Javon Bullard scouting report: Exploring the Georgia safety's strengths and weaknesses
One of the top-1000 overall recruits in 2021, Bullard saw action in all but one of 15 games as a true freshman (138 total snaps), but didn’t defend any passes and recorded just 12 tackles.
He started 10 of 14 contests played the following season – all in the slot – recording 46 tackles, seven for loss, 3.5 sacks, two interceptions and three passes broken up.
While Georgia couldn’t accomplish a three-peat of national titles, Bullard did help them get to a third straight SEC Championship game undefeated, with him setting career-highs in tackles (56) and PBUs (five), along with two more picks. Yet, weirdly only the SEC named him second-team All-SEC.
Profile: 5’11”, 195 pounds; JR
Breaking down Javon Bullard's scouting report
Run defense & blitzing:
• Has plenty of experience stacking and shedding slot receivers to support vs. the run when he was almost exclusively deployed in the slot in 2022
• Yet when he was playing a more traditional safety spot last season, you saw him take excellent angles downhill from two-high alignments
• Actively reduces the space towards the closest man at the line when he becomes the overhang or force defender by shuffling inside and will flatten down the line when he sees an opportunity to shut down plays hitting inside
• Doesn’t shy away from attacking a pulling lineman low and funneling the ball back inside to the rest of the troop
• Georgia blitzed him off the edge quite a bit and he was able to ride running backs into the quarterback regularly on those
• Deceptive and times up the snap very well when he’s rushing off the slot
• Missed just 9.2% of the attempted tackles in his career (12 of 130)
Zone coverage:
• Excelled in a versatile, pro-oriented coverage scheme, where he was asked to cover all areas of the field for stretches
• After spending the majority of snaps in the slot in his first season as a starter, Bullard actually improved his level of play whilst having to operate further away from the ball with a lot of deep zone responsibilities
• Identifies when offenses try to hit leverage throws or rubs and drives down in a hurry to stop those, lowering the pads on guys as soon as they secure the grab at times
• Rapidly closes ground when motion leads to a rotation of the safeties, to not get out-leveraged into the flats and be able to shut easy completions down before they can really get going
• When he’s covering the deep half and sees quarterbacks set up quickly for a backside slant route, there are times where Bullard arrives at the receiver just as his hands touch the ball, in order to jar it loose
• Georgia asked him to bail out of the slot into invert cover-two occasionally, where he showed the appropriate feel for spacing and even got an interception on a badly thrown ball down the post in the 2022/23 Natty vs. TCU
• After only surrendered 0.88 yards per coverage snap from the slot in 2022, Bullard was the highest-graded FBS safety in zone coverage by PFF in 2023 (88.8), while spending 47.1% of snaps in deep alignment
Man coverage:
• Uses his hands well and has the loose hips to take charge of reps when receivers release inside of his shade in press-alignment
• Understands when he’s in control of the route as a man-defender and he can look back at the quarterback, in order to attack the ball himself
• Showcases the twitch to stay square and widen guys on inside fades, before nailing down the near-arm to slow them down and not be able to reach out for the ball optimally
• Not worried about tight-ends pushing up the field when he flexed out wide with them, almost in a side-bail position and ready for the break on hitches/square-ins, etc.
• Has some perfect reps in off-man coverage against slot receivers on square breaks, staying patient, undercutting and wrapping around for PBUs
• So comfortable with reaching around targets that split-second early, where because he plays the ball, he doesn’t get flagged for it
• Allowed just 14 of 26 targets against him to be completed last season for 119 yards and no touchdowns compared to his two picks (34.0 passer rating)
Weaknesses:
• Tends to cover grass a lot as a deep middle safety, continuing to drift just to not have somebody run by him
• You also see it at times playing cover-two, where he doesn’t take advantage of opportunities to angle over towards sideline shots, to disrupt the catch-point
• Needs to do a better job of maintaining and using leverage to his advantage against crossing routes coming towards him or not overrunning plays out to the perimeter the other way
• In man-coverage, he lacks the make-up burst to recover from a mis-step or receivers getting him to freeze for a split-second on double-moves
• Wasn’t as consistent a tackler rallying from depth, too often diving for the ankles of ball-carriers, leading to seven missed attempts (still a solid 10.8% miss rate)
Jalen Bullard's 2024 NFL Draft Prospect
Bullard doesn’t have the elite range of a center-fielder or the size you typically covet for guys playing extensively in the box. However, if you’re looking for a combo-safety who can fit in a split-safety structured defense and then drop down into the slot on longer downs, this is your guy.
There are still some intricacies at the position that he’ll need to learn – which is understandable since he only transitioned from nickel a year ago – but you’re drafting a player who has performed as well as pretty anybody in two different roles for college football’s top defense over the last couple of years.
Bullard lacks that extra gear to recover when caught in bad positions for man-assignments and maybe I wouldn’t want to stick him on a 4.3 guy with a lot of space consistently. However, it’s rare that he actually gets himself out of position in the first place.
Fans saw that throughout Senior Bowl week, where he made receivers go through his chest and forced them to round off routes flatter back towards the quarterback, so even when they did catch the ball it was for minimal yardage. His competitiveness and assignment-oriented style really shone as he was working with a new coaching staff and I think he’ll acclimate himself to his future team in a hurry. This is a second-round pick all day long.
Grade: Second round