Ht – 6’4” Wt – 325 lb Class – SR
Career Statistics
2021 Stats – 48 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 4.5 Sacks (11 Games Played)
Career Stats – 134 tackles, 19 TFL, 8.5 Sacks (33 Games Played)
Attribute Breakdown
Power – Does a phenomenal job of using leverage to bulldoze right through defenders. He has a ton of power in his frame, and he knows how to use it. For some reason, he hardly did, but its existence is evident.
Pass-Rush Moves – Showed very little on tape. Was mostly motionless during a lot of plays. He attacked many times without a plan and seemingly with no intention of making a play. Most of his sacks came on extended plays where he ended up being in the area. He did show a great pull move and club move, but he couldn’t string together a consistent amount of them.
Quickness & Agility – Travis Jones seems slow. It’s hard to gauge linemen’s speed from watching tape, as they never really run full speed in a straight line. In terms of play quickness, he doesn’t have much on tape.
Technique – Not precise, needs a lot of refinement. Doesn’t seem to use the nuances of the position to his advantage. I’m don’t think he’s unaware, I just think he will need coaching to help him unlock the full potential of those tools.
Play Recognition – Terrible. On many plays, he was completely fooled by RPOs or Play-Action, and this caused him to abandon his hole, giving up many big plays. He also consistently attacks blocks in the wrong direction, playing himself out of the play.
Run Defending – Average. Knows how to get to the spot but was very often pushed away or out of the play.
Tackling and Pursuit – Doesn’t have the speed to pursue, and his agility to stick with moves makes his tackling subpar. His technique is good, and once he gets close he always finishes, which is what you’d expect from a lineman of his size.
Combine – Travis Jones had a great Combine, but it was greatly overshadowed by the Georgia machines. Jones’s power was never in question, but his athleticism and agility were likely his biggest knocks going into the Combine. Then, he ran a 4.92 40, a 7.33 3-Cone, and a 4.58 Shuttle. Those are jaw-dropping numbers for a 320lb+ player. He helped his stock greatly.
Overall
I don’t know how to feel about Travis Jones. After watching his tape, I thought he wasn’t even deserving of a Day Two pick. He showed nothing on tape, aside from a very rare flash of excellence. He had plays in which he looked like the most dominant player on the field, but it was so infrequent it was almost dismissible. With a great frame and good tools, it’s hard to count him out completely, but there was so much missing from his tape, there was so little to get excited about.
Then the Senior Bowl comes around, and Travis Jones puts on an absolute clinic. He matched up and dominated even the likes of Zion Johnson, who is regarded as one of the Senior Bowl standouts. At the event, he showcased a tremendous ability to gain leverage and then bulldoze blockers, embarrassingly. He also used excellent push-and-pull moves, and he consistently threw blockers out of the way, straight to the ground.
If I would have just watched the Senior Bowl, I would have been convinced Jones is a top 15 prospect.
This makes his evaluation so hard. How do we know what we’re getting?
I think his performance in Mobile was enough to get him into the first round, and then his Combine performance solidified it. He is one of the biggest pre-draft risers, and he has taken bounds and leaps with any opportunity he got.
To be frank, I have to say I am intrigued as well. As rough as his tape was to watch, I think he earned his 1st round status.
See Travis Jones’s overall ranking among other players on my Big Board.
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