STRENGTHS
Jamaal is a bruising type of running back with excellent speed and very good foot quickness to make those north/south cuts that keep him moving forward. He shows on film that he can catch the ball out of the backfield and has the size and aggressiveness to block those blitzing linebackers and help out when asked to chip block. Jamaal has the speed to take it all the way or at least gain yardage in big chunks once he breaks the line of scrimmage. He is big enough and quick enough to make his own yardage and although he was used mostly to run the ball between the tackles he can take it outside the tackles on sweeps and turn the corner and when he does he is a load to bring down for those smaller cornerbacks. In open space his size and speed makes him a matchup nightmare on screen plays. Jamaal has the talent size speed and quick cutting agility to be a franchise running back for the team that selects him.

CONCERNS
The biggest concern is that Jamaal is tall for a running back and runs way to high making his target zone for tackling him larger than most backs. This high running style also leads to leg injuries because of the twisting way opponents will use to take him down. It’s also easy to make him fumble because the ball is more exposed. If Jamaal doesn’t lower his pad level then using him in the red zone for short yardage situations will be difficult because of his lack of leverage to move the pile and having the ball exposed. There are also some maturity issues that teams will need to investigate and could cause teams to be leery of selecting Jamaal to early in the draft.

BOTTOM LINE
That’s the key to Jamaal being successful at the next level, injuries and fumbles. The fact he runs so high losing leverage when going for short yardage and losing leverage when he blocks for his quarterbacks will be a problem until he learns to lower his pad level. It also means when players tackle him, without some leverage to pull away he will be twisted and pulled causing leg and ankle injuries so lowing his pads is a big issue for him to correct when running through the tackles and blocking. Maturity is the other issue, off the field Jamaal has to learn to handle his personal life better. Teams will struggle to give a player with a lack of off field maturity very much responsibility on the field. So it adds up to this, talent to be a franchise back but… a maturity level that could screw it all up. That’s seems to be the makeup of a lot of players in this draft.

Drew Boylhart  FEB.2017