STRENGTHS
Jonathan plays football with the furiousness of a MMA fighter. In short, he’s a beast. He is a big, strong, powerful, athlete with excellent football intelligence and techniques. He is quick off the line with excellent hand usage to overpower and gain gap control on running plays. Jonathan has quick feet and the ability to change direction with quickness and power using mature pass rushing techniques to get into the back field to pressure, disrupt and sack a quarterback. This combination of athletic talent and mature techniques along with excellent size makes it easy for Jonathan to play multiple positions along the defensive line in any style of defense. He’s the type of defensive lineman you can build your defense around. I call him Jonathan (MMA) Allen.

CONCERNS
As with most Alabama players, past medical issues can be a negative but to Alabama’s credit, they never hide anything when it comes to past medical issues and that’s a positive. The other issue is self motivation; does the player have the self motivating character to become as impacting at the next level as they have been at the college level? I don’t think this is an issue for Jonathan but it is for a lot of players coming out of big programs who seem to have the goal of being drafted but lack goals after that to succeed further.

BOTTOM LINE
There is no question about Jonathan’s talent and football intelligence on the field. To my knowledge and judging from his play on the field I don’t believe there are any self motivating issues that will be a problem also. When you’re selecting Jonathan you will be selecting a quality football player on and off the field. I see (On film) an excellent teammate working within the context of his team’s defensive game plans and being the type of leader every team needs on their front seven to reach playoff status. Jonathan is a beast, the type of beast who scares offensive coordinators and lineman before the game is played and once the game is over makes offensive lineman feel like they just finished a Mixed Martial Arts fight. All that’s left for Jonathan is to prove (in interviews) that he has the self motivation to continue to be the beast at the next level. I would not hesitate to select and sign Jonathan BEFORE the draft if I was the GM and had that less then honorary privilege of having the 1st pick of the draft but that’s just me, you never know what others will think.

Drew Boylhart  JAN.2017