Broderick Jones 2023 NFL Draft profile: Scout report for the Georgia OT
Broderick Jones, right outside the top 10 overall recruits in 2020, only started four games over his first two seasons at Georgia (all at left tackle in 2021).
But then Jones took over on the blindside this season and was absolutely dominant, paving the way for a Georgia offense that averaged 500 yards and 41.1 points per game (fifth nationally), en route to an undefeated national championship season, the Bulldogs' second straight title. Jones was named first-team All-SEC.
Broderick Jones, Georgia
6-foot-5, 315 pounds; junior
Positives
+ Jones has good girth in all the right areas, without any excess weight in the mid-section
+ Imposing road grader in the run game, gets after people whether the score is 0-0 or his team is up by 50
+ This guy regularly tosses the edge defender on the front- ide of zone runs out of the way and forces linebackers to fill the B-gap in a hurry
+ Can absolutely blow D-tackles off their landmarks when coming in on an angle on double-teams, particularly in short-yardage and goal-line situations
+ If he gets underneath the armpits of linemen, he can wash them down and create significant cutback opportunities, and he has the grip strength to twist defenders out of running lanes, even if he can’t block down on an angle
+ Understands when he has to add a gather-step against wider alignments, to not present easy opportunities for edge defenders to jump inside of his blocks
+ On combo blocks, his eyes are usually up and he doesn’t struggle to work up to the linebacker with space, with the force in his hands to shove them to the ground
+ Regularly was utilized as a puller on GT power, where he’s light on his feet as he skips out of his stance but heavy at contact and has the reactionary agility to adjust on the fly
+ This dude is scary to be in front of on screens and pulling out to the corner, where most defenders try to go low on him to avoid getting thrown around
+ Even if his technique isn’t perfect yet, Jones presents the athletic lower half and strong upper body to ride edge rushers off track
+ If defenders go into his chest, they quickly realize there’s not much they can do anymore
+ You rarely see guys turn the corner when engaged with Jones, where they try to dip-and-rip, but he still guides them enough off track to not affect the QB
+ Packs a lot of strength in those hands, to widen their arc significantly or push them into the pile, if they try to quickly crash inside
+ Linebackers trying to get around Jones on delayed blitzes seem to have no clue how to approach this and are content with just standing there with his arms extended
+ When Jones’ guy slants away from him and he’s unoccupied, he delivers some devastating rib-shots on somebody tangled up with one of his teammates
+ Watching the 2022 season opener 49-3 destruction of Oregon, the pass-pro reps for Jones were so clean throughout the day, and he completely shut out guys trying to work against him
+ Wasn’t responsible for a single sack and just nine other pressures across 470 pass-blocking snaps this past season
+ Ran the best 40 time among all O-linemen in Indy this year at 4.97, and his movement during the on-field drills was well-coordinated, while finishing the workout in a funny way, as he just tossed one of the coaches to the inside when releasing on the screen-drill
Negatives
– His feet can get a little heavy late and defenders are able to work off his blocks, where you’d want more flexion in the lower rather than upper half, and that’s in part due to imperfect hand placement
– Too often in 2022, you’d see Jones drop his eyes when initiating contact in both facets of the game, with defenders being able to pull him off
– Makes himself vulnerable to inside counters on a regular basis, when he should keep his shoulders and hips squared, but instead opens up to the edge rusher, who doesn’t even have the angle to beat him around the corner
– When he did face a legit speed-rusher in LSU’s B.J. Ojulari, you saw him punch with the outside hand and had that left foot in the air as well, creating a soft shoulder to get past
– Has to do a better job of coming to balance at times when working up the field in the screen game, as guys have the ability to side-step him
Overview
This is still clearly an ascending tackle prospect, who won’t turn 22 years old until after the draft and only logged 19 career starts for the Bulldogs.
However, his natural talent stood out right away, and he was already one of the premier players at his position in his first season as a full-time starter, despite facing a loaded slate of SEC edge defenders.
Now, some of those guys were the ones who gave him trouble because they could threaten the edges of his frame off the snap and were more technically advanced. But there’s no reason to believe he won’t be able to get to that level sooner rather than later, with the natural power he possesses and the awareness he showed as a young player already.
I want to see him eliminate this nasty little habit of not keeping his chin up, but in terms of brute force in the run game and ability to snatch up pass-rushers, he has a chance to turn into the most complete guy of the bunch.
Feel free to head over to halilsrealfootballtalk.com for all my draft breakdowns and check out my YouTube channel for even more NFL content!