Prospect Profile: Landon Jackson, EDGE, Arkansas

Evaluation

Get Off

He has excellent get-off on neutral downs and in obvious passing situations. He has outstanding explosion and he can deploy it when he keys on the ball well. He uses his explosion and acceleration to get upfield quickly and threaten the Offensive Lineman.

Rushing the Passer

When he does get off the ball quickly and start closing the space to the OL, the first deficiency in his game becomes apparent in that he doesn’t put all of his moves and tools together well in a rush plan. He doesn’t always use his footwork to set up his moves, he doesn’t take advantage of what Offensive Linemen are giving him and his moves, while some are not yet as well developed as they could be, are not deployed at opportune moments. For instance, when making an inside moves he can use his excellent change of direction skills and his explosive athleticism to threaten upfield with a pressure step to open his opponent’s hips, but this isn’t consistent and you can also see him give away his intention too early with his posture and movement, giving the OL too long to respond. In his pass rush, his hand timing is excellent and he has good power in his hands. His hand placement is generally good but it can sometimes be a little high likely because of the height of his hands. Sometimes his hand placement can leave him open to being snatched and trapped. His best move is a violent and accurate cross-chop, he doesn’t consistently deploy the lateral jump with the move but when he does, he can get to the edge of the blocker and sometimes make lesser competition whiff entirely. He generally does well with his chop and club moves. He doesn’t have a consistent set of counters beyond a long arm move that can be dangerous but when an Offensive Linemen has good hands and a good anchor they can stalemate him. He does have a tendency to get latched onto by those with good hands and doesn’t have a set of secondary moves to help him get off blocks after his initial move has run its course. When he does get to the edge, he has impressive athleticism and bend to corner and flatten to the Quarterback. He will get hits on different types of QB but those with good athleticism and awareness can bait him into a big hit and bail out the back door to elude his rush cleanly.

Defending the Run

He’s a good run defender and it’s characterized by good play strength as he platys with effective hands and leverage. He sets a physical edge on the play-side of runs to the outside, he plays with discipline and can disengage to get inside and make a play on the ball carrier as well as playing the outside gap. He won’t constrict running lanes but he can hold his own. He can also take on interior blockers with the same play strength and control the point of attack, able to make plays in both gaps. He also plays the run with intelligence, keeping his eyes in the backfield to tackle the runner as he crosses the line of scrimmage. He uses his length and explosion to get in the backfield against the run and can make plays on WR reverses and other gadget plays. He doesn’t always see Gap runs as clearly, inconsistent in his ability to beat kick-out blocks and when he faces a Down block, he normally doesn’t see it coming and gets driven off the ball.

DRAFTED RAVEN COMP
A significantly more athletic Paul Kruger.

PRODUCTION
Final year on campus: 7 Sacks, 8 QB Hits, 47 Total Tackles, 1 FF
INJURY HISTORY: SR: Neck injury in final game of season.

RAVENS FIT
Athleticism 2
Intelligence 5
Versatility 4
Grit 4
Scheme 4