Jartavius Martin 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Illinois SAF

Jartavius Martin, Illinois: 5’11”, 195 pounds; RS SR.

A three-star recruit in 2018, Jartavius Martin started eight of ten games at corner as a true freshman before moving to safety midway through year two (12 games, five starts).

In the last two seasons he’s been a full-time starter for the Illini at STAR spot (primarily a nickel), combining for 120 total tackles, 6.5 of those for loss, two forced fumbles, four interceptions and 17 more passes broken up.

Jartavius Martin scout report: Strengths

Brenton Strange #86 of the Penn State Nittany Lions is upended by Jartavius Martin #21 of the Illinois Fighting Illini

+ Has been able to fulfill an extremely diverse role – logged over 200 snaps at outside corner, slot, box safety and deep safety.

+ Was regularly asked to sink towards the deep half in cover-two from his nickel alignment, where he fluidly flips his hips around towards the receiver he isn’t originally turned to.

+ When playing two-deep and having to open with inside fade routes, the ability to turn for the ball with his hips towards the middle, yet still flip around and play through the hands of the intended target, is special.

+ Provides the range to line up at center-field and float over the top of routes by the single receiver when Illinois blitzed their boundary corner to not leave them vulnerable.

+ On 54 targets this past season, he only surrendered 24 completions for 309 yards and no touchdowns, while intercepting two passes.

+ Made several key plays on the ball last season, with 15 forced incompletions (second-most among safeties), three picks and a couple of forced fumbles.

+ Had an awesome interception against a slot fade route versus Minnesota last season, where he got his head around late and showed tremendously quickly hand-eye coordination to haul it in.

+ Played a ton of off-man coverage for the Illini, where his ability to anticipate routes and cut off the path for receivers was excellent.

+ Shows great patience to stay square and not flip prematurely, while keeping his eyes locked on the receiver’s hips across from him pushing downhill.

+ Has the long speed to stay stride-for-stride with slot fade routes on numerous occasions.

+ Great explosion out of flat-footed breaks, to squat on quick-breaking routes and not get surrender easy completions. Short outs and flat routes are basically off the table against him as viable receiving options.

+ Doesn’t get antsy against guys trying to throw extensive footwork and hesitation releases at him.

+ Yet if receivers hesitate off the line and then try to take off vertically, his closing burst allows him get back into phase if there’s a little separation initially.

+ You rarely see him lose contact against crossing receivers, even when he’s playing with outside leverage and has to take that little shuffle-step inside as he sees his guy tilt that way.

+ Held opposing receivers to just 4.0 yards after the catch on average since 2020.

+ Continues to fight through blocks, in order to not be shielded by guys in the slot and allow the ball to get out wide.

+ Not afraid to run into offensive tackles and try to funnel the ball inside when blitzed off the edge (on early downs).

+ From limited tape on Martin as a legit single-high free safety, you see him work upfield in controlled fashion and not get caught out of position, as he sees the back cut out towards the sideline. He earned an elite PFF run defense grade in 2022 (91.0).

+ Has been a physical and uber-reliable tackler for the Illini, only missing seven of 127 attempts these last two years combined.

+ Consistently is able to gather himself and at least clutch one leg of the ball-carrier, to not let that guy get away, and does a nice job of swiping down stiff-arm attempts and securing tackles out on the perimeter.

+ You see Martin outrace fellow DBs – among a very fast secondary – on multiple occasions, providing chase speed across the field.

+ The 44-inch vertical jump he posted at the combine ties him for fourth-best all-time for any position and he also led the safety group with an 11’1” broad jump, along running a 4.46 in the 40. During the on-field workout, he covered good ground, changed direction effectively with rapid foot-fire and made multiple nice high-point grabs.

Jartavius Martin scout report: Weaknesses

Jartavius Martin #21 of the Illinois Fighting Illini returns the ball after an interception against Travis Vokolek #89 of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights

– Jartavius Martin frequently gets foot-faked with a little English at the top of routes and seems to get his own feet stuck in the mud momentarily.

– Can get a little too enamored with wanting to look back at the quarterback when he thinks he’s in control of the routes and loses touch.

– Due to the limited experience in deep coverage, Martin’s ability to find the right balance to stay on top and squeeze down windows is still a work in progress.

– Not the quickest reaction skills against play-action, IDing nearby targets.

– With his lankier build, Jartavius Martin not only could be vulnerable to push-offs by power slot receivers (or maybe even when asked to cover tight-ends), but you also see him take the worse off head-on contact with running backs.

Jartavius Martin scout report: Grade

Sam LaPorta #84 of the Iowa Hawkeyes is tackled by Jartavius Martin #21 and Kendall Smith #7 of the Illinois Fighting Illini

If you missed out on Alabama’s Brian Branch and Texas A&M’s Antonio Johnson, Jartavius Martin is a very attractive alternative some time later on day. Considering the absurd testing numbers he put up at the combine, you probably won’t be able to wait for too much longer.

In terms of man-coverage in the slot and tackling, you won’t find much cleaner tape out there. I want to see him improve his foot activity against receivers who can give him something a little extra at the break point and play stronger against big bodies down the field, but that’s about it.

The question to me is what his role may look like beyond that. Jartavius Martin shows the tools in terms of explosiveness and ball-tracking to grow into a viable single-high safety option, but he doesn’t have a ton of quality tape to judge him on that being a long-term landing spot. That bumps him down just a little bit from the very top of the class, but I think he ultimately goes in the second round.

Grade: Mid-day two

You might like other 2023 NFL Draft Scouting Reports: Tyree Wilson (EDGE), Texas Tech; Will Anderson Jr. (EDGE), Alabama; Jaxon Smith-Njigba (WR), Ohio; Zay Flowers (WR), Boston; Jordan Addison (WR), USC; Jordan Addison (WR), USC; Quentin Johnston (WR), TCU; Zach Charbonnet (RB), UCLA; Bijan Robinson (RB), Texas.

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