Jeremy Banks 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Tennessee LB
Jeremy Banks: 6’1”, 230 pounds.
One of the top-500 overall recruits in 2018, Jeremy Banks started his career at running back as a true freshman (52 carries for 185 yards and three touchdowns). He switched back to the defensive side of the ball, where he made himself known with two interceptions in one of the four games he saw the field.
In 2020, he played in nine games as a backup before finally becoming a starter as a redshirt junior, where he recorded 128 total tackles, 11.5 for loss, 5.5 sacks, an interception and four PBUs. His total tackles were more than cut in half missing a couple of games this past year, but he did still have 4.5 TFLs, four PBUs, a fumble forced and recovered each.
Jeremy Banks scout report: Strengths
+ Plays with a quick trigger in the run game and has the suddenness to slip bigger linemen or pull them off himself.
+ Yet there’s also no hesitation to crash into the outside shoulder of fullbacks before they can even get to the line of scrimmage and create stalemates as the offense is caving in one side and he charges down.
+ When offenses run GT power his way, you see Banks crash through the shoulder of the second puller before that guy can even turn up the lane to set up negative plays (even though he didn’t log them on the stat sheet himself as much last year).
+ Shows great lateral agility to trail runners from the backside and flatten behind blockers when he sees an opening. He has a pair of quick hands and jumps sideways to get to the other side of linemen looking to pin him away from the action.
+ If the tight-end has to seal the backside edge defender and the tackle scoops up the three-technique on zone runs, Banks will shoot through the C-gap and run down the ball-carrier in a hurry.
+ Effective tackler, whether he can launch through his hips and get those head-on stops, twists down from the side or lassoes down the ball-carrier.
+ Able to track down ball-carriers bouncing out wide and quickly swipe down their inside arm when they try to stiff-arm him, getting to their frame and bringing them down.
+ Tennessee walked him down to the edge late quite regularly in order to take advantage of his speed chasing down runs from the backside.
+ Not somebody you can occupy with linemen when throwing swing screen towards his side. He’ll beat the man responsible for him to the spot and potentially create a negative play.
+ You don’t see Banks allow any real separation to tight-ends trying to run away from him on drag routes.
+ Routinely takes away slant/glance routes by widening his drops and crowding those passing windows for the quarterback.
+ Does a nice job identifying dig routes and deep crossers coming in behind him, and doesn’t typically allow himself to get picked off trailing the under route on mesh concepts.
+ You see him redirect in a hurry after floating one way and then having to race down on the back catching a checkdown.
+ Displays some impressive burst when driving on option routes by the backs, breaking either way, while having good enough to carry guys vertically., He was highly impressive in that regard during East-West Shrine practices.
+ Times up his blitzes exceptionally well and gets to the QB coming right up the gut or looping around the corner.
+ Banks charges full force into backs in blitz pick-up and slither off them, although he could bring some more diversity in his rush approach.
+ You saw Tennessee line him up on the edge on quite a few obvious passing downs. His burst around the corner and the force in his inside hand to stab at the chest of the tackle/tight-end, to create a softer corner for himself, really stood out.
Jeremy Banks scout report: Weaknesses
– NFL teams will be able to take advantage of Jeremy Banks’ aggressiveness. Whether it’s just the back cutting back as he overflows on lateral concepts or isolating him and hitting RPOs behind him frequently.
– Is pretty overzealous in his pursuit angles and doesn’t come to balance consistently enough as a tackler (12.7% miss rate over his two seasons as a starter).
– Tends to lock into one receiver in his area rather than mid-pointing targets as a zone defender.
– Never received a PFF grade of at least 60 in any year and his coverage grade of 46.7 last season in particular is underwhelming (passer rating allowed of 104.3).
Jeremy Banks scout report: Grade
I just gave a lot of love to Cincinnati’s Ivan Pace Jr., but if there’s one name in this linebacker class I’m significantly higher on than consensus, Jeremy Banks is the guy.
Maybe it’s because he’ll turn 24 at the start of the season already, or the fact that he only had one season with big production (and it went down significantly from 2021 to ’22), but I just think he’s one of the best all-around players at the position. This, in a class with a bunch of guys that are small and don’t read plays particularly well.
The violence he plays with, his short-area explosiveness and his awareness in coverage are all excellent. He’s had a tremendous pre-draft process, standing out in a major way during Shrine Bowl week and backing up what I saw on tape in terms of the combine numbers (84th percentile or better in the 40, vert and broad jump).
Jeremy Banks is a starting-level NFL linebacker I believe (if given a chance), based on his draft status.
Grade: Top-100 overall
You might like other 2023 NFL Draft Scouting Reports: Noah Sewell, LB, Oregon, Jack Campbell, LB, Iowa, Drew Sanders, LB, Arkansas, Trenton Simpson, LB, Clemson, Daiyan Henley, LB, Washington State, Henry To'o To'o, LB, Alabama, DeMarvion Overshown, LB, Texas, Ivan Pace Jr., LB, Cincinnati, Dorian Williams, LB, Tulane.
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