NFL Draft could help reduce these team’s issues in the secondary. I fully expect Jackson to be drafted this year as either a developmental cornerback or a depth-piece that could be useful on an NFL roster in 2020 and beyond.