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Just outside the top 1,000 overall recruits in 2019, Dawand Jones appeared in nine games as a true freshman and then in six of eight contests in the COVID-shortened following campaign, including his first start.
In 2021, he started all 13 games and was a second-team All-Big Ten selection for the Ohio State Buckeyes, which he repeated this season. Then, last year he was a second-team All-American as a mainstay on that right edge.
Dawand Jones, Ohio State
6-foot-8, 370 pounds; Senior
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Positives
+ Massive upper half and can knock defenders off balance when he just lands those hands in the run game. And with the long arms he can deliver that last push to get the man further off track to create room late
+ I thought overall Jones’ urgency off the snap and willingness to impose himself physically was a lot better in 2022
+ You see him dish out some literal two-handed shoves to blow the front-side wide open
+ When he grabs the shoulder plate and extends though, you see him put guys flat on their backs at times, especially linebackers mugged up in the gap
+ If D-ends try to crash across him face on the backside of zone runs, he will wash them way down the line and show the ballcarrier to cut back behind him
+ Because of how massive he is, when he tries to reach-block guys on the edge, they often try to peak around and get off balance, to where he can ride them along and allow the back to stay behind his block
+ Yet if he’s tasked with simply sealing the back-side, extending that outside arm in the chest of edge guys and bringing the opposite hip around is very effective
+ When he arrives at the party, with no direct assignment, he can help move the traffic significantly and allow the ballcarrier to hide behind that wall or push through it
+ Some of his tape is just hilarious to watch, when he puts guys on the ground seemingly without breaking a sweat
+ Offers a quick jump out of his stance to cut off the angle for edge rushers, has his hands ready at his midsection and is patient with his punch
+ The way he snatches and traps guys when they do get closer to his body makes him basically negate guys completely
+ His insane 7-6 wingspan allows him to constantly put a hand on defenders before those guys could even get to his frame, and it gives him a ton of room for error in his technique
+ If guys try to loop wide around him and don’t actively try to find an angle, he’s fine sitting back and waiting there, but if he does go for it, those long arms can really stymie rushers in their approach
+ Even if the outside hand is swatted away, he can push guys further off track by still reaching them with the other arm
+ When he does overset and rushers create that lane to the quarterback seemingly going underneath, Jones is typically able to ride those guys across the QB’s face to leave him unaffected
+ Buries guys underneath himself with regularity if they shift their momentum too far out in front
+ After surrendering three sacks and eight other pressures in 2021, Jones didn’t even allow his quarterback to be hit once last year and only be hurried five times
+ PFF awarded him with their highest pass-blocking efficiency of any draft-eligible tackle at 99.4 last season
+ Even going up against all the five-stars Georgia has to offer, those guys realized there’s no escaping if Jones gets his hands on them
Negatives
– You see Jones just throw his hands and not move his lower body at times when he can’t get his body positioned accordingly throughout run plays
– Appears disoriented when his initial assignment is changed post-snap and he has to come up with solutions on the fly
– The way he puts his hands on the facemasks of defenders and some of the pull-downs will be flagged more regularly at the pro level
– Short-setting guys and forcing them to go way around him because of his size and length was an effective strategy at the college level, but that won’t fly in the NFL
– At this point, Jones does get by with his massive frame and length along with natural strength, which won’t be as prevalent going against pro players, who will force him to get on their level technically
Overview
Jones only took part in the first practice at the Senior Bowl, but he just stood out from the moment he stepped on the field with his giganteous size and unheard of wingspan.
Edge defenders quickly realized that they weren’t going to get through his chest. But the one rep that really stood out to me came during individual run-blocking, where he was supposed to reach-block his man but didn’t gain enough ground laterally with that first step, yet he was able to create so much torque on the far-shoulder of his man that he ended up turning and pinning that guy inside anyway.
That’s what you’re dealing with here – an absolute mountain of a man, whose strength and length give him a lot of room for error. And when he puts it altogether, he can dominate people.
Now, while he has definitely shown technical development, he heavily relies on his natural gifts and will have to overhaul his pass-sets in order to cut off angles for more talented and crafty NFL rushers than he’s faced so far. However, he has things you can’t teach and the potential to become a more athletic version of Orlando Brown down the road.
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