STRENGTHS
If you’re looking for a player who is smart, with strong hands, has excellent size and strength, can play more than one position on your offense than look no further than Jalen. He can play slot receiver and move the chains. He can be your touchdown maker catching the ball or running the ball. He is unique and taller than most running backs but don’t be fooled, he runs with excellent quickness and pad level to make whatever needed yards you need to make on third down. When you pass the ball to Jalen he shows on film excellent catch radius and with the attitude that the ball is his when it’s in the air. He shows good naturel balance and vision and is a strong run after the catch receiver. Jalen works the slot like a maniac all over the offense. First you see him lining up in the back field running the ball, then he’s lined up in the slot, then he is lined up out wide, then he is at the first down marker and then he is in the end zone. Jalen is a multi-talented, multi position offensive player that any smart offensive coordinator should be beating the table for. Oh, and by the way, let’s not overlook that Jalen just might be one of the best blocking receivers in this draft. Like I said…the kid’s a maniac.
CONCERNS
Jalen has a bad habit of running routes all at the same speed. If he becomes a pure receiver than he will have to learn to change speeds and become more “sudden”. If Jalen is used as a multi positional player this is not a big issue because than Jalen is used as a match up player and is not on the field all the time. If Jalen wants to be a starter than he has to learn better rout running skills. Something tells with his intelligence, this will not be a problem.
TALENT BOARD ROUND 1.60
The Patriots have an impact player who Jalen’s talents remind me of, James White. The difference is size, James is listed at 5’10” 205 lbs. and Jalen is listed at 6’4” 220 lbs.…big difference, same football IQ and skill sets. Trust me when I say this, don’t count out, Jalen’s ability to run the ball as an RB just because he is 6’4”. This kid has been a running back most of his life and loves the physical part of running the ball. He also has strong hands to catch the ball and can catch the ball down the field as good as any receiver in this draft. What really attracts me to Jalen when I first saw him at Baylor, was the aggressive way he blocked for his teammates. When my Boys were young we watched a lot of Sponge Bob Square Pants and one of my favorite episodes was “Hall Monitor”. Everyone knew who Sponge Bob was and yet Patrick confused him for the maniac and saw him all over the place. Everyone knows about Jalen and yet they don’t recognize him during the game because, he is all over the place. Even his own teammates don’t recognize what position Jalen is lined up at, all the time. He’s at running back, no he’s in the slot…oh no he’s lined up outside, where is he now coach…oh no…watch out…. HE’S IN THE END ZONE! Jalen has the size to become more that a specialty player but I would always use him all over my offense because he is a match up nightmare no matter what position he lines up at. He’s a maniac.
