Prospect Profile: Jackson Powers-Johnson, iOL, Oregon

Pass Protection

He wins as a pass blocker because of his upper body strength and hand usage, both of which are very good. He is comfortable in both 45 and vertical sets and he maintains the half-man relationship, but against quicker rushers, his feet are more choppy than you would like – he doesn’t slide as efficiently and it can compromise his base. However even in these scenarios, his hand usage comes in to save the rep. The timing in his punch is good and his placement is excellent, especially when working with independent hands. He tends to use his right hand to latch onto the blocker – the right hand is more effective as his outside hand, when sliding right, but it is still effective as an inside hand. He’s then able to use his free left hand to hand-fight and counter to great effect. He’s particularly adept at dealing with inside moves using both outside and inside hands, and it’s rare that a pass rusher is able to use any kind of hand move to disengage from him and clear their hands – any chop, rip or swim is easily swatted away by him.

Some of the more elite interior rushers in the NFL with a great rush plan and athleticism combined with power may be able to take advantage of his feet to get him off-balance but he also has good recovery skills so he will win his fair share of battles with this type of interior lineman. He has good mental processing and quickly identifies his responsibility, except with second level blitzers who can take him by surprise when the defense brings more than the OL can block – he can try to do too much. He keeps a solid base from which to operate, and he has a good anchor against even bigger defenders. He resets and re-anchors well when compromised and generally gets himself well positioned to take advantage of his core strength and grip strength.

Run Blocking

Oregon’s scheme is overwhelmingly Zone-based so some of the assumptions about his Gap blocking are not based on a big sample size. But as a Gap blocker it looks as though he could be a dominant force with more reps – there are some technical deficiencies, such as his fit on down blocks against bigger 2 or 3 techniques, his hand placement leaves the DL able to turn him and make a play. On drive blocks or in DBLs, he’s able to use his remarkable upper body strength to win emphatically. He has a nasty and competitive streak that shows itself in the run game – there is a power and violence in his hands where he seems to want to ragdoll the defender on every block. As a space/zone blocker, he’s effective as the Drive or Post man when moving to the second level, in helping at the LOS but also in locating and finishing on the second level defender. He brings his feet with him and while his hand placement is not always consistent on smaller, more nimble defenders, his size and his upper body strength can overwhelm.

Where he could develop further as a Zone blocker is with his hip mobility which prevents him from taking over doubles effectively and means he isn’t always able to reach block consistently on 2 or 3 techniques.

SUMMARY
Overwhelming upper body strength and elite hand usage mean he is very effective in pass protection and rarely beaten. Solid as a run blocker, though mostly Zone currently.

PRODUCTION
JR: 829 snaps at Center
SO: 350 snaps at Right Guard, 44 snaps at Center
INJURY: None

RAVENS FIT
Toughness 3
Intelligence 4
Versatility 4
Grit 5
Scheme 4