Dawand Jones, 6’8” 359 lbs, Offensive Tackle, Ohio State (Senior)
Player Overview:
- Former 3-star recruit out of Indianapolis, Indiana
- Was a standout high school basketball player with D-1 offers, according to 247Sports.com
- Has been the starting Right Tackle for the Buckeyes for the past two seasons
- Forms a formidable bookend tackle duo with potential first-round Left Tackle prospect Paris Johnson jr.
- Standout performances this year versus notable Edge rusher prospects like Isaiah Foskey of Notre Dame, and Nick Herbig of Wisconsin.
Strengths:
- Enormous-sized OT with ridiculous arm length and hand size, he looks like a giant among men.
- Sports the strongest and heaviest hands in this draft class so far
- He is pretty athletic considering his size, exhibiting smooth hips, light feet, long strides, and good open-field speed and agility to climb to the second level, also can be used on pull blocks
- Excels at stalemating rushers at the point of attack with little effort.
- He is a dominant run blocker and an adequate pass protector that displays good overall hand placement.
- Really good at latching and sustaining blocks with his heaving hands and good habit to keep his feet driving
- Can take appropriate angles for reach blocks and second-level blocks to hit targets consistently.
- Displays the patience to leverage outside rushers’ angles to cut them off their lanes to the QB
- He also sports unusual balance for a player of his stature to recover when beaten by initial pass-rush moves, using his nimble footwork, keeping his feet under him, as well as exhibiting adequate shuffle and kick-slide techniques.
Weaknesses:
- Can be a bit lumbering and stiff in his body movements, making him appear less fluid than the best offensive tackle prospects in this draft, but is by no means an immobile OT prospect
- It also hampers his ability to stay anchored with proper leverage at times due to limited knee bend
- Exhibits balance issues at times due to being too much on his heels, can fall on the ground during plays
- Jones lacks the explosiveness and twitchiness off the ball that other top OT prospects have, can be a tad late at times off the snap
- Lacks positional flexibility due to his style of play, and his somewhat limited athletic abilities that are more suited to play at the Right Tackle position only. He is most likely too tall and not bendy enough to be a guard, and he doesn’t have the elite athletic traits to be a Left tackle, even as a backup to the team’s starting player.
Overall, Jones should be in high demand by power run scheme teams looking for a dominant run blocker on the edges. He should develop into a reliable pass protector in most schemes, although his high-cut body and lack of lower body flexibility may give him some issues against the elite athletic pass-rushers in the NFL.
When you watch Jones on tape, think Trent Brown of the New England Patriots with more fluidity and quickness as a pro comparison.
I project Jones to end up a Day 2 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft with Round 1 upside with his current level of play and good off-season workouts. Although he lacks positional flexibility, he definitely has rare size and skills for the Right Tackle position.
